Author: Marcia Zidle

Amber, a young professional at a recent workshop, asks…

“I spend a lot of my time and energy trying to build my ‘toolkit’, gaining experience and knowledge in as many different areas as possible. I hear many emerging leaders say they sometimes feel like we are stretched an inch deep and a mile wide. Are we more marketable as experts in one area or being well-rounded. What is the best career path?”

Amber, it depends. In fact it changes over the course of a career. For example:

Generalist

In the beginning of one’s career you’re asked to do everything (your job title could be program associate or junior engineer). When you start out it’s important to understand all the different areas so you can decide where you best fit. It also builds your network within the company which will be crucial in developing your career.

Specialist

Mid career you’re asked to specialize. The organization needs people who have or will develop an expertise in specific areas (finance, human resources, marketing, fund raising, etc.) Specialization leads to expertise, which means you are building a portfolio of functional knowledge and competency. Therefore, a career option is to move up the ladder in your area of expertise.

Back to a Generalist

When you are promoted to a senior leader you have to be a generalist again. You need to keep tabs on everything from budgets to leadership development to media relations, etc. What’s important at this level is to know the big picture, to be able to connect the dots, to see the interdependency between the different functional areas or departments. You have to move from your functional head into a strategic perspective – where is the company going and how should we get there?

Bottom Line: Your Career Goals

At any given point in your career, you have to ask yourself where you want to eventually end up and which next step is most likely to get you there. Perhaps you need to stay in your functional area to gain greater depth before moving on. Or make a lateral move to another division to build a broader knowledge of the company’s operations. In reality, there’s no one best career path. It depends.

Readers, what do you think? Let me know of your career experience as being a specialist or generalist or both.

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?

Branding is not only a marketing term to promote products. It can promote your career.

A strong career brand conveys your identity and distinctiveness as a professional or leader. It communicates the value you offer. If you have a weak or wrong brand, you will have a much harder time achieving your career goals and having the impact you want.

So how do you build a strong career brand?

1. Answer two important questions:

• What do you want to be known for?
  Start with a large list of adjectives that describe your skills and personality traits. Then narrow it down to 3 to 5 words or phrases.
• What results do you want to achieve in the next 12 months?
  Look ahead to the beginning of 2012, where do you want to be and what do you want to be doing?

2. Create your career brand.
Take the answers to the above two questions and put them into the following statement:”I want to be known for ______ so that I can ______”.

Here are two examples:
“I want to be known for my analytical ability to simplify complex information so that I can guide senior leadership in making the right decisions.”

“I want to be known for my leadership ability so that I can mobilize and coach my staff to exceed high performance standards.”

3. Determine if your career brand will work.

• Does this brand identity best represent who I am and what I do?
• Will it create value in the eyes of others (my boss, my clients, etc.?
• What possible risks and opportunities are there in exhibiting this brand?
• Do I need to change it or refine it to promote my career more effectively?

Are you on brand or off brand?

Now that you have a career brand, you must have the day-to-day discipline to make it real. Check with those around you to see if they perceive you as you wish to be seen? For example, if you say you’re flexible and approachable, do others find you so? Remember, a strong career brand takes time and effort to make it stick.

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?

We’ve all had successes and even some failures in our career. What can we learn?

Here are words of wisdom from experienced leaders I interviewed for a career management presentation at a recent young professional conference.

Seven tips to guide your career.

1. Have big enough goals.
“Don’t pay any attention to those well-meaning naysayers who warn you that you can’t do it. You’re young, assume anything is possible, and then go out and do it.”

2. But choose strategically.
“Successful professionals don’t start out asking, what needs to be done? Rather, they ask, What is important and how can I and my team make a difference?”

3. Stop being the Lone Ranger.
“One of the most important things is to be humble enough to allow others to help you. We seem to need to come up with our own brilliant ideas. My career didn’t move forward until I was willing to listen to others, especially those who had more experience than I did.”

4. Don’t burn bridges along the way.
“Each profession may seem big – but, as you move up in your career, you come to realize how ‘small’ each really is. Something you said or done may comes back to haunt you.”

5. Pull the plug sooner than later.
“Sometimes to change a situation, you have to change the situation. Don’t be afraid to change people, expectations, goals as long as you’ve thought it through. There’s a saying, if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.”

6. Swim in water over you head.
“You gotta do things outside your comfort zone. Seek out opportunities to learn, to lead, to live on the edge occasionally. It’s the only way to grow.”

7. Finally, money is not everything.
“A great salary doesn’t equate to happiness. It’s doing what you really enjoy. Remember, you’ll be living and working for many years – perhaps another 40. Make the most of them.”

