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Video Recap - Business Etiquette for Engineers

11/16/2020

 
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9 Steps for Engineers to Develop Good Business Etiquette

10/21/2020

 
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​Technologist, including engineers, are often unfairly labeled and stereotyped as lacking soft skills when it comes to interacting with other people.  Words like ‘quirky’, ‘introverted’ and ‘rambling’ are often used to describe technologists and how they interact with others.  After more than 15 years in the medical device field working side by side with my engineering colleagues I’m convinced these adjectives unfairly characterize many technologists, yet the use of these descriptions continues to permeate conversations rather consistently. 
 
Whether you’re a technologist or not, the simple truth is we all could use a little help in upgrading ourselves professionally.  Continual improvement is a cornerstone for a good professional and so is proper business etiquette.   If you’re looking for a way to improve how you show up, including how those around you perceive you, consider the following nine steps to boost your business etiquette:
 
1.       KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid)
A wonderful acronym to say the least.  Those of us who like to tinker and develop products  have a tendency to overcomplicate the outcome, as well as our communication.  When we ‘over engineer’ our ideas, products or conversations it shows a lack of understanding for the true need as well as our ability to hold back personal interest before company needs.  Good business etiquette in this area is when we build awareness around the importance of keeping things simple which focuses on driving greater realized value for the end user.  “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” – Leonardo Da Vinci
 
2.       Understand the Big Picture
Technologist can be stereotyped as not understanding the company’s bigger picture and its goals as a business.  Its important engineers slow down to take the time to understand how their role impacts the business, especially how their decisions impact things downstream.  When we understand the big picture we’re able to remove ourselves from our preconceived notions and think like business professionals, not just technology developers.  This becomes crucial when we’re making decisions early in the product development process on product needs versus how that need supports the company’s mission and the needs within the marketplace.  Just because something is a great feat of engineering awe doesn’t mean it is necesary for the product, the company and or the customer.
 
3.       Be Proactive With Your Communication
Engineers live a life of projects.  They go from one project to another in their day to day work and as such they’re often embroiled in deadlines.  There’s nothing more frustrating to have someone on your team report the day of the deadline that they are going to miss it.  That’s unacceptable.  When we have good business etiquette we respect the other people on the team by communicating proactively so the team is prepared, especially in a situation where we may be missing a deadline.  Don’t wait to communicate. 
 
4.       Understand Your Cross Functional Colleagues
It’s poor business etiquette for engineers to only stay in their lane and not get to know, interact with, or understand their colleagues in non-technical roles.  Why is this the case?  Read #2 on this list.  When we don’t understand the bigger picture of the business, how it runs and operates, how decisions are made and why they’re made, our ability to be a productive employee is reduced to chance.  Ever seen someone come up with an idea which they claim to be amazing or revolutionary to be shot down shortly thereafter from another person in the company?  More often than not that idea infringed on #1 or #2 within this list.  For example, if you make a suggestion to add a feature to an existing product without taking into consideration the cost to manufacture it or if the companies sales people can actually sell it to their customers you’ve singlehandedly shown that you can come up with ideas which have little merit in their ability to be executed. 
 
5.       Good Enough Vs. Perfect
Confucius said, “Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without.”  When we chase perfection we often find ourselves on a never ending journey where we’re busy as can be without accomplishing much.  Its important engineers build awareness around the idea that nothing is ever finished therefore it isn’t settling if perfection isn’t achieve.  We should expect it and build product updates into our process down the road.  Apple, Inc. does this all the time with their new releases and they still have people lining up around the block to buy their products, regardless of the initial glitches and bugs associated. 
 
6.       Handshakes and Eye Contact
Those of us in technical fields can at times get a bad rap for not being social butterflies who know how to engage with others.  Let’s buck the stereotype!  Good business etiquette tells us it is important to give a firm handshake upon initial interaction with another person.  In fact, its common to hear from leaders that a poor handshake can be the difference in someone getting a job.  The limp wrist, fish handshake belongs nowhere in business.  Same can be said about eye contact.  Be intentional with your eye contact when speaking with someone in person.  Looking at the floor or down at your lap gives others the impression you aren’t confident in yourself.
 
