The audience

When you want to send a letter, you have to be clear in indicating the address of the receiver. This is extremely important, otherwise your receiver won't never be able to get it and, maybe, your letter will reach a wrong house and another person that will find the information not relevant.

"What's in it for me?"

"Nothing? Ok, no time to waste"

This happens for example when you deliver a presentation focusing on the style, the words you say, the product..... and not on the audience. They are not able to see the value, the relevance for them, so you lost them. Time is the most valuable currency. Time is not only money, time is also quality of life. Why should your audience spend it just looking at you presenting another ppt around the features of your new product. There are plenty of products just like your outside there... make yours unique! And make it unique, not for everybody, but just for the people that are investing their time attending your presentation! 

"Don't assume"

Think for a second. You are excited to demonstrate the innovation your product is introducing in the market: it is faster, it is more beautiful, it is cheaper, it is cool! Your audience will love it......... or not? Are you sure they really have the basis to understand why you are that better? And, are you really sure they will appreciate all these innovative features?? I found myself a lot of times in front of customers that really were trying not to change that much their "way-to-do-things", for them was ok that way. You can try as hard as you want to make them change their mind, but most of the times there are other reasons behind their position and you should simply listen to what they want, understand their needs and highlight only the benefits for them. You will meet their expectations. They will find themselves in your solution, because you truly got what they needed. Never assume you know. Remember: True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing

"So What?"

You created the perfect speech. You prepared everything and now it is Your moment. You start the presentation. "Ahh great, they are all listening to me, I didn't do any mistake.....I can make it right!" You arrive at the end of Your perfect moment but nobody seems so interested, nobody asks questions, nobody is that impressed by such an "Epic Win" of Yours. But the problem is not the audience, but the focus on You. Keep in mind the question and tell yourself your audience is asking "So What?" every time that:

- it is not clear your target 

- it is not clear how this can be relevant to them

How to avoid it? There are many different techniques. The "Tell-Show-Tell", for example, allows to explain why you are doing something before and after you actually go through you fragment of presentation/demo. Another way is avoiding to be the only one speaking. Interaction means:

- more control over the presentation (are they still interested? is this important to them? do they understand what I am referring to? do we start from the same basics? etc.)

- a relaxed atmosphere and better understanding 

- checking if the chosen communication style is the right one for the public

- test if the main concepts are clear

- creation of trust. 

Learning to deliver value in your presentations means that your audience will be more open to receive your message. Doesn't really matter if you make mistakes, the key is to stay real, focus on customer/audience needs and build you message on what they tell you, not on what you think they want.

Why am I telling you this?

Because I have still not clear in my mind who can be the right audience for this blog and I am still thinking and working on it. If you don't know the audience, you cannot be relevant for anybody. Let me think about it.... 

Working for Microsoft (part 2)

Here we go again! Welcome back and happy new year! I know i have been inactive for a while (maybe more than a while...) but now I am ready to get back my blogger soul and start writing again. Last time I left you with the promise I would finish the second part of the post "Working for Microsoft". During the group interview we had to attend some presentations provided by internal employees, I still remember E.B. as he made me think I was in the right place for me. Anyway I fell in love with Microsoft at the first sight and I was ready to do everything in my power to be hired. Will = power. During the first interview we have been asked to:
- introduce ourselves
- make a small introduction in English as well
- splitted in groups, we had to work on a project.....I remember it was about a problem around how to organize a call center. Let's say: problem solving stuff & leadership. Then, all together we had to discuss our solutions.
In the meantime, the recruiters were taking notes and observing carefully our behaviours, interactions etc

After that we have been asked to wait outside the conference room. I was joking with other guys, I remember their ambition. I was much more relaxed, quite sure I was not going to pass the HR step......I just didn't have the min requirements, it was fair. At the end one recruiter went out and called 6 of ours. The others were asked to wait a little bit or to go in another floor. Basically what happened was that couple of candidates was considered for a specific division and after the interview with managers, we should have been comunicated the results.

I had my second inteview tha same day, for a Channel Marketing position in SMS&P. I simply didn't have any clue about Microsoft's business (only the consumer part of it) and I didn't know that much of technology. I was just passionate and motivated to do my best. Apparently this was the best card to play. I passed the second interview as well and I got it communicated on that afternoon straight.

