The Gift of Encouragement—How Generous Are You?

One day you’re setting the world on fire and the next you feel like a complete loser. It seems to happen so fast.   

• Your old boss loved your work; the new one not so much.
• You used to navigate software effortlessly; now the new system has scuttled your productivity.
• The work team once looked to you for leadership, now there’s a new member they’re following. 

You’re not alone. It happens to all of us. 

Perspective matters. 

We’re often our own worst critic, setting expectations for ourselves that are, perhaps, higher than is reasonable. Why? Because we want to: 

• Excel over others or test our limits
• Chase rewards like performance ratings, raises, or promotions
• Measure up to what we’re told is our potential
• Exceed our prior levels of performance 

These are pressures we create and/or accept for ourselves. This pressure leads to stress that can affect our performance, taking our self-confidence with it. 

The key to a successful career is to avoid the downward spiral of eroding self-confidence. The sorry truth is that you can kill your own self-confidence through negative self-talk, but it’s highly unlikely that you can restore it by giving yourself a pep talk. 

Encouragement as gift 

The beauty of encouragement is that you can re-gift it openly and should. You don’t need to give it back to the person who gave it to you, but you do need to be ready to give it when someone else needs it. 

Lest you think that encouragement really isn’t that important, consider what these two highly successful people have to say. 

Jim Furyk, professional golfer and 2010 PGA Tour Player of the Year, recently played in the 2011 President’s Cup, a tournament that pits a select team of U.S. golfers against an international team. Furyk won all five of his matches, a rare and totally unexpected feat. You see Furyk had just come off, quite possibly, his worst year on the tour. 

Here’s how he summed up his surprising success:

I enjoy the team atmosphere, and knowing Phil [Mickelson] for as many years as I have … I’m guessing he asked to play with me, because …I struggled so much this year and played poorly, probably the worst of anybody that’s sitting up here right now.

So knowing him for as long as I have, being good friends, I assume that he asked to play with me because he felt like he could get a lot out of me this week; that maybe he could help me and pump some confidence into me and get me playing well, and he did that.

You see, we give the gift of encouragement by what we do, not just by what we say, although they can go hand in hand.

Michelle Williams, the actress who plays Marilyn Monroe in the new film, “My Week with Marilyn,” was asked by the Today Show’s, Ann Curry where she got the courage to take on such a daunting role.

…in the beginning I just tried to ignore the risk because I thought if I really contemplated it, it would only stand in my way. 

You could say she wagered her self-confidence on her ability to succeed in that role. But Michelle revealed something else in an earlier interview with Mo Rocca on CBS’s Sunday Morning:

A lot of the time I feel like– I feel like I’m living hand to mouth on people’s compliments. I don’t ask anybody, like, ‘What did you think of that scene?’ or, ‘How did it go?’ or blah, blah, blah, because I get addicted to positive affirmation… There’s just so much uncertainty when you’re making your work, doing your job….

In all, we need credible compliments that encourage us, people to stand by us when we struggle, and the insights of others to help erase our doubt and replace it with optimism.

Give generously 

Encouragement builds on itself. The more we give, the more we attract. We need to make giving it a habit, our way to lift others up. In the process we’ll see our own situations in a brighter light. Please encourage generously.

Photo from lie_inourgraves via Flickr

First Impressions—What’s Behind Them? | The Making of Brand Identity

We all know the adage: “You only have one chance to make a first impression.”

The first things we say or do in the company of a recruiter, hiring manager, new boss, coworkers, and customers trigger what they initially think about us. And it sticks.

First impressions are about expectations.

The problem with first impressions is that we don’t always know what’s expected at first meeting. Consequently, what we give off is likely a reflection of what we’re really about.

People reveal a great deal about themselves without even knowing it.

A first impression shows us either an authentic or an artificial self. Our challenge is to figure out what we’re actually seeing.

When we do that effectively, we’re more likely to enter into business relationships that will turn out well. When we don’t, we may get burned along the way.

What do you see? 

