Themes discussed in this episode

• Early in your career, your job is to make your boss’ job easier
• If your work is accurate AND timely, you’re already way ahead of your peers
• Accountability, proactiveness, and resourcefulness = Carolyn’s top 3 traits in new hires
• Strong communication skills, empathy, and team-focused behavior go a long way
• Those who add value to the company get promotions

Featured Guest

Expert Guest: Carolyn Sauer

Title: Director of Business Development at Schaltbau GmbH

What She Does: As Director of Business Development, Carolyn Sauer leads Marketing and Communications strategy development and works with customers and prospects to help solve their high-voltage challenges.

Connect: You can find her on LinkedIn.

Episode Highlights

Timestamped inflection points from the show

5:15 – How can I make my boss’ life easier: Your job is 50% your listed job responsibilities and 50% doing anything you can to help free up your boss’ time.
7:00 – Accuracy and timeliness go hand in hand: If your work is on time but it’s full of errors that someone else must fix, it’s not actually on time.
11:30 – Carolyn’s top traits in new hires: If you are accountable, resourceful, and proactive, you will be an easily trainable asset to any team.
14:40 – Email syndrome: You have to be empathetic, a strong communicator, and team-focused in order to truly excel at work.
20:00 – Value Added: Want to get promoted? You have to be a valuable asset who is tenacious, empathetic, and a creative problem solver. You must add value to the company in order to last and move up the career ladder.

Top Quotes

5:10 – What I noticed is, I mean, you’ve heard the old adage, common sense isn’t so common, is that a lot of people, even if they’ve been in their careers for maybe 10 or 20 years, may not really truly understand why these specific things are so critical because no one told them.
6:30 – I have my job description, but that’s part of what I do. The rest is how do I help? What do you need me to do? Where can I pitch in? You know, when you see a team is very busy planning for a presentation or an event, maybe you don’t have experience with it, but you still want to ask, how can I help?
7:50 – Early in my career as a manager, I cannot tell you the number of times I had projects or presentations turned into me at the very last minute they were due. They were on time. But then there were mistakes and there were errors that needed to be fixed. And so if it’s not accurate, it’s not on time.
9:30 – I am not your teacher. I am your manager. Hopefully your coach. Hopefully your mentor. I’m not your teacher. I don’t want to receive something back from you, red line it. and give it back and try it again. That’s not how the business world operates. If I had time to do that, I would have time to do it myself, and I don’t; that’s why I hired you.
11:20 – No matter what position I’m hiring for, I look for someone who can be accountable, proactive and resourceful. If you have those three things, I can train you on anything else.
16:45 – Being a nice, pleasant nudge is an incredibly valuable part of the communication process, especially early in your career when it’s your responsibility to get something done, but you may not have the authority to demand people respond to you. You just have to be persistent.
18:10 – What you’re assigned to may be really important to somebody, but not to most people on your team that you have to get information from, so you’ve got to be persuasive.
22:00 – They’re creative problem solvers. They’re tenacious. They’re empathetic. They’re stellar communicators. Those are the ones that get promoted. Those are the people that you look to who can take things on when you’re not around and handle them well in a way that adds value to the situation.

Links

Check out our LinkedIn episode for more ways to effectively grow your network and get that next opportunity.

Connect with me on LinkedIn. Order my book!

Transcript

[00:00:00]

Hello, everybody. And thank you so much for joining us for this episode of work. Mom says, don’t be an idiot. This is going to be a really, really good episode for career newbies. But I also think there’s room for people who may be in their career and are wondering what they can do to jumpstart their career to get ahead of people around you. It’s not that hard.

So what I would just as an introduction want to share is jumpstarting your career is about who you are at the office. Are you the problem solver or the troublemaker? Are you the complainer or the person who gets things done? Do you get your work done or do you get it done really well?

[00:01:00]
And those kinds of questions are the questions that people who excel in their careers ask themselves on a daily basis. Um, you’ve got to be paying attention to how you behave at work and also pay attention to kind of figuring out what would make you stand out. And that’s what we’re going to talk about today.

So I have with me Carolyn Sauer. Carolyn is with Schaltbau GmbH North America. And a long-time friend of this podcast and me personally. And I really think Carolyn’s got some really great advice. She speaks to college students and she’s also in a hiring position. And, you know, has a few years of her career behind her.

