“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there!”—Anonymous

A recent global survey of 16,000 professionals by a well-known consulting firm revealed that only about 14% of those employed are “in” their jobs; a vast majority, 86%, are “on” their jobs!

What does this mean? In simple terms this implies that a vast majority of those employed are merely working to earn a living, nothing more! This is a sad commentary on how we apply ourselves to a purposeful cause. Those who are truly passionate about what they are engaged in display a different attitude towards how they do their jobs. People around them can see their inner fire!

Why are so many professionals merely “on” their jobs?

It is perhaps because most lack a plan for their career. A vast majority of working people get to where they are by being more like a jellyfish! A jellyfish is one of the few creatures in the animal kingdom that does not have its own motive power. It merely floats in a body of water and lets the currents take it where they may. In the process the food that comes across its path is what it eats and survives!

Unconsciously or unwittingly many of those working appear happy being a jellyfish when it comes to their own careers. It is these people who go to bed thinking that their manager is lying awake wondering about how to advance their careers to help them grow!

Wrong!

Each person must take charge of their own career. The best way to do that is by taking stock of where you are now and what do you want to do with it. The next step is to seek some guidance from a career coach or a mentor and get going on a plan that can reignite your purpose in life!

Here are the steps that may help you get on track with your career plan:

1. Do an honest audit of how happy you are about what you do. This will tell you if you are on a right path to seeking your purpose. If you come to the conclusion that the current job (not just where you are but anywhere you might do it) is merely a means of earning a paycheck with no means of energizing your being it is time to take some action. Soulful work energizes you even though you may be weary of it because of how much it demands of you! Do not confuse hard work with rewarding work.
2. Draw a graph of where you are today (at the origin of X-Y lines intersecting). To the right on the time (X axis) draw key birthdays five years from today and so on, and on the Achievement axis (Y axis) write down the positions or goals that you want to achieve.
3. Now take a significant birthday (say 40) and label that with a goal (or title) you want to achieve. Draw a straight line from the origin to this point.
4. Now draw a series of steps from the origin to this goal and label each horizontal step with a sub-goal that will take you to the final goal you just identified (at 40). This will now tell you how you can achieve that goal in a finite number of steps.
5. Write down an action plan for each horizontal step (sub-goal) and the actions you must undertake to realize that sub-goal. Also write down what must you undertake to overcome any obstacles to achieving the sub-goal (for example, to get a Project Manager job, I must get PMP Certification).
6. Collaborate with a buddy on a similar plan and share theirs with yours. Help each other with their goals and actions to keep each person accountable.
7. Seek the career coach’s help again in finalizing your plan and see that they (or some mentor at work) will guide you through your plans. This is yet another touch point for your plan to become real
8. Check progress as you navigate through this plan of action and make corrections as needed.
9. Proactively seek opportunities to get to the sub-goals on your map and approach higher-ups in your company on how to make that a reality. You can always find avenues to propose new initiatives that will give you the opportunities that you are looking for.
10. Make adjustments to your plan as things change, but never abandon your plans for moving forward.

The word “career’ is also a verb and it means speed in a course. See if you can use this metaphor to put your career in high gear and get moving to attain your “full speed!”

Good luck!

Much is written about reinvention and reinventing yourself to re-invigorate or even reignite your career. Well, the advice is often simple but implementing it is not always easy! In many cases a complete reinvention takes three years to develop full traction in the new career. In my own case I have completely changed five careers and I have witnessed the three-years of blood, sweat, and tears before knowing if the change was going to work for me! Often, people cannot wait that long before discovering that the new career is NOT for them!

A simpler–and easier–way to reinvent is to reinvent your career or your job! What does mean? It simply means that you redefine what you do on a day-to-day basis to reenergize your work. It is much easier than your reinventing yourself and it takes much less time. In this economic downturn making a preemptive move to redefine what you do may, in fact, be a smarter way to keeping your current job! If you agree, here are the guidelines:

1. Do a careful audit of what you do and what needs really doing. Often, people keep doing what they did before to continue their activities and pretty soon they become part of the scene! If you look at how you create value in what you do and extract those parts that provide value to the next link in the value chain, then you have identified the pith of your work. Doing this with priority can often energize your work. Find meaning behind what you do!
2. Approach your boss and discuss the different aspects of your work. Then develop an understanding that you would change your priorities to accommodate the high-value work and slowly wean from “busy work.” If your boss agrees with your assessment you are on to the next step of actually getting assigned to that work!
3. In these tough economic times those who are not doing high-value added work are going to be the first to be shown the door. If you are ensconced in the right work mix, then it is less likely that you would be on the layoff list.
4. Surround yourself with those who exhibit positive attitude and energy. At any place of work there are always the whiners. In tough economic times these whiners (Debbie-the-downers!) often congregate and are the source of vicious rumors that spread quickly through their own network. Stay away from such naysayer and surround yourself with those with a healthy outlook.
5. Volunteer for jobs that are not getting done but those which are essential to the company’s success. These jobs are often customer-centric activities that do not get measured in many departments because their job is to make the widgets regardless of what the customer really wants. By taking on such important jobs you have made your company more market worthy and customer-centric.
6. Take credit for your work by sending memos and acknowledging others who helped you achieve success. Send these emails to the higher-ups so that others know your contributions. Do not just assume that because you volunteered and did some thankless job that you’ll be given credit. You must claim it!
7. Look for work that is similar to what you do in departments that are closer to the customer. For example, if you are a Failure Analysis technician, taking in the reports of failed parts from the customer, see if you can work in the customer support department that talks to the customer to solve their problems on an ongoing basis. Even in tough time customers are not going to disappear and a company cannot afford to ignore customer-facing needs.
8. Make yourself visible by attending company events and where customer-facing events are held. Once you are seen by the executives as someone who is doing a customer-facing job, you are not likely to be “surplused.”
9. Come up new ways of doing your job and share that knowledge with others to get them to support you. Once you develop a coterie of followers you’ll be seen as a thought leader and are less likely to be “surplused.”
10. Act and look powerful. If you keep positive attitude others will assume that you are doing something important. This is called the law of attraction and it works well. Keep smiling, even when you do not know what you are doing!

Re-energizing your job in tough times is not that difficult. You just need to adjust your attitude to transform your perspective about your job and it is quite easy to do as you just saw. Now, go and do it!

“You don’t know how far you can you until you go too far”-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Most professionals believe that their manager has the responsibility for advancing their career! In fact some are under the illusion that their managers often lie awake at night wondering about how to promote their employees’ careers and how to make worth their while!

Nothing could be further from the truth!

Most employees (about 80% of them!) let their careers “happen” to them. This attitude of surrender or resignation occurs early in life. Their parents tell them what they should pursue; their neighbors influence them to think about what they missed out on; their professors inveigle them to pursue an exciting research idea, and so on. As a result many undertake a path in their careers which might be different if they had spent some time contemplating about how to pick the right path and what really excited them.

It is often true that early in life such insight may be difficult to get. Those who are lucky enough to have such insights and have the conviction of their beliefs about what they want to do when they grow up often make their dream a reality by their perseverance and by their hard work. But, what about the remaining 80% who resign themselves to be led in their careers by their fate, their destiny, and the vagaries of those in the immediate clutch of others?

It is not as hopeless as it may sound. Why? Opportunities abound at any time and many are there just for the asking. The fact is that most do not feel compelled to see the opportunity that is not manifest, take some risk, and follow their own will to own it. In any organization there are many opportunities that lay dormant because no one either sees them or that they do not have the courage to take their ownership to lead them to fruition. Most wait for their managers to present just one such opportunity as a gift as they await its arrival! With this approach you are controlled by the politics of the place, organizational vagaries, and managing your perception at levels that matter.

Managing perception is one of most challenging factors in one’s career. This includes not just merely doing great work, which is a prerequisite to moving ahead, but also how others perceive what you have done and are doing. Most assume that if they do good, honest work, people around them will take notice and remember their contributions. Alas, it does not always work this way in organizations, where people foist their agendas and cut down others who get in their way. Managing perception entails managing upwards and downward how other perceive what you do. This takes work and diligent effort.

Much of this can be trumped if you seize a compelling opportunity, make a case for it in the right circles, and show leadership in how you can shepherd it to take the organization in a different or new direction. Such initiative, regardless of its ultimate success, can propel a career to far greater heights more quickly than the endless politicking, posturing, perception managing, and making yourself visible.

So, to summarize my mantra for career advancement, the following list may help the self-initiated put their career in high gear:

1. Identify what your next career stop is and find out what requirements must be met to claim that position. Proactively ask for assignments that provide you the opportunity for these skills.
2. Prepare your resume ahead of time for the promotion you are seeking and find out how you can get such assignments under your belt. Don’t wait; ask!
3. Uncover what is not happening and what the customer is experiencing. Do not wait for marketing or for the results of the latest survey to glean this information. Go out and talk to the customers, even though you may be someone far removed from such experiences.
4. Propose a project or an initiative that will bring about the right change and transform the customer experience. Lead the effort, and, when completed, send out an announcement stating what you have achieved.
5. Collaborate with upper management and work with those around you to flesh out what needs to be done that will change the status quo.
6. Team up with others and see their help in improving things and give them credit for their initiative and help.
7. Check your own market value by updating your resume and responding to jobs that are a step up
8. Attend shows, conferences, and trade events to make yourself visible. Promote your brand relentlessly.
9. Work on a time table for your advancement and let your boss know what you are seeking. It is amazing that simply stating what you desire and working towards it can get you what you are after.
10. Help those below you to advance as you want to be helped in your own advancement. The law of good karma works universally!