I’ve had some memorable first impression moments that were particularly revealing. I’ve categorize each by the personal brand label that I attached at the time. I never had reason to change any of them. What do you see? (I’ve changed the names.)

Ego-centered bully—I met Charlie, the guidance counselor, after I backed into his motorcycle. I’d just finished my job interview at a local high school where I was parked, with two other cars, in a small front lot. It was August.

After the interview I was preoccupied with my thoughts while walking to my car. When I started to back out of the space, I felt something against my rear bumper. I looked in my rearview mirror and saw handle bars falling to the side.

It turns out that I had unknowingly parked in Charlie’s space. To “show me,” he parked his bike with its front tire against my bumper. When I reported the incident to the principal who interviewed me, I was introduced to Charlie, who proceeded to, now verbally, “make his point,” as absurd as it was to me under the circumstances. Right then, I had his brand identity pegged. That was important since I got the job.

Caring professional—Carla wanted to grow her professional practice and  hired me to help her develop a marketing strategy and also focus her employees around her values.

We met at her kitchen table and talked about possible approaches like presentations to professional groups, advertising, public events, networking, and activities for existing clients. We also covered incentives for employees, roundtable discussions, and training.

Everything Carla accepted or rejected was about her clients first. Would the initiative make them feel more or less a part of her practice’s community? Would it make Carla more or less available to serve them? Would it mean the staff would be more connected with clients or not? Carla has never wavered from her values, truly her brand identity. 

Phony manipulator—Brent was a manager in charge of the customer service department’s interface with the IT department. His role was to define system needs and project-manage implementation. I was his new manager. He’d been passed over for the job.

Our first meeting was an opportunity for him to provide an overview of existing and pending projects and for me to “get educated” about his function. He spoke to me in acronyms, vagaries, and system jargon. When I asked about the status of deliverables, priorities, and resources in business terms, Brent’s answers were evasive.

It was clear to me from the get-go that Brent had no handle on the work but knew how to cover that up. His intention was to keep me befuddled, avoid accountability, and manipulate all the players. His first impression with me was consistent with what others told me later. Others had his brand number too.

What’s your experience?

What do you think your first impression is? Is it or isn’t it working for you?

Who has made a lasting first impression on you? What was behind it?

First impressions aren’t trivial things. They are a window into our natures. We can improve them or ignore them. That’s an important choice and our long-term brand identity is built on it.

Photo from Stephan Modry via Flickr

Disappointment Got You Down? Dig In. Bounce Back.

Things don’t always go our way at work. Sometimes it’s because we haven’t: 

• Mastered all the skills we need
• Performed well at the right time
• Solidified our support system
• Been realistic about our readiness 

That leaves us open to disappointment when we don’t: 

• Get hired for a job we really want
• Promoted to a position when we believe we’re the best candidate
• Hear our name mentioned as a key project contributor
• Get included in issues discussions around our areas of expertise 

These letdowns make us feel like we’ve fallen short.  So we: 

• Berate ourselves with a pile of negatives that make us feel worse
• Let our performance decline by slowing our pace, losing our creative energy, and allowing our drive to wane
• Give up putting ourselves “out there” for future opportunities
• Ignore the lessons about what we can do better and how we can bounce back 

Everyone gets discouraged. 

We often forget that everyone gets smacked with disappointment. Some hide it well and others make a drama out of it. 

The big lesson is that disappointment is the cause of performance decline. Successful people don’t let that decline hang around very long. 

Professional sports let you see, literally, how disappointment hurts performance: 

I’ve heard Patrick McEnroe, ESPN commentator and former U.S. Davis Cup Team captain, report that losing the first set in tennis often causes a temporary lowering of player performance. 

Some professional golfers who have blown leads in major championships fail to make the cut at their next tournament. 

Basketball players who miss key shots at the end of tight games will often pass the ball rather than shoot in subsequent games. 

It’s about attitude and confidence.  

