Nick Bacon

January 2017 - TD Magazine

The nonprofit UN Foundation is using improved recruitment and onboarding strategies to attract private-sector candidates.

Reaching Across Sectors to Get the Right Talent Mix

I am sick of goals and goal experts. You know, the people that spam you around the first of the year proclaiming they are the ones who can help you get to the next level. They have the magic goal achievement formula.All you have to do to achieve your goals is pay the sender of the email.I am not an expert at setting goals. Rather, Im an achiever.To me goal is the wrong word. It tells me theres something I HOPE or SEEK to achieve. I think you should call them the achievements Im striving for, and intend to make happen. Whoa! That sounds like a whole different (better) process.The reason most goals are not met is simple: Starting with the goal is wrong. Making the goal is the middle of the process.BIG PICTURE: BEFORE YOU MAKE A GOAL, YOU NEED INFORMATION, AND YOU NEED TO DEFINE YOUR OWN REALITY.Heres the achievement formula and process that will workBefore you make a goal, first define and write down whats happening in your life at this moment.What is my present situation? Ask yourself (and write down the answers): Whats happening in my life? Whats happening in the lives of others that may affect me? Whats happening at my job and in my career? Whats going on in my family?What is my present status? What are my skills? My capabilities? My shortcomings? What are the things I need to work on? What is my experience level? Hows my health? Whats my demeanor? How positive is my attitude?What are my opportunities this year? What is available for me to grasp, accomplish, or achieve in both career and life? FYI: If youre facing major change, maybe you should redefine it as opportunity. If you do, youll see the other side of the picture.What are my objectives? Whats been on my mind to do? What do I want to make happen?What are my needs? What do I gotta do whether I like it or not?What are my desires? What do I really wanna do?What are my intentions? Am I writing down a 20-year dream, or am I dedicating myself to the tasks necessary to get something achieved in a short space of (defined) time?What are my beliefs? How strong do I believe in my company? My product? My service? Do I believe I can differentiate myself from others? Do I believe that my customer is better off purchasing from me?Second, you write down what achievements youd like to make:What have I been thinking about? What are my dominant thoughts? What are my thoughts Id like to turn into achievements?What have I ALWAYS wanted to do?What am I willing to do? If I make a goal, am I willing to actually do the work to make it happen?Whats the time requirement? If I make a goal, do I have the time to achieve it? Am I willing to allocate the time?What am I willing to sacrifice in order to achieve? (Give up bacon? Beer? TV?)What are the barriers? What are the obstacles Im facing? Can I overcome them alone or do I need help? If so, who?Whats my level of dedication? What has been my history of achievement?Whats my attitude toward doing? Am I gung ho or ho hum?Whats my date to start? Pick a firm date. Document it.Whats my plan of action? What do I need to do every day? Whats my daily dose?Whats my expected date of achievement? Pick a firm date. Document it.Whats my plan to celebrate? Wheres the party? When is the party? Who is coming?What are my outcome expectations? What do I believe will happen AFTER achievement? How will that affect my life?Get the picture?Theres a heck of a lot that goes into the achievement process. Setting the goal is just one small part of it. Thats why I substitute the word goal for the word achievement.You have ideas, you have dreams, you have aspirations, you have desires, and you have needs. And now you have a full-blown plan of understanding and attack. BUT the plan alone will not work without the secret ingredient: Your hard work.In my years of achievement, hard work has always been my secret weapon. Make it yours.Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at salesman@gitomer.com.2012 All Rights Reserved. Dont even think about reproducing this document without written permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer. 704/333-1112

Sales Moves by Jeffrey Gitomer: Goals revisited. Met and unmet. Why you dont. And what to do!