So, Carolyn, say hello and tell us a little bit about yourself. Hi, LoriJo. Thanks for having me on. Uh, yes, just a few years I have on me. I’ve, uh, been in the sales and marketing and the automotive industry for, um, 24 years and, uh, in a variety of capacities. Um, so some of them, you know, related more to marketing, some more related to sales.

[00:02:00]
I’ve fluctuated between both over the years, uh, and really have enjoyed both. So now, uh, Tell me how, where did these guiding principles that we are going to talk about today come from? Yes, so this is an interesting story. So one of my tasks when I was at North American Lighting as a manager of sales administration and marketing, was to create a year round internship program so that we would have bench support when we are looking at hiring full time employees.

Um, you know, there was never a shortage of candidates, but there was always a shortage of the right candidates. And so we wanted to groom our own talent, bring them in, teach them our methods, and then hopefully, if all goes well, be able to hire them full time. You know, once they’ve graduated as part of that.

[00:03:00]
Yes. So, as part of that, um, you know, in that hiring process, as we were onboarding, you know, new interns every semester, I found that a lot of them did not have experience having ever worked In an office environment, they had typically done retail or worked in a restaurant while they were, you know, saving money.

And it’s a very different environment and a very different atmosphere. Because when you’re in retail or restaurant, your duties are. Right now, you just, you do them, you knock them out, you go home, you forget about them. And that’s not exactly how it is in sales and marketing and the automotive industry.

So once we started onboarding very different, right? So once we started onboarding them, I realized they really need some type of guidance. Of course, we wrote a very specific job description so that they had their own responsibilities. But beyond the job description, I think it was helpful for them to know what was expected of them.

[00:04:00]
And, you know, if you want to be successful in a leadership position, or as a manager setting those expectations is the 1st step. And so I came up with 10 guiding principles and really. Shared them with my entire team as a way to say, Hey, you know, including the interns, we had a meeting, we launched this and said, these are the 10 guiding principles of how we need to behave in the workplace in order to get things done in order to have fun and be successful there.

These are basic things, and that’s really how they originated. But what I noticed is, I mean, you’ve heard the old adage, common sense isn’t so common, is that a lot of people, even if they’ve been in their careers for maybe 10 or 20 years, may not really truly understand why these specific things are so critical because no one told them.

[00:05:00]
And so maybe they’re wondering why they didn’t promote it, right? Yes, exactly. I think, you know, that’s something all of us as managers come across is what, you know, the question when someone expects to be going to that next level of their career, why, why not me? And it’s something that you can plan for ahead of time, just following some of these basic.

You know, guidelines, but you’re right. And that’ll, I love, I love the common sense comment because I don’t think I actually acquired common sense until I was in my early twenties. That was definitely something that alluded me and needed to be gained through experience. I think I was well into my thirties, but anyway.

We don’t need to go there. No. So let’s, yeah, no thanks. I’ve talked about my train wreck 20s plenty on this podcast. So let’s talk about, let’s get, let’s just dive right in. Um, what are the first three things that you talk about as very Basic things that people need to understand. So the very basic, the very basic, basic premise, you have been hired to do a job in order to help the company achieve its goals.

[00:06:00]
And I always looked at it as how can I free up my boss’s time, right? My boss is super busy. He or she is doing a lot of activities, some of which they should be focused on. Some of which they shouldn’t, but are doing it because no one else is. So at the very basis, it’s important to understand your job is really to free up your boss’s time.

And how do you do that? So the, the three principles for that are, you know, one, it’s just, like you said, common sense, right? How can I help here? I have my job description, but that’s part of what I do. The rest is how do I help? What do you need me to do? Where can I pitch in? You know, when you see a team is very busy planning for a presentation or an event, maybe you don’t have experience with it, but you still want to ask, how can I help?

[00:07:00]
And how can I help is what’s always going to get you to understanding the bigger picture, the bigger goals of the company and how you are contributing to that. Absolutely. And I would add that if you become the person that people know is willing to jump in and help, it helps you create those strong relationships that you really need at the office to get promoted.

So helpful. It really does. It does. And so the, the second two are accurate and timely. And the reason I like to talk about these together are because early in my career as a manager, I cannot tell you the number of times I had projects or presentations turned into me at the very last minute they were due.