Winners know how to manage disappointment and preserve their confidence. They quickly come to terms with disappointing situations by putting them in perspective. They: 

• Analyze the contributing factors—their knowledge, skill, experience, the environment, situational politics, and/or relationships
• Examine their choices—what they did and said, their timing, strategy, and plan
• Consider their expectations—how realistic were they, how appropriate,  how egoistic, and how balanced
• Weigh the results—how important are they in the short and long-term, what are the implications on their careers, what will it take to get another opportunity 

We tend to give our disappointments bigger significance than they deserve. We feed ourselves negative lines like: 

• I’ll never get another shot at that job.
• I blew that promotion interview, so that hiring manager will never consider me again.
• I must not have what it takes to succeed in this company. 

For some reason, we think we have the inside track on why things aren’t going our way. If that’s you, then here’s your next step: 

Ask your boss or HR or your mentor or a trusted coworker what the real issue is. 

Believe it or not, sometimes our expectations aren’t met because of business situations that we simply don’t know about. Things don’t always have to do with us. 

In our careers, we can only control what we can control, and that’s our performance. 

You can’t allow your disappointment to cause your productivity to decline, your creativity to slump, or your attitude to darken. 

The people in your organization who disappoint you know it. They don’t like it any better than you do. That’s just how things happen in business and in life. 

But they do watch how you bounce back from it. Showcasing your can-do, will-do, want-to-do attitude in the face of disappointment is a sign of what you’re made of. 

Athletes complete the game no matter how far behind they are. That’s what the crowd pays to see—not quitters who walk off the field of play. 

Our employers hire us to work in good times and bad. They expect us to stay in the game with them. 

There’s no pride in giving up or beating yourself up when things aren’t working out your way. Instead, show your bounce. 

Photo from CJ Isherwood via Flickr

When You’re Guessing, Say So! | Leadership Honesty

Finally! It’s your break-through assignment—the chance to lead a project that breaks new ground.

Leadership alert!  Find out whether that ground is hard or soft, rocky or sandy, dangerous or solid before you go too far. Figuratively speaking, you’re now the company’s excavator. Time to get fitted for your hard hat!

Everyone’s counting on you! 

New initiatives come with high expectations. There’s often a lot of hype and eagerness around a new effort but shaky consensus about:

• Scope—how big or small it will be
• Resources—the money, personnel, and time to be invested
• Impacts—the effects it will have, both positive and negative, over time
• Deliverables—the reports, analyses, communication, and products
• Roll out—when the effort will be completed and implemented 

Once you’re designated project leader, all eyes are on you. You will likely start out assembling an in-house team. You may get to hire independent contractors or collaborate with experts within your industry or in higher ed. Every one you assemble is counting on you to lead the way.

The hard realities 

Getting selected to lead a new project team is a major opportunity to demonstrate your capabilities. It broadens your visibility and expands your brand. So you don’t want to blow this!

There’s pressure because it’s a “new” initiative. No one has led a project like this before. There have been other new projects, but not with the parameters you’re expected to meet.

That means you’re on foreign ground. No one knows exactly how this project needs to be done. You can ask advice from others, but ultimately you have to figure out what to do.

This can be a lonely and unnerving spot to be in. 

What’s a Project Leader to do? 

Provide structure, first. Then provide process. That’s the surest way to keep your team going in the right direction and your eye on what is and isn’t getting done.

This is what you need:

• A “charter” for the project that is approved by whomever is senior to you, stating the scope, owner (you’re the leader), expected outcomes, your decision-making authority, budget, and deadlines
• A detailed action plan with specific accountabilities for each team member and deadlines
• A budget and system for tracking expenditures
• A reporting mechanism for the team and you to use that keeps the project owner and/or company at large informed 

Everything on a project, however, won’t go according to plan. Things get messy and uncertain.

Draw on your team and your honesty

If you pretend you know what to do (when you don’t), then give a directive and are wrong, you will lose the confidence of your team and boss.

This is what has worked for me at a crossroads:

• Meet with your team and/or the owner of the project.
• Summarize the options/choices on the table.
• Describe the “what if” scenarios you’ve considered
• Ask for their input
• State the course of action that you have decided is best.
• Ask once more for input and then act. 

