work/life & belief

Without belief we’re just jobseekers
Just workers, just commuters, just numbers
What we believe brings our work to life
Belief creates attraction around our careers
Belief makes us memorable to others and keeps us true to ourselves.

When we talk about belief (whatever we believe in)
We’re powerful, we get excited and we want to move forward
When we examine, understand and communicate with belief
(And we can do every one of those things)
We take real steps towards our beliefs coming true.

["I believe in the freedom of music." by Chuck Olsen on Flickr]

Some of my career beliefs...

I believe we are the experts when it comes to our careers
I believe our expertise is at its best when we talk and come together with shared aims
I believe work and life have a unique relationship within every single person

(A relationship too complex to separate but the perfect depth to explore)
I believe every moment in our working lives can be better understood
I believe every career has potential and every person has the potential to look forward

(and I am yet to meet the person who disproves that last belief)

All the best for now,

Paul

Rules for Writers Rule for Work

The Guardian newspaper has been publishing a series called Rules for writers.

These rules are the personal dos and don'ts of successful authors but I reckon there's more on offer.

The subject of these Top 10 lists is writing but some authors are also sharing the very heart of their relationship with work.

If that sounds interesting, go take a look

or I can work a bit harder and whet your appetite a little more...

You often see a lot after a tough climb

[Image courtesy of RMP87 on Flickr]

Here's a cut from Jeanette Winterson's Top 10:

✪ Turn up for work

✪ Never stop when you are stuck

✪ Be honest with yourself

✪ Be ambitious for the work and not for the reward

These may be the words of an author talking about writing but they're also the words of someone who has made their mind up, decided what she wants, confirmed that this is what it takes, resolved that this is what she has to do.

Imagine asking Jeanette where she wants her career to go...

I reckon she'd give a good answer.

All the best for now,

Paul

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

So what would be on your Top 10 or Top 5 list like this?

Bear in mind that these things change

Lists like this rarely stay the same

But they always contain:

Values: What's important to you

Talents: What you are good at

Goals: What keeps you going

Who is That Guy?

You know the guy I'm talking about. He's usually on the cover of a book with a smile on his face and a gleam in his eye.

He's got neat hair and white teeth too. And he really, really wants you to be successful. But how important is your personal success to that guy?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying he wants you to do badly. I actually believe he wants you to do well. That guy knows what's best for you but there's one thing he can't know, and that's what you want.

That guy will probably sue me*

Figuring out what you want is a big part of career success. That guy did it his way but success at work might mean something different for you. You might value things differently. You might enjoy different things. You may have different priorities when it comes to grooming.

That guy won't ask what you want and really listen to the answer. But he's not all bad. It's not his fault. He is trying to help after all. And there's a great deal we can learn from him about figuring out what we want and getting motivated. He did that successfully after all.

We know his individual story but what of our own?

Maybe it's not up to that guy to ask us this question. Maybe it's up to us to find out more for ourselves.

Why not make it your business to find out what you want. Ask questions and explore your career for yourself. Find individual answers and make important discoveries based on your experience.

Questions like:

What's important to me?

What am I good at?

What keeps me going?

When did work last give me a good feeling?

Where should my career go in the future?

Share your career answers, ideas and questions below if you want to. Jump to That Guy's defence if he has helped your career move forward.

I want to hear what you have to say. That Guy doesn't have a monopoly any more.

All the best for now,

Paul

[*Disclaimer: Any resemblance between the above photograph of my Uncle Brian and any persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.]

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

The Trappings of Success

Why trappings?

Why make success sound like a trap?

[Trapped? Looks pretty good to me :) - see more at Saundra's Flickr Photostream here]

Some language students call the English language, 'easy to learn but difficult to master'. I suppose that goes for most languages but maybe it is words like 'trappings' that make things tricky. Even life-long English speakers could be forgiven for wondering about this one.

Is the English language confused or is it highly enlightened. Are they just words or do some words offer us a tangible, everyday link to the full range of human experience and learning throughout the ages? Yes it describes but can it really teach us pitfalls at the same time?