7.       Ditch the Cell Phone
Your cell phone needs to stay in your pocket at all times when you are engaged with others, especially in a business setting, unless you are using it as part of the discussion.  If you’re in a conversation, including a group conversation, and you’re simultaneously thumbing through your social media you’re giving off a sign that what other people have to say isn’t important.  Put the phone away!  Your digital friends, who you’ll never meet anyways, won’t even notice you’re not there to like their cat memes.  FOMO no mo.
 
8.       First Impressions Are Actually Important
This goes hand-in-hand, pun intended, with #6.  The way we show up with other people, especially during a first impression can make or break someone’s perception of you.  Greet people, shake their hand, learn their name.  Make an effort to engage with them.  Be polite and considerate.  Lastly, be groomed!  If you’re appearance is disheveled or unbecoming of a professional that’s how you’ll be treated.  Most technologists make a healthy living in their careers, it’s important you act like it, at least upon first impressions.
 
9.       Respecting Others Lack of Technical Knowledge
When you’re talking to a layperson, a non-engineer, do your best to use simple, straightforward language.  People who aren’t engineers already are often times giving you the benefit of the doubt that you’re smart. (this is the one time when a stereotype works in your favor)  As such, you don’t need to impress people with your technical prowess by using terminology and theoretical concepts which fly over the head of the other person in the conversation.  Be mindful of who you are talking to and adjust accordingly as this will ensure the discussion is fruitful for both parties.  If the other party wants more information they’ll signal to you to get into the weeds, then its go time!
 
When we’re demonstrating good business etiquette we simultaneously show that we respect others while respecting ourselves.  Take the time to build awareness in this area of your career, it will pay dividends in spades over the long haul. 

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Monday Quickie - Turn Your Job Interview Into a Successful New Career

9/30/2019

 
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​It’s exhilarating, yet marginally terrifying!
​
You’ve got butterflies in your stomach.  Butterflies of excitement, or is nauseous butterflies?  These feelings, normal as they may be, describe two life experiences: job interviewing and dating.  The butterflies of interviewing for a job are often characterized as the same response we get when interviewing.

Ever wondered why a first date feels like a job interview?  Knowing the answer to this can make or break your ability to turn your interview into a successful new career.

They feel the same, seem the same and often produce the same outcomes because a job interview and a date in fact one in the same.

While that may sound like an unpopular parallel to draw hang with me a moment while I explain why dating and job interview is one in the same.  Just as important, why it’s important to understand this and how it impacts your experience and ability to land the job you're interviewing for.

Let’s start with the obvious – people make decisions largely based on feelings. 

Did you know the majority of the time we making hiring decisions based off of one thing – how much or little we like a person.  This has been studied time and time again producing the same outcomes.  We’ll hire someone who may not check every box we need for the job from a function or experience perspective but if we like them as a person we have a tendency to overlook a lack of experience.  We do this because we’re wired to think, operate and act based on our unconscious biases which control our perspectives on race, education, economic status, personality, values, etc.  Simply, if we can relate to the person, we’ll have a tendency to want to hire them more often than not.

Ironically, this is the same exact process we use when searching for a mate and going through the dating process.  When we’re on a date we’re sizing the other person up as quickly as possible to determine ‘is there a reason I should see this person again?’.  Simply, can I relate to them?
We have a positive bias towards people who are similar to us and therefore a negative bias towards people who are different than us.

We don’t often associate first dates and job interviews as one in the same however the more we look into each experience and how we act during them we come to find that both of these human interactions are eerily similar.

How does knowing this information help me with dating and interviewing?  The better we understand the psychology of these interactions, our feelings on them and how we make decisions we can approach each situation with better perspective and hopefully end up on the other side with a better outcome.

Let’s look at the similarities between dating and job interviewing and how each of them impacts our decision making process.