I have always told both my teams and my boss, when it comes to complex new initiatives, that ”I’m making this up as I go along.” I say this because it’s honest, helps manage the expectations of the team, and motivates everyone to do their best to make things work.

Embrace calculated risk-taking

Breaking new ground means developing something that never existed before. No one knows how it will turn out. It’s the tried and true business best practices that help us find our way.

That’s why our business fitness is so important. The seven smart moves give us the insights and the relationships we need face uncertainties and keep moving ahead with confidence, even when we’re unsure! Now fire up that backhoe!

What missteps have you seen that have affected a new project/program? What should have been done? I always love your comments!

Wanted: High Flying Career. Will Work Without a Net! | Risking Failure for Success

High wire acts. Acrobats. Human cannonballs. Circus careers come with big performance expectations and high stakes. The consequences of failure can be dire.

Successful circus performers are masters of precision, flexibility, teamwork, and consistency. They own every move they make for their own good and the safety of others.

Flying through the air on a trapeze with no net below is the measure of a career that you own. When you don’t expect to fail, you’ve arrived.

What’s your act? 

Everyone wants an exciting career:

• Marketing lead on a big account
• Editor at a hot shot publication
• Start up business owner
• Global account exec
• Ecotourism director 

What does all this take? Do we just grab a chair and dash into a cage with the Bengal tigers, listening for the roar of the crowd? 

A career is a progression of our work life. It doesn’t just appear. The jobs we take are how we get things started. There are no guarantees that those jobs will add up to a career, particularly one that makes us feel successful. We just give it our best shot.

Risk is the route to reward!

Fear is the death knell for our careers: fear of failure, the boss, new assignments, change, or rocking the boat.

Playing the game to get a raise, promotion, or plum assignment isn’t risk taking. It’s maneuvering within the safe zone.

Career risks are about owning your choices and the consequences of your decisions, good or bad. That’s when you feel the exhilaration of flying through the air without a tether or that proverbial net. That’s when you know you are fully in charge of your career and, perhaps, your life.

Unfortunately, most of us aren’t as brave as those circus aerialists. We make decisions expecting that:

• If it doesn’t work out, we can rely our parents or spouse to bail us out
• We can go back to the job we left behind or a prior employer
• Going back to school will ultimately land us a better job 

We tend not to take risks that will leave us in a helpless heap if we come up short.

What are you willing to wager?

This is the quandary: Because self-preservation is a strong motivator, how do we balance our risk tolerance and our success aspirations?

Start out by being honest about what you want to achieve and why. What will make you really proud of yourself? What choices are you willing to stand up for in spite of the potentially negative reactions of people you care about? What sacrifices are you ready to make?

Look at professional athletes. Many come from backgrounds fraught with struggle and want. So they bet everything on the outside chance they will become big time athletes. If they fail, nothing much changes.

Look at children of privilege who were expected to go into the family business but want to do their own thing instead. That’s what happened with Warren Buffet’s, son, Peter, who became an Emmy Award winning musician his way. If he’d failed, he’d have paid the price on many levels.

Look at William Gates Gill, author of How Starbuck’s Saved My Life, who lost his high-powered marketing job at J. Walter Thompson Advertising. At 63 he took a service job at a Starbuck’s store in New York City because he was down and out. If he failed at that, he was done.

Fold the net…Find the glory!

Career success feels sweetest when you’ve made it your way. Safety nets are often an illusion and can become a prison. Tune out the naysayers who chant: “Girls/guys don’t do that,” “What if this all goes wrong,” “You don’t know what you’re doing.” Think for yourself and about yourself. Don’t fear risk. Embrace it smartly.

When you’re business fit, you’ve thought through the options. You’ve done your due diligence. You know where you’re headed. You’ve inventoried your capabilities. You’re packed and ready to run away to the circus! See you there!

What was the biggest career risk you’ve taken? How did it work out? Can’t wait to hear!