[00:08:00]
They were on time. But then there were mistakes and there were errors that needed to be fixed and there were formatting things that needed to be fixed. And so if it’s not accurate, it’s not on time. And that’s something that I think is really hard for people to understand to say, okay, this project I’m working on is due tomorrow.

I’m going to turn it in early, or I’m going to have my colleague look at it and do a sanity check to make sure that when I turn it in. It’s ready to be delivered to the audience it is intended for. And so those again are really just, you know, at the basic heart of my work needs to be on time and it needs to be accurate.

[00:09:00]
And if I can focus on doing those two things while being helpful, that is a really sound basis that will set you up for success once you get to the other. guiding principles. Absolutely. And just to go back to what I said earlier, because I do love repetition is accurate and timely are two very important things because what happens and what I hear have heard often and I’ve had a lot of, um, I’ve led a lot of teams is rushing to get it done, turning it in, moving on to something else, not realizing that rushing to get it done causes mistakes that can then kind of domino effect into other people’s workplaces.

You know, you put the wrong file up, but somebody had to add it. So they edited the wrong file and now they have to do it again. So accuracy, right? Just as important as timely because having to do it again or having to have your boss fix it. I mean, I’ve, I’ve say this all the time. I am not your teacher. I am your manager.

Hopefully your coach. Hopefully your mentor. I’m not your teacher. I don’t want to receive something back from you red line it and give it back and try it again. That’s not it. How the business world operates. If I had time to do that, I would have time to do it myself and I don’t, that’s why I hired you.

[00:10:00]
So it’s really, really important to have that timely and accurate. And there seems to be a mindset of, you know, I need to get this all done and I’m checking the boxes. But again, if you haven’t taken the time to check your work or set it aside and come back to it a few hours later and really looked at it and you turn it in and there’s errors, it’s not as helpful as you think.

Absolutely. Absolutely. Let’s keep going. Now you’ve got another three that can make you stand out, right? These are really good for standing out. So, yeah, so these, these next 3 are, um. Really interesting to me because over the years I have interviewed hundreds of people for hundreds of different positions, whether they were applying for an entry level coordinator position, uh, a mid level, you know, marketing or sales position, a manager position.

[00:11:00]
I often get the question, what are, what are you looking for in this job, in this role, in this position? And it surprises people when I tell them, I look for the same 3 things, no matter what position I’m hiring for. I look for someone that can be accountable, proactive and resourceful and those 3 things If you have that, I can train you on anything else, but I think that they’re very important because, you know, we talk about timely and accurate part of that falls into the next one, which is being accountable.

You know, you need to take ownership of your job. If I have 12 direct reports and I’m managing all of them, I don’t have time to manage their day to day. I don’t want to micromanage them. You don’t want me to micromanage you. You need to understand. What your priorities are, what needs to be done and take responsibility and ownership for it.

[00:12:00]
And beyond that, you know, there may not always be time to get detailed training. You know, I might just give you minimal pieces of information and throw that over the wall and. That requires that you then be proactive and say, Oh, you know, this is what I need to do next on this project. And this is what I have to figure out and then to be resourceful because I don’t always have the answers.

Um, and if I have to look it up. You could look it up just as easily. So, you know, understanding where to go, you know, can I look this up online? There are so many tools now online with Google and chat GPT and, you know, cautionary tale, you do have to check accuracy of those tools as well. But at the same time, there are so many resources at your fingertips, you know, dig into it, figure out what you can, and then.

Not only are you being, um, a better supporter for the team, but how, how much more proud of yourself are you when you can say. You did this on your own with minimal input and minimal direction. And so it’s really a win for the team member and the manager, and it’s a great way to be working together.

[00:13:00]
Absolutely. I always say, Google is your friend. So if you need to learn how to take really good meeting minutes, go to Google. You need a format for a budget report, go to Google. You need to know what a marketing plan looks like, go to Google. And you’ll find so many examples of those kinds of documents and things that you may be subjected to.

You may be told to go create, um, by looking at all the things that are already out there and then creating one that’s your own. Um, but Google is always your friend. Be the person who can, can find the answer. And that takes practice. That just takes doing it. So, all right, what else you got for us, Carolyn?

[00:14:00]
Um, so these next three, I like to categorize as, um, I sent an email syndrome because in addition to being proactive and resourceful and all of these other things, when you’re working on a project, it’s very far and few between that you are working on it by yourself and we’ll be able to complete it by yourself.