- First Impressions:
This is the holy grail of decision making when it comes to whether or not we like someone initially.  Failure to have a good first impression will more often than not result in a second interaction never making the calendar.  Psychologists call it "thin slicing."  Within moments of meeting someone, we’re deciding and making assumptions on all sorts of things about the other person, from status, intelligence, career success and even promiscuity.  This can be as quick as 7 seconds!  What that means is that everyone is trying to put their best foot forward, which can make things tricky because often times both parties are wondering if the person they’re talking too is the ‘real’ John Doe or the in-character John Doe.
 
- Chemistry:
You know it when it exists.  Things just seem easy.  You laugh more, you tend to lean in closer to the other person more often and you even overlook potential red flags because your gut is already invested in the other person long before your brain has had a chance to catch up.  On the other hand, when chemistry is lacking you feel like you’re on a date from hell.  It’s awkward and painful, causing you to wish you had an escape route pre-planned to get you out of the date or interview.
 
- Communication:
Communication is much more than just verbal, it also includes nonverbal cues like the unspoken word and body language.  Ever been in an interview and eye contact communicated more in 4 seconds what a 10 minute conversation could accomplish?  I’ve been there and it’s a powerful experience.  When our verbal communication is locked in sync it can feel like we’ve been friends for years.  When communication struggles it feels like pulling teeth to have an average conversation.  Both people may be speaking the same language but it seems as if one person is speaking Russian while the other is a Mandarin linguist.  We become bewildered and confused, not exactly a great start towards building a solid relationship.
 
- Commonalities:
“Wow, I went to USC as well.  Fight On!”  “You’re from Handsome Eddy, New York also?  What a small world.” Finding common ground during a first date or a job interview can immediately disarm both parties allowing more casual conversation to occur.  Bonding takes place over the things we find out we have in common such as our love for golf, knitting that fabulous turtle neck sweater for the holidays or volunteering for a similar cause.  It doesn’t really matter what it is so long as we have a shared interest.  Most of us don’t realize when we’re in these moments what we’re looking for is something we already know and like – ourselves.  When we struggle to find something in common with the other party it has a direct negative impact to the chemistry we’re trying to build on.
 
- Perception vs. Reality
As the date and or job interview continues we inevitably begin to ask question to get to know the person in hopes of better understanding them and what they bring to the table.  Many times what happens during these exchanges is we get a glimpse into a person that isn’t very real at all.  I don’t believe people do this on purpose, at least most people, however the fact of the matter is in a first date and job interview we are doing our darndest to put our best foot forward.  As a result, people can often times misrepresent themselves for who they are and what they’re all about.  This is similar to the honeymoon stage where only after a period of time we’ll be able to know if the person today is the same tomorrow.
 
- Emotion
Love at first sight!  Let’s face it, emotion is a part of every first date and job interview, but it can also help us or hurt us in our decisions.  Help us in that if we become emotionally invested in the other person it allows us to overlook small red flags that otherwise might get in the way of us making a decision that could be good for both parties.  Emotions can also hurt us because if we experience something which causes our ego or pride to be damaged we then make decisions that aren’t in the best interest of the interview or date because we’re focused on protecting ourselves.
 
- The Angle
“What’s he really all about?”  ‘The angle’ is described as the feeling when a person has ulterior motives.  This happens both in interviewing and dating.  Candidates are angling to get a job, sometimes presenting themselves in a light which makes them appear more qualified than they really are.  Employers also do the same by upselling the career opportunity to entice candidates to consider the role even though the actual work might not be nearly as glamorous as how it was made out to be, or the company may not be the best place to work.
 
Key Take Away:
People by their very nature go about experiences, such as first dates and interviewing for jobs, in a fairly predictable way.  While the outcome might be out of our control, the way we go into the experience and how we handle ourselves during the experience greatly influences the outcome.  Knowing this information, first dates and job interviews are similar, can help you go through each experience with a broader perspective allowing you to make better decisions for yourself and potential career or company.

Action Item:
Next time you find yourself on a first date or job interview remember that these human experiences are designed to see if it is worth it or not to have a second go around.  The best approach is to just be yourself, as a result you’ll find that your interactions with others are far more valuable to you and the person on the other side of the table.

