Are you really ON LinkedIn?

I was talking to someone recently who was looking for some career and job-seeking advice. He asked me to review his paper resume and I asked if he’s on LinkedIn. He said yes with a big confident smile on his face. There was no hesitation in his answer.

After looking up his LinkedIn profile, I said to him, “You’re not on LinkedIn. You have a LinkedIn profile.” Needless to say, we changed this.

I see people make this mistake all too often. Job-seekers think that just because they have a LinkedIn account and copied their resume over to their profile that they’re going to start getting jobs, opportunities, resources, clients, etc. There’s a huge difference between having a LinkedIn account/profile and being ON LinkedIn.

Being ON LinkedIn requires interaction and creativity. Recruiters on LinkedIn are not your traditional recruiters. They are looking for much more than a resume to review your education and experience. They’re looking for examples of your work; they’re looking for your unique thoughts; they’re looking for endorsements and recommendations.

So, let’s tackle some of the things that take you from having a LinkedIn Profile to being ON LinkedIn. The assumption here is that you already have a profile setup with your work experience, education and hopefully, a lot more.

Being active on LinkedIn is the key to successful online networking and knowledge sharing. Here are some things to start doing so you become more active and visible.

LinkedIn Posts
There are two kinds of postings that you can take advantage of on LinkedIn. On your newsfeed, you can type right into the “Start a post…” box and your message will be seen on your connections’ news feeds. Pushing out updates regularly gives you visibility. Be careful not to over post, though. If you can’t think of anything to post, think about your passions. Post interesting articles that you find, inspiring quotes or even updates on cool projects you’re working on.

LinkedIn also has another posting option. You can write articles that can be visible by your connections, everyone in your network and anyone who follows you on LinkedIn. These posts are usually a little longer in length and should reflect some of your deeper thoughts. I treat mine like blog posts where I share my thoughts on different topics that I think my audience might be interested in. Your reach is much larger when you write articles on LinkedIn. Whether you’re trying to find a job, gain new clients or grow your network for knowledge, resource and idea sharing, visibility can impact your success. Posting gives you that visibility.

LinkedIn Groups
Joining and actively participating in groups is a great way to network and share knowledge and resources. Ask questions in groups about relevant topics that get people thinking. You can share articles here too, including ones that you wrote and posted yourself. Try to strike up conversations though with your posts rather than just posting them.

Don’t forget to comment on other people’s posts too and answer questions that they pose in the groups. Participating in groups is like attending a networking event. Eventually, you’ll connect with people who enjoy discussing, posting about and debating similar topics.

LinkedIn Jobs
If you’re looking for a job, you can do it right from LinkedIn. Some employers post their jobs on LinkedIn but require you to go to their website to apply. Others allow you to apply straight from LinkedIn.

If you apply for jobs on LinkedIn and the employer can see all of your activity (posts, comments, etc.) relevant to the job, your chances of spiking their interest might just increase.

LinkedIn Companies and Education
Follow companies you apply for jobs at or that you would like to work at one day. Keep up with what they’re doing – big projects they have going on, what they’re making the news for, awards they’re winning and other relevant announcements. Knowing these things will greatly benefit you in an interview to show that you’ve been keeping up with the company.

LinkedIn’s Education features also allow you to connect with students, alumni and professors at colleges and universities. This is a great way to network and connect with people who have something in common with you.

LinkedIn Connections
Connections are more than just a static network or popularity contest. LinkedIn Connections are about relationships. LinkedIn has a great feature where you can see your last conversation with a connection. Make sure to reach out to your connections every once in a while especially if they are not people you see or talk to regularly.

Maintaining relationships is more important than simply connecting on LinkedIn. Put a reminder on your calendar every few months to reach out to people on LinkedIn.

It’s a commitment to really be ON LinkedIn but it’s one worth making. What are your best practices on LinkedIn?

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It’s performance review time: Tips for the dreaded self-evaluation

It’s performance review time – my favorite time of year…just kidding! It’s not really a fun time for anyone. Employees usually dread it. Managers hate the paperwork. Human Resources goes bananas because they have to sort through all of the reviews and their phones are constantly ringing with questions and concerns.

Plus, there’s been quite a lot of controversy about performance reviews. Thought leaders have been debating the value of performance reviews and whether or not we should even have them. While this debate continues, most organizations are still doing performance reviews.

As a Human Resources professional, I’ve coached a lot of managers on how to best deal with performance management and reviews. However, the people who usually don’t get much direction from Human Resources are the employees who are actually being evaluated.

There’s this thing called the self-evaluation that people often dread completing for their managers as part of the performance review process. Usually, they get submitted with nothing on them except a signature. Sometimes, there’s a joke written on it to see if anyone’s actually looking at it. Other times, people basically write what their job is rather than how they added value to a project or how they went above and beyond.