Career advancement is NOT a mystery. You can drive your own career to destinations that you choose!

Good luck!

But, here are some strategies that you can adopt regardless of how secure you feel at your current job:

1. Become more visible, not less, to upper management, customers, and others whose opinion counts in how they see your creating value for the company.
2. Find out what initiatives will alleviate the pain your company is in. Suggest some ideas after trying what works and lead the charge to make the change. During difficult times everyone hunkers down, even your managers! Change the mindset and charge ahead.
3. Identify what bullets on your current resume will strengthen your value proposition. Seek those assignments and get those accomplishments to claim them on your résumé. Even if you do not get to finish them (you get laid-off) it shows you think differently than the rest.
4. Burnish your LinkedIn Profile and get Recommendations from customers and others who pay the bills.
5. Target a company (preferably your competitor) and discover what their pain is. Write a one page prospect letter to the CEO and communicate how you can help them get rid of that pain.
6. Do not waste time looking busy, instead, invest meaningful time in getting your campaign ready with a great message, strong network, and a highly targeted company list.
7. Don’t look glum, instead smile and look confident! A positive attitude may not get you what you want, but it will annoy enough people around you to make it worth the effort!
8. Start a blog in your area of expertise and become visible to outsiders in your space. Sign-up to participate in your company’s marketing shows.
9. Explore where the hiring is and transform your message to align with the opportunities using your transferable skills (your genius!)
10. Do not wait for the layoff, exit before it happens if you do what is said above (#1-9)

Good luck!!

Bravo, Katie!

Now, what about you?

We, as professionals, come to similar realizations throughout our career. Many do not admit that they have reached their end of shelf life at their job, as they get growingly comfortable in their own situation. A job becomes stale, a career becomes stalled, or one fails to see beyond the next promotion to where their career is headed. It is easy to be seduced by the “security” of your job, the ongoing increases in salary, and even an occasional promise of a promotion to keep your nose to the grindstone. Over the past decade, the job market has become increasingly volatile and jobs are getting re-defined, Banglored, and even eliminated resulting in an increasingly nervous job market. So, what is one to do to keep their career momentum on track and to keep themselves productively employed?

The following prescription may help those who are determined to keep their career on track and their job engagement fresh:

1. Look back in your current job and see how you have grown in the past two or so years. If you are not getting a new perspective and are not learning something new every day, then you are not fresh in your job anymore; you have reached the end of your shelf life.
2. Do not confuse the annual reviews and the raises you get with the learning and growth that you derive from your job. If you do what is assigned to you with your eyes closed, then your company is obviously impressed by your performance. So, merely getting high marks on your annual review does not mean that you are deriving the personal and professional growth that is critical to your ongoing marketability.
3. Look around and see what opportunities your company is missing out on and identify how you can re-scope your job or even re-define it, by sitting down with your manager and making it work for you. If your manager is not willing to give you that latitude, find other areas in your company that can use your initiative and skills to make a better name for itself in the marketplace. In such endeavors, having a first-hand customer input can be a selling point.
4. Look at the job openings in your industry and see how your competitors are filling similar positions. If comparable jobs require skills that you do not have, then you must learn those skills in your current job and make yourself more marketable.
5. Write your resume to address the skills that are required at other companies and then seek assignments that make those entries a reality. This is a proactive approach to career management.
6. Once you have identified the work that you want to be doing to continue your growth at your own company, it can take several months to realize that assignment. Each passing month makes you that much more stale in your current job. So, do not wait.
7. If you are gutsy, go ahead and position yourself beyond what is logically feasible. So, if you are manager in your job with enough savvy, but not the required experience, to fill a director-level position, go ahead and apply to where such an opportunity exists. Even if you do not meet all the requirements, neutralize the objections by presenting in your cover letter, forward-looking job skills that you bring to the position and ace that opportunity.

   In one example, my client, a senior IT professional, who was not quite “ready” for a CIO’s job, sent her resume with a cover letter addressing how the emerging trend of Software As a Service (SaaS) was going to change IT’s role in the next two years. She was able to articulate how IT’s role was going to shift with this change and how the company needed to prepare itself to empower the line and business managers to deal with this reality. She got invited to the interviews and the selection process is currently underway. Without such a message in the cover letter, she may have been passed over for the selection process because she lacked the number of years required at the executive position.