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10 Reasons Why We Struggle to Hire Great People

7/5/2016

 
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​After more than a decade of hiring people on a daily basis I’ve seen a thing or two when it comes to good vs. bad practices as it relates to hiring employees.  During that time I’ve also made my fair share of mistakes which have offered up a lot of learning opportunities.  What I've learned over the years is that making a hiring mistake can be costly.

Hiring an employee is an interesting and vital part of business.  Interesting in that the end result is bringing on a new person into your company with the idea that they will fulfill a role to help the company move forward.  Vital, because hiring really is one of the most important activities a business can do outside of generating revenue.  Without revenue streaming in there is no need for hiring and no company for that matter.

The act of hiring is often whimsical and mythical in nature, like a unicorn.  Everyone loves to say they’re great at interviewing as they ‘know how to pick em’, they’re ‘able to sniff out the best from the worst’, etc.  I always enjoy a good chuckle when I hear comments like this because the reality is that these words often come with hollow ground. 

In fact, the act of interviewing and hiring is so tough it’s probably best we just get these two stats out ahead of time:
  1. HBR did a study that found 80% of turnover is due to poor hiring decisions
  2. More than 70% of companies don’t have a specific process they follow to ensure their hiring process is streamlined and effective

With stats like that you’d think companies would focus more on hiring to improve that area of the business similarly to how they spend endless amounts of time and money on activities like kaizen events and lean initiatives in order to improve yields by a couple percentage points. 

In the end the numbers don’t lie as they tell us a very sobering story – no one is perfect when it comes to hiring employees.  However the quicker we build awareness around our actual performance in the area of hiring the quicker we can begin to improve it. 

Take a look below and see where you land on these 10 hiring blunders:
  1. Candidates are disrespected going through the interview process (this happens all the time and is one of the quickest ways to lose a great candidate; disrespect comes in the form of wasting people’s time, not getting back to people, treating them poorly during the onsite interview, etc.)
  2. Manager has unrealistic expectations and makes hiring decisions based on being able to perform immediately rather than long term success
  3. Don’t know what they’re looking for in a candidate so they interview dozens of people hoping to figure it out along the way (this often times is an unspoken action as few people will openly admit to their peers they don’t know what they’re doing)
  4. The job description used to search and vet candidates isn’t the same as the real job responsibilities
  5. Interviewing is based around job tasks, not the expected performance results
  6. Interview process is horrific (it goes months on end with weeks of down time in between, involving several interviews with dozens of people
  7. Fails to connect what the company offers with a candidates career motivations (when this happens companies are hiring people to fill a job, not a career)
  8. Don’t know how to find the best candidates (hint – only about 11% of people find their job on the internet so if your strategy is to solely to use technology you’re missing out on 89% of the rest of the workforce)
  9. They are reactive, not proactive, in hiring
  10. They have entire teams or departments involved the hiring decision (often times those people aren’t trained on how to interview and don’t understand the true needs of the job)
 
Do you or your company fall short in any of these areas? 
 
If so you’ve got an opportunity to improve the process and create a great hiring experience for the sake of your new hire and company’s performance in the future. 
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Why Your New Employee Already Wants To Quit

5/20/2016

 
If you’re hiring or plan to hire this year it’s important you know two truths about present day hiring:
  1. Just because you have a job opportunity doesn’t make you special (there are upwards of four times as many jobs as there are available/ qualified people to fill them)
  2. When employees are looking for a new career they are often seeking an ‘experience’

​After a decade of working in the technical services and recruiting industry I’ve had few experiences, less than I can count on one hand, with companies that had onboarding programs which I would classify as amazing.  Most companies fall short, way short, when it comes to providing a good onboarding experience to their new employees.

There’s an important note to be made here.  When people hear ‘hiring’ and ‘onboarding’ they have a tendency to think that those responsibilities fall on our partners in HR.  This couldn’t be farther from the truth.  The leaders who make the actual hiring decision have much to do with this process and good leaders know firsthand that their involvement can make or break the success of that new employee.

