The Career You'll Love » career

Building up trust

Carl — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:43:19 +0000

I was deeply affected many years ago by a workshop of Stephen R. Covey, when he explained that trust can be thought of as a bank account. Here’s the concept:

You build up trust by your reliable and generous actions, those are the “deposits.”
You lose trust when you make a mistake and damage someone, those are the “withdrawals.” It’s much easier to make a withdrawal than a deposit.
When you damage someone more than you’ve benefited them, you’ve exhausted your bank account. They won’t want to trust you anymore, and it’s extremely hard to dig yourself out of that hole.
Like bank accounts, deep trust is developed over the course of many years. It’s impossible to create deep trust in a short time.

This is a powerful idea, and explains a lot about how people work.

Read more on my Workbloom blog»

Keeping the saw sharp

Carl — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 01:18:09 +0000

If you have a job, you’re probably very busy. You’re now doing the work of three people, struggling to catch your breath.

The difficult part is to think about the long term. You not only need to be valued as a productive worker today, but also five years from now. Or ten.

Are you building that foundation for your future career?

Read more on my Workbloom blog»

Helping to define your next job

Carl — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 23:25:31 +0000

Does your next job exist yet? Maybe.

But many times jobs are created, or tweaked, based upon specific needs at a certain time, even connected with the talents of certain individuals.

This is one of the reasons why some jobs are filled before they’re even posted: The hiring manager was taking advantage of a great match of someone’s existing skills to address a specific pressing need.

Read more on my Workbloom blog»

Using LinkedIn to further your career

Carl — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 23:43:19 +0000

Earlier this year, Microsoft commissioned a study which asked hiring managers how much they used the internet to check out prospective candidates. Here’s a couple of interesting results:

57% used professional and business networking sites (such as LinkedIn).
98% used SOME internet resources to check out candidates.

This tells you that you need to have a positive presence on the internet, because your next boss is most likely going to check you out – perhaps even before ever setting up an interview.

Read the rest on my Workbloom blog»

Regenerating your energy

Carl — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 22:10:26 +0000

We’re constantly going through cycles in our jobs, in our careers, and in our lives. And if you’re out hunting for a job, it’s tough to keep your energy up to do the draining work every day.

Be sure to give yourself a break. Just as your body needs its rest every night, your mental stamina will also go through normal ups and downs.

But there’s also some tricks and techniques to regenerating your energy when you need to. Try some of these out to see what works for you.

Read more on my Workbloom blog»

Picking the right mentors

Carl — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 00:59:40 +0000

You may have heard the advice that it’s good to have a coach or a mentor. But beyond that, it can be confusing. Why? What should I expect? Who should I approach?

To start with, let me explain the difference between a coaching and mentoring relationship. With a mentor, you’re looking to follow the path that someone else has successfully navigated, perhaps who can even open doors for you. A coach, on the other hand, focuses more on your specific goals, bringing out your best clarity and motivation from within yourself. Sometimes the two roles are combined to various degrees.

If you’re looking for a mentor, the keys are:

You’re looking to follow a path that others have taken successfully.
You have access to some people that can show you the way.

But given that each person’s journey on this planet is somewhat unique, you might argue that no one else has taken your specific path. If that’s really true, then go hook up with a coach who can help you to discover the new territory.

But for many people, there’s aspects of their life which are quite similar to others. Perhaps right now you’re just out of school, attempting to create a new career in the performing arts when times look bleak. Stated that way, there’s plenty of other people who have experienced the same thing, and some of them have succeeded despite the challenges.

Perhaps you’re also struggling to find the right balance between work, family, and spirituality. So look around: Are there any people who have the kind of balance that you’d like to have?

Perhaps you’d like to make a career change, into a new area in which you have less experience. Who has that experience, and has made the kind of jump that you’re looking for?

I’m sure you see, then, that the role of the mentor depends very much on where you are in your life right now. That will change in a few years, so perhaps you’ll be looking for mentoring in a different area then. So seek out someone different at that point.

How do you hook up with a mentor?

Identify the specific area you’re struggling with. At this point, you don’t have to have any idea what the solution might look like.
Look around for people who appear to have solved the problem in a way that you might like to copy. But you don’t have to assume that their solution is exactly right for you; that’s to be discovered.
Ask other friends and people you trust if they have ideas for who might be a good mentor. But stay focused on your area of struggle; being a friend isn’t the primary purpose of being mentored.
Ask a potential mentor for advice within the context of an ongoing relationship. They appreciate being recognized for their expertise, and usually feel indebted to help others who are struggling.
Set up an agreement including how and how often you’d like to meet, the length of the “engagement”, how much you’d like to be challenged and pushed, confidentiality, and what (if anything) you might have to offer in return.
Honor your agreement, and make sure to give your mentor thanks for the value they are giving to you.

Most mentor relationships aren’t paid, although there are some “barter” arrangements where expertise might be traded for expertise. And although you might well end up being a friend of your mentor for life, make sure to bring the formal mentoring relationship to a graceful and appreciative close when you’re feeling less need for the constant advice. It would be terrible for a valuable mentor to feel guilty about not having time to meet with you any more, especially after they’ve been of such great help for you.

Where would you need to be mentored at this point in your career?

Understanding dumb decisions

Carl — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 17:26:18 +0000

One of the most frustrating things about working for other people is figuring out why they do such dumb things. Incomprehensible decisions seem designed to make your life difficult and stop useful progress.

It might be something as large as relocation, reorganization, or laying people off – or as minor as requiring useless codes on your TPS reports.

Read more on my Workbloom blog»

People can tell if you’re engaged in your work

Carl — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 23:21:53 +0000

It seems that recently many people, perhaps most, have struggled to be inspired by their work. With such an uncertain economy, 24/7 accessibility, fear of job loss, and lack of pay increases, we’ve created work environments where many focus more on keeping up with work than on making a great contribution.

There’s some really practical reasons why you should look to be engaged in your work:

You become more productive, thereby more valuable to your employer.
It helps you to be more creative and bring more energy to what you do.
It affects the attitudes of those you work with, helping you to have some fun.
It makes you happier and more satisfied with the work you do.

Read more on my Workbloom blog»

Becoming world class

Carl — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 17:33:03 +0000

In Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers: The Story of Success, he stated that to achieve mastery in an area, it generally takes about 10,000 hours of serious learning, practice, and skill development.

I think it’s a valid conclusion, but there’s more to the story.

If you want to be famous for something, to be at the forefront, you have to establish yourself as world class. You want to be one of the best violinists? 10,000 hours. You want to make a living as a pro golfer? 10,000 hours.

Read more on my Workbloom blog»

You can’t manage time

Carl — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 01:18:14 +0000

When you think about it, “time management” is a ridiculous concept. Time always has been, and will continue to be, impossible to manage.

Each of us is given 24 hours a day, and that’s it.

Really, the choice is about how you manage your attention: where you place your focus, your energy, and your effort.

Read more on my Workbloom blog»