The Job Market’s A Moving Target. How’s Your Aim? | Positioning As Career Strategy

Specialties—they’re everywhere! The more we hear about them, the more excited we get about the prospects. Surely, there’s a way to align our education and training to get a job doing something exciting.

The old days of generalist jobs are waning. Today you can become a forensic accountant, reading specialist, triage nurse, “green” builder, news media blogger, or packaging engineer. The options are intoxicating.

Jobs brand the marketplace.

Jobs tell us about what businesses are trying to make, service, or sell. They need us to do that.

Here’s the rub: Society and its economy are always in flux. When the flux is upward, there’s lots of a business activity and jobs. When it’s down, opportunity shrinks. 

We select careers with an optimistic view of the future. Sometimes our decisions are based on what “has always been” or “is now.” Other times they’re about “what’s on the horizon” or “what could be.” In any event, we select our academic majors, our internships, our craft apprenticeships, and our starting jobs based on our interests and our “best guess” about what the marketplace will need.

Options are not opportunities. 

Here’s the challenge: Whether you are just entering the job market or making a transition, even though there are lots of ways to apply what you know, the marketplace is short on openings. That leaves many talented employee prospects in limbo.

A career strategy that doesn’t weigh career options with employment opportunities is short-sighted. Those who are business fit are business savvy. That means looking at the job market through the eyes of a business professional, a marketplace analyst, and a futurist, not as a job seeker.

Align your expectations with marketplace realities. 

Most people talk about wanting a job. I suggest we should want a position instead. A job is about tasks. A position is about vantage point. The vast majority of employees don’t land the job of their dreams at first. We’re not supposed to. To start we need to position ourselves in a business or industry with growth potential, in a job we can perform well, and then attract increased opportunity so we can expand ourselves.

Positioning is about making strategic moves to advance our careers. It protects us from being on the outside looking in as the business landscape changes.

At minimum I see four categories of careers:

1. “Old reliables”—Established careers like sales, education, police, politician, plumber, and electrician 

2. “Newbies”—Emerging careers like green technologies, health information technology, home stager, simulation developer, and emergency management.

3. “Off and running”—Evolving careers producing families of jobs in areas like electronics, health care, program analysis, and engineering

4. “New horizons”—Uncharted waters that may be a source of future careers in areas like medical, space, and oceanic research, climate change, and food production

Depending on where these career sources are in their own cycles, they are either sustaining, eliminating, increasing, replacing, or innovating jobs that need us.

We need to watch where we aim. 

It’s important to keep shooting for the career that bring the best out in us. But it makes no sense to shoot wildly. We need to understand that the target is moving, so we need to move with it. That’s why it’s important to position yourself to use the shifting and changing marketplace to your advantage.

You may start in an “old reliable” job and see an opportunity to align with one of the “newbies.” Or you may land in an “off and running” career that is so innovative that you find yourself contributing to a “new horizon.” Just remember to keep your eye on the target, the career you want, and position yourself to make the right connections. A little patience will serve you well too!

How have you been able to position yourself to make a good career move? Did you have obstacles to overcome? How did you handle that?

 

Whose Job Is It Anyway? | Set Boundaries. Create Accountability.

I loved that TV game show, “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” emceed by Drew Carey from 1998-2006, featuring masterful comedy improv artists like Ryan Stiles, Colin Mochrie, and  Wayne Brady.

In each episode, the performers were given surprise, off-the-wall situations to enact, making up dialogue off the top of their heads. They had to take on peculiar roles and follow weird rules. The pace was frenetic. Their creative antics were hilarious. And the winner, that Drew selected, was the comic who did the best job meeting his unstated expectations.

Your job is your role.  

Supervisors assign performance expectations. Employees act on them. There’s feedback along the way to make sure everyone is on the same page.

But then things break down and supervisors find themselves:

• Catching careless employee mistakes and fixing them
• Double-checking work before it gets released
• Answering endless how-to questions on routine tasks
• Uncovering neglected office procedures
• Facing push-back on performance feedback 

Many supervisors struggle with holding employees accountable for their work. When it’s time to address weak performance, they feel bad about doing it.