8. Do not let your “friends” undermine you in your pursuits. If you believe that you have the abilities to claim a job that is a step up from where you are now, go ahead and claim the job. You’d be surprised how, having a single-minded focus and determination can conspire to deliver the outcomes that you desire.
9. The only limit to how far you can go is your own limiting beliefs. So, if you are feeling stuck in your current position, check your limiting beliefs.
10. Do not be afraid to fail or get a setback. This is a good sign; it means that you have discovered when you have gone too far. As Emerson said, “Your reach should be greater than your grasp.” Do not confuse a setback with an obstacle; a setback can be a stepping stone. Only when you give up trying after a setback it becomes a failure.

Managing your own career today is mostly in your hands and you must proactively look for opportunities that may not be apparent to many around you. You must act as an entrepreneur in today’s environment and realize what others are missing.

Katie Couric’s evening news is not doing very well these days, after the initial fanfare wore off. Yet, she continues to re-invent how the evening news can be presented to the audience, with a soupcon of raillery and entertainment. Is she going to bounce back in her ratings? No one knows, but Katie is having the time of her life. And, so can you!

]]> http://blog.dilipsaraf.com/2009/06/katie-couric-and-your-job%e2%80%99s-shelf-life/feed/ 0 http://blog.dilipsaraf.com/2009/05/projecting-the-executive-image/ http://blog.dilipsaraf.com/2009/05/projecting-the-executive-image/#comments Sun, 24 May 2009 22:01:03 +0000 Dilip Saraf http://blog.dilipsaraf.com/?p=114 In a corporate job, image is everything. Sometimes, image even trumps performance, making it ever so more important for those who perform well to pay equal or more attention to the perceptions that they create among their circles of influence.

This article is written especially for those who operate under the belief that one should get what they deserve in the corporate world. It does not work that way: What they need to realize is that one gets what they knowingly create and manage.

So, how does one manage their image and project that all important executive message in everything that they do? Well, the good news is that if you have already mastered the art of performing functionally well in your job, managing your image, perceptions, and presence are not that hard. You have already mastered that part that only 14% know how to do well. A recent survey of nearly 90,000 US professionals by Towers Perrin, a professional services firm that helps clients improve business performance, concluded that only 14% of the employees are fully engaged in their work! This means that 86% rely on politics, influence, and skullduggery to get to where they want to go!

The following prescription is offered as way for professionals to create and build their executive image:

1. Look at your own career momentum and assess how far it will take you and how soon. Identify roadblocks within your own company and how you can overcome them, with performance, relationships, and finesse.
2. If you feel stagnant in your career, identify opportunities that are not apparent (there are always plenty of them around!) and make a case for getting them assigned to you. This shows initiative. Such an accomplishment will allow you to use one of the most compelling verbs on a resume: Initiated!
3. Always stay focused on your accomplishments and not just your performance. You may perform well, but if you are not able to deliver monetized accomplishments your impact in an organization is marginalized. People are mystified by how to monetize what you do. Make some assumptions and get agreements with your boss to develop a way to monetize what you do. It is never that hard once you come to some agreement about this with your boss.A rough rule of thumb is that each hour saved gets multiplied by the respective hourly rate and then multiplied by three to arrive at the monetized value to the company. A secretary recently spent 10 hours setting up an automated calendar, which saved a group of 40 engineers one hour per week each. So, for spending $750 of the company’s money, she freed-up one engineer for the company, saving it $450,000 annually!
4. Keep a running track of your accomplishments and publicly announce them taking credit and giving, where it is due. You must garner support of those who can help you succeed. You cannot do this alone.
5. Do not assume any thing. Ask
6. Look and act powerful. Be confident in every thing that you do.
7. Learn how to speak up at important meetings and learn how to be an effective and persuasive presenter, an all-important executive trait!
8. Surround yourself with positive and powerful people and do not engage in petty gossip.
9. In today’s virtual workplace, where many work from remote areas virtually, lacking visibility, make sure that you create a virtual presence by exchanging important memos, success stories and by emailing others about those who helped you succeed. By recognizing someone publicly you, in turn, are seen as a leader who rises about petty politics.
10. Send a message recognizing someone who did a great job. Send copies of this message to higher-ups. Recognizing someone publicly has an effect of putting yourself above them.
11. Once you cross the mid-management threshold, it is less about your technical skills and more about the relationships and alliances you build. Many with highly technical backgrounds fail to recognize this. Try to understand different agendas and see how you can collaborate to build consensus that serves the company’s customers.
12. Make a habit of communicating with higher-up that you normally do not work with to make them become aware of who you are. Participate in special projects and volunteer activities where you get to work with executives several levels above where you are.
13. Do not let the levels at which your superiors operate intimidate you and let your cower in fear because of their status. If you are seen as one who easily rubs shoulders with higher-ups your chances of being seen as one of them are greatly amplified.
14. Look at the industry trends and see if you are keeping up with those trends in your current job or if you need to move to another area of responsibility within your own company. Do not let your false sense of loyalty to your employer or boss get in the way of your own welfare.
15. If you identify an outside opportunity and find that you lack certain qualifications to jump, use your existing job to seek the assignments that get you the needed expertise and then prepare yourself for the move. Such opportunities are always out there. Write your resume in advance and seek out those assignments. In fact, your advance resume is to chart out your career track and then seek assignments to make it happen. This now puts you in the driver’s seat.
16. If your company is in turmoil, it affords unprecedented opportunities for personal development and growth. At such times many rich opportunities are there just for the asking. Seek out tough assignments and make sure that you package them on your resume appropriately. There is nothing more compelling about a candidate whose leadership story narrates how things were hopeless, how they were determined to make them otherwise, and succeeded.
17. Prepare a forward-looking resume and show your value in undeniable ways. A forward-looking resume articulates your value proposition for tomorrow based on your genius (Unique Skills) and leverages your “brand.” An unbranded resume that is backward looking (a Jurassic Resume) is not worth its salt.
18. If you are removed from dealings with customers, find a reason to initiate a dialog and discover what everyone else has missed. If asked correctly, customers love to talk about what they are missing, and if your company can deliver that you become a hero. Imagine how great this bullet will look on your résumé.
19. If you wish to seek a higher position, start behaving as if you already have attained it and influence those around you to respond to your leadership. Once you are seen as the putative candidate for that job by those around you, getting the title merely becomes a formality.
20. Seek mentorship from higher ups. Provide mentoring to those below you.
21. Most professionals do not get what they seek is because they do not clearly know what they want. Be clear about your objective and do not hesitate to publicly state them.

