Most of opportunities for failure come upon us from beyond our control.\u00a0 They require us to apply resources and solutions that are a combination of our talent, training and technology to turn them into successes.\u00a0 But sometimes opportunities for failure are created by those who are focused on success and they don\u2019t even know it.\u00a0 I want to take a look at another five.<\/p>\n
Last time we looked at failing to define the target, watch the process, care about quality, learning new things and experimenting.\u00a0 Go back and read the first five here.<\/p>\n
And by the way, I have stepped into every one of these at some point.\u00a0 They are the things that might happen to you if you are not careful to avoid them.\u00a0 Here are the next five of these areas \u2013in no particular order.<\/p>\n
6. Failing to pay attention to your career<\/strong><\/p>\n Don\u2019t forget about your career advancement, especially in these economic times.\u00a0 Keep your job focus uppermost in your mind.\u00a0 Keeping your job is on many people\u2019s minds these days.\u00a0 Stay visible and involved.\u00a0 Do not slow down in your efforts to have an impact on your firm\u2019s productivity.\u00a0 Small increases in productivity can pay big dividends.<\/p>\n Keeping an eye on your career means staying connected to your internal management, external connections and the industry you work in.\u00a0 Make sure you interact with your management.\u00a0 They are the ones that run the teams that use your tools.\u00a0 Keep them happy.\u00a0 Interact with your external connections.\u00a0 Attend User Group meetings.\u00a0 Toss a few emails out to stay in touch.\u00a0 Here is a good test to see how connected you are to people outside your firm\u2026\u00a0 When times get tough, who reaches out to you?\u00a0 Do others contact you with their CAD troubles?\u00a0 Are you getting calls or email from those that have lost their jobs?\u00a0 If no one is connecting with you, then you need to get connected.<\/p>\n 7. Failing to save money <\/strong><\/p>\n Look for ways to save money.\u00a0 Look to see if you can reduce your outlay for software or hardware.\u00a0 If you have reduced staff, then can you reduce your subscription to some of the software?\u00a0\u00a0 There is no requirement that every copy of your CAD software is on subscription.\u00a0 Some of them may allow dropping it.\u00a0 Delay upgrades that cost money. 8. Failing to listen to complaints<\/strong><\/p>\n People complain about things.\u00a0 It is in our nature to see the negative before we see the positive.\u00a0 Some people complain more than others.\u00a0 Some people seem to need something to complain about.\u00a0 Any way you look at it, complaints are out there.\u00a0 Do you hear them?\u00a0 Do you listen?<\/p>\n Hearing people\u2019s complaints is key to avoiding failure.\u00a0 Complaints exist because there are concerns that have not been addressed.\u00a0 By not addressing people\u2019s concerns you run the risk of missing opportunities for small successes.<\/p>\n When you listen, try to get past the ranting to the core of the concern.\u00a0 Apply your troubleshooting skills to these problems.\u00a0 Some of the complaints may go beyond the software to people issues or process problems.\u00a0 These need to be addressed also.\u00a0 Working on process changes and people concerns is not easy, but it needs to happen. Listening to complaints is always balanced by listening to good ideas.\u00a0 You have to keep your ears open for these.\u00a0 Sometimes they come from the most unexpected people.\u00a0 I have gotten a lot of good ideas for CAD productivity upgrades from people who did not even use CAD.\u00a0 They say things like, \u201cit should do this or that\u201d because they don\u2019t really know what the software can do.\u00a0 Their perspectives make me think of how I could get the software to do \u201cthis or that\u201d.\u00a0 Then I go to work to program or customize it so that it does.<\/p>\n 10. Failing to pass on your knowledge<\/strong><\/p>\n Give it away \u2013 that is your job.\u00a0 Making others as knowledgeable as you can is part of your job description.\u00a0 I end every one of my presentations with the words \u201cPass it on\u201d.\u00a0 This is because I believe in passing on information, knowledge and wisdom.\u00a0 It is not mine to keep or hoard.\u00a0 I need to give it to the next person.\u00a0 This makes them more efficient and it helps me to keep them self sufficient.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Most of opportunities for failure come upon us from beyond our control.\u00a0 They require us to apply resources and solutions that are a combination of our talent, training and technology to turn them into successes.\u00a0 But sometimes opportunities for failure are created by those who are focused on success and they don\u2019t even know it.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":776,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-777","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caddmanager.com\/CMB\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caddmanager.com\/CMB\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caddmanager.com\/CMB\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caddmanager.com\/CMB\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caddmanager.com\/CMB\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.caddmanager.com\/CMB\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caddmanager.com\/CMB\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caddmanager.com\/CMB\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nSaving money may help keep you on the good side of management.\u00a0 Avoiding the spending of money can also look good.\u00a0 Make sure that when you save money that management knows about it.<\/p>\n
\n
\n9. Failing to listen to good ideas from others<\/strong><\/p>\n