Mistakes

One of the many things that is so important in life is to learn from our mistakes, but in order to learn from mistakes, we first have to be willing to make them.  Mistakes aren't made and lessons aren't learned by those timid souls who sit idly by and wait to be told exactly what to do.  When you start in a job, you may not quite know enough to do a lot of things on your own. If you don't, be proactive in asking your boss what you can help with next.  Don't sit and wait for her to come to you.  If you learn quickly, hopefully you have a boss who will encourage you to make decisions and will give you the authority to make them.  Know this though, eventually, you are going to make a decision that is a mistake.   

When you make your first major mistake, I hope you have a boss who works through it with you, who explains why it was a mistake and what might have been a better option.  Enlightened bosses will know that you're going to eventually make a mistake.  They hope they can catch you before you make it, but that isn't always possible.  

An important piece after you make a mistake is how you communicate it. When you do make a mistake, own up to it. Don't blame someone else if you know that you screwed-up.  None of us wants to think that we're the ones at fault, but when we really think about it, we might be.  It wasn't done on purpose, but it was our fault.  Our knee-jerk reaction is to blame someone/something else.  I've worked in organizations where the first thing out of people's mouths when they screw up is "such and such was supposed to ________, that's why it happened."  They also love to tell everyone else that same thing.  Please don't do that.  Be an adult.  Don't start telling others that it was someone else's fault.  Be willing to say, "It was my fault.  I screwed up.  It's a lesson I've learned and it won't happen again."  Seriously think about what you learned from the mistake--you should have followed up with someone or you should have gotten the price quote in writing or whatever.  

The next key is not to let it happen again.  Making mistakes isn't career killing, but making the same mistakes over and over is.  You don't want to become known as the person who always screws up.  You also don't want to be known as the person who doesn't take responsibility for her actions. 

Promotions Aren't Like Birthdays...

Promotions at work aren't like birthdays...you don't get one every year. I've seen too many young people recently who think that they're entitled to a promotion after being in a job for only a year or two (and sometimes after an even shorter time). And they're pissing off their managers. Worse yet, when they do receive a promotion, then they expect one every year. It doesn't work that way in the real world. There are often situations where a candidate is on the border between title levels when he begins working at an organization. As part of the hiring negotiation, the company may agree to a review his performance after six or twelve months and agree to a promotion to the next level if his performance meets specific expectations. Even after that initial promotion, though, it may be 2-4 years before he receives another promotion.

Let's say the levels of an organization are as follows:

-Coordinator - Assistant Manager - Manager - Sr. Manager - Director - Vice President - President

With a promotion every year, an employee will have worked through the entire organization in six years, and anyone who thinks that the norm is to be president of a company in six years is seriously delusional. Anyone who thinks that being a director after six years is delusional! And in sports, it's even less likely. The simple rules of supply and demand apply for sports jobs more than most other jobs. Be realistic before you start a job. Otherwise, you're going to show just how naive you are and you're probably going to piss off your boss in the process.

Voice Mail Messages You Leave

Before you leave a voice mail message for a person who could possibly hire you for a job or internship, make sure you know what you're going to say. As ridiculous as it may sound, rehearse saying the message out loud. Do it often enough so it doesn't sound like you're reading it. You'd be surprised how easy it is to start rambling like an idiot and continually repeat yourself. Something I heard recently that I thought was a good suggestion was to call your own cell phone (even if from your cell phone) and leave a message when you're driving or just have some down time. Once you listen to it, you'll be able to pick-up on any annoying ticks (um, you know, speak at lightning speed, etc.) that you have and correct them.

Another minor little detail to consider is what you'll say if the person actually answers. I've been in the office late at night and answered the phone to a startled person on the other end. Don't discount the possibility of someone being at his desk. Additionally, sometimes the best time to reach the person you're trying to speak with is in the morning or the evening, before or after traditional work hours (7:00a-9:00a or 5:30p-8:00p). I know that I am NOT a morning person and was often in the office late at night. During the day when I'm running between meetings, I might not have time to speak at length with someone, but later in the day, I usually do.

Something I forgot to put in the last post about the message you have on your voice mail intro--be sure to say your first and last name if you have a name that people often butcher. None of us want to intentionally butcher another's name. This will help make sure they at least get close to pronouncing your name correctly when they do speak with you.

The Voicemail Intro on Your Phone

"Hi, this is Michelle.  You've reached the right number at the wrong time.  You know the drill.  Leave me a message." 

As you begin to call professionals in the industry, you're invariably going to be leaving them a voicemail with your number so they can call you back.  I'll save the items about when to call and what to leave on their voicemail for the next post.   For this one, it's about the message that they're going to hear on your phone if they call you back.  Personally, I'm OK with funny or informal messages.  I think they show a little creativity, and I LOVE creative people.  I don't like companies that are old and stuffy.  But I can tell you with certainty that most business people don't care for those informal or funny messages.  They hear them and cringe, thinking they're very unprofessional.  They start thinking, "If she has that unprofessional of a message when she knows I may be calling and she's trying to get a job/internship with me, how unprofessionally is she going to behave with my customers?  Could I even trust her to know what a professional conversation with my customers should sound like?"

