To advance your career you need to do certain things including a regular stock-taking to assess what you are achieving, where to get back on track if you’ve strayed and where to raise your game. Here are some others;
START A BRAG-LOG: Brag-logs are short pithy statements of information about who you are and what you’ve done, positive things you can say about your work which together show what you are capable of. If you don’t have one already, create a journal in which you keep track of your achievements with a small note explaining why they are important; even better if you can show where possible how your achievement helped your company or made a difference on a broader level.
SHORE UP YOUR CONSISTENCY: You will hardly get your ‘’big break’’ from a one off brilliance. You need to be seen as a safe pair of hands delivering the required top standards day in day out, that you come through when it really matters even if you drop the ball occasionally. Check in with yourself from time to time how you’re doing, how you’ve addressed any obstacles in order to keep doing your best work.
ATTRACT INFLUENTIAL SPONSOR: Solo success is near impossible. A sponsor is someone who knows your work, your potential and your work ethic and therefore willingly vouches for you sometimes even without your knowledge. Sponsors are not friends in high places who may put in a word for you as a favour but people who are prepared to stick their neck out for you because of your track record. Where such a sponsor is well regarded, their word on your behalf is likely to carry a lot of weight.
GET MORE RIGHT EXPERIENCE: Long experience alone will not open doors, it has to be enough of the right experience. That’s why it’s important that you clarify your career aspirations early on, have some concrete goals and develop experience that fits those goals. Based on your goals you must work out the experience you need to transition quickly to the next stage of your working life. Get others to tell you strengths that you might be taking for granted so that you can use them more and develop them further.
Now take action: Based on your goals how can you get more ‘right’ experience’
Saturday, October 20, 2012
When you are in over your head
Deep down we all know when we have bitten more than we can chew; too many unfinished tasks, having an important piece of work to do but no clue where to start? If you find yourself in that situation what can you do?;
GET HELP QUICKLY. Don’t drown thinking you have to do everything yourself. You are not expected to know everything but must know where to get the help you need to deliver. Focus on what the result is that you must achieve and solicit the help and resources you need to achieve it. Never underperform because you personally do not know how to do something you are responsible for.
OWN THE EXECUTION: Find help and learn from others so that you are able to do the task next time. The more you learn from others, the more you increase your capability and discover things that you might not have thought of on your own. Seek out people who can bring value to your work so you can call on their help and receive it when you need it. To do this you’ll also need to invest in other people too and go to their aid when they need support too.
BUILD AN EXTENDED TEAM: Sometimes you may feel you are not qualified or not doing a good enough job. Take an inventory of the skills you bring to your role and build a targeted list of people who know things you don’t know and ready to assist you learn what you need. Don’t think of people who can help you only as your peers or those above you. People have skills beyond their job titles so look for able and willing individuals rather than rank.
BE SYSTEMATIC IN LEARNING: Set some priority learning goals. For example; what do you want to be able to do in the next 3 months that you’re not able to do now? What are you gaping weaknesses that you need improve significantly? Then develop a plan to skill up. Don’t ever fail because you buried your head in the sand!
Now take action: Where in your job are you average but need to be high performing?
GET HELP QUICKLY. Don’t drown thinking you have to do everything yourself. You are not expected to know everything but must know where to get the help you need to deliver. Focus on what the result is that you must achieve and solicit the help and resources you need to achieve it. Never underperform because you personally do not know how to do something you are responsible for.
OWN THE EXECUTION: Find help and learn from others so that you are able to do the task next time. The more you learn from others, the more you increase your capability and discover things that you might not have thought of on your own. Seek out people who can bring value to your work so you can call on their help and receive it when you need it. To do this you’ll also need to invest in other people too and go to their aid when they need support too.
BUILD AN EXTENDED TEAM: Sometimes you may feel you are not qualified or not doing a good enough job. Take an inventory of the skills you bring to your role and build a targeted list of people who know things you don’t know and ready to assist you learn what you need. Don’t think of people who can help you only as your peers or those above you. People have skills beyond their job titles so look for able and willing individuals rather than rank.
