PRIVACY IN PUBLIC

Living in a vibrant urban environment is chock full of sensory input every day. Lights, sirens, televisions in airports, all add to the constant din of people in perpetual motion. It's irrepressible, and can make this girl very grateful for her little personal sanctuary at the end of the day. I'm a fairly energetic gal and have a job that keeps me on the go, so I am out and about regularly. Like many urban dwellers, I rely heavily on public transportation and, often for business meetings, use air travel to get to other cities quickly. The multitude of people I encounter along the way is considerable. I swear, sometimes walking down the street I wonder what everyone else is doing. I mean, they can't all be going to meet clients, so what on earth are they up to?

Well my friend, you only need to sit still for two minutes to answer that last question. I have heard more intimate details than I could ever imagine on what is otherwise a fairly benign metro ride. I am beginning to think I know everything about my neighbors. And their families, employers, doctors, lovers, best friends, and worst enemies. Boyfriends dumped, jobs resigned, marketing strategies debated, health problems revealed (ewww), and goods and services procured. All involving names, addresses, phone numbers, and the occasional credit card or social security number.

I am not eavesdropping, or trying in the slightest to hear this stuff. I'd rather not hear it, to be honest, my little brain is busy enough thinking of the fifty things I need to do that day and need all the help I can get in keeping it all straight. But the oversharing by my neighbors is impossible to ignore because these folks are talking, or more like shouting, over their mobile phones to conduct their business. Just because you CAN do all your business on the phone does it mean that you have to do it in clear earshot of the rest of the population? In public?! An identity thief would have a field day, and for all I know there might be one sitting next to me at any given moment.

I hope you are scared by now, or at least thinking a bit about what you say when you are out in public. Hey, I rely on my mobile phone as much as the next person and I am all for multitasking on the go, but are these people stopping to think about what they are revealing? Not only about themselves, but about whoever is on the other end of the phone and/or subject of their conversation. Case in point, a few months back I needed to work remotely for the day due to an office move and I was having some work done in my house so I parked at a local coffee shop for a few hours to catch up on email (using the secure VPN, of course). A young woman at the next table over was joined by an HR representative from a prestigious consulting company in what quickly became apparent as a job interview. In a scant 30 minutes it was all laid out for anyone within earshot (and I was not the only one): the name of the company and its growth strategy, the position at stake, the composition and culture of the team ("we are such good friends we are like a sorority"), the compensation of the position as well as the person being interviewed. The judgment of the HR person for conducting a full blown job interview in a coffee shop aside, this could have been a field day for a competitor or identity snoop. Far from an innocuous conversation, they exchanged real actionable data. It was somewhat shocking that there was so little regard for personal privacy in this exchange. And what ever happened to decorum?

Every day we learn about something like a systems glitch that momentarily exposes 100,000 credit card numbers, or old medical records destined for the shred bin somehow ending up getting windblown down the street. We all gasp, shake our fingers at the offending party, and quickly change our passwords to protect ourselves. If only people were as careful about what they say and where they say it, personal privacy would be a whole lot easier to control. Think about it the next time you answer your cell phone running to and fro, or call your business partner from an airport gate to hash over that last deal negotiation detail. Revealing sensitive information like this in public can have consequences for the parties directly and indirectly involved. And it might not be so pretty.

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

All stoked up about that job offer? The details in hand, now is decision time. Go down the list – job scope and title, your new colleagues, company stability and prestige, corner office, compensation and benefits, check that list and yep everything is in place so time to accept that offer. Now the hard part, telling your current boss who you know will be crest fallen because after all they love you in your current job but just aren’t paying you enough money. If only they had told you how valuable you are then maybe you would not have looked elsewhere for another opportunity. But this might work out once you tell them you are leaving; maybe they will find the money and ask you to stay. Renewed confidence, you break the news to your boss that another company wants you and……what’s this, they make you a counteroffer to keep you? More money, better title, and you get to stay put, how could this be anything but a bonanza? Score!