The last step was the final interview with the manager, or better, The Manager. He was taugh. I still can see me saying bullshits like "Well, Microsoft Operation Systems: Windows 95, Windows Xp, MacOS" O_O wait a minute: MAC OS??!?!? Ok, it was not my best interview ever, probably the worst one, but at the end my motivation supported me and kept on hoping. After 1 week still no reply by HR. I booked my flight to NY, also my hope started having some doubts. But just few days before leaving for my trip I received the call: they wanted me to start immediately. Sorry, see you when I am back. So in February 2010 my IT journey kicked off in Microsoft Italy.

Sentence of the day: Don't pretend to be someone you are not, yet.

Talent Management

The time has finally come: I have just received the task to insert my goals for the new fiscal year, which means Appraisal, Performance Review, Learning&Development based on the info I will sign in the system NOW. Cool & scaring. And for me this is the first time I live it in such structured way.

Today I want to speak about Talent Management, the reasons behind the adoption of Performance measurement tools, how to set up Goals and my personal opinion about the process...

Talent Management:

In some large organizations it was expected only for FTEs - Full-Time Employees (so, let’s say, around the 12% of the people working there!? Contractors are not included), in some other they have never heard about that but they seem to be good at using Career Development tools as soon as an employee wants to leave the company, but I saw also some exceptions where management is taking the topic seriously and they really care about employee-growth. It’s their business, not only mine (Win2Win approach)! And they spend time, money, effort to provide systems & processes that can really help managers in assessing team-performances. It’s not easy, for sure.

Today, I had an interesting training session about Talent Management: how it started, how it is evolving during the years, what are the best practices nowadays. It was funny because, as an employee, I have always wondered about how C-levels were dealing with that: at the end of the day (or the fiscal year) your single results, combined with others’ work, make the company profit.

Tricky.

There are goals I can measure with numbers. But should I use only those ones? No, you cannot. It would be much easier but it is not fair as too many factors come to action when we speak about Performance. Or probably it’s just one factor: the Human Nature. Subjective KPIs make it difficult to compare different locations, different departments or different teams (it’s not necessary to go too far!). So should I take up a group-Performance model (like in the big G)? Is it really efficient? The answer is: it depends on what you want to achieve.

So what are the right steps to formulate my Company Goals and how to cascade them to my employees? Well, the right approach, in my opinion, is always the “step-by-step”:

- first of all you have to clarify what you want to accomplish and the timeframe for each achievement (we have to define the TOP)

- numbers, figures to your plan

- what does your organization need to get there? Gap filling!

- SWOT analysis: (a must!) what is the situation out there in the market? Are there opportunities I can leverage? Best and worst scenario for each direction I can take. Necessary.

- Brainstorming of IDEAs. Always.

- You want to be aware of the consequences of your actions, especially now that it’s so easy to spread comments into the web-communities. Clients are global, even if you operate locally. So please take an eye open on what they are telling about you on the web....

Ok, now you have your objectives, your numbers, your previsions and What-If analysis, divide it in 2. Then in 4. Keep on doing the exercise until you get at 8. Now you can delegate. DOWN

As a result you will have a perfect Pyramid Model of Goals, but careful, there’s another important point you have to clarify with everybody (not only the management): EVERYBODY has to agree with the plan and feel responsible for his/her part, as in a family, in an organism, everyone has to contribute. In one word: Personal engagement. In my experience, a lot of companies make a great work around Goal-settings but then they lose focus because they communicate only with the management. EVERYONE should part of a common vision.

∑(INDIVIDUAL MOTIVATION) = MASS MOTIVATION

And the motivation of masses is pure force.

Somebody told me that a good employee is able to self-motivate him/herself. I don’t agree. Honestly I think that a good employee is the one who shares the same values of the company he/she works for, and the same objectives in the long and short term. When you agree on the common vision, you find out if there is a good match between candidate and the open position (avoid over-qualified staff for entry level jobs, please!), you make him/her feel part of a bigger project, then it is normal that the new employee will be motivated to work for the success of the whole organization. Not just for commission, benefit, visibility, competitive knowledge or a nice brand to stick on the CV.