BE SYSTEMATIC IN LEARNING: Set some priority learning goals. For example; what do you want to be able to do in the next 3 months that you’re not able to do now? What are you gaping weaknesses that you need improve significantly? Then develop a plan to skill up. Don’t ever fail because you buried your head in the sand!
Now take action: Where in your job are you average but need to be high performing?
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Don't be a one trick pony
One tip to doing well in your career is demonstrating over and over than you are a safe pair of hands and can deliver time and time again. How do you get to that place where you are consistently reliable? Here are some ‘one off’s to overcome;
ONLY ONE SKILL YOU ARE GOOD AT: What would you say is your top skill? What’s your next best skill? The workplace these days requires several skill combinations from one individual; agility and versatility. These competencies could be regular technical skills as well as others like teamworking or less traditional ones like the ability to simplify the complex, to build trust or to work well in a diverse team.
ONLY ONE PERSON THINKS YOU ARE GREAT: This is a good starting point but it helps to have a few more think so too. The more people who can say good things about your performance the better. If someone spoke to a couple of people that you work with, how many would sing your praises, vouch for your competence or even want you on their team. Find opportunities to work outside of your team so that others can be exposed to what you can do.
ONLY IONE FLASH OF BRILLIANCE: This does indicate that you are capable of distinction, but if this happened once and has become the point of reference many years later of your excellence, it may be time to show that was not a flash in the pan. You need recent accomplishments to demonstrate you are still effective. Reflect on how you executed that one flash of brilliance. What were you working on? How supportive was the environment? What support was most helpful? What factors enabled you to do your best? And try and do it again.
ONLY WORKED IN ONE TYPE OF TEAM: Especially, when the team is of like-minded people. The point here is to have experience of a variety of teams and working with different types of people. Variety that will challenge your way of thinking, enable you to work in different roles and identify your forte. Teams don’t have to be only the ones where you work, but those outside are perfectly useful too.
Now take action: Identify one team who have a project you can participate in
ONLY ONE SKILL YOU ARE GOOD AT: What would you say is your top skill? What’s your next best skill? The workplace these days requires several skill combinations from one individual; agility and versatility. These competencies could be regular technical skills as well as others like teamworking or less traditional ones like the ability to simplify the complex, to build trust or to work well in a diverse team.
ONLY ONE PERSON THINKS YOU ARE GREAT: This is a good starting point but it helps to have a few more think so too. The more people who can say good things about your performance the better. If someone spoke to a couple of people that you work with, how many would sing your praises, vouch for your competence or even want you on their team. Find opportunities to work outside of your team so that others can be exposed to what you can do.
ONLY IONE FLASH OF BRILLIANCE: This does indicate that you are capable of distinction, but if this happened once and has become the point of reference many years later of your excellence, it may be time to show that was not a flash in the pan. You need recent accomplishments to demonstrate you are still effective. Reflect on how you executed that one flash of brilliance. What were you working on? How supportive was the environment? What support was most helpful? What factors enabled you to do your best? And try and do it again.
ONLY WORKED IN ONE TYPE OF TEAM: Especially, when the team is of like-minded people. The point here is to have experience of a variety of teams and working with different types of people. Variety that will challenge your way of thinking, enable you to work in different roles and identify your forte. Teams don’t have to be only the ones where you work, but those outside are perfectly useful too.
Now take action: Identify one team who have a project you can participate in
Five 'musts' when you're in charge
If you are in a leadership role, your job is never done!.. and depending on your context your responsibilities can span a whole range of activities. But I want to focus here on five core duties that I believe are fundamental to a leader’s job day to day; that is to;
GROW LEADERS:. As you work with people your guidance and direction must leave them more capable and confident than they were before working with you. When they are struggling, find a way to pull them up, when they are excelling give them opportunity to challenge themselves even further. Whatever you do, check that they are growing and not just ‘doing work’.
BUILD TRUST: This is one of the most difficult things to achieve but trust is critical to leadership. Where this seems ‘impossible’’ for whatever reason, aim to get to a place where you can at least earn the benefit of the doubt from those who have responsibility over. Trust building is a process so never give up working on it. Some common trust-busting behaviours include transparency, listening and empathy.