Hang on my friend, accepting a counter offer from your current employer is often a bad bargain. There is more to it than your immediate perspective, and there are consequences that may not be immediately apparent in this situation. Here’s what you are gambling:

o Credibility: If you take a counter offer you are damaging your credibility with both companies. You just went through the hiring process with a company that brought you to the point of offer. They invested time, resources, and a hiring manager at least has stepped up internally within that company to be your advocate to bring you to the point of offer. By accepting a counteroffer from your current employer, you are essentially saying that you were using them as leverage to get a better deal out of your boss. That employer will be frustrated that you used them solely as leverage and feel tricked by your apparent previous interest in their company. The double whammy is that you have now also planted the seeds of doubt with your current employer by revealing that you are looking elsewhere for career opportunities. They will doubt your loyalty and, even if you accept their counteroffer, will doubt your longevity. In fact, a lot of employers will start looking for your replacement immediately even if you stay, assuming that you won’t stick around much longer. You may as well light a match to your believability with either of these companies because you just burned two bridges simultaneously. If you did this all through a search firm, then you hit the trifecta because you just damaged your credibility with the recruiter. Good luck working with any of these people again.

o Money does not buy happiness: We are not talking the lottery jackpot here. Maybe your current compensation is contributing to your lack of job satisfaction, but compensation alone is not going to solve your motivational problem. Job hunting is not a sport, so be honest with yourself about why you were looking in the first instance. There are all kinds of perfectly legitimate reasons why you are pursuing a job change. Be honest with yourself about what those are, and what will ignite and excite you in your next role. The money in a counteroffer is never enough to offset your pursuit of different/better/more elsewhere. There are trade offs in every move and you should evaluate them carefully, but be circumspect about replacing money for other values.

o It is never what you think: Chances are that counteroffer comes with strings attached. It’s not as if the company just found money in the bank they forgot to pay you. It could mean greater scope of responsibility, more travel or investment of time on your part, or higher level of performance expectations, all of which may come at a personal sacrifice on your part. Even if it is more money for the exact same job you have been performing then you best check the fine print for claw-back provisions or stricter non-compete provisions. No counteroffer is free.

o Ego: Are you trying to get your employer to say you are indispensible by manipulating them to come up with a counteroffer? In this economy? What are you thinking? The best way to get your employer to demonstrate their appreciation for your contribution is through excellence in performance. Period. If you think you are not getting the credit you deserve, have THAT conversation with your manager, and think carefully about how you market yourself and the accomplishments of your team internally.

o Apples to oranges: When comparing an offer and a counteroffer, there can be several components which factor into the equation of how the comp packages end up looking different. Lawyers for example are compensated very differently in a corporate environment than they are in a law firm. Public companies structure their pay differently than privately held companies or non-profit entities. Along with those differences are also subtle differences in the style of the role. Add that up and of course the compensation looks different. By the same analysis, the exact same job in a substantially similar sized company is not going to have a huge disparity in compensation. You should not expect to substantially improve your compensation by taking the exact same job you have now by moving to a competitor.

Other articles describing counteroffer effectiveness mention studies which suggest that the majority of people who accept a counteroffer leave for another job within a year. I wonder how many of those people burned bridges along the way and found that what they bargained for was a bust and not the bonanza they expected?

LOVE YOUR JOB

On the opening day of baseball season I had a rare opportunity to be a flag bearer of the gigantic US flag carried out onto the field for the national anthem before the start of the game. Many of you have seen these at sporting events or before a big game on TV. We had a rehearsal the day before to sync our timing and handle the flag properly, and in doing so we practiced in the venue – the playing field at Safeco Field in Seattle. As a middle aged woman I can’t imagine having another sanctioned opportunity to be on a professional sports field, so it was a new experience and, as a baseball fan, quite a thrill. As we first stepped onto the baseball field I was a little overwhelmed – the smell of fresh cut lawn, looking up into a beautiful stadium, my first thought was “why do they pay these guys anything to come to this office everyday? They play a GAME, applause greets you when you arrive (except for A-Rod in this town anyway)….baseball players should work for free!”