What are some of your lessons learned in your career?

I would enjoy hearing from both young and seasoned professionals as well as leaders. I’ll compile your words of wisdom for a future blog.

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?

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Do you have great ideas but can’t seem to get people to listen?

A recent email from a frustrated manager who, like many of us, has great ideas but finds it difficult getting them accepted and implemented. Perhaps a boss is too busy putting out fires to pay attention. Or, in the give and take of a meeting, your suggestions get lost.

In her years of writing about successful leaders, Rosabeth Moss Kanter of Harvard Business School, states that “getting ideas off the ground requires personal credibility and power.” Here’s what she advises.

Four Influencing Strategies:

1. Showing up: The power of presence.
It’s a cliché but true that 90% of success in life comes from just showing up. Digital and other remote communications are efficient, but there’s much to be said for being there – face-to-face with others.

2. Speaking up: The power of voice.
It’s more than making noise. It’s being articulate, putting your ideas into words that get people to listen and see you as a leader. If you’re uncomfortable with public speaking, get a coach, take lessons, join Toastmasters and then stand up and do it.

3. Teaming up: the power of partnering.
As you move into leadership, you technical or business skills aren’t enough. Success, at this stage of your career, depends more on building good relationships inside and outside your organization. So start “playing with others”.

4. Not giving up: the power of persistence.
Everything can look like a failure in the middle. Keep at it, make mid-course adjustments and surprise the naysayers. All successful people have dealt with self-doubt, but they keep on going. So can you.

Career Success Tip

There have been excellent big ideas which couldn’t get off the ground because they lacked proper uplift and effort. On the flip side, really good small ideas have revolutionized our lives. What’s the difference? Perhaps it’s these four influencing strategies. What do you think?

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?

Career transitions bring career challenges as well as career opportunities. Here are some.

• “I’ve started a new job in a company that’s so different from the one I came from. I feel it might be a mistake.”
• “I’ve been promoted from supervisor to project manager, and I’m struggling to know what to focus on.”
• “I’ve moved from an operating role to a regional HR position and feel like I’m wading in quicksand.”

Michael Watkins, author of The First 90 Days”, presents 5 types of challenges that professionals and leaders can face during their career.

1. The promotion challenge: Moving to a higher level in the hierarchy and understanding what success looks like at the new level, including issues of focus, delegation, credibility and leadership.

2. The leading-former-peers challenge: Managing a team of former peers with the inevitable dilemma of establishing authority and altering existing relationships.

3. The diplomacy challenge: Moving from a position of authority to one in which influencing others and building alliances is critical.

4. The on-boarding challenge: Joining a new organization and needing to quickly understand and adapt to a new culture, new people and a new political arena.

5. The international move challenge: Leading in an unfamiliar culture while at the same time moving one’s family and creating a new support system.

What does it take to succeed in each of these career challenges?

1. Increase self-awareness.
It’s imperative you understand your response to challenging siituations. How do you deal with stress? How do you learn in novel situations? How do you prefer to make decisions? Leadership and personality style assessments can help you gain insight and direction.
2. Embrace change.
What it takes to succeed in any new situation is a matter of learning new ways of working and, most importantly, letting go of old ones — even if they’ve driven your career success up until now.
3. Leverage networks.
In every career move, you need both knowledgeable insiders and impartial outsiders to provide you with realistic feedback and political advice.

Are you prepared?

What career challenges are you dealing with? Is it one of the five above or some other challenge? To better cope with career challenges during your entire professional life, you will always need to increase self awareness, embrace, rather than, resist change and continually build and leverage networks.

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?

If you don’t know where you’re going, any place and no place, will do.

Make sure your career is not stranded on an island called, “Someday I’ll…” If you want something, don’t just think about it or talk about it. Figure out a way to make it happen.

The first step is goal setting.

• What can you do right now to enrich your present job or assignment?
• Are there opportunities for internal promotion, lateral moves or even realignment?
• What are some external options for challenge, variety, or greater personal satisfaction?
• What internal training or external seminars can you participate in for your professional development?
• Are there off-the-job experiences that can enhance your portfolio of skills and your reputation as a leader?

The next step is action planning.

Napoleon Hill, motivation author, said: “To become successful you must be a person of action. Merely to know is not sufficient. It is necessary both to know and to do.” So start taking charge of your career. What are some things you can do? Be specific: Who, what, when, where, and how.

• Identify one or two things you will do in the coming week to take charge of your career.
• Identify three things you will do within the next month to take charge of your career.
• Identify five things you will do in the next three to six months to take charge of your career.

