The Heavy Lifting of Career (Re) Invention-5 Keys to Moving Forward
Filed under: Career, Life and Business, Marketing Yourself, Professional Growth
Whether you are a few years removed from college or a few years removed from that time when prior generations began thinking about retiring, chances are, you or someone you know is involved in defining or redefining their career.
It’s a daunting task in a world where the old rules no longer apply. For those just starting on their career journeys, many have sprinted out of college only to run face-first into the brick wall that is the job market in so many sectors and markets. For this group, career development has turned out to involve a lot more work than just graduating.
For those of us with a few more laps around the block to our credit, the future doesn’t quite look like what we expected. The book on career management has a new chapter that many of our parents never experienced. It’s called, “Reinvention,” and it’s really daunting.
Regardless of where you fit on the chronological scale, there are at least five key issues that I encourage you to wrap your arms and mind around. Like much of the invention or reinvention process, tackling these items is challenging, uncomfortable, and critically important.
At Least Five Keys for Career (Re) Invention:
1. Aligning Your Values, Purpose and Goals around a Vision.
While your tendency may be to roll your eyes at the fluffy and abstract discussion of personal vision and values, the reality is that you do have a set of operating instructions (your core values) and there is a purpose that drives all of us. Sometimes we ignore that purpose (often for decades), but it is there and aligning values and purpose around some big, exciting and challenging goals is an important part of the process. It’s awkward and difficult and squishy to grasp but when you focus in on a vision for yourself, it’s transformational.
For some help here, check out Ed Batista’s outstanding post, “Developing Your Professional Vision,” and Jesse Lyn Stoner’s (with Ken Blanchard) excellent book, Full Steam Ahead.
2. Cultivating Your Confidence and Self-Esteem.
Confidence is critical for fueling invention or transformation. Without it, we just dream. With it, we take actions to build towards our dreams.
I’ve long believed the biggest barrier to individual success is self-confidence. Recognize this issue as human, get over any stigma attached to it, and seek coaching, help and guidance on developing the inner-strength to tackle problems and issues that seem foreboding and practically impossible. A good coach is priceless here. My post, “9 Ideas for Strengthening Your Self-Esteem” is a starting point.
3. Strengthening Your Professional Presence.
A critical part of the confidence issue is the ability to project this confidence and to engage as an articulate, intelligent professional. Those who lack confidence AND who lack the ability present themselves as confident, knowledgeable and interesting human beings are relegated to bit roles in their own careers.
From your posture to your eye-contact to your smile to your eyes to your ability to listen and importantly, your use of your vocabulary and your ability to articulate your thoughts, it’s all on display and it’s all being judged. Solicit feedback from trusted sources, engage a speaking coach and take deliberate action to match the vision. One of my favorite books on this topic: Seeing Yourself as Others Do, offers some great guidance.
4. Planning to Act…Creating a Strategic Plan for Your Career.
Pardon the lofty sounding label, but you cannot operationalize a vision…you can’t put into play unless you’ve created a roadmap complete with those items on the critical path that are essential for success.
Armed with a vision, you need to set clear goals and define those very clear actions and milestones required for success. My favorite definition of strategy: “integrated actions in pursuit of competitive advantage,” reminds me of the need to coordinate my activities, measure my results and adjust accordingly. Put pen to paper. The act of planning forces you to think through what it takes to succeed. And then engage. You can update the plan along the way.
5. Building Your Professional Brand.
There’s never been a better time to build and form and frame your professional brand…to build yourself as a thought-leader than now. The tools are there, they are mostly free and they are truly powerful. Sadly, just about everyone I know who is struggling with the career issue is failing to leverage these tools in the proper manner to position themselves as thought-leaders, as exciting and relevant professionals and as people worth listening to and investing in.
The person I pay attention to on this topic is Dr. Bret Simmons writing at Positive Organizational Behavior. Bret is a champion of the topic of building your professional brand…particularly when it comes to leveraging the power of social media to do this.
The Bottom-Line for Now:
Whether you are building, rebuilding or transforming your career, the work described above is some of the sticky, dirty, roll-up-your sleeves hard work that builds towards success. There’s no silver bullet, no convenient short-cut and no getting away from the heavy lifting.
Best of Management Excellence: Trying Not to Fail is Not the Same as Striving for Success
Filed under: Leadership, Life and Business, Professional Growth, Surviving Lousy Leaders
This post is excerpted from my collection: Leadership Caffeine-Ideas to Energize Your Professional Development. There’s a definite difference between focusing on not failing versus striving for success.