Good luck!

Navigating successfully through a career requires many ingredients. Hard work, planning, being there at the right time, knowing the right people, among factors, all play a role in a successful career. But, even then a career is filled with road bumps, unpredictable events, and situations that are sometimes hard to decipher. No matter how smart you are in what you do, having a perspective from an outsider and who can also give you the right insight at critical times are invaluable in keeping your career on track.

Being successful in a career is experiencing growth. Part of the growth comes from overcoming difficult situations that are personal in nature or from the way they affect your well being in an organization. Having someone you can implicitly trust and to whom you can reveal professional insecurities and personal inadequacies comfortably and confidentially are critical to a successful career. This is what a mentor can provide.

A mentor must be removed from your day-to-day life. This provides the objectivity to the mentoring process. This is where you talk to the mentor and communicate the challenge you face and try to get their objective advice. This is why your boss, colleague, or subordinate cannot be your mentor. They lack the proper clinical distance to give you objective advice.

A mentor is someone who takes personal interest in your professional success. They can be even be someone who earn a living doing this. A mentor, therefore, is someone who is committed to helping you find a path to career success. A good mentor uses the Socratic Method to develop you professionally and personally and provides the following:

• An objective perspective
• An industry and business insight coming from personal experience
• Wisdom from having lived through tough times
• A network of contacts
• Guiding you to other resources when they do not have the answers
• Personal intervention when your actions are undermining your welfare

Using the Socratic Method entails asking questions in a sequence to the person who comes seeking answers. The way questions are asked back reveal insights that can benefit the one seeking answers. Often, no one person can provide all these benefits. Some provide them to a varying degree. It is not uncommon to have different mentors that provide different inputs. Developing mentor/mentee relationship is one of the most challenging prospects in a career. A good mentor can make a difference in the success of a career.

Making it Happen

Decide what you want from a mentor/mentee relationship: What is your objective in this relationship? Are you looking for organizational guidance or are you looking for professional and personal development through this relationship? Are you looking for relationships? Answers to these and other questions can help in deciding whom to pursue for this relationship.

Assess what you bring: A good mentor/mentee relationship is typically a give and take. You must give something in return for what you get out of the relationship. Be very clear with the person so that there is no surprise or disappointment.

Make a list: Ask around and check out for yourself. The most important element of a good mentor/mentee relationship is personal chemistry. This is usually established in a series of meetings not just one encounter. Some companies have an official mentoring program. Enroll in the program and see what is available. Interview candidates so that you can get a good picture of the relationship you will develop over the long term.

The problem with a company-sponsored program is that once you leave the company the relationship ends. The other limitation is that it is difficult to explore matters that may be in conflict with the company’s interest (another job) without compromising you.

Establish ground rules: When do you see each other? How often? How long? Where (home)? These are some of the logistical issues that must be addressed? Often, they evolve just as the mentor/mentee relationship evolves.

