Do you know your numbers? (not just finance)

“It’s a nice day outside.” Does this mean it’s 65 degrees, 75, 82? It depends on who you ask. Unless you ascribe a numerical measure to something it will never be fully clear to an audience. So many executives I advise are not fully clear when talking about their career accomplishments- I’ve been guilty of this as well. “We grew revenue and patient satisfaction improved when I was at XYZ Health System” or “We set up this corporation, joint venture, committee, etc.” These are simply not clear statements when compared to, “We grew revenue by 35% and our patient satisfaction improved from the 12th percentile to the 67th percentile” or “We started a new joint venture that grew market share by 34% and grew net revenue by 40%”.

Many comparisons have been made between the airline industry and healthcare. The pilot knows where the plane is going by following specific numerical coordinates. Do you know your X-Y? What was the origin and destination of your last journey? This is communicated simply by knowing your X-Y’s in one or more of the following areas: service, patient safety, quality, growth, service line development, finance, community benefit, market share, cost containment, productivity, physician or employee engagement, turnover, etc. When X-Y’s are communicated well it sounds like this… “When I was at XYZ health system our HCAHPs went from the 23rd percentile to the 78th percentile over 4 years” or “During my tenure we reduced RN turnover from 35% to 16% in three years.

Organizations want results. If you clearly communicate that you achieve results, your chances for success improve when looking for your next job. Contact www.wiederholdassoc.com for more information on learning how to communicate your “X-Y’s” and taking the next step in developing your career.

To execute well in a network meeting or an interview, you must present yourself in a powerful way. As most of you are aware, the elevator speech has long been utilized as a tool in this area. This presentation focuses on who you are, what you've accomplished and where you're going. At Wiederhold & Associates, we have refined the elevator speech and taken it to a different level.

We call ours the "2-Minute Presentation", and when done correctly, will connect you to your audience as well as align you with the opportunity or the situation.

The 2-Minute Presentation should be as close to 2 minutes as possible, be modified to fit different audiences and contain three distinct components:

• Humanization
• Elevator
• Differentiation

Basically, it's your elevator speech on steroids. Here's how it works.

Humanization

The goal is to make a connection. It's amazing what happens when you find a mutual connecting point to your audience. Remember, relationships are built on personal information, not business. Lastly, the power of the concept of "I, therefore, you." If I share something with you of a personal nature, you will feel compelled to share something with me. Connecting to people on a personal level is an essential part of both networking and interviewing.

Elevator

There are two key messages here:

• My career moves are logical.
• I'm clearly on the left side of the career bell curve and the best is yet to come.

The Differentiation Statement

The differentiation statement answers these two questions in a powerful way:

• Why should I hire you?
• What distinguishes you from other network connections or candidates?

Bring Your A-Game

Both networking and interviewing have become highly competitive. On top of that, people have limited time to give you. Bring your A-game with one of the most powerful tools you can put in your toolbox - a well developed 2-Minute Presentation.

Jim

Connect with us on LinkedIn and join our Active Network Program.

As one wise recruiter once told me, "You can have a B resume which may open the door but you must have an A interview to walk through it."

Let me share ten basic elements that consistently come up in our interview reviews that if addressed would make a world of improvement in your ability to interview and drive the right message:

1. Preparation: Know the five top critical elements of the opportunity and be able to address them with current experience and success. The five top criteria is the top five things they're looking for in their next candidate. Next understand the three other critical elements which are organization, position and location. Have specific information in each one as to your interest. The more specific the higher the impact.
2. Mirroring: A good interview is like a dance, both partners are in sync with each other. Mirror to match tempo, breathing, rate-of-speech, directness, etc. This makes each one comfortable with each other and sets the correct filter.
3. Listening to understand: We test this in every interview we do and the majority of people fail. We are so caught up in the world of listening to respond that we miss a vital part of the question.
4. Introduce yourself with confidence.
5. Take the lead: As you enter the interview, know exactly the statement you will make or the open-ended question you'll ask. Demonstrate your interpersonal skills and give yourself the greatest opportunity to connect with and engage your audience.
6. Put together an effective two-minute presentation which includes three key components to drive your message as well as connect with your audience. Those components are humanization, elevator, and differentiation/value statement.
7. Understand what a real achievement is and present that way.
8. Answer questions concisely, close information gaps and enhance the answer when it adds value to the original thought.
9. Always tell the truth but word it in a win-win presentation. This will provide consistency throughout the interview.
10. Brand yourself so that your message is consistent.

I've done a lot of interview coaching over the last 22 years. Historically, most people have a starting grade in their ability to interview probably somewhere around a B- to a C+ through no fault of their own. We just don't do well on things we don't practice consistently. But imagine if you took the time to develop a well-executed interview. What a significant way to separate yourself from the crowd in a very competitive market!

Connect with us on LinkedIn and join our Active Network Program.

First and foremost, I want to wish you much success in 2016.

The new year is a time to start new journeys. As you know there are journeys we choose and journeys that choose us.

So with that in mind, we took a real good look at the people we work with in career transition and found that the most successful ones had three consistent behaviors. Those three behaviors were passion, attitude and confidence.

Passion is one's intense desire or enthusiasm to do something. The level of passion for these successful individuals kept them on track even when there were challenges and bumps in the road. They did not roll over or quit when things got tough.

Attitude is how an individual's behavior reacts to a person place or thing. We live in a world where most individuals focus on the negative side of a challenge. Successful individuals took a more positive look at the challenge of career transition and focused in on the benefits that would result from this journey.