When we focus on not failing, fear rents most of the space in our mind, and we see monsters in need of slaying everywhere we turn. We lose track of the original vision that propelled our actions, and the sheer act of working becomes at best a passionless exercise and at worst, drudgery.
Lousy Leaders Thrive on Your Misery:
Sadly, many leaders provide fuel for the “don’t fail” machine through their actions. Show me a project team or functional group that exhibit all of the energy and passion of a collection of late-night television zombies, and I’ll guarantee there’s one or more tyrannical, micro-managing leaders at the source of the dysfunction.
The Scarlet “F
The “don’t fail” disease isn’t limited to the corporate world. I know small business owners and solopreneurs who have stepped into this gooey emotional muck during the past few years of economic unpleasantness. Instead of lessons-learned and fuel for problem solving and innovation, setbacks are worn for all to see as Scarlet F’s, where F stands for failure. Of course, what they forget is that no one can really see the Scarlet F’s unless they go out of their way to project them through their attitudes.
You Own Your Attitude:
Striving not to fail is like walking up to take your turn at bat when the only thought running through your mind is, “don’t strike out.” The last two words, “strike out” are all that you remember as you flail wildly at everything thrown your way.
If you’re caught up in an environment where an evil leader holds court, remember that you still own your attitude. While it’s not easy to escape the fog of uncertainty and doubt created by these characters, it’s unlikely that their attempts at mind control can survive in a pitched battle against your own good attitude.
If you are your own boss and you feel weighted down and exposed by the scarlet F’s you believe you are carrying around with you, it’s critical to rediscover the feelings of excitement, hope and opportunity that likely propelled you off on your own in the first place.
Rediscover or Reset Your Sense of Purpose:
Somewhere buried beneath the baggage and stress of the past few years, you had a sense of purpose that fueled your efforts. Whether it was providing for others or an intense desire to change the world, it’s important to scrape off the muck and recall that sense of greater mission.
Of course, we change over time, and what fueled us at one phase of life may not be so relevant at another stage. I know many people who have recharged their lives and their work as professionals by resetting their sense of purpose from a focus on success to an emphasis on making a difference for someone or some group.
The Bottom-Line for Now:
It’s easy to focus on failure. It’s a lot more fun, it’s a lot healthier and it darned well is a lot more inspiring to rationalize our efforts and actions and combat our demons in the context of our bigger purpose.
Those who focus on success see victory around every corner. They view obstacles and setbacks as minor challenges to be overcome on a longer journey towards something worthwhile.
No one can take away your sense of purpose, unless you let them. Focus your gaze clearly on the bigger picture and longer term, take a deep breath and then take the first step forward. You’ll quickly remember that steps taken with a purpose in mind are effortless.
Now, keep moving.
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Art Petty is a developer of leaders and a strategy consultant. Art frequently speaks on leadership and management, and his work is reflected in two books (Practical Lessons in Leadership and Leadership Caffeine-Ideas to Energize Your Professional Development) and over 1-million words published at The Management Excellence blog. You can reach Art via e-mail to learn more about his leadership development and management consulting services.
A Timeout to Consider “The Leader’s List for Giving Thanks”
Note from Art: I run this list every Thanksgiving…not because it’s convenient, but because the thoughts are heartfelt and unchanging. Those who serve by leading have many reasons to truly be grateful for the opportunity and for those who support them every day. Happy Thanksgiving to all.
As we take a momentary time-out this Thursday in America from our challenges as professionals, citizens and family members and give thanks for what’s good and right in our world and lives, those of us that serve as leaders have a few additional reasons to be grateful for the opportunities that we have in support of others.
The Leader’s List for Giving Thanks:
- Be grateful for your unique chance to serve others. It truly is a privilege.
- Be thankful for the patience and forbearance that your colleagues and team-members show as you learn over time and through trial and error what it truly means to lead.
- Give thanks for your chance to learn from others.
- Pay honor to those that came before you and took the time to pass along their wisdom…even if you didn’t realize how valuable it was until much later.
- Be in awe of the opportunity that you have in front of you to positively impact lives in ways that few other jobs or professions provide.
- Be inspired to motivate, coach and teach those that invest valuable time in their lives and careers with you.
- Give thanks for the opportunity that you have to create value for your organization. You might not engineer new products or services, but the people that work for you enable others to perform their jobs creating or building or supporting at high levels.