Young Mentors

Although mentor in the dictionary sense means someone who acts as your trusted counselor or a guide, it has a connotation of seniority. A mentor is usually an experienced professional full of wisdom stemming from their years of having lived a life of adventure, accomplishments, and learning. They are also pursued because of their power, influence, and stature in the business community in which they play. In today’s context that definition of a mentor may be limiting. Why? Many young professionals these days are highly driven, accomplished, and savvy. The rapid growth of technologies has made mastering these technologies a challenge for most. Somehow, the younger generation seems to master them well and, as a result, is a great resource for learning. They are also well versed with how their generation deals with the fast-changing world, which the older generation seems to find challenging.

Having a young mentor may seem like a contradiction, but in today’s world it is a necessity. There is no rule that says you must have only one mentor. One of your mentors could be someone (or several) who is savvy at something that you want to learn. Jack Welch, the legendary chairman of General Electric, often courted Gen-Y (and even Gen-X) professionals and called them his mentors. He learned much about the Internet and how they look at the exploding commerce in this new paradigm.

Common Mistakes

The following is a short list of common mistakes made in developing a mentor/mentee relationship:

• You look to your boss to be your mentor.
• You and your mentor are frustrated with the lack of progress made. A mentor/mentee relationship is more about personal growth and maturity and not project deliverables.
• Having a blind faith in the mentor. Mentors are humans, too. They, too, need mentors. Do not expect too much from a mentor. They do not have all the answers.
• Not knowing when to move on. Every relationship plays out. Once you start seeing the end of a relationship because of your own growth or the stagnation of the mentor, gradually move on and do not make a big deal about it. Graduating to a different mentor is a sign of growth

Coaching

Coaching and mentoring are considered kindred needs in the corporate world. Although they are complementary in their application, nothing could be further from the truth. While mentoring involves someone who can guide you in your career and who brings both the content and the context of what is happening in your situation to the relationship, coaching invariably involves someone who gets paid for understanding the context of your predicament. A mentor can be a person inside your organization, if not in your company, but a coach is usually a professional who comes from the “outside.” Yes, some companies employ executive coaches who are on their staff, often they are a stable of professionals retained to serve an ongoing need when a company is doing well.

Coaching came into vogue in the mid 90s when the full impact of the newly-launched 360 degree review became growingly popular in the corporate culture. Annual reviews based on the 360 degree instruments typically highlight areas for an employee where they need to grow and increase their value in those areas. Managers typically do not have the time or the skill to help their direct reports to achieve this development. So, companies started hiring coaches to help employees in the specific areas of their needs. Many employees hire their own counselors or coaches to develop themselves, much like a physical trainer or sports coach.

The following guidelines are provided to help you select a coach that you may want to engage in your ongoing development:

1. The best sources of getting names for potential coaches is referrals from someone you know and someone who has shown progress that is visible to you.
2. Have a meeting with yourself and ask yourself introspective questions that articulate your need for development and the areas in which you see the need.
3. Meet with the coach for an initial session and explore their approach, compatibility, and style.
4. Do not sign up for a package deal no matter how much you save by paying in advance. Have a few sessions before you decide.
5. Make sure that the coach has real experience working in the corporate world and has shown career growth, reinventions, and has dealt with challenges that are typical in the corporate world. If they come from recruiting and HR staff or academic backgrounds they are less likely to be effective in what they have to offer.
6. If a coach cannot offer you specific and actionable guidance you are probably talking to a frustrated therapist who could not get their license.
7. If the guidance that you get in your sessions is not working for you, bring it up immediately in the next session and seek a course correction. If things are not working fire the coach and find another one.
8. Seek feedback from your colleagues and check for changes in your own self.
9. If you do not see things changing for yourself do not delude yourself by waiting longer.
10. If you do not respect the coach, you have lost the edge in your relationship and you must move on.

This article addresses the age-old problem of how to position yourself for that promotion that you so richly deserve and to get the title that will make you proud!

The following suggestions may be helpful for those who need to know how to navigate through the “promotion maze.”