Whose work is it anyway?

When employees don’t deliver what’s expected, they shouldn’t be able to win. But they do win if their supervisor:

• Does the work for them
• Catches their mistakes for them
• Answers all their questions
• Coddles them when their work is slipping 

When supervisors are doing work that belongs to their employees, in whole or in part, the company is paying two people to do the same work. No business model survives that way. Boundaries help everyone succeed.

Gotta know your lines! 

Unfortunately, boundaries can blur easily. It starts with incidents that seem so innocent, so minimal, and occasional. But they creep up on you.

So you have to keep your guard up and your “lines” ready. Here are typical scenarios that most supervisors face:

Situation 1:  Martha comes to your office (in fact, interrupts your work) to ask you the latest information on a company policy while her customer is on hold. She’s been trained on the policy and how to access the company’s on-line FAQs.

Your lines: “Martha, you have access to that information. Please tell the customer you will find it and call him back in 15 minutes.” 

Situation 2: John is responsible for ensuring that there is sufficient inventory to cover monthly demand. He failed to meet that standard again this month. In his own defense, he told you that his suppliers were not delivering on time.

Your lines: “John, this is the third consecutive month that inventory has not met demand. I need to review the initiatives you will put into place to deal with suppliers? Please prepare a written plan for me to review and discuss with you before noon on Friday.” 

Situation 3: Sylvia’s performance has been declining in two areas: meeting monthly internal communications deadlines and launching a social media marketing team. During your feedback session, Sylvia argues with you, defending her performance.

Your lines: “Sylvia, I have described my expectations for these areas of your performance. I have just  given you specific examples of work that has fallen short. I hear the justifications that you are giving me but that doesn’t change my expectations. I want you to succeed here and am willing to support the efforts you make. I would like to meet with you again tomorrow and talk about what specific steps you will take to improve.” 

Let your boundaries propel accountability.  

As a supervisor, you are accountable for the collective output of your work group. But each employee is accountable for his/her own work. Your job is to ensure that accountabilities are being met by being supportive but without taking on their work. Being business fit means staying focused on what needs to be done and by whom. When your employees know whose job it is, your job is a lot sweeter!

Were you ever in a situation where someone tried to off-load their work to you? What were your lines? How did everything resolve itself?

Supervisory Courage or Cowardice? | Handling Employees With “Attitude”

Do you have one of these? An employee who’s negative, resistant, complaining and blaming, or uncooperative. One is bad enough, but more than one can be unbearable.

What you resist persists. 

Confronting behavior problems is no fun, but it’s a supervisor’s job! Employees with “bad” attitudes won’t get any better when the supervisor:

• Ignores them
• Makes excuses for them
• Accommodates the them
• Accepts them
• Rewards them by giving in 

The hard reality is that supervisors need to TALK to these employees about what they are doing and why.

That “talk” word makes many a supervisor’s blood run cold. They often don’t want to face that employee, don’t know how to conduct or control the meeting, or aren’t clear about the outcome they want.

So they keep putting off the confrontation until work is compromised, other employees are negatively affected, and their effectiveness as a supervisor is questioned. The problem persists!

Start by trying to understand the cause. 

To get the ball rolling, supervisors needs to accept two premises:

• There is an underlying reason why an employee’s attitude is “bad” and the supervisor needs to find that out. 
• The employee owns his/her attitude problem. The supervisor is responsible for mitigating its negative impact on work group performance.   

Too many supervisors feel that they need to defend themselves when they confront. Remember: It’s the employee’s attitude that is causing the problem.  The onus is on them to improve, not the supervisor.

Take charge. 

Don’t delay. Meet with the employee as soon as you observe the unwanted attitude.  Start by identifying the unacceptable attitude/behavior you have observed like:

• Negative or accusative statements
• Work not submitted on time or according to instructions
• Fault finding with other employees or the supervisor
• Defensiveness or being dismissive of others
• Bullying or actions that incite conflict 

State the specific instance(s) where you personally observed the attitude or behavior. State the impact that these behaviors have on the work.