Then determine:

• What resources do I have to help me along the way?
• What obstacles may get in the way? How can I overcome them?
• How can I reward myself and others once I’ve made it happen?

Career planning never stops.

That’s because the world around us is constantly changing. New and different employment opportunities will arise and some old ones will disappear. Also, we will evolve into different people with different career objectives, aspirations and motivations. Therefore, flexible career plans are necessary.

What changes do you see occurring in your organization? Your industry? Your Profession? Will you be prepared or surprised?

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?

What’s your best move?

Once you have completed a review of who you are, (see prior post) then focus on what’s next for you. Many people think if they’re not finding career satisfaction in their present job then their only choice is to change companies or careers. That’s not the case. Before jumping ship explore these:

Four Realistic Career Options

Enrich your current job – Grow in place
Look for ways to expand or change your responsibilities to provide you with greater challenge, visibility and skill building. Here are some options to grow in place. Be part of a task force on a pressing business problem; handle a negotiation with a customer; supervise product, program, equipment or systems purchase; do a project with another function; research and report on cost cutting measures.

Change your job – Go for a promotion
Vertical movement usually is achieved as a reward for excellence in your current position and as a result of having demonstrated performance required for a higher level position. However with today’s flattened organization structure, paths may not open up as quickly as you would like. So don’t limit yourself by thinking only about upward movement. Take a look at these other options.

Change your job – Go sideways
Explore the possibility of a lateral change in job position within or outside your functional area. I’ve seen marketing people do a stint in product development and visa versa. A lateral move can provide you with new skills, experiences and expertise which could be critical to your success later on. It can also help you test the water in a new career.

Change your job – Move down to move forward
Realignment can be an effective option if you wish to move back to a more satisfying position, alleviate current job related stress or bring balance to personal live. It can also provide the appropriate experience to test out a new career. Up is not the only way to thrive and be satisfied.

Two Other Career Options

Cutting loose– Move out
In situations where you job no longer matches your current interests or you cannot find opportunities within the organization, then look into the option to see growth or better fit opportunities elsewhere. Be careful though of not going from the frying pan into the fire. Moving out requires careful examination and planning. Check out the November 4th post on Is It Time to Stay or Leave.

Make no changes – Stay put.
Reviewing you obligations and commitments, you may decide that this is not the right time to be making changes in your life or career and the plans for the future need to be deferred for awhile. Whatever the reason for opting for no change, it should be a positive and conscious decision instead of one arrived at from feeling “but I have no choice.”

What’s Next For You?

What do you see yourself in the short, medium and long term? Remember, different career options will be best for you at different stages of your professional and personal life. Take into consideration not only where you are but where is the marketplace and how is it changing. My next post will look at how to develop a plan and take action.

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?

To make it happen in your career, you need to plan your career.

Career planning is a process of understanding oneself, exploring career options, making wise decisions and moving forward. What complicates it is that people, careers and organizations are constantly changing.

Therefore, career planning is not something done one time early in your career. Rather, it’s an ongoing process throughout your life. It doesn’t matter what’s your profession, your industry or your place of employment. The reality is lives change, professions change, industries change, organizations change and so your career will change. You can bet on it!

Who Am I?

The foundation of career planning, today and for the future is based on a very clear understanding of who you are as an individual and as a professional person. As a career coach, I’ve found that the greater the congruency between who you are – your skills, values, interests and personality – and your career choices, the greater personal career satisfaction.

Since everyone has a unique mix of skills, strengths and limitations that change over time, the first step in career planning is to look at who you are and what your career is all about. Also, gaining clarity about yourself will help you make better decisions in the future when challenges and opportunities emerge.

Identity Questions

Here are some simple, but profound, questions to start you on this journey. You may want to choose someone, or several people, to help you reflect and provide additional feedback.

• What do I see as my personal strengths?
• What are some of my personal limitations?
• What are my core values – what’s important to me?
• What are my abilities – things I’m good at and enjoy doing?
• What have I done, or I am doing now, that makes me feel proud?
• What are the significant influences on my life that have affected my career?
• Do I have talents that I feel are underdeveloped – how can I start utilizing them?
• What are my current obligations or commitments? How might they affect my career?
• If I could turn the clock back, what career choices or decisions would I make differently?
• If I could turn the clock ahead, what are some things I would like to accomplish in my life?

What Do You Know?

What have you learned about yourself from this self assessment? Perhaps you would like to have deeper insights. There are career assessment tools that provide personalized information on skills, interests, personality and values or career anchors. Would you like to know more, then let’s start a dialogue.

My next post on career planning will examine the variety of career options that one can choose from during different stages of one’s life.

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?