1. Be clear why you need the promotion. If you merely want a “better title” on your business card, you may not really need a promotion (with all its responsibilities) just to impress those who see your business card. Similarly, if you want to be promoted so that you can make more money, that, too, is a different matter. Either of these parameters can be more easily accommodated than a job promotion.
2. If you want a “fancier” title, see if you can negotiate with your boss to get that just for the business card. Some companies allow their employees multiple titles: a person functioning as a senior software engineer may be responsible for a project or a program. See if your boss will let you get business cards with “Program Manager” as your title.
3. Career professionals often underestimate the demands of a promotion. Before the promotion everything is viewed through rose-colored glasses. In most cases, responsibilities increase geometrically with authority and those who do not see the liability that it can create often lament the promotion and find ways to revert to their previous status-a difficult move that can damage an otherwise good career.
4. Before pursuing the promotion visualize yourself doing the job that the promotion offers, not in the way the incumbent is doing it now, but the way you would. This may place unexpected demands on you that may shift your work-life balance to your detriment. Carefully review the implications of that shift.
5. A well-written quote by Emerson is often a good reminder when contemplating a promotion: We judge ourselves by what we are capable of doing; others judge us by what we have already done!
6. In promoting someone to the next level, the employer is taking some risks. It is best to evaluate how the employer sees that risk in your own case. This can be done with a discussion with your manager. Not all risks will be openly discussed. But, the ones that are must be addressed in a serious vein. Asking your manager what you need to change to assure that you are aware of the risk and are willing to work on it to mitigate it can be a good start.
7. If you want to be promoted to the next level with its title, then you must make that intention clear to your manager and state why you deserve that promotion. Your argument should be based not on mere superior performance, but on how your being at the next level will benefit the company more than it would you from the change. Find out what makes for an effective candidate in that position and start being that person well before you start making a case for the promotion. It is much easier for your boss to formalize your role if you are already functioning in that capacity. This role-assumption has to do with the force of your leadership and not with your ability to bully those around you! The best kind of promotion is that which, when announced, does not surprise anyone!
8. Those who are considered for a promotion (especially at executive levels) display a good balance between the “three Qs.” The IQ part has to do with your job skills (content knowledge), the EQ has to do with your emotional quotient (your awareness of self and how you relate to others) and the PQ, your ability to deal with critical situations (your political quotient). PQ does not merely mean having the savvy at “playing” politics!
9. A related issue is your own image. This is the “package” that you represent. If you consider yourself worthy of being part of the group to which you will belong, once promoted, you must be able to identify their common characteristics and represent those norms; you cannot be an aberration. Senior executive often retain image consultants for this purpose.
10. One key factor in promotional consideration, especially at higher levels, is your ability to conduct effective meetings and to forcefully articulate your views. Those who find this daunting may have to wait until they are able to master this skill. Also, public speaking is another related skill. Joining Toastmasters International can be a good way to learn how to do this well. Check out the company training programs as well.
11. While you are positioning for the promotion, do not lose sight of your current responsibilities. You must deliver on your commitments in addition to playing the “higher” role until your promotion is formalized. The only people who can get away with this are the elected politicians who are seeking a higher office while they are serving as incumbents.
12. When you are positioning for the promotion, do not forget that you will continue to need your colleagues’ support in your new role. If you trample their sensibilities in the rush to get your promotion they can easily sabotage your success once you get there. This can be career suicide!
13. If you are able to “lead” your peers without having a title of the person to whom they report (your manager), you already are being seen as their leader. Do not bully them to exert your will. That will backfire.
14. The best way to get into your boss’s job is to move them up. For them to move up, you must make them look good to their superiors. Openly discuss with your boss what you might do differently to make this happen. Develop a highly trusted relationship with your immediate superiors.
15. Increase your visibility throughout the organization and the company. Attend outside events that showcase your company, be a presenter at some well-attended conference or event. Volunteer to participate in activities where higher-ups normally gather and mingle with them with effortless ease.
16. One of the most difficult promotional “rungs” is moving up from being an individual contributor to being the first-level manager. Most professionals assume than doing a great job in their role as an individual contributor entitles them to that all-important promotion. Nothing could be further from the truth. The managerial functions are very different from that of an individual contributor. A manager is responsible for the four functions of managing: Lead, Plan, Organize, and to set up Controls. The manager’s role is at odds with that of the individual contributor, although having a good understanding of technical content is very important for the first-level manager. To be a candidate for consideration, the individual contributor must show aptitude for the functions of management.
17. The best time to bring up your intentions for getting promoted is at the time of the annual performance review. Exploring with your immediate supervisor how they see the possibility and asking them what you might do differently to achieve that brass ring is a good way to establish your candidacy. This does not mean that your efforts should be episodic. You must think, act, and project as if you already are in that role with constancy, without turning off those around you-your colleagues.
18. Keep your manager in the loop by emailing concise weekly and monthly progress reports. If you think their help is needed, ask. This approach helps especially when there is turnover in the management ranks. Also, make sure that you do not surprise your manager in any way, always keeping them in the loop.
19. Make yourself visible to others in as many events instead of your current boss. Introduce yourself by saying “I represent the test department” at such events. On occasions when your boss is unable to attend a high-level meeting, volunteer. If this is done often enough, others in those circles will remember you as someone already working at that level. Now you become a shoo-in for that promotion. In such meetings you must show your complete loyalty to your boss, even though you may disagree with their decisions privately.
20. You are psychologically ready for the promotion when you are able to have an easy conversation on any topic (not just work) with the person at least two levels above you. In addition, not being intimidated by executives at any level can further fortify your candidacy. This is a learned skill.
21. If senior executives, as a group, come from a different national culture (this happens with a merger or an acquisition), understand their needs and expectations through their cultural norms. Establishing ethos with those of different culture can accelerate your candidacy. This understanding must be developed in a subtle way; making it obvious can backfire. Similarly, showing ignorance or indifference to such cultural values can be detrimental not just to your promotion, but also to your career.
22. One of the key ingredients for success at higher levels is having a unique perspective. This means developing an ability to look at a situation and confidently being able to give your own assessment without being intimidated or bullied by others at levels much higher than yours.
23. Seek yourself a mentor or a professional career coach who can give you some objective feedback and round out your skills as a manager at the next level of responsibility.