Employees, regardless of age, are looking for an ‘experience’ at work.  Of course having a job is important to them but increasingly important, arguably more important, for a large majority of the professional workforce is the need to work at a place that provides an experience of comradery, meaningfulness in work, giving back, etc. and the list goes on.  

Part of that experience is a company’s onboarding program and these programs shouldn’t be taken lightly. 

Does your current employee onboarding program communicate the right message to the best candidates in the market?

Forbes estimates as high as 20% of employee attrition occurs within the first 45 days on the job as a result of poor employee onboarding.  In fact, new employees who attended a well-structured onboarding orientation program were 69% more likely to remain at a company up to three years. 

That’s a huge impact!

According to iCIMS, a software company specializing in recruiting systems and software, identified that new hires meet their first performance milestone 77% of the time when a formal onboarding program is in place versus only 49% of the time when one ceases to exist.

What that tells us is that when a good employee onboarding program exist BOTH individual performance and job tenure improve dramatically.  I would also dare to say that the employees’ happiness and appreciation for the job are improved as well.

What do you do if your employee onboarding program lacks an experience to capture the best of the best?

Look no further – this article provides a complete overview of the only onboarding program you will ever need.  Be prepared.  There’s some work to be done here before you can just go hire someone and plop them in their bean bag cubby, or dungeon, whichever you’re working with. For the purposes of this article the ‘onboarding experience’ refers to the entire spectrum from when a job posting first gets released straight through to the new employees sixth month on the job.

The SQR1 Six Month Onboarding Program:

Step 1: Candidate Identification
This is the employees’ first glimpse into your company, their experience during this time matters greatly as to whether or not you will have an employee for years or for a matter of months.

- Job Posting – make them friendly and exciting; talk less about performance expectations and more about the opportunity and experience they will have in the role; create enthusiasm in candidates by sharing with candidates exciting things to come like new technology, new services, positive changes within the company, company culture or philosophies, etc.

- Call Backs - ensure people receive call backs to their application; there’s nothing worse than when people apply to a job opening and don’t hear anything in return; automated responses acknowledging the resume submission are at a minimum a necessity, at which point an acceptance or notice of decline is appropriate and certainly better than not saying anything at all and sending people into a black hole.
For the rest of the article click here...
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Why Your Job Interviews Feel Like A First Date

5/20/2016

 
‘It’ can be an exhilarating experience causing you to forget about the present time or one where you’re looking for the exit door in a panic as every minute passes by.  You may think to yourself ‘where has this person been all my life’ or ‘as soon as I can end this politely we both know we’ll never talk again.’  You’re pitting out your button up shirt, not because it’s hot, because you’re nervous and trying to make a good impression.  You’ve got butterflies in your stomach, but are those butterflies of excitement or butterflies leading to vomit?
Which experience am I describing here, a first date or a job interview?
What if I told you I was describing both, a first date AND a job interview!
We don’t often associate first dates and job interviews as one in the same however the more we look into each experience and how we act during them we come to find that both of these human interactions are eerily similar.
How does knowing this information help me with dating and interviewing?  Read on to find out…
Let’s take a look at why first dates and job interviews share so much in common.
- First Impressions:
This is the holy grail of decision making when it comes to whether or not we like someone initially.  Failure to have a good first impression will more often than not result in a second interaction never making the calendar.  Psychologists call it "thin slicing."  Within moments of meeting someone, we’re deciding and making assumptions on all sorts of things about the other person, from status, intelligence, career success and even promiscuity.  This can be as quick as 7 seconds!  What that means is that everyone is trying to put their best foot forward, which can make things tricky because often times both parties are wondering if the person they’re talking too is the ‘real’ John Doe or the in-character John Doe.
- Chemistry:
You know it when it exists.  Things just seem easy.  You laugh more, you tend to lean in closer to the other person more often and you even overlook potential red flags because your gut is already invested in the other person long before your brain has had a chance to catch up.  On the other hand, when chemistry is lacking you feel like you’re on a date with your sister.  It’s awkward and feel it from your fingers to your toes. 
- Communication:
Communication is much more than just verbal, it also includes nonverbal cues like the unspoken word and body language.  Ever been in an interview and eye contact communicated more in 4 seconds what a 10 minute conversation could accomplish?  I’ve been there and it’s a powerful experience.  When our verbal communication is locked in sync it can feel like we’ve been friends for years.  When communication struggles it feels like pulling teeth to have an average conversation.  Both people may be speaking English but it seems as if one person is speaking Russian while the other is a Mandarin linguist.  We become bewildered and confused, not exactly a great start towards building a solid relationship.
- Commonalities:
“Wow, went to USC as well.  Fight On!”  “You’re from Handsome Eddy, New York also?  What a small world.” Finding common ground during a first date or a job interview can immediately disarm both parties allowing more casual conversation to occur.  Bonding takes place over the things we find out we have in common such as our love for golf, knitting that fabulous turtle neck sweater for the holidays or volunteering for a similar cause.  It doesn’t really matter what it is so long as we have something in common.  Most of us don’t realize that when we’re in the moment what we’re looking for is something we already know and like – ourselves.  When we struggle to find something in common it has a direct negative impact to that chemistry we’re trying to build on.