- Be grateful that you were given or developed the patience to cope with the daily stresses and strains of leadership and to keep reminding yourself that it is all worth it in the end.
- Give thanks for your chance to participate in the journey of a lifetime.
- And most of all, just give thanks by speaking up and remembering that a well-placed, heartfelt “Thank you” is one of the most powerful and important of all leadership tools.
And yes, please accept my sincere Thank You for your readership and conversation. I am truly grateful for you.
-Art
Guest Post: Success in Collaboration-From an Unlikely Source
Filed under: Fresh Voices, Life and Business, Management Education, Professional Growth
Note from Art: I’m excited to feature another great guest post from Hay Group here at Management Excellence. As I mentioned in my intro note to the first post with Scott Spreier (The Trouble with Leadership By the Numbers), I was a happy customer of Hay’s in a prior lifetime. I’m thrilled that they’ve reached out to provide us all with a compelling read once again. This one is by Rick Lash is director of Hay Group’s Leadership & Talent Practice in Canada and co-leader of the annual Hay Group Best Companies for Leadership study.
Success in Collaboration-From an Unlikely Source-by Rick Lash, Hay Group
Have you seen the video showing traffic at an unsigned, unsignaled intersection in India? It’s mesmerizing – a portrait of chaos in motion.
An astounding variety of vans, cars of all sizes, three-wheeled auto rickshaws, scooters, motorcycles, bikes and even pedestrians surge back and forth across an expanse of pavement with no lane lines, no traffic lights, no signs – and no apparent rules. The opposing streams of traffic speed up, slow down, bunch up and stop dead as vehicles attempt to thread their way across the intersection, dodging and weaving through the confusion. Drivers make U-turns and occasionally head the wrong way to navigate around oncoming vehicles. You’re certain you’re going to see a terrible collision, yet it never happens. The drivers, riders and walkers all seem to know the unwritten rules that govern this chaotic bit of blacktop, and act accordingly.
I suddenly realized I was watching a primer on how to succeed in organizational collaboration.
Why is collaboration so difficult? Like that intersection, effective collaboration is governed by rules that may not be clear to the inexperienced. Players come and go, challenges and obstacles can appear from any direction, and no one seems to be in charge – or everyone is.
It’s a baffling situation for many managers – and no wonder. Most have earned their success by getting things done in competition with others at their level across the organization. They’ve developed a set of skills and competencies that have served them well in this competitive arena.
When they’re asked to participate in a collaborative effort, they’re suddenly expected to cooperate effectively with people they once competed against, and may again soon. It’s no wonder that many managers approach collaborative assignments with apprehension, fear and a white-knuckled grip on the wheel.
But it doesn’t have to be so. The same unwritten rules that help drivers thread their way across a challenging intersection can help you successfully navigate the challenges of collaboration.
1. Be clear about your destination. When you nose into that “collaboration intersection,” know exactly where you want to end up – and make it clear to those involved in the collaboration with you. Collisions are much less likely if your partners know where you’re headed. And most importantly, know when to get in and when to get out.
As a corollary, be sure that collaboration is the best way to achieve your goal. Not every business challenge requires a collaborative solution – and if you can reach your destination just as quickly without collaboration, go for it.
2. Accept that you’re not the only one driving. For a collaboration to succeed, the partners involved have to achieve a measure of mutual trust. That means not only being clear about your goals, but also understanding and respecting your partners’ goals as well – and being sure that they can mesh successfully. Until you reach that point, proceed with caution. Once you’re all in sync, you can accelerate on your project, dart through the obstacles, and follow through on your objectives.
3. Know when to lead and when to follow. If you’re a leader involved in a collaboration, your natural inclination is to lead – and with a mindful application of initiative and nerve, you can assume a leadership role, even if you have fewer resources than some of your partners. But you also have to know when to take a back seat. Sometimes, following close behind that big truck is the fastest and safest way to get through.
4. Know exactly how fast you can move. Many collaborative efforts are undertaken to accelerate innovation in fast-moving markets. Knowing how quickly you and your partners can deliver – and keeping to your timetable through the process – avoids conflicts and prevents disappointment. Collaborative tools, many enabled by new and emerging technologies, can help speed up the process and keep everyone on schedule.
5. Talk to people who have traveled the same road. If you’re used to managing and controlling your own resources – and competing against your peers to get them – you’re probably going to need a bit of an attitude adjustment. You may have to hone new leadership competencies, or at least recalibrate those you already have.