We know, of course, that they don’t. In fact, their compensation levels are sky high compared to almost any other line of work. One could debate the merits of professional sports compensation endlessly, but let’s leave that commentary for someone else’s blog. The reality is that no one works for free – it’s an untenable proposition. But playing a game as a job, what fun! How lucky is anyone to have that choice?

I know a woman who recently left her senior management job after 11 years of working for a profitable brand-name Fortune company, where she was well-compensated and considered a strong performer and leader. She does not have another job lined up, no big severance to fall back on….in this economy?

Oh and the law firm and corporate lay-offs just keep coming, with perfectly talented professional people who have never needed to look for a new job suddenly thrust into this horrible economy when few are hiring. What to do next?

What do they have in common? The choice of doing something they love! No matter what you do for a profession, work SHOULD be as fun as it can possibly be. We have all heard the popular saying “work for free and you will never work a day in your life.” Passion for your profession plays an important role in career satisfaction and has a significant positive impact on job performance. It stands to reason that the happier you are in your work, the better you will perform, which will contribute to your personal bottom line. Employers all factor personal performance metrics into their compensation system at some level, be it base salary increases, bonus rewards, or other long term incentives. Even highly paid athletes have performance incentives built into their contracts. Home runs do more than win games and make fans happy.

Professional work is hard enough without enjoying it. Whether or not you are at a point where you are considering your next career move, there is no better time than now to articulate this part of your professional vision. It is too easy to get caught up in the day-to-day tasks to stop and focus on this, however it may be one of the best things you do for your career. Consider it a piece of self-assigned homework. Set aside an hour of time, situate yourself in front of a blank screen/whiteboard/paper and pen in a distraction minimized zone (locked bathrooms work, if nothing else) and make two columns – likes and dislikes. Brainstorm about your professional work and list items in each column specific to you. What do you like about your job content, your profession, the kind of work environment where you are happiest, the pet peeves or tasks you don’t like doing, the things you do not do well, qualities you want in a boss, the industries or topics you find dreadfully boring…you get the idea. Write it all down in their respective plus and minus columns. Some of the items will be tied to other life priorities – supporting a family is one example. On the other hand, maybe your misery index will encourage you to retool your budget and accept a lower income in another kind of work that increases your daily dose of personal fulfillment and lowers your blood pressure.

Unless you commit your criteria to a tangible document you will lose sight of all these elements. Once you commit it to paper, it will be much easier to see trends and set priorities. Developing a professional vision around your talents can be very liberating and enlightening. Armed with your list, you are now well positioned to make informed choices about everything affecting your career. You may make trade-offs along the way as you use this list to evaluate a new job and as you move throughout your professional career. That’s ok, and encouraged. Examine the list from time to time, make changes or additions, and tweak your criteria as you consider new options. Give that list a long hard list when you get a job offer and compare it to what you are signing up for in the new gig. Is there something you should explore a little further before taking that new job, maybe something in the minus column that should be fleshed out? Job offers, particularly good ones, have a way of obfuscating the downside. It pays to be vigilant and thoughtful before you leap. Your plus and minus list will keep you honest and focused. The important thing is that you have a tool to keep on track and your eyes on the happiness prize. We may not be so fortunate as to choose a job with a built-in adoring public, but truly enjoying what you do may well make it seem less like work, and more like a game.

Being graceful in ungraceful situations

Recognition for a task well done can come in many forms ranging from a simple thank you to a raise in base salary or other form of monetary compensation such as a gift certificate. Assuming, of course, that the employer or boss has the intelligence and manners to make the acknowledgement (sure to be a topic of future blogs, so stay tuned), there is a certain maturity to accepting the acknowledgement. You don't want to act so crass as to give the impression that of course you deserved this for your work, or worse yet curl up your nose if the gift is not suited to your personal taste or, heaven forbid, tacky and cheap. There is a certain maturity to accepting these acknowledgments with class. And sometimes, no matter how graceful you might be, something embarrassing happens to compromise the whole situation. The result, and how it reflects on the recipient and the giver, is not dependant on what transpires but in how you recover.