There are a lot of opportunities to work in teams, to work in groups. Um, some people that are in your department, some that are outside of your department, some that are customers and. There’s nothing more frustrating as a manager, um, as going to someone and saying, Hey, how’s this project going? You know, it’s coming up to the deadline and getting a response that’s, Oh, I sent an email and sending the email was not the, that wasn’t the assignment.

Right. So, yeah, I get it. Now you’re, you’re running into roadblocks. That’s a different discussion. So these 3 are to communicate, empathize and be team focused. So within. Communication, it’s a 2 way street. There’s a lot of opportunity when you’re sending an email or texting a friend for there to be 1 way communication.

[00:15:00]
But when the communication I’m talking about here between, you know, you and your boss is listening, understanding the point of the assignment, what needs to be done asking questions and also, you know, listening really, you know, listening to what. Each person is saying, maybe even repeating it back. I think you told me to do X.

Is that correct? Yes, that’s correct. So now you have the same basis, but it’s incumbent upon you as the employee to make sure that you are communicating clearly and that you understand the assignment. So that is, um, that’s the essence of, of communication, two way communication. Make sure you got it, write it down.

[00:16:00]
If you have to obviously ask questions, if you don’t understand it, or you need to clarify, um, but make that effort to do that. Absolutely. Yeah. I think communication, um, outgoing communication, what I’ve seen is, you know, the, I sent an email syndrome is what happens is a lot of the people just coming out of college might not understand how incredibly important it is to learn how to be a soft nudge to get the reply.

Yes. That if you send a reply, you send an email out to somebody and they don’t answer. That doesn’t mean that you’re bugging them if you call them or send out another email, it may mean they’re so busy that if you can’t get to the top of their inbox, you are never going to get your concern managed. So two way communication and being a nudge, a nice, soft.

Pleasant nudge is an incredibly valuable part of the communication process, especially early in your career when it’s your responsibility to get something done, but you may not have the authority to demand people respond to you. You just have to be persistent. So, yeah, exactly. And that’s exactly where.

[00:17:00]
Being empathetic and team focused comes in. Um, you know, you really need to understand that just because you need information from this engineer doesn’t mean he has nothing better to do than sit around waiting for your email and responding to you. He has a whole nother set of priorities that are over here that look nothing like what you need to get done.

And so you really need to look at it from their perspective to say, okay, it How can I help you to get this done? Is there somewhere I can go to get this answer without bugging you? You know, um, and we used to call it, we used to joke at NAL, we used to call it the three prong attack, I mean, approach, um, three prongs being the email didn’t work, then pick up the phone, number two, and number three, go camp out at their desk, and in the time that you’re chatting with them, they can probably get it done.

[00:18:00]
You know, so there’s different ways to approach it. And like you said, it, it has to be a softer nudge. It can’t be demanding. And especially if you’re in a lower level position, like that’s a real hard way to try and earn respect when you’re in a lower level position, demanding that someone else do something when you don’t understand that’s not their core job, they’re going to be doing this to help you, you know?

So I think. You know that. And that, that your priorities don’t always line up with everyone else’s. Exactly. You know, what you’re, you’re, what, what you’re assigned to may be really important to somebody, but not to most people on your team that you have to get information from. Exactly. So you’ve got to.

You’ve got to be persuasive. I mean, you have to have all kinds of great communication skills. I really, really recommend that young people take communications classes, business communications, read articles about it. Um, if you have a problem, you’re like, I’ve, I’ve, I’ve, you know, sent an email to this person six times and they still haven’t replied.

[00:19:00]
Yeah. Go to Google. How can I get somebody to reply to my email? I have clients where I put. Urgent in uppercase letters in the subject line with a colon and then my message or please reply because there are times that will stand out, you know, so there’s a lot of different ways to skin the cat. Right. Um, all right.

So basically. It’s a lot. A lot.

Oh, I was going to say, even, even in my current role as a business development director at Schaltbau, there have been times when I’m not getting a response from customers that I need to be able to give an update to. And I will go to my boss and say, Hey, is it okay if I copy you on this? Because maybe them just seeing your name will trigger something.