BackgroundThe New York State Office of the State Comptroller (NYSOSC) in Albany maintains a broad scope of responsibility unmatched by similar offices in the United States. As the state's chief fiscal and accounting officer, the Comptroller is a separately elected state-wide official whose primary duties include managing and investing the State's cash assets, auditing government operations, paying all NYS employees, reviewing State contracts, overseeing the fiscal affairs of local governments including New York City, and operating two of the state's retirement systems.As an agency charged with monitoring the effective financial operation of numerous other agencies and entities, the NYSOSC understands the need to carefully maintain its own project management (PM) and business analysis (BA) capabilities. Therefore, the Office engages in regular self-assessment and performance improvement in these areas.**The Challenge**NYSOSC has built a reputation for continually advancing project management best practices through its PM Center of Excellence (CoE). However, realizing that enhanced business analysis practices can also increase project success and user support, as well as heighten customer satisfaction, the agency has sought, since 2006, to improve its business analysis practices by instituting a Business Analysis Center of Excellence (BACoE).NYSOSC performance improvement programs had primarily benefited PM teams prior, and support had not been available for the advancement of BA teams. By promoting BA competencies, knowledge management, enterprise analysis skills and practices similarly to the PM program, NYSOSC sought to achieve comparable, positive results.**Strategic Planning**The agency's cross-division Business Analysis Work Group completed a strategic report in 2006 presenting the benefits of advancing NYSOSC's use of business analysis and making next-step recommendations, including the launch of a BACoE. In 2007, the second phase of the project was launched to begin to develop and support business analysis as an organizational resource. Kevin Belden, Deputy Comptroller and CIO, and Kirk Schanzenbach, Director of the Program Management Office (PgMO), were executive sponsors; and Barbara Ash, Assistant Director for BA in the PgMO, was the project manager. The project team consisted of numerous representatives from BA units across the agency.To provide counsel on industry best practices, and to resolve issues that were impeding progress, the project team enlisted the help of ESI International. "Having worked with ESI in the past to build our project management and business skills capabilities," said Schanzenbach, "we were confident that they were the best partner in achieving our BA goals."ESI began by working with NYSOSC leadership and the project team to outline unifying objectives for BA and PM skills areas, including the need to:Provide a clear vision for the future of business analysis that aligns with other management initiativesPromote a common understanding of BA process and related terminologyDefine and implement a centralized BA unit and structure to promote a more supportive environmentEnsure the opportunity for input by interested groups across the organizationThe SolutionIn cooperation with ESI, NYSOSC determined the key strategies to ensure a successful program. Foremost among these were:Enhance methodologies, consistency and alignment between PM and BADevelop a common vocabularyImprove knowledge managementPromote development of BA and enterprise analysis skillsCreate a virtual BA community to include a repository of best practices, templates, instructions, glossaries, checklists, tools and other resourcesDevelop coaching and mentoring programs complemented by skills assessmentsTo support the program launch, ESI designed and delivered a two-day, project kick-off workshop that centered on the program's four-part learning framework and targeted development of knowledge, skills, ability and attitude.Day one introduced the program to senior management and focused on developing best practices in alignment with BACoE operating standards. Executive activities included competitive, interactive group exercises that helped to define and prioritize goals around developing the BACoE.Day two introduced the program to front line business analysts and ensured a common understanding of BA concepts and executive directives. Following the kick-off, the team worked in subcommittees on project deliverables, received best practice advice, and exercised skills and competencies through coaching exercises.Special attention was also given to evaluating and treating such problematic areas as standards and methodologies topics for the BA group. "This intensive learning experience was very well received as a serious enhancement to the traditional instructor-led effort." said Ash. "Participants alsofelt that it accelerated the program launch significantly compared to previous programs."Toward ChangeIn the early months of the program, ESI participated in regular group meetings and calls in order to provide coaching and to reinforce goals and specific training targets. While ESI continues to deliver essential counsel, the NYSOSC has quickly achieved the competency to offer coaching and mentoring using internal resources.Other significant program accomplishments and benefits to date include:Increased sharing of BA tools, methods, techniques and languageEnhanced understanding of the roles and shared aspects of the BA and the PMDevelopment of content for and current development underway for an internal BA knowledge management intranet portalEstablishment of the BACoE and a BA Community of Practice within NYSOSCIncreased awareness of Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK) principlesDevelopment of a NYSOSC proposed Civil Service Standard for a BA title seriesCreation of a self-assessment tool for BA competency that assists individual training and development planningEstablishment of valuable mentor/protg relationshipsChampioned by executive sponsors Belden and Schanzenbach and project manager Ash, the internal team continues to recommend and oversee BA learning programs and progress, as well as support the advancement of BA maturity.

Nick Bacon

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