Ask, “What is driving your attitude/behavior?” Then listen. Ask for clarification until you understand what’s behind it all.

When you think you’ve got it, say, “I want to be sure I understand what your reasons are. I heard you say____. Is that correct?”

Solutions are both art and science. 

To get behavior change, there is an element of negotiation and a bit of compromise. Supervisors need to reinforce exactly the behavior they expect and how they know when they are getting it. You need to make that clear up front.

The next step is to ask, “Are you willing to make the effort to change?” If the answer is “No,” then you need to tell the employee that his/her job will be at risk.

If the answer is “Yes,” then ask, “What will you do to turn your attitude around? How can I, as your supervisor, help/support you?” The employee commits to action and the supervisor to support.

Next you schedule specific times when you will meet to discuss progress. To start, that’s at least weekly. As things improve, less frequently.

The employee needs to understand that you expect to see significant improvement within a 3 month period. Along the way, you’ll be restating your expectations and giving specific feedback.

The effort and consequences must be real. 

The time supervisors invest in an employee with a “bad” attitude is significant. The reward is a positive turn-around. However, not everyone will change, so termination of employment is a potential consequence.

When you invest time in employees who are difficult, you also make an impression on your good employees. They will see that you care, observe what it means to supervise, and accept the fairness of the outcome.

Business fit supervisors are prepared and ready to face and resolve tough challenges. It’s no picnic but it’s worth it!

What experiences have you had supervising or working with an employee with a “bad” attitude? Did you know the cause? What happened to him/her?

Besieged by Problems? Out of Ideas? | Circle Your Masterminds

In the dumps? Disgusted? Feel like no one’s struggling with career frustrations and business uncertainties the way you are? Makes you ask yourself, “What’s my problem?” Well, that’s how I felt. 

It doesn’t matter whether you’re an employee, a business owner, a budding entrepreneur, college student, or unemployed. We just don’t have all the answers.

Finding answers is about accumulating knowledge. 

And it isn’t just about information. Knowledge includes insights, perspectives, conclusions, and us. 

Yes, the most important knowledge we bring to our work is self-knowledge. Are you aware of what motivates, frightens, energizes, and limits you? Do you understand and deal with your strengths and weaknesses? Are you an effective problem solver? 

This is heady stuff that we often overlook. But it’s the real stuff of career and business success. 

The best route to that understanding is through people who want it too. 

Find like-minded people who trust each other. They’re gold!

 This is what mastermind groups are. You can get a group together around any issue you face: 

• Career decision-making and job hunting
• Building your small business
• Creating better marketing strategies
• Personal or professional development
• Expanding your network
• Increasing your self-confidence
• Developing new products or services  

(If this is new to you, read Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. It’ll amaze you.) 

I needed a mastermind group when I started my solo practice. 

Here’s the scenario: I’d left a big corporation and the handsome, every-two-week paycheck to start my consulting business. The risk was hefty. 

I worked all day, six days a week alone—no employees, no meetings, no one. 

I knew three former colleagues who were also starting new businesses, two with a real sense of urgency like mine. We were all struggling with the same issues: 

• no colleagues for idea sharing, support, or accountability
• difficulty staying motivated in isolation
• trouble staying focused and resisting procrastination
• dealing with uncertainty, negative thoughts, and discouragement 

So we formed a mastermind group that we called Gold Minds and met monthly for three years. 

Being held accountable by others makes us more accountable to ourselves. 

The Gold Minds met at my dining room table from nine to noon. Our meetings included agendas, assignments, roundtables, grillings (always constructive), status reports and laugher. We: 

• confronted each other about our foibles and fears
• shared leads and made referrals
• reviewed and approved our annual goals
• challenged each other on our quarterly performance results
• conducted information exchanges; discussed  books read in common 

We were a kind of board of directors, committed to each other’s success.

It’s not much fun going it alone. So don’t!  

