CADDManager on February 22nd, 2009

Most of opportunities for failure come upon us from beyond our control.  They require us to apply resources and solutions that are a combination of our talent, training and technology to turn them into successes.  But sometimes opportunities for failure are created by those who are focused on success and they don’t even know it.  I want to take a look at another five.

Last time we looked at failing to define the target, watch the process, care about quality, learning new things and experimenting.  Go back and read the first five here.

And by the way, I have stepped into every one of these at some point.  They are the things that might happen to you if you are not careful to avoid them.  Here are the next five of these areas –in no particular order.

6. Failing to pay attention to your career

Don’t forget about your career advancement, especially in these economic times.  Keep your job focus uppermost in your mind.  Keeping your job is on many people’s minds these days.  Stay visible and involved.  Do not slow down in your efforts to have an impact on your firm’s productivity.  Small increases in productivity can pay big dividends.

Keeping an eye on your career means staying connected to your internal management, external connections and the industry you work in.  Make sure you interact with your management.  They are the ones that run the teams that use your tools.  Keep them happy.  Interact with your external connections.  Attend User Group meetings.  Toss a few emails out to stay in touch.  Here is a good test to see how connected you are to people outside your firm…  When times get tough, who reaches out to you?  Do others contact you with their CAD troubles?  Are you getting calls or email from those that have lost their jobs?  If no one is connecting with you, then you need to get connected.

7. Failing to save money

Look for ways to save money.  Look to see if you can reduce your outlay for software or hardware.  If you have reduced staff, then can you reduce your subscription to some of the software?   There is no requirement that every copy of your CAD software is on subscription.  Some of them may allow dropping it.  Delay upgrades that cost money.
Saving money may help keep you on the good side of management.  Avoiding the spending of money can also look good.  Make sure that when you save money that management knows about it.

8. Failing to listen to complaints

People complain about things.  It is in our nature to see the negative before we see the positive.  Some people complain more than others.  Some people seem to need something to complain about.  Any way you look at it, complaints are out there.  Do you hear them?  Do you listen?

Hearing people’s complaints is key to avoiding failure.  Complaints exist because there are concerns that have not been addressed.  By not addressing people’s concerns you run the risk of missing opportunities for small successes.

When you listen, try to get past the ranting to the core of the concern.  Apply your troubleshooting skills to these problems.  Some of the complaints may go beyond the software to people issues or process problems.  These need to be addressed also.  Working on process changes and people concerns is not easy, but it needs to happen.

9. Failing to listen to good ideas from others

Listening to complaints is always balanced by listening to good ideas.  You have to keep your ears open for these.  Sometimes they come from the most unexpected people.  I have gotten a lot of good ideas for CAD productivity upgrades from people who did not even use CAD.  They say things like, “it should do this or that” because they don’t really know what the software can do.  Their perspectives make me think of how I could get the software to do “this or that”.  Then I go to work to program or customize it so that it does.

10. Failing to pass on your knowledge

Give it away – that is your job.  Making others as knowledgeable as you can is part of your job description.  I end every one of my presentations with the words “Pass it on”.  This is because I believe in passing on information, knowledge and wisdom.  It is not mine to keep or hoard.  I need to give it to the next person.  This makes them more efficient and it helps me to keep them self sufficient.

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