Unfortunately, there are times when you will have to conform to the accepted "business norms," especially when you're trying to break into the industry or are just starting an entry level job with a long-standing organization (e.g., professional leagues, major universities, etc.)  Personally, I hate the idea of conforming to "business norms" that are a throw-back to the 1950s and were created by WASPy old white men, but I'm also a pragmatist.  Don't shoot yourself in the foot before you even get a chance to begin your career and show them what you can do.  Unless you start your own company or find a really cool start-up or small company that embraces irreverence, you're going to have to get rid of your college student voicemail message.  Welcome to the adult world of business where fun sometimes gets swept under the carpet!  

The Forgotten Piece of Being Able to Work Independently

I was talking with a professor here at OU today and she was praising one of the graduate assistants for how well she works independently.  She was saying that the grad student needs almost no direction on what to do, but that because of it, she (the professor) doesn't know if a project is almost done or if it's barely been started.  I think it's great that this student can work so independently.  It's something that bosses love!  What this student is missing, though, is that she needs to keep her boss updated on her projects and where they stand.  It's a minor thing, and one I know this student will pick-up very quickly once she receives this feedback.  It's a much easier fix to teach someone to keep her boss updated than it is to teach her to work independently.  In the realm of personnel issues, this is a nice one to have.

In your jobs and internships, make sure to let your boss know where you stand on completing projects.  Even if she doesn't ask, let her know either by dropping by her office or sending a quick email.  It doesn't have to be anything elaborate or long.  Quite frankly, it shouldn't be long.  Just a few sentences or bullet points are all you need.  The best solution is to flat out ask her at the beginning, "How would you like me to keep you updated on my progress with this project?"  It will show a maturity level that isn't always seen in young employees.

In Chaos, There Is Opportunity

In chaos, there is opportunity.  I first heard this phrase in an old Cary Grant movie, Operation Petticoat, when Tony Curtis's character was scrounging for parts during a bombing.  The phrase is true in the sports industry, too.  

We all have those one or two top level organizations where we dream of working.  We may even be lucky enough to get to work for them from day one.  Sometimes, though, it's better to take an opportunity in a smaller or start-up or off-the-beaten-path organization.  Why, though?  Often, these other types of organizations can offer more hands-on experience in a lot of different areas than a large one can.  Established companies often have long established policies and procedures.  This isn't necessarily a bad thing.  You can learn about a specific area in an established company, but in a small or developing one, you can learn about MANY different areas and help create the policies and procedures.  It also allows you to have an impact on what happens in a bigger way.  When you go to apply for your next job, you can give concrete examples to hiring managers of the impact you had on the organization.  

I was in the second intern class at Disney's Wide World of Sports.  The first class had three people who started working the year before the Sports Complex even opened.  They worked 100+ hour weeks on a regular basis to help get it open.  There were ten of us in the second intern class and only a handful of permanent staff compared to what Disney Sports has now.  Our class got there about six weeks after they opened and just before the summer deluge of events.  We all worked on all kinds of events and in a lot of different functional areas.  It was the best internship possible and one where we were able to learn a great deal about a lot of different areas.  We got to sit in on meetings and manage areas that I'm sure their interns today don't.  The Disney Sports internship is still one of the top ones out there, but with 30+ interns and a boatload more specialized staff, the interns don't get quite the same experience we did.  It was chaos and we had an opportunity that doesn't come along often with an organization like Disney.

When you're looking for your first job or an internship, take a look at some of those smaller university jobs if you want to work at a BCS school in the future...or if you want to work for an NBA team, look at a team in the NBA Development League...You get the idea.  Search for your internship or job based on the experience you're going to get from it.

Professional Journal

I don't know where I heard about keeping a professional journal, but it's something I've been doing since I started as an intern in 1997 at Disney Sports.  Since then, I've read about various entrepreneurs who keep idea journals and/or notes about meetings.  Maybe I read something about it back then and got the idea that way.

These journals have proven very valuable to me as I've worked on projects and needed to reference information.  I started by recording information that my leaders would relate in meetings.  They weren't necessarily things they were saying directly to me, but items that would come up in planning discussions with the entire event management team, things about event management that I just didn't know at the time.  It could be anything--ratios to use when renting certain equipment (at least 1 portable toilet per 75 people and 1 ADA portable toilet per 150 people); standard revenue split percentages for merchandise sales with partners; keeping signage messages and PA announcements positive (use REMEMBER TO rather than DON'T FORGET TO); and dozens of other simple things. 

From there, I started summarizing great articles I read (a lot of early Fast Company articles in my first journal), writing down key points from books, and taking notes from a multitude of speakers I heard.  It's progressed now to the point of clipping key items that I know I'll use later, especially data/statistics and their sources.  (Even though I know it could all be found relatively easily again on the internet, I still clip it and tape it into my journal.  I know what's in the journal and can flip to it even faster than I can Google the exact info.)  The latest evolution of what I keep in my professional journal includes ideas that I someday want to turn into my own business(es), sketches, names of people from my network I'd want to hire and in what roles, what I want my company employee policies to be, etc.  

I have a friend who negotiates contracts with professional athletes for his organization.  Last month, he was telling me that his mentor had kept meticulous notes of all his negotiations throughout his career.  My friend started doing the same when he began working for his mentor.  He said that it's his professional journal to help him with future negotiations, but it's also a great way to document his career for his own edification. 

If you decide to keep a professional journal, make it something that is your own and fits your personality.  There's no one way to do it.  The only rule is to use it in whatever way is going to be beneficial to you.