In my opinion [around the subject of careers of course] trappings can only make us feel trapped if they are things we don't want. If the trappings of career success also deliver fundamental satisfaction and fulfilment, you are unlikely to feel trapped.

If however you feel forced to follow a particular career path [i.e. your career decisions are limited by the trappings of success] feelings of discontent, disappointment or dissatisfaction would seem more likely at some point in the future.

What are your thoughts on the trappings of success?

All the best for now,

Paul

Make it known!

A formidable lady I worked for used to say, "Have the guts to ask!"

Get your intentions out there.

Once you know what you want, make it known to others.

Part of this is being prepared for any answer. If the thing we want is close to our heart, none of us want to hear we can't have it or that it's beyond our reach for now.

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

It makes sense to test first when it comes to your career. When you know what is important to you, what you are good at and what you want for the future, you can define it for others. You know what to ask for.

You might not get the answer you want first time around but any answer you get can be learnt from. In every answer there will be something to help you move forward.

If you are unsure what to ask for, you can examine your experience and your values, talents and goals. When you are sure what you want, prepare yourself for every possible answer and go out and ask for it!

Follow these links for more on career decision-making and your values, talents and goals:

✪ Career choice

✪ Where the research leads...

✪ Failure & Success: Inseparable Career Twins

✪ work/life fusion: values

✪ work/life fusion: talents

✪ work/life fusion: goals

All the best for now,

Paul

Opportunity management V - Mutual benefit

The last post on opportunity management - Opportunity management IV - talked about recognising the situations that present us with choice but what really enables the recognition part of this equation? Recently I have been working with an individual whose ability to recognise situations for their opportunity potential is exemplary. So how does she do it?

As well as a positive, engaging outlook, an absence of fear is definitely at work. This does not imply recklessness but it does mean that she asks questions freely and her intentions are out in the open. 

This means that the active conversation not only being the subject at hand but the chief motivation for the conversation as well. In other words, the subject contains the opportunity and its potential is already being explored (as opposed to the conversation being a subtext for a hidden agenda).

Recognising opportunities relies on an interest in the subjects you discuss and a two-way dialogue that illuminates on both sides. In situations like this - thanks to the example of outstanding professionals - relevant, mutual opportunities are much less likely to be missed.

Looking back, around and ahead

We all want something different from our careers. Some prize the creation of wealth above everything else, others are satisfied by the security that comes with a profession or trade. More still work for necessity or view their careers as a means to an end, whether that end is providing for their family or financing next year's holiday.

The individual aims for our careers are further complicated because for most of us they change with the changing circumstances of our lives. For example, when you got your first job you might have been single, after 10 years you might be in a relationship, possibly married. After 25 years at work, whatever your partnership status, your motivations and needs are likely to be different again. A multitude of events and factors, either at home or at work, contribute to this change. Change that every individual needs to respond to and manage if their career is to deliver personal success.

This blog started with a challenge to the way we manage our careers. The intention of that challenge wasn't to provide all of the answers, it was to try to understand if a better way existed to deliver success from our working lives. I'm not a professional writer and sometimes I don't think I have done this subject justice but I have continued the challenge, learning from my mistakes along the way.

Looking back over this blog (the other career related blogs and the opinions and experiences of the people I have encountered along the way) there is more evidence today to suggest that independent, forward-looking career leadership is not only possible, but also within the reach of more people now than any time previously. The moment anyone has a decision or choice related to work (e.g. Which company do I join? What skills should I learn? or What do I want from my next year at work?) they also have the opportunity to make that choice alongside a preference for where it might lead their future career.

The best and simplest method of ensuring that the decisions we make today are connected to what we would like from the future, lies with an understanding of our individual values, talents and goals. Asking three simple questions, "What is important to me?", "What am I good at?" and "What do I want more of?", brings values, talents and goals and our relationship with work into view. As this understanding develops, for the first time decisions can be made in a context that looks beyond immediate factors and needs. A connection between the decisions we make today the opportunity they create for our careers in the future.