CREATE CLARITY: Set your team in a position to succeed by giving proper instruction and assistance where needed. Take a regular reality check that you’re being understood, that your expectations are clearly communicated, that you’re addressing in a positive way whatever is undermining performance. Don’t expect coherence and smart working if the objectives to which people are expected to deliver are not made clear by you.
LEAD BY EXAMPLE: Role modelling comes with the territory of ‘being in charge’. Often ask yourself; what behaviours are you demanding of others that you are not demonstrating yourself? What are your actions saying about your values? What lines will you not cross? Are you delivering the high performance you demand of others? Remember, your moral authority is as important as your positional power.
CONTROL YOUR DAY: When you are in charge, being organised is essential. You’re busy and probably no two days are ever the same. But you must find a way to bring some order especially if others’ work for the day derives from yours. A ‘priority to do list’ may not work 100% but can be useful basic step to reining things in.
Now take action: How are you developing those under your charge?
GROW LEADERS:. As you work with people your guidance and direction must leave them more capable and confident than they were before working with you. When they are struggling, find a way to pull them up, when they are excelling give them opportunity to challenge themselves even further. Whatever you do, check that they are growing and not just ‘doing work’.
BUILD TRUST: This is one of the most difficult things to achieve but trust is critical to leadership. Where this seems ‘impossible’’ for whatever reason, aim to get to a place where you can at least earn the benefit of the doubt from those who have responsibility over. Trust building is a process so never give up working on it. Some common trust-busting behaviours include transparency, listening and empathy.
CREATE CLARITY: Set your team in a position to succeed by giving proper instruction and assistance where needed. Take a regular reality check that you’re being understood, that your expectations are clearly communicated, that you’re addressing in a positive way whatever is undermining performance. Don’t expect coherence and smart working if the objectives to which people are expected to deliver are not made clear by you.
LEAD BY EXAMPLE: Role modelling comes with the territory of ‘being in charge’. Often ask yourself; what behaviours are you demanding of others that you are not demonstrating yourself? What are your actions saying about your values? What lines will you not cross? Are you delivering the high performance you demand of others? Remember, your moral authority is as important as your positional power.
CONTROL YOUR DAY: When you are in charge, being organised is essential. You’re busy and probably no two days are ever the same. But you must find a way to bring some order especially if others’ work for the day derives from yours. A ‘priority to do list’ may not work 100% but can be useful basic step to reining things in.
Now take action: How are you developing those under your charge?
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Go for big growth for big goals
If your vision is wanting to make a go places, you’re won’t achieve that by doing the little you can and hoping for the best. What must you do then? Do things that propel exponential personal growth. Here are a few suggestions;
BE DELIBERATE IN YOUR EFFORTS: What level of excellence or goal is eluding you? Why is this so? What do you do when you’re struggling? Where would you like to go on onto from what you are doing now? You need to be intentional, develop big goals based on a core set of skills you know you have that you can get you started on, make sure you find a mentor who will guide you, be your sounding board and help address any skills gaps quickly.
AVOID GRAVITY PEOPLE: These are people who specialise in negativity. You are excited about something, they burst your bubble. They may not do this on purpose. They see the glass half empty and are eternal pessimists. Sometimes, ‘gravity people’ can even be your boss, who will keep you in a box rather than encourage you to step out and take out a chance on your potential. If you have such a boss, you’ll need to consider moving to another department or another job.
BE YOUR BEST ADVOCATE: If you have the right people around you, there will no shortage of people who will wish you well. But you should be your own strongest champion because that is what will keep you going when people can’t always be available when you need them. Keep your mind and energy focused on what you can do rather than what you can’t. Avoid self-induced negative stress and side step any unnecessary ‘drama’ in that divides your attention and drains you.
BREAK UNHELPFUL PATTERNS: These take several forms; always distracted at work?, seeking counsel from the wrong source?, defending the indefensible, blaming others for your troubles?, not taking personal responsibility for mistakes?, abusing your position? Identify unhelpful patterns in yourself and find a way to break them. A good way is identify someone willing to be your ‘monitor’ to hold you accountable.
