Posts

Is it because you need to fill a gap in the team skillset? Is it because you need expertise in a function? Are you hiring because you have too much work to do?

Or do people keep talking about growth and “more people” is what you think growth is?

Are other people getting promoted because they have bigger teams and so you’re making a bigger team?

Is there an initiative that you think is necessary but maybe you’re having a tough time articulating why to your colleagues?

From a business perspective there are good reasons to hire and bad, and some businesses incentivize the bad (inadvertently or not).

It isn’t always your fault when you hire for the wrong reason, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have your eyes wide open about it.

It isn’t that your idea is bad. It isn’t that you’re mean. Or too agreeable. It’s not your clothes. I guess it could be your smell but here’s hoping you shower regularly.

They just don’t know you. They don’t know where you’re coming from. They haven’t experienced working with you. They don’t get your expertise and they don’t know why they need it. They definitely don’t know your sense of humor.

The good news is you haven’t let anybody down. The challenge is that you don’t have many opportunities to make an impression, so when you do get an opportunity, don’t squander it.

When you have the attention, make it worth their while.

Making it worth their while doesn’t mean they need to know you better. It doesn’t mean you talk about how great you are or how good your plan is. It means showing you understand them, so that what you do sticks to their thing in a way that makes it better.

No one wants to help someone they don’t know. But most people do appreciate someone who understands them, listens to them, and wants their thing to be great just like they do.

So figure out how your thing helps their thing. Show you seek to listen and understand. Offer to help.

Then they’ll get to know you.

Timing is everything. Where we are and when can dictate whether a project succeeds or fails, a relationship starts or doesn’t, or whether we respond well in a heated moment (or not so well).

There are definitely better times to start or quit. Better times to posit your suggestion or stay quiet. Times when you’ll be lauded and times when you’ll be shunned. So how do you judge?

One of my favorite sayings is “the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, the second best time is today.” This is a great reminder to get started on an idea, one that you’ve had for a little while. One where you’ve been using timing as an excuse (whether you don’t know the perfect time or think you missed the perfect time). Chances are if an idea is sticky enough to keep resurfacing in your mind, this is a clue you should take action.

Then of course there’s reading the room. These are the times when you really want something to work. You think something is a great idea. You may have even mentioned the idea in passing to test it’s reception. In these cases people may agree with you, but not share your excitement or verify your thinking. Or maybe people can’t understand or explain what it is you want to do. Worse yet, maybe you can’t explain it. Reading the room also includes factors outside of your direct control – the company’s not doing well, the economy is uncertain, or something generally is telling you “not yet.”

The trick is there’s no such thing as perfect timing – perfect timing is mostly hindsight bias after all. There is only knowing yourself and understanding the environment you’re operating in. There’s telling a story people buy into (or not).

So if you want to time something right, get to know yourself better. Observe the people and the world around you. Get really clear about the story you tell.

Don’t worry about perfect timing. Worry instead about using the time you have to focus on the right things. Anything else is just wasting time.