Face it. In the work world there is so much human interaction that awkward moments are bound to ensue. We are all human after all, not robots, so the occasional mishap is inevitable. Nerves get the better of people in the best of situations. Raise your hand if you have ever stumbled over your words in an interview, blanked on a word or point when giving a presentation, spilled coffee on yourself on a way to meeting, or flat out tripped over your own two feet walking down the hall for no reason at all. See what I mean? There is a bit more at stake when these things happen at reward time.

So when can this happen and what to do? A few illustrations:
The 'thank you' lunch - There is so much opportunity for things to go wrong in this setting between employer and employee that it can be it's own longer topic. My personal experience with this once involved a multiple comedy of errors. I was working on an arbitration with one of the senior partners in the firm, and at the conclusion of the case he wanted to take me to a prestigious private social club for a celebratory thank you lunch. I dressed particularly nice that day in a fitted long jacket, silk scarf, black skirt with a tasteful kick-pleat, and the perfect pointy-toe black high heels. It was a rainy day, and as I arrived at the walkway entering the club my sassy heel caught in the brick walkway and I went face down on the pavement. My purse contents went flying, I scraped my hands bracing the fall, and my skirt split up the back along the seam of the kick-pleat to a less than professional degree. The partner was inside waiting for me! Recovery was needed, and fast! A kind stranger helped me to my feet, picked up my bag, inquired if I was hurt (no, just embarrassed), and escorted me inside. (Tip #1 - be kind and helpful if you see something like this happen.) Upon entering the club I had no choice but to tell my host what had just happened, at least to explain the scrape. He politely offered me his overcoat to drape over my shoulders to hide the torn skirt, gave me a minute to freshen up in the ladies room, and asked the hostess to seat us near the fireplace convenient to warming up and minimal walking across the room. (Tips #2 and 3 - put the other person at ease by acknowledging the situation and offering a way to minimize the visibility to others.) I am sure the story he told over lunch about inadvertently hitting a judge with a wayward tennis ball was fictitious and intended to humor me, which it did. (Tip #4). Thankfully I knew better than to order the spinach salad. (Tip #5).

The gift - These should be chosen carefully. Unless you know the recipient very well, it is best to stick to something that is broadly acceptable without risking offense. Useful, appropriate, versatile, no expiration date, like a American Express cash certificate fits pretty nicely into this category. Companies often use this for project oriented or spot rewards and are a nice gesture. As a giver however one should resist the temptation to make this a huge production or put people on the spot. A friend of mine received one of these at her workplace for exceptional performance on a sensitive project. The division VP was thrilled with the outcome, and her boss went out of his way with a department e-mail praising her work and the big result she obtained for the company. Very nice. When it came time to present her with the reward check, he did it in the hallway with all sorts of people passing by, loudly proclaimed the amount, asked her where she was going to spend it, and gloated about the amount of the check. She was horrified, and appropriately so. It put her on the spot, publicly no less. Worse yet, the amount was quite modest and while she did not want to offend her boss, she also was challenged trying not to hide her surprise when the check was handed to her in front of her peers. My friend was at once honored, flustered, embarrassed, pleased, and caught off guard. What started as a thoughtful and well-earned acknowledgement turned into an awkward moment. It really is not the gift that counts, but avoiding the pitfalls will make the gift count beyond it's face monetary value.

To get everyone past the odd interlude and get back on track, someone involved has to be graceful about the whole thing so that all can breath a sigh of relief and truly enjoy the moment. The best way to disarm others is to put them at ease. Using the tools of humor, manners, and gentleness can go a long way to diffuse many ungraceful moments that occur in the workplace.