Although supporting evidence has grown, this conversation needs to face new challenges today if it is to deliver value to anyone else in the future. Its future relies on the ability to make a difference to individual careers and that future was never in the hands of this blog. To use a personal example, a great deal has changed in my own career since this blog started but responding to this change and continuing in a direction that makes sense for my career is down to an understanding of my values, talents and goals and what they define as my personal success.

There is some risk to considering this conversation in your own career decision making but if this blog has achieved anything to date, it is demonstrating the rewards for doing so.

Making progress

"If I have done my homework* all I need to do is get myself into situations where people are asking me questions†. Whatever happens from there I make progress‡."

* In the context of work/life fusion, your homework is understanding your values, talents and goals.

† The people asking you questions can range from your current boss to an interview panel. They could just as easily be your spouse or other family members and friends. You can also question yourself.

‡ As for making progress, if you don't get the promotion or the new job, be sure to ask why! If you are not happy with the direction that your career is going in, work/life fusion will help you make progress. If you do get promoted and if you are moving towards personal success, I would argue that you have made worthwhile progress indeed!

Redundancy - A personal view

The need for redundancies can be a time when corporate values hide at the back of the room. I worked at a company that liked to describe itself as a family to its people. During a previous economic downturn almost half of this family were made redundant. As you can imagine there was little mention of family during this time.

Thankfully, corporate values have come a long way. As exemplified by Alex in yesterday's blog post, although it is undeniably difficult, redundancy can be a time for professional and personal growth. It can also be a time for organisations to evolve in a similar way. During difficult times companies can learn more about their values and face searching questions about past conduct and behaviour. The way a company treats its people defines it as much as any values statement. Possibly more!

As individuals and companies face new redundancy situations it is wrong to say that the news is all good but it is encouraging to think that it is not all bleak either. When difficult situations such as redundancy are brokered honestly and with the interests of all parties receiving fair consideration, opportunities for future growth can be present also.

More about values

An earlier post on this blog attempted to define the term 'values' in this context (work/life fusion: values) but, what values relate best to career direction finding and decision making? The short answer is that people value different things. You could also say that people value things differently but that would be an argument for a bigger pedant than me. Sorry, than I.

Going beyond the short answer, if a number of individual answers are combined a list of the more popular values could be created. Lists like this can be found in a number of places on the web and elsewhere. Alternatively you could visit any number of company websites and find lists of values that are very similar indeed (honesty, integrity, teamwork, community and so on).

These lists and statements are great reading but do they help relate values to career decision making or are generic values confusing and difficult to apply to individual situations? If you are unsure, the next time you are interviewing try answering 'honesty and integrity' when the interviewer asks what you value. You could be hired as the next CEO for verbalising their corporate values statement but you are just as likely to be asked for a more personal example of how these values have been demonstrated in your actions.

In the context of work/life fusion, the only values that help to direct your career towards meaningful success are your values. Exploring and understanding the things that you value offers a solid platform for your direction finding and decision making. Being prepared to look behind commonly used words like 'honesty and integrity' and ask yourself how you have placed value on their meaning through your actions is simple to do and rich in insight. If our behaviour reveals to us what we truly value, it becomes easier to find our values in our decisions and for these decisions to begin defining meaningful, personal success in each case.

Thanks for your comments on the subject of values. I look forward to the conversations continuing!

work/life fusion: values

So that the dictionary doesn't feel ignored (because it won't be troubled over the long weekend we are about to enter here in the UK), it seemed like a good opportunity to begin to clarify the three main areas that work/life fusion relies upon to personalise career direction setting. 

Mindful of the lesson that 'vocation' afforded us in previous posts, values are up first:

values: the beliefs people have about what is right and wrong and what is most important in life, which control their behaviour (Cambridge Online Dictionary)

So if values are the way we interpret importance and discern what feels right and wrong to us, we might be missing something if they are not consulted (or reflected) in our overall mission to define and plan for personal success.

Talents are up next but, in the meantime, enjoy the weekend!