Career and business challenges never stop. The right mastermind group can be a huge relief. For these groups to be successful, you need to manage expectations up front. 

In our case each member agreed to:

• Be trustworthy and hold our conversations in confidence       
• Accept all members as equals
• Adhere to the goals and agendas set by the group
• Be kind, patient, supportive, and sensitive
• Demonstrate a positive, can-do attitude
• Learn from others and communicate openly
• Have a good sense of humor

You get back what you put in. 

Mastermind groups can cultivate a generosity of spirit that attracts positive results. Like-minded people committed to helping each other are an empowering force. Through them we become more business fit, finding success our way as they find it their way.  

Have you had a mastermind group experience? What went well and what didn’t? Any suggestions you can add? Thanks, as always!

I’m pleased to post this code, Z8X2YE74Z8VT, in order to have my blog registered with Technorati.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Know When to Fold ’Em | A Smart Career Strategy

Have a job that isn’t going anywhere? Reluctant to leave your work mates? Nervous about changing jobs? Join the club! 

A lot of people stay where they are, taking the avenue of least resistance. Unfortunately, it’s also the road to nowhere. So if you’re on it, get ready to exit. 

Being in a dead-end job isn’t the worst that can happen. Staying there too long is. 

We let ourselves get stuck in our jobs because of naïve or faulty thinking like: 

• If I do a good job, my boss will give me more challenging work.
• I work well with my co-workers, so I’ll probably be promoted to supervisor when there’s an opening.
• More training or college courses will advance my career.
• The productivity of my work team would suffer if I moved on.
• There really isn’t any other job that matches my skills and interests. 

These “beliefs” and our resistance to change paralyze our ability to move on. We worry that disrupting our own status quo could hurt not help our careers. Fear of the unknown is a powerful force. So we stay. 

Don’t measure “too long” by time. Measure it by the toll it’s taking. 

I confess. I am famous for waiting too long. Maybe that means I have a high pain tolerance, but I suspect that it’s simply my flaw. I’m getting better which is some consolation. 

When a job is hurting you, you need to get out. Here’s how I know: 

1. I took a desperation job as a switchboard operator at a brewery when I relocated to PA after five years teaching high school. I used an agency to get it. I was over-qualified, the job was brain-numbingly tedious, and the environment crushing to my self-esteem. I became so depressed that I’d come home from work and sleep for twelve hours.   

I stayed 4 months. If I could have stuck it out for 6 months, the company would  have paid the agency fee. I tried but couldn’t.  What a waste! (Even the beer was bad!) 

2. After the brewery job, I worked for a great non-profit with a dynamic executive director. I was responsible for grant writing, supervision of cooks and bus drivers, volunteers, parent meetings, and government surplus food. I averaged 50 hours a week, ran myself ragged, made a pittance, and knew it wasn’t right for me. When I thought about leaving, I felt guilty. 

I stayed for almost two years. When I left for a teaching job, five people replaced me. That was a lesson too. 

3. I was hired by a big utility company after another five years of teaching. I started as the energy education coordinator, built a department from scratch, hired terrific people, and became the manager. I was content there. 

I was offered a promotion as training and development manager in human resources. But I was reluctant to leave the program that was my “baby” and my work “friends.” 

My boss told me, “Being too attached to things you’ve done is a career trap. Don’t let that get in the way of your own growth. By moving on, you position yourself to continue to make a broader impact.” He was right. 

So after five years there, I moved on. 

It’s your career, so it should be good for you. If it isn’t, bolt! 

Remember: A job that:

• Crushes your spirit or makes you physically sick isn’t worth it. 
• Fails to compensate you for the value you add is a bad investment.
• Clouds your ability to embrace other opportunities is limiting.

 Jobs are about work that businesses need to get done to be profitable. It’s up to us to make sure that the jobs we accept fit our capabilities, work style, and expectations. If they don’t, then we have to decide to stay or go. Keep your business fitness bags packed! 

Do you have an “I stayed too long” experience to share? What held you back and then pushed you forward? Any words of encouragement?