If you’re new to collaboration, seek the advice of a mentor who has been there. If your partners are new, try to guide them and help set the ground rules that will engender productive collaboration behaviors.
Sometimes, collisions in collaboration are inevitable. But if you know the unwritten rules, you can avoid most of them.
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About Rick Lash: Rick Lash is Director of Hay Group’s Leadership & Talent Practice in Canada and co-leader of the annual Hay Group Best Companies for Leadership study. Rick works with executives to build the leadership capabilities needed to execute their organizational strategy. He specializes in organizational change, succession planning and leadership development; working with leaders and senior teams to refine their capabilities and create lasting change and improved performance.
Leadership Caffeine: Respectfully Speaking, Let’s Cure Respect Deficit Disorder
Filed under: Career, Dealing with Difficult People, Leadership, Leadership Caffeine, Life and Business, Talent Management
Newsflash: The Center for Leadership Diseases (CLD) has just announced an addition to their growing list of maladies and afflictions running rampant through the leadership and customer service communities.
Respect Deficit Disorder (RDD) has officially been added to a list of maladies that includes Two-Dimensional Leader Disease (2DLD) and Tired Leader Syndrome (TLS).
In this era of runaway deficits, it seems that the need to treat others with respect…especially those who work for and with us… well..it has run away.
The extent of the disease is not entirely known, although it has been widely observed in congress as well as in a large number of workplaces and oddly enough, even in settings where treating people with respect might be expected to be a key criterion for success.
The CLD encourages anyone observing someone afflicted with this malady to direct them to the content below. For extreme cases, a stern rebuke from Mom about “treating others as you would like to be treated,” is recommended. If necessary, Mom should brandish the wooden spoon as a reminder of the implications of failing to improve.
Respectfully Yours, What Part of “Respect” Don’t You Get?
The one absolute certain thing about your day today is that you and only you determine whether you treat everyone you encounter with respect. Or not.
Too many of us will choose the “Or Not,” in spite of the fact that the simple and free but priceless act of showing respect is the most powerful lesson you will ever learn on the road to success.
For anyone leading others, respect is your most precious currency. Treat people with respect and watch resistance melt, collaboration and creativity flourish and joy or at least enjoyment begin to break out all around you.
Overheard…Contrast:
“She always pays attention to me…and listens to my ideas. Even when she’s busy, she takes time to pause and focus on me. The way she deals with me makes me want to do my best.”
With:
“If I’m lucky, he turns away from his computer screen when I have a question. Usually, he snarls something unintelligible and then waits for me to go away.”
I’m comfortable betting heavily that respect is not only correlated to high performance, but that there’s a causal relationship.
For those dealing with others, show respect to those approaching you, and you reduce resistance, gain customers, sell more, put people at ease during difficult times or simply ease the burden for a moment for someone during their journey.
How many times have you approached someone (especially the receptionist at the doctor’s office or the clerk at the Department of Motor Vehicles) to be greeted by a look that says, “Who the f#$% are you and why are you standing in front of me?” While the behavior is inexcusable, the boss is truly to blame in this situation.
For those of you who operate small businesses, teach your people to smile! (see: Smiles, Sales and Leadership)
I don’t get why people fail the respect test so many times every day. The concept is as old as humanity and wars have been fought and lives lost over the lack of this free but precious act of human decency.
Showing Respect isn’t Showing Weakness and Conversely…
And while some may confuse respect with weakness, don’t fall into that trap. In fact, it’s the opposite. Showing respect requires you to sublimate your own desires or ego and focus on the other person. This takes self-confidence and discipline, both critical indicators of strength.
Good negotiators get this…great negotiators live it. Respect wielded liberally is a powerful force.
The Bottom-Line for Now:
Leading and living are a both a great deal more enjoyable and a heck of a lot more productive when every action is preceded by the act of showing respect for the person or group in front of you. If you are leading others, take time, pay attention and engage with people like they matter. If you are leading others who deal with others, have this conversation and then hold people accountable. And if all else fails, Mom will straighten you out.
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About Art Petty:
Art Petty is a Leadership & Career Coach helping motivated professionals of all levels achieve their potential. In addition to working with highly motivated professionals, Art frequently works with project teams in pursuit of high performance. Art’s second book, Leadership Caffeine-Ideas to Energize Your Professional Development, will be published in September of 2011.
Contact Art via e-mail to discuss a coaching, workshop or speaking engagement.
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