Here are some great tips that I’ve learned from being evaluated and from evaluating others (and reviewing their self-evaluations):

  • Make it a year-long task to save time in the end. Starting on the first day of your performance year, commit to completing your self-evaluation. As you accomplish things, receive positive feedback or meet goals, make a note of it on your self-evaluation (or your own document if you don’t have the actual form yet). You’ll save a lot of time in the end if you don’t wait until the year is over to try and remember or find things to put on your evaluation form.
  • Stop putting things on your self-evaluation that are simply your job duties. It always amazes me when I see this on self-evaluations: “I’m always on time to work.” Well, it is part of your job to arrive on time! Your manager and Human Resources both know what your job is already. You don’t have to tell them again.
  • Go ahead and brag. It’s okay to talk yourself up if you’ve accomplished a lot. Structure your thoughts though. What did you accomplish? What was the impact of what you accomplished on your team or the organization? In other words, what value did it provide to the overall goal or mission?
  • After you brag about yourself, talk about some of the areas you would like to improve in. If you don’t tell your manager this, they won’t help you get better.
  • Document the status of your goals. Did you have goals for the year? Did you meet them? Perhaps, you even exceeded them. Either way, document this. If you did not meet a goal, explain the reason, the obstacles and the plan to complete it within a specific timeframe.
  • Be real. Be honest about what you put on your self-evaluation and write it with a genuine tone/voice. Don’t try to make bad things sound good or good things sound better. Also, don’t diminish the value of something great because you’re modest.
  • During your review, talk to your manager about what you put in your self-evaluation. Have a conversation about what you’re proud of and what you would like the two of you to work on next year.

These tips will help you complete your self-evaluation and hopefully, find value in it so that it’s not just paperwork that you have to complete every year. These tips should help the performance review process become more meaningful and less dreaded for both you and your manager. As I always tell people I mentor, “The first step to improving ourselves is to engage in constant self-reflection. Make it a habit, part of your everyday.”

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Listening isn’t good enough, great leaders act

There’s been quite a buzz recently about listening skills. Many books, presentations and posts/articles have surfaced that talk about how listening is the newly found or hidden skill of leadership. The authors talk about how so many leaders lack this skill. While I think listening is very critical to leadership, I certainly do not believe it is a skill that people lack. In fact, I think many people are good listeners. The skill that many leaders lack is the ability to act on what they hear.

When it comes to being an effective leader, listening isn’t enough. It’s only a good skill to have if you know how to use it. You’ll never gain the trust or respect of your employees unless you act on what you hear. It’s great that you care and that you don’t talk over people but if all you do is listen and then let the conversation drift into the past without any action, employees will stop coming to you.

I had a manager once who was a fantastic listener. When I started, he was so kind and approachable. He never turned me away when I needed to talk about something, express my concerns about a project or just vent. His listening skills gave me a great first impression. That impression didn’t last long though.

I would express concerns about unethical practices and major performance issues. He always encouraged me to continue reporting my concerns and always welcomed me to go into his office to talk about them. However, after about the third time I had to go to him for the same concern because nothing was being done about it, I realized that he was still listening but that he did not know how to act on what he heard. He always had an excuse as to why I was not seeing results.

Here are some common themes employees hear repeatedly from bosses who are great at listening but terrible at addressing what they hear:

  • Playing the “I wasn’t aware” card: “Oh, nothing changed? I didn’t know nothing changed. Thanks for telling me.” Years later, nothing changes.
  • Playing the memory card: “I don’t remember us talking about that but I’m glad you’re telling me now.” Years later, nothing changes.
  • Playing the “oops” card: “Oh my, I’m so sorry. I completely forgot to follow-up on that. Thanks for reminding me.” Years later, nothing changes.
  • Playing the “let’s see how things go” card: “I didn’t forget about our conversation. I just want to give it some time and see how things go. I really think they’ll get better.” Nope, the magic trick didn’t work…years later, nothing changes.

So, my boss was a good listener, but it wasn’t enough. It didn’t stop the inappropriate behavior. It didn’t stop the hostile work environment. It didn’t help build teamwork. It didn’t make us work more productively. It didn’t instill confidence or trust.

Eventually, I lost almost complete trust in my manager. I felt defeated, discouraged and disengaged. I never went to him again with a concern, a problem or even an idea.

I vowed never to make assumptions like that when I became a leader. Just like silence doesn’t mean an employee no longer has concerns, listening skills doesn’t mean someone is a good leader. To be effective as leaders, we need to take what we hear and see (yes, nonverbal cues too) from our employees and act on those things. We need to address their concerns even if we conclude that they are not found. We need to provide answers to their questions even if that means the answer is “I don’t know but I’ll find out.” We need to address their behaviors and their performance even if that means having a difficult conversation.

It’s a terrible thing to listen to someone but not hear what they are saying.

Effective leaders act and get results.

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