Or can we try calling them from your office? Because maybe they’ll answer. From your number, you know, you don’t know. You don’t know. Sometimes people are hierarchical and they’re, they’re like not going to be bothering to, Oh, well now the president wants to talk to me. I’ll call, I’ll see what he wants to do.

[00:20:00]
So it doesn’t hurt. Just like you said to, to go back and say, okay. How can I get in touch with this person? I’ve tried this, this, this, and this, can I pull you in on it? And it’s okay to do that. Um, yeah, and that’s where, um, so then we kind of transition into, you know, the team focus because we’ve already established that.

Everyone on the team has their own set of priorities, and you really do have to consider how your work is impacting others. A lot of times, work is a process. So person A will start it. They might come up with a format, pass it off to person B and C to fill in information. But if you didn’t do it right from the, from the beginning, then the next people downstream for you from you will also have to redo that activity.

[00:21:00]
And that really impedes efficiency and causes a lot of frustration. So it is important to recognize what you’re doing is going to impact somebody else and think about it from their perspective as well. Absolutely. So how do you want to wrap this up? What’s the, the, what’s the 10th principle? So this is like the culmination of Everything like you have mastered these nine principles, you are nailing it.

And now you are considered number 10. You are value added. You are saving the company money. You’re saving the company time. You’re being helpful. You’re knocking it out of the park and really contributing to the overall success of the company, whether it’s directly or indirectly. And that’s what we are really seeking.

You know, when hiring someone as someone that’s going to add value to the organization, bring your ideas, bring your creativity. You know, think about how you’re contributing to the profitability of the organization and every step that you’re taking and how it does that. And once you have that, then you’re ready to, you know, ask for that next level of promotion, ask for that next career shift in a, in a different direction, because you’re able to understand.

[00:22:00]
What you’re really bringing to the table. Absolutely. Yeah. That value being that value added person. I mean, when you go into, when you run a company, say you manage a small company or department, you know, who your power players are. You may have seven people, you may have three power players. Those are the ones that have all these things nailed.

They’re creative problem solvers. They’re tenacious. They’re empathetic. They, they’re stellar communicators. Those are the ones that get promoted. Those are the people that you look to that can take things on when you’re not, when you’re not around and handle them well. in a way that adds value to the situation.

So anything else about those principles that you want to drop here, Carolyn?

[00:23:00]
Um, good question. I think we pretty well covered them. I think it really, it just starts again at the essence of being helpful and how to transition that into being a value added employee once you’ve gotten your feet on the ground and have been in the position for a while and continue to develop it.

Yeah, and I would add that if you think you’ve heard all this before, consider how are you really applying what you know, because a lot of us know that we need to communicate, we need to follow up, we need to do these things. You may have heard it before, but how are you applying it? Are you at 100%, even 90%?

I always say attendance is 90 percent of the grade. So if you’re even doing it at a 90 percent level, you’re good to go and you will stand out, right? Just show up, just show up and be present. That is so important. Half the battle. All right. So we want to close out with Carolyn’s best piece of advice she’s ever received that has helped her in her career.

[00:24:00]
Go ahead. Yes. So this, this goes. I was back quite a few years. I was working at a small family owned company called Ray Lighting and I was going to school full time so I was paying my way through Oakland University and at the time I was working in a part time role, saw an opportunity to move into something totally different that was full time with this company and asked my dad for some advice and he said, Carolyn, You just got to tell them how good you are, because if you don’t tell them, they don’t know and they don’t even know you’re interested.

So that was, I mean, simple advice, but really eye opening, you know, you may think that because you’re achieving things and doing well in your current role, that you’ll automatically be considered for something different. But if your boss doesn’t know that you’re interested, they may not think about you.

So you have to go in and ask for it. And I did, I went in and I said. You know, these are the things I’ve accomplished in this role. This is what I want to do. And then, and you know, this full time role and why I think it would be a good fit and they took a chance on me and they gave it to me, but it really could not be their way.

[00:25:00]
The rest is history. The rest is history. I moved on from there and did all kinds of things with other lighting. And yes, absolutely. Yeah. It really, it really does. You gotta advocate for yourself. You do. I have a friend who was in advertising and she was a copywriter at an ad agency and she was, became known as one of the longest employees at Campbell Ewald.