Confidence is one's assessment and feelings about their own skills and qualities. These successful individuals realized that they live in a deposit/withdrawal system. Unfortunately, withdrawals are automatic and deposits have to be made manually. They have learned how to make necessary deposits.

So as you begin your journeys in this new year remember to pack the right amount of passion, attitude and confidence. Because a good start usually means a good finish.

Here's to your success,

Jim

Connect with us on LinkedIn and join our Active Network Program.

Jim, I want to publically thank you for your efforts on my behalf over the years. (This is long overdue by the way.) The network has been extremely valuable in a number of ways. From a professional point of view I have met many network members from whom I have gained knowledge which has been both educational and personally rewarding. Certainly my own network has benefitted significantly as a result.

Over the years I have also been able to tap into your network in order to fill executive level positions. In many cases your personal recommendation has been the key to a final decision regarding a person. It is gratifying to see these individuals grow and mature into talented leaders.

Most recently I depended on the network again in an effort to quickly identify experts who could assist with due diligence. You were able to recommend a number of folks with whom I have been in touch. Although this particular effort did not materialize, I believe you have provided a core group of experts on whom I could call in the future.

You may also remember that, almost 10 years ago, you were the primary influence in assisting me through a personal transition. All you asked in return was that I be willing to talk with others who might benefit from my experiences and knowledge. I hope I have met your expectations in that regard. These contacts have benefitted me as well.

Warmest personal regards,
Dave Bussone

When Jim related the response of his race partner to a network blast regarding the race they ran together during our staff meeting, everyone on the call (we all work virtual) agreed that having Jim as your running partner was no different than having Jim as your job search partner. The preparation, the expectation of working hard, having others around you pushing, pulling, cheering you on. It is what he does every day with our clients – and us on those Monday meetings. Typical of Jim, we asked and he said yes to posting it, and typical of those in our network, we asked Rick for permission and he said “whatever you need.” Here is Rick’s email:

I ran one of the best races of my life running with Jim. So let me add to Jim's list of things one can learn from a race:

1. Humans were made to run with one another, not against each other.
2. Competing with a friend, like everything else in life, drives you to do your best. Jim was in better shape and ran the faster race. He hung back to give me a chance to catch up. This drove me to do my best; run faster and compete better than I would have on my own. I finished in the top ten for my age group in the first half marathon I ever ran. I have always had a *Board" when making important life decisions. Jim was my "Board," my wingman during this difficult race. The race started at 6:00 am on a rainy day when the temperature never exceeded 37 degrees. I am not sure if I would have even started the race if it had not been for him.
3. Like Jim, I was very apprehensive about this race. When I agreed to run, I planned an extensive training program. All of this went off track when I was unexpectedly required to travel out of town every week since early March to a location that did not support my training program. What I learned from this experience was not to let unexpected obstacles stand between you and your goals. Running is nothing more than putting one foot in front of the other. Many challenges are nothing more than taking one step at a time and persevering.
4. This took more out of me than I would have expected. I thought I was doing well until it was over and I crashed. There is a time to run you race and time to rest and reconnect.

I wanted to take a moment and tell you about something I am passionate about and very concerned about. Over the last two to three months, there has been a disturbing trend with organizations who, for whatever reason, are letting executives go and providing minimal to no severance and no transition/outplacement assistance. The cuts have been a reaction to healthcare reform and some consultants who see no value in helping exiting executives

This concerns me for several reasons: First, what message are these organizations sending to their remaining employees when they do not give adequate assistance to exiting employees? Second, they are opening the door to increased litigation. Third, where mission is important, does that mission only apply to patients and not employees? Fourth, these individuals are moving into the most, or one of the most, competitive markets we have seen without tools to be successful.

This mentality seems short term driven with no consideration of the trickledown effect or concern for the exiting employee who, in most cases, served the organization well, but are being impacted by things outside their control.

The solution, to me, lies in two areas. One, we need to voice our concern and be heard and, two, every executive should ask for an employment agreement prior to joining any organization. An agreement that provides adequate severance and funds for outplacement/transition assistance, making sure that they have the choice of the firm they want to use.

Executives are constantly asked to make tough decisions and to do so with the best interest of the organization at hand; they need a safety net and an employment agreement provides that. Additionally, if exiting employees have not put an agreement in place they still need to ask when leaving for severance, extension of benefits and outplacement/transition funds to be used with the firm of their choice. I see too many executives leaving money on the table they could use because they forgot to, or will not, ask. In many cases, it will not be mentioned until you ask.

Thanks for listening.

A client sent me this email:
"Jim, I had a great recent success story with LinkedIn. Several months ago, I mistakenly sent LinkedIn invites to all of my email contacts! Several responded and "linkedIn." I recently updated my LinkedIn profile with my new interim position, and to my surprise LinkedIn sent messages to all of my contacts of my new role, to which I have rec'd 50+ "Congratulations" responses - all from a mistake I made several months ago. What a neat way to stay in touch with my network!"

The strength of this message wasn't how much LinkedIn did for him but showed how much personal networking he has done to get this type of response. This client has a relationship with these 50+ people or they would not have taken the time to send their congratulations. That is networking in its truest form.

In the beginning of their transition, most of our clients have a neglected personal network and struggle to pick up the phone and call their colleagues or past business associates Fortunately we have a tremendous network of healthcare executives across the country to introduce them to, growing each of our "circles of influence." Not once in my almost twenty years of executive outplacement and coaching can I remember someone telling me "networking doesn't work," instead more often than not we are told, "It's much easier than I thought! The names you gave me were so helpful, I think I can do this!"

Try it, and tell me your success stories....