The "I" topic for influence comes up regularly in my emerging leader coaching calls. Individuals frustrated with their assignments or feeling as if they're being bypassed for the best opportunities mostly share one common thread: they are under-invested in striving to grow their workplace influence. Here are five unavoidable facts of life that suggest influence development must be part of your work.
Getting started with a career pivot is as challenging as getting started writing a book. Both seem like great ideas, and they're the stuff of daydreams and momentary fantasies. For the aspiring book writer or career changer, these are intoxicating thoughts until reality sets in, and we realize how difficult this work is actually to start and ultimately complete.
It's easy to swallow the dogma that has emerged around the "Cult of Speed" in our management thinking and teaching. Yet, the pursuit of speed in poorly designed systems exposes weaknesses and often precipitates project, strategy, and even organizational failure. Said simply, raw speed kills. Sometimes you have to tap the brakes and slow down to ultimately move faster.
It's not easy to reinvent yourself in your career, and it's not fast. However, if you don't get started now, you'll never get to your next adventure.
There’s a growing body of research evidence—and a lot of commonsense—that suggests we benefit on many levels when we regularly display gratitude to the people who help us on our journeys. I checked, and the world can use the positive impact of more gratitude right about now.
One of my favorite parts of helping experienced professionals identify their “next” in their careers is helping them open their minds to the many alternative paths available to them. Typically, we hold narrow views of our options and close our minds to paths that will challenge and change us.
There's a reason I devote on average one-day per working week to supporting the development of new managers in my practice. It's important. And while I spend a good deal of time highlighting the challenges of the role, there are at least six big reasons why you might love this role.
Whether you classify making a career shift as a fun fantasy or it just feels overwhelming, there’s a strong gravitational pull that keeps too many people in place, miserable in jobs and roles they’ve long since lost interest in or outgrown. However, this doesn't have to be your fate.
If you are either considering the move from contributor to a manager or you are responsible for developing new managers on your team, here are four actions you can take to improve your odds of success.
We create programs to help people achieve things they never thought possible in their careers. From first-time managers to senior executives, career reinventors, people navigating challenging conversations, or individuals working to level up, we strive to bring this purpose to life in everything we do.