- Perception vs. Reality
As the date and or job interview continues we inevitably begin to ask question to get to know the person in hopes of better understanding them and what they bring to the table.  Many times what happens during these exchanges is that we get a glimpse into a person that isn’t very real at all.  I don’t believe people do this on purpose, at least most people, however the fact of the matter is in a first date and job interview we are doing our darndest to put our best foot forward.  As a result people can often times misrepresent themselves for who they are and what they’re all about.  This is similar to the honeymoon stage where only after a period of time we’ll be able to know if the person today is the same tomorrow.
- Emotion
Love at first sight!  Let’s face it, emotion is a part of every first date and job interview, but it can also help us or hurt us in our decisions.  Help us in that if we become emotionally invested in the other person it allows us to overlook small red flags that otherwise might get in the way of us making a decision that could be good for both parties.  Emotions can also hurt us because if we experience something which causes our ego or pride to be damaged we then make decisions that aren’t in the best interest of the interview or date but in protecting ourselves.
- The Angle
“What’s he really all about?”  This is a very logical and typical thought for people to think during a job interview or first date.  It signals that we’re trying to look behind the veil and see if we can uncover anything that isn’t necessarily being presented upfront.  In the dating world ‘the angle’ often can be described as the feeling that the person is just hoping to go home with you for a nightcap to your first date.  Job interviews can have the same outcome.  Candidates are angling to get a job, sometimes presenting themselves in a light which makes them appear more qualified than they really are.  Employers also do the same by up-selling the career opportunity to entice candidates to consider the role even though the actual work might not be nearly as glamorous as how it was made out to be.
What does all of this mean?
It means that people by their very nature go about experiences, such as first dates and interviewing for jobs, in a fairly predictable way.  While the outcome might be out of our control, the way we go into the experience and how we handle ourselves during the experience greatly influences the outcome.  Knowing this information, that first dates and job interviews are similar, can help you go through each experience with a broader perspective allowing you to make better decisions for yourself and potential career or company.
Next time you find yourself on a first date or job interview remember that these human experiences are designed to see if it is worth it or not to have a second go around.  The best approach is to just be yourself, as a result you’ll find that your interactions with others are far more valuable to you and the person on the other side of the table.
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    About the Author

    Travis Smith is the founder and managing director of Square-1 Engineering, a life sciences consulting firm, providing end to end technical project services to companies which design, develop and or manufacture products in Southern California.  He successfully served the life sciences marketplace in SoCal for over 15 years specializing in engineering services, consulting, project outsourcing and leadership development. In 2019 he was recognized as a ‘40 Under 40’ honoree by the Greater Irvine Chamber of Commerce as a top leader in Orange County, CA.

    Travis also serves as Chairman, Board of Directors for DeviceAlliance, the only Southern California based medical device non-profit professionals organization and member of the University of California Irvine's Division of Continuing Education Advisory Board for Medical Product Development.  He holds a business management degree from California State University Long Beach and is a graduate of the Southern California Entrepreneur Academy.

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