Now take action: What one thing will you do in the next 6 months to increase your personal growth
BE DELIBERATE IN YOUR EFFORTS: What level of excellence or goal is eluding you? Why is this so? What do you do when you’re struggling? Where would you like to go on onto from what you are doing now? You need to be intentional, develop big goals based on a core set of skills you know you have that you can get you started on, make sure you find a mentor who will guide you, be your sounding board and help address any skills gaps quickly.
AVOID GRAVITY PEOPLE: These are people who specialise in negativity. You are excited about something, they burst your bubble. They may not do this on purpose. They see the glass half empty and are eternal pessimists. Sometimes, ‘gravity people’ can even be your boss, who will keep you in a box rather than encourage you to step out and take out a chance on your potential. If you have such a boss, you’ll need to consider moving to another department or another job.
BE YOUR BEST ADVOCATE: If you have the right people around you, there will no shortage of people who will wish you well. But you should be your own strongest champion because that is what will keep you going when people can’t always be available when you need them. Keep your mind and energy focused on what you can do rather than what you can’t. Avoid self-induced negative stress and side step any unnecessary ‘drama’ in that divides your attention and drains you.
BREAK UNHELPFUL PATTERNS: These take several forms; always distracted at work?, seeking counsel from the wrong source?, defending the indefensible, blaming others for your troubles?, not taking personal responsibility for mistakes?, abusing your position? Identify unhelpful patterns in yourself and find a way to break them. A good way is identify someone willing to be your ‘monitor’ to hold you accountable.
Now take action: What one thing will you do in the next 6 months to increase your personal growth
Evolve into a collaborator
Becoming a collaborator helps you achieve more than you could do on your own. It also helps you support others and earn some good quality goodwill and loyalty that could come in handy. How do you become a collaborator?
PREPARE TO LEAD AND TO FOLLOW: Good collaborators can adapt well and become what the situation needs them to become, changing behaviours as necessary to keep moving forward To collaborate well, you must engage others early, focus on achieving a ‘win win’ result for everyone. You must also be comfortable with lining up behind others best placed to lead in any given circumstance.
BE AWARE OF OTHERS’S NEEDS: So that you can agree mutually beneficial goals. Emphasise what you have in common with others, how you can give your best and get the best from others. Understand yourself, where your ‘rough edges’ are so that you don’t rub people the wrong way. Appeal to others by showing that you can adapt to their needs and interests meet them half way.
FIND OUT WHAT MAY NOT BE OBVIOUS: To be a true collaborator, you must learn to read between the lines, connect the dots and find a way to work out what your counterpart may want that might not be immediately obvious. Don’t be afraid to ask questions in order to establish what’s important to them. Move with purpose but pay attention to your intuition tells you.
BE COMFORTABLE WITH GETTING SOMETHING TOO: Collaboration isn’t just about helping someone else achieve their goals, interests etc. You don’t have to give up your goals. Be prepared to get your ideas across in a decisive way provided you don’t expect others to give up their goals for yours. Develop high expectations of yourself and others. Be clear what support you need from others and ask for it.
SHOW YOU CAN BE TRUSTED: Collaboration is a partnership and so you must be earn the confidence of others, show that you are committed to their interests and willing to put your energies in. Make everyone involved feels they have a stake in what’s being pursued
Now take action: Where would your biggest strength be as a collaborator?
PREPARE TO LEAD AND TO FOLLOW: Good collaborators can adapt well and become what the situation needs them to become, changing behaviours as necessary to keep moving forward To collaborate well, you must engage others early, focus on achieving a ‘win win’ result for everyone. You must also be comfortable with lining up behind others best placed to lead in any given circumstance.
BE AWARE OF OTHERS’S NEEDS: So that you can agree mutually beneficial goals. Emphasise what you have in common with others, how you can give your best and get the best from others. Understand yourself, where your ‘rough edges’ are so that you don’t rub people the wrong way. Appeal to others by showing that you can adapt to their needs and interests meet them half way.