In other words:

1.     Hire people that agree and understand the values of your company

2.     Find a good match between candidate, job position, ski

3.     Set up clear objectives for everybody, interns and contractors included

4.     Forecast achievement and unexpected events (today we have tools that are amazing in these kind of tasks)

5.     Create a Development Plan with clear and measurable objectives (split them in intermediate goals and provide all the support to make your people reach their targets)

From there, the importance of a well-structured company goal plan.

Keep motivation high for everybody, even if your target is ambitious, is the key!

Next time I will tell you the 2^nd part of my Microsoft experience and in the next posts I would like to discuss about the Matrix: Potential, Performance and Position, my personal opinion about the starting negotiation and compensation balance.

G.  

Working for Microsoft (part 1)

Microsoft. Well, Microsoft was my school. At that time I was still studying at the University (just finished my 1^st session of exams) and I wanted to start an internship. I was sure I didn’t want to waste my time in a company without potential; I really wanted to get something out of my first REAL working experience. I remember I applied for IBM, HP, 3M, Microsoft, Symantec, in general some banks (but I was targeting mainly the Marketing as a department), Bosch, Roche, and some others I have removed from any Hard/Soft/Random Memory. Anyway, few of them replied, those ones were a step ahead, 3-4 years ago they already had in place a modern HCM system with pre-screening questions for candidates applying using the career webpage. They sent me an email saying “Thank you very much for your interest in our company, considering that you don’t have a University Degree, at least 2 years of experience working for competition, you are not bilingual Italian-English (or better English-German, but you are also fluent in Italian!), we are not proceeding with you application. But thanks for applying eh!”...Ok, maybe they were less rude and precise but still I noticed that every time I was ticking the box “First Experience”, I had 2 options: No Answer or “Thanks but No!”. Microsoft, if I remember correctly, was one of them. I should have kept that email!!!

But I didn’t give up. All the companies replied no, so I thought “If I had to try seriously with one, I would choose the most challenging one: Microsoft!”

I applied by: Linkedin (with a really poor content), MS career website, blog (msclips, is it still live?! Yesss), University career webportal, I wrote to MS HR directly, I went to open-days (I was actually camping in front of MS stand).....nothing was enough to make me get an interview. They were looking for high level candidates, double-degree, Erasmus, international experience, very good knowledge of English. Well, I didn't have even my first level University degree. When I was about to give up, I had the idea to make a secretary in my University call MS to know in general how was the recruitment process for internship in MS. She was told there were group-interviews and at the moment they were overbooked. She proposed my junior profile to them and the answer was still the same: No. Then she leverage the motivation, the fact I was trying so hard to get that interview, the fact I honestly wanted that job so much! At the end they say “Yes”, yes to the group-interview. They are normally done with groups of 8-9 candidates, that time was 15.

I am not going to describe the feeling when she told me that they had said “Yes”. Simply I couldn’t believe it. Happy days!!!

And.....now? I got my interview scheduled. I had my only chance.

The night before I still remember I didn’t sleep (it was my first real interview! I can see your expression......).

The day arrived. In the morning I had the answer written in my mind: “I don’t care. I am myself, cannot change what I am now. I give it a try and whatever will be will be.” I took my jeans and went to the office of Microsoft Italy at that time in Segrate.

I arrived just in time. At the reception everybody was already there, the recruiter arrived few seconds after me and kick off with an informal presentation. She showed us the coffee machine and told the group what was the magic number in order to get free drinks (OMG, I just realized I forgot it! Goldfish memory......). In less than 10 minutes we were all sitting in a big conference room, each one with a branded block notes and pen. That was absolutely C-O-O-L! I still remember I had never seen something similar before. Everybody, except some, looked a bit nervous. They were all dressed up in a perfect business non-casual way. I was the only one in jeans. Ehm..... I read the company culture the night before! I was sure I was not wrong!!

Finally the first presenter arrived: E.B.

(tbc) 

Background check (afraid of Watchdog?!)

For those of you working in IT probably the sense in this title was clear at the very first glance. Anyway, this post is dedicated to my previous employments. 

