A Hole in Your Career?

Have you ever done a good job but no-one told you so at the time?

Sometimes our work is good but no-one tells us and that can leave a hole.

Is a hole a good place for more digging?

Here’s one example: Two colleagues worked in the same office for years. Marley helped Scrooge all of the time: Scrooge never thanked him once. Years later when Marley was leaving the company, Scrooge quietly cornered him and said, “It was a pleasure working with you. I’ll never forget how much you helped me. It won't be the same without you.”

Although it changed Marley’s view of Scrooge forever that moment filled a big hole in Marley’s career understanding as well. He always knew that he had done good work for Scrooge but he never completely believed it until he got Scrooge's feedback.

Marley also learned something important about the holes in his career. He now understood that they wouldn't go away if he ignored them. From then on Marley challenged himself to act differently whenever he found a hole. First, he resolved to climb in and dig around. Second, he would start to fill it in. Never again would Marley ignore or walk away from a hole in his career.

[Thought - see more at Saundra's Flickr Photostream here]

Your Experience:

✪ What’s the longest you have waited for positive feedback?

✪ When you got it, what did it challenge or confirm?

✪ How did you feel or act differently after getting it?

My Experience:

Marley taught me to be a lot braver about my career. That doesn't mean I now act carelessly. If anything, Marley's experience showed me how to act positively whatever the situation, however big the hole! My only regret is I never met and talked with Marley years ago.

Our Experience:

✪ Where are the holes in our careers?

Comment here and let's see what else we can find!

All the best for now,

Paul

Alvin's Story - Career Perspective

Is Alvin alone facing this challenge?

Recently, Alvin became frustrated with his career because it felt to him like a series of false starts. To see if he could break out of this pattern, Alvin took the opportunity to look at his career as a whole.

So what did he find out?

Across all of his different work and jobs [and changes that ranged from the uniform he wore to the industry sectors he worked in] Alvin could find out what his experiences had in common. Studying his career as a whole, he could see what joined his experiences together and explore what was important to him, what his strengths were and what he found motivational.

[Hadleigh Castle in Essex. A wonderful example of open plan design]

In Alvin’s case, his work with people proved to be the biggest unifying factor. Usually when we say someone is a ‘people person’ we mean they are good with relationships. Good at solving problems or helping people out with issues or tricky situations. We might also mean they help other people to see the value in things they would otherwise overlook. In Alvin’s case this is all true but it’s only half of the story because he is also a gifted leader. People respect Alvin [They just can’t help it!]. They respect his experience and his opinion. They respect the care he takes answering questions and resolving their issues so patiently and positively.

From the traditional viewpoint Alvin always had of his career nothing of this leadership potential was visible to him. This was compounded by regular moves and changes which didn’t allow Alvin to understand the impact he had on people or see the improvements he left behind. Junior job titles and 'nitty-gritty' roles also meant that Alvin’s achievements were too easily swallowed up by a chain of command here or a non-meritocratic management structure there.

Alvin couldn’t see his determination, diligence, perseverance and intellectual rigour or the difference they made to people over time. He didn’t know that his humility and unyielding effort with people - especially those who would otherwise be left behind - was a hallmark of great leadership and of a leader with great future potential.

Before you start thinking this post should also be addressed to the Nobel Peace Prize people, you should also know that Alvin has a long way to go before his strengths and potential can be fully realised. Like most of us, Alvin isn't quite perfect!

Alvin has only just started to gather this insight for himself but for the first time, it gives him the opportunity to look forward and mould himself into the professional and the person he wants to be. For the first time in ages he has the motivation to gain the experiences and acquire the new skills that will broaden his leadership appeal and allow him to create new advantages for more people in the future.

The most important single thing however is this. Alvin’s career no longer needs to be started over or begun again because Alvin now knows his career is well and truly underway.

As for Alvin's future, in this impartial observer’s opinion anyway, it couldn’t be any brighter! :)

So, Do you think Alvin is alone? What might we all have in common with him? It would be great to hear your opinion!

All the best for now,

Paul

Your Career in One Sentence

You may have joined in the fun over at JJL last week but if you didn't here are a few examples of real careers, expressed in one sentence.

“I started out in recruitment, moved into people assessment & coaching; now I’m settled as a career coach, with the intention of remaining so until retirement!”

“My career began in industrial packaging, and after a quarter century took a 90 degree turn in the direction I love, enabling me to help people put words together in ways that make their companies flourish.”

"My career is all about using language to enhance life: teaching French to highschoolers, speech and language to the deaf, freelance writing, writing books on dreams, conflict resolution, addiction, and now coaching and writing about boredom-versus-interest as a key to satisfaction."

"My career emerged as a software tools developer and trainer and fully blossomed into showing anyone and everyone how to learn what they crave to know via the Internet."

"I started out wanting to do something in music, then proceeded to doing sports journalism, and ended with freelance writing and web copywriting, which aren't half bad."

If you are wondering why we did this or what the point was, check out the post that explains it all here.

If you want to join the fun (and feel the benefit too!) comment your one sentence career below.

[The sun sets on another week. Cue a random photograph from my distinctly average Flickr Photostream]

Have a great weekend wherever you are!

All the best,

Paul