FIND OUT WHAT MAY NOT BE OBVIOUS: To be a true collaborator, you must learn to read between the lines, connect the dots and find a way to work out what your counterpart may want that might not be immediately obvious. Don’t be afraid to ask questions in order to establish what’s important to them. Move with purpose but pay attention to your intuition tells you.
BE COMFORTABLE WITH GETTING SOMETHING TOO: Collaboration isn’t just about helping someone else achieve their goals, interests etc. You don’t have to give up your goals. Be prepared to get your ideas across in a decisive way provided you don’t expect others to give up their goals for yours. Develop high expectations of yourself and others. Be clear what support you need from others and ask for it.
SHOW YOU CAN BE TRUSTED: Collaboration is a partnership and so you must be earn the confidence of others, show that you are committed to their interests and willing to put your energies in. Make everyone involved feels they have a stake in what’s being pursued
Now take action: Where would your biggest strength be as a collaborator?
Monday, July 9, 2012
Heed the red, amber , green lights
The traffic light symbol is increasingly been used outside of the field of road traffic, for example to assess status of projects. This symbol can also be a useful guide for managing your career as follows;
RED: This means red-flag; warning signs that could have negative consequences if ignored. Red-flags include putting your career advancement in someone else’s hands, not investing in yourself, fighting with your boss, confusing your job with your career, not updating your skills etc or even ‘thrashing’ your employer to others. Red can also mean ‘stop’. Some ‘stops’ to consider are making money the most important factor in career decisions, making choices for benefits you can get ‘now’; sticking with what’s familiar instead of creating new paths for yourself or always pursuing others’ definition of success.
AMBER: Amber is being in a constant state of preparation; the time to get ready and stay ready for the big breaks or even setting new goals for yourself. Amber time is when you do what you need to improve where you don’t measure up, learn what you need to learn to increase your success and identify where you need to persist. Amber time is also when to ask yourself some hard questions like; is where I am headed really where I wish to go? Is my current job taking me in a positive career direction? Am I deploying my strongest skills in what I am doing now? What are the calculated risks I need to take to open up more opportunities for myself?
GREEN: Green is cruising time; when you are in roles that you enjoy and draw on your strongest skills. But just as the traffic lights don’t stay green forever, you never know when you are going to hit a bump or a red sign. So use the green period to increase your momentum, grow important professional relationships and be recognised for what you can do. Also remember that whether you can cruise or not when the lights go green depends on the condition of your ‘career car’ which include a strong skills set, a positive mind-set and attitude, a good reputation and lot of good will from others.
Now take action: Do a traffic lights assessment of the status of your career now.
RED: This means red-flag; warning signs that could have negative consequences if ignored. Red-flags include putting your career advancement in someone else’s hands, not investing in yourself, fighting with your boss, confusing your job with your career, not updating your skills etc or even ‘thrashing’ your employer to others. Red can also mean ‘stop’. Some ‘stops’ to consider are making money the most important factor in career decisions, making choices for benefits you can get ‘now’; sticking with what’s familiar instead of creating new paths for yourself or always pursuing others’ definition of success.
AMBER: Amber is being in a constant state of preparation; the time to get ready and stay ready for the big breaks or even setting new goals for yourself. Amber time is when you do what you need to improve where you don’t measure up, learn what you need to learn to increase your success and identify where you need to persist. Amber time is also when to ask yourself some hard questions like; is where I am headed really where I wish to go? Is my current job taking me in a positive career direction? Am I deploying my strongest skills in what I am doing now? What are the calculated risks I need to take to open up more opportunities for myself?
GREEN: Green is cruising time; when you are in roles that you enjoy and draw on your strongest skills. But just as the traffic lights don’t stay green forever, you never know when you are going to hit a bump or a red sign. So use the green period to increase your momentum, grow important professional relationships and be recognised for what you can do. Also remember that whether you can cruise or not when the lights go green depends on the condition of your ‘career car’ which include a strong skills set, a positive mind-set and attitude, a good reputation and lot of good will from others.
Now take action: Do a traffic lights assessment of the status of your career now.
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