The ironical connection between the screening you have to go through before being hired especially by one big multinational company (actually a lot of them are using more & more these background check agencies) & my working history stays in the fact that I will soon connect this blog to my Linkedin and Facebook profile. You will be able then to find out more (maybe too much?) about me. And that's the risk: people would know you better than you probably do yourself. Yes, you can "feel free" to publish only few information, share with selected people or groups, etc. BUT are we missing something? Yes, we are. Where is the point in a massive usage of Social Network? Where the value? 

Let's take Linkedin, for instance. If you work in IT, especially in sales, you are ambitious and want to grow, then you WANT TO be on Linkedin. I will speak about passive talents, Social Network recruitment later on. And you will understand why Linkedin has become such a great resource to find a job nowadays.

Step back to my working history:

Let’s spend few posts about my background....

Part 1:

Everything started when I was attending the high school, where I studied English, German and Spanish, not only in class but also travelling around Europe to have a real view of the "alive languages". Then during B.A. at University I did my first internship as Export Marketing Assistant, just to have an idea of marketing in action. Not a big deal, but all these experiences made me have a richer CV when I applied to a real job for the first time.

In my opinion I did well, at least at that point. I was aware of the Italian situation, competition was (and is still) at the highest level ever seen, why should they hire me?! And for “they” I mean a good company, able to teach me and make me grow, ready to invest in my profile. I was not different from the hundreds of young people that were looking for a job just after their degree-holiday (would you believe I didn’t have mine?!).

I had few points I really highlighted in my first Europass-CV (ah, please avoid it!!! Pleeeeeease!!!):

- good knowledge of English (well, much better than the Italian average)

- I demonstrate I lived abroad and I studied in Spain and Austria & my love for foreign cultures/languages

- I was only 20, University in progress, but already an internship. That was a good advantage!

- motivation BUT ONLY HERE we have the key!!!

In the next post I will tell you how it was my Microsoft interview, my experience in Microsoft Italy in general as an intern...

Stay tuned!

G.

Welcome to my web-page!

Before starting with formal presentations I would like to tell you a story. 

The story of somebody living somewhere, lost in an always dynamic world, grown up in a provincial country, Italy, not able to speak a good level of English but with motivation and thirst of knowledge. That's me:

- Italian

- girl

- kinda geek

- fascinated by IT evolution

- Humanistic study

(what happened next?)

I took the decision to leave Italy and explore a "secure field" in Ireland, working for Italy but in a different location, let's say. For a lot of young Italians I am a sort of hero; in my honest opinion they are the heroes that are keeping on fighting for their country. I left the battle to them. In the blog I want to tell you my story, how I made it real, my feelings, the sensation of being lost, alone inside all the people. The music I was listening to. This is just for you to know why I became like this (a sort of justification for my "freaky way" let's say!).

Now that you have the profile of the character you can decide if you want to discover more or if it's enough.

WHY this blog?

First of all, because I want to give a real overview about the topic of IT-wonderers. I met a lot of people, coming from all kinds of background, it was an enrichment a helped me to open my mind. I want you to feel it like I lived that. I know it is a bit difficult to give the same with words (especially when it's not your mother tongue) but I will give me a try.

Then, I want to share thoughts with you. I sincerely hope a lot of you will give me your honest feedback and opinions, I think it's the only way to be better, but let's avoid common-sense-sentences. 

In addition I would like to get a help in developing my own project of life. It is a strange period in my life: I find myself more and more involved in planning the future, trying do discover what I really want. The never-ending & most-difficult task in lifetime. As said before: no way to keep this out of my mind, so let's try, at least. Unexpected facts happen. We could consider them a 'a-element' factor. A vector. Probably we should study instead of avoiding or rejecting them and I saw so many perfectionists rejecting good opportunities because they were not sure about the outcome. It makes sense, and I see myself in them. But now I learned that cause-effect is not a 1-2-1 relation; it's more likely a n-2-n relation. So how to handle that?

Maybe the problem of finding out where you are, what you are doing but above all what you want to get, is struggling you as well. I have probably written more than expected for my first post, but at least I gave a view of the chaos of brainstorming thoughts is dominating my life now.

I am going to speak about myself. And other. And relationships. And IT topics. And work. And relationships, again. And strategies to optimize your resources to get a better result. From every standpoint you are considering.

I am going to speak about evolution. What will be next? My idea about Cloud Computing, Virtualization, IT market in general.

Well, kick off with all this crap now :) Stay tuned!

G.