And People, they do, they do layoffs twice a year. So if you can stay there for like 20 or 30 years, which she did, one of the things that she did was every Friday she would send an email to her boss. These are the things I’ve accomplished this week. Here’s an update on what I did this week. And I’ve always thought that that was connected to her longevity because she didn’t have to, you know, you can’t expect your boss to necessarily know what you’re accomplishing as much as you do day to day.

[00:26:00]
So it’s a lot easier to just kind of keep that path of information flow and let them know. So it really, it really is. It’s actually a good point. I, I. Typically have in the past and still try to continue to encourage my team to keep an evidence file of evidence of things they’ve done well, or things that they’ve achieved, or if they did a really awesome presentation or project, put it in a folder or save it online in a folder, because at the end of the year, when their boss is giving reviews, they don’t necessarily remember what 12 different people did.

They know what stands out, but not necessarily all of it. And you want to be able to have that to say. This is what I’ve done so that they remember and then they think of you for those next challenging opportunities. Absolutely. So sing your own praises. Don’t worry about the egos. Yeah. Sing your own praises.

[00:27:00]
Don’t be humble to the boss. Yeah. Humble. They don’t know. They don’t know how good you are until you tell them. Exactly. Alright, guys, thank you so much for joining us. This is our, uh, wrap up for this episode. I’m Lori Jo Vest, AKA Work Mom. Please visit my website at work. Mom says.com. I have a book on Amazon work.

Mom says, don’t be an idiot. 38 lessons. You don’t want to learn the hard way. Um, pick up a copy of that for yourself or your favorite recent graduate or soon to be recent graduate and get in touch with me there. I have a contact form and I’d love to hear what you want me to talk about. Who do you want me to talk to?

Um, if you think you’d make a great guest on the show, please submit your name. I’m an open networker on LinkedIn, so please connect with me there. Carolyn, you too. Are you an open networker on LinkedIn? Absolutely. Absolutely connect with me. Yeah. And Carolyn does a lot of, uh, mentoring young, you know, young, recent college graduates.

[00:28:00]

Not that I’m telling you all to flock to her, but you know, if you have a question or something, you can be willing to answer. Yeah, exactly. I always have time to answer questions for curious minds that want to be successful. I’m happy to help in any way I can. Absolutely. So thank you. And we’ll be back with another episode soon.

Who is our ideal listener?

This podcast is for young professionals, so they can learn to play the emotional context sport of business and experience less drama and more success.

The ideal listener is anyone struggling on an emotional level in the workplace. Work Mom Says it helps you learn to be strategic at work. This means you can look at the big picture without getting lost in the weeds. How can you be more logical and less emotional? Be strategic, and Work Mom Says can help you.

“I tell people to back up, put down the magnifying glass, and look at the big picture when you’re responding to something,” said Lori Jo Vest, Work Mom. “In doing this, you will understand that what’s really upsetting you right now will be something you don’t even remember next week.”

 

What value can people get from listening to this podcast?

Listening to Work Mom Says can help you grow your mood management skills, grow your ability to reframe situations, and look at things from a strategic point of view. This makes it easier to go into a work situation and get the most positive results.

On Work Mom Says, we also offer tips and tricks for creating connected positive relationships that last over time. People will want you on the team if you can create connected positive relationships and work environments. You become an asset, and you will be more successful when you’re an asset.

“I also like to talk about developing traits like optimism, persistence, tenacity, stick-to-itiveness, sticking with things, and approaching every project with a curious mind instead of a fearful mind,” said Lori Jo Vest, Work Mom

                                                                                                     

Why do I do this? A few more words from Work Mom

I do this because I naturally fell into the Work Mom role when I worked in the ad agency business and had so much fun with it. I also realized I had made just about every mistake there was to make. I don’t hold myself as a stellar example of truth and how you should be. I hold myself out there as someone who has been bruised, battered, and beaten up and learned some important lessons. I’d love to share these lessons with young people, so they don’t have to make those same mistakes or be the idiot I was.

I also want to help young professionals realize that many things our culture prioritizes aren’t really important. We talk a lot about what should be important and how to present your best face at the office so that you can succeed.

I’ve learned so much throughout my career, and it’s gratifying to share that with young professionals and help them avoid some of those mistakes and get to that success sooner.

Episode 26 – “The Origin of Work Mom Says (Plus a Sneak Peek at My Upcoming Book)” appeared first on Work Mom Says.