Career success does not happen just because one does good work. That is expected.

To get ahead and stay ahead, you must excel. Here are three strategies to manage your competitive edge.

1. Become a Career Entrepreneur

The business of career management is that—an independent business that you manage—even if you work for someone else. In this changing world of downsizing, restructuring, buyouts and mergers, you – not the company – must be in the driver’s seat of your career.

The key question is not where do I now stand on the organization ladder? Who knows if there will even be a ladder tomorrow? But rather: What do I know how to do? How well do I do it? Where else can I do it? Who is willing and able to pay me for it?

Look at your workplace as a marketplace of buyers and sellers. You are the seller-providing skills, experience and knowledge – to people who need what you have to offer. For example, if you’re an accountant then what is it that you offer that a buyer will pay for? In other words, what do you bring to the employment table?

2. Have Skills, Will Travel

You carry with you, wherever you go, a large portfolio or suitcase that holds all of your skills and accomplishments. What’s in your portfolio? Is it heavy with many skills or light with only a few? Do you know if it would be valued in lots of different places or just a limited number?

To be competitive, you must periodically audit your portfolio. How do you compare with your peers in terms of education, experience, training, career progression? Are you new and improved? Or, are you just the same person you were three, five, ten years ago? Do you have the right mix of skills, knowledge and experiences to position yourself for the future? Or, do you need to repackage yourself in some way? Getting ahead tomorrow means getting better today and throughout your work life.

3. Play the Career Game

What will keep you in the race as the rules of the workplace road continue to change? Initiative, adaptability and visibility are the foundation for career success. First, exercise leadership. You can’t afford to crouch behind your desk, buried in your everyday work and hope for the best. Go beyond your job description and direct your energy to the top priorities of your boss, your department, your team. Make yourself indispensable.

Next stand up and be seen. Promote yourself, not by your title, but by the outcomes or results of what you’re doing. You can start making a name for yourself by being involved in successful assignments that allow you to be visible to a wide range of people who could have an impact on your career. Your reputation can either pave the way or get in the way of your success.

Career Success Tip

If you don’t manage your competitive edge, your competitors will edge you out. So what are you doing to get ahead and stay ahead of the crowd? How well do you play the career game? Do you need to play it better?

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?

Communication, which occupies approximately 70% of our wak­ing hours, is what many leaders find the most frustrating.

Many of us were never taught to communicate in ways that lead to postive out­comes. Rather, we tend to experience annoyance, anger or just give up on the per­son or the situation. Here’s how to communicate better to get better outcomes.

Take a Quick Communication Quiz.

Think of a recent important con­versation. How many of these questions can you answer YES to?

1. Did I prepare ahead of time for this conversation?
2. Did I think about what’s the best way to approach this person?
3. Was I aware of the other person’s communication style and spoke to it?
4. Did I pay full attention, without multitasking, to what the other person was saying?
5. Was the intent of my communication to discuss and understand rather than be right?
6. Did I listen, without interruption, to the other per­son’s point of view even if I didn’t agree?
7. If I was asking the person to take a specific action, did I make my request clear and concise?
8. Did I summarize what I thought I heard the other person say before expressing my point of view?
9. Did I follow-up to see if the con­versation was successful – it led to a positive outcome for the other?
10. If the outcome did not meet my ex­pecta­tions, did I reflect on how to better com­municate with that particular person?

What’s Your Communication IQ?

8-10 Yeses indicate you’re the tops. Keep up the good work.

4-7 Yeses is OK. Brush up in cer­tain areas.

0-3 Yeses. You have work to do.

To Raise Your Communication IQ:

1. Talk less, hear more.
We want to be heard and lis­tened to but we don’t always concentrate on listening to oth­ers. We focus more on our agenda than on the other per­son’s concerns or issues.
2. Don’t shot the messenger.
We want to understand but our ability is tainted by our percep­tions of the person speaking or the outcome we are looking for. So, we often pass judgment on the speaker and disregard the message. Con­centrate on the message not the messenger.
3. Avoid mind reading.
We want some kind of action or response from another person. However, we don’t let them know what we really want or how to achieve it. Before as­suming the other knows what you want, first inform and then ask for feedback.
4. Stop pushing.
We want agreement from others, so much so, that we often be­come consumed with being right or proving our point. Rather, look for areas of mutual agree­ment. Then work from there to cre­ate a greater outcome.

Career Success Tip

Steven Covey, author of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, says; “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” Therefore, in your communication, make sure to understand others before you start trying to be understood.

Are there situations in which you need to raise your communication IQ? What do you need to do to get better outcomes? How will you know that you have been successful?

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?