Getting promoted to the next level is not a spectator sport. You must jump into the arena and compete fiercely with others to get that brass ring. Now you know how!

1. Be clear what you want to be. A hands-on technical contributor, a team lead, or a manager (including an executive). Each role has its pros and cons. There is no utopian panacea in the career space. But there still are dream jobs to he had.
2. Most managers fail to understand the basic nature of their role. Just because you were promoted to a managerial job for being a great individual contributor, does not mean that you will do well in that role. Being a manager requires a very different skill set: a good balance between managing technology and leading people. Nearly 80 percent of the managers do not know how to do this effectively.
3. Regardless of what track you want to pursue you must master one domain of your expertise. This is your personal mastery; your Major. As you decide to climb the ranks you must develop expertise in leadership skills–this now becomes your Minor.
4. If you decide to climb the management ranks you must learn how to switch your Major and Minor. As you move up, you must focus more on leadership, relationships, and the business (previously your Minor) and less on technology (previously your Major) that drives the business. This is also a difficult transition for many. Focusing on conceptual skills accelerates this development. As you rise it is these skills that give you the edge.
5. Proactively manage your career. This is done by constantly keeping your attention on the emerging jobs (inside and outside your own company) and actively seeking assignments that keep your résumé marketable. Use the forward-looking approach to career management by proactively managing your résumé.
6. When looking for a new job, instead of approaching it as a hireling, position yourself as a must-hire candidate for the few selected companies that interest you. You can do this by focusing on your value proposition that goes beyond just your technical abilities; show how you will impact their business and forcefully articulate it throughout your campaign.
7. Make the interview process a two-way street. Find out as much about the company as those from the inside are trying to find out about you. Talk to customers, suppliers, and stakeholders. Use this information to develop insights that will simply blow them away.
8. Once you are on-board prepare a “100-Day Plan” and get going on bringing your (and your boss’s) agenda on track. Relentlessly get plugged into the tissue of the organization.
9. If you have a misstep, admit to it, own it, and learn from it: “Success consists of jumping from failure to failure without admitting defeat.”—Winston Churchill

Good luck to you!

There is absolutely no reason why you cannot manage your own career through a series of preemptive actions. Most complain about how stultifying their jobs are, how they have reached a glass ceiling, or how insecure their boss is and how he is holding them back. Then they let each one of these factors militate against their career to let it take its own course. Most are far more comfortable being a victim of their circumstances than they are being a victor. Because to move from being a former to the latter involves taking charge of your situation, taking some risks, and then acting on the plan that you set out to execute.

Regardless of the specifics of your own career barrier, the following prescription is offered to transform your usage of the word “career” from a noun to a verb:

1. Take a stock of what is happening and what should be happening in your career trajectory. Assess how much of the blame points inwardly; you’d be surprised what you discover if you remain objective in this assessment.
2. Shed the victim mantle and put of the victor armor. Make a list of things you must do to turn the situation around that has got you stuck. For example, if your boss is ignoring you and you are not getting any credit for you good work, take charge of the situation and write a memo to everyone in your team thanking your boss for giving you the opportunity to take on a project that you successfully completed. Send a copy to his boss and let her know that your boss is a good leader. Mention this in open meetings where your boss is going to be present. Pretty soon he will get the picture that you are there to make him look good and he will start paying attention to your needs.
3. If no one has praised you for your good work, take a random person and praise them. Praise must be specific, genuine, timely, and spontaneous. When you give this praise the recipient should light up and start telling you about their accomplishment proudly. Praise is a contagious sport; pretty soon it will boomerang back to you. If you feel shy doing this in person, do it by email or a note! The amazing aspect about giving someone praise is that the recipient assumes that you are someone important!
4. As you move up in the hierarchy what matters is the relationships you have with those around you. This is particularly important for those who come from technical ranks. They are raised in the belief that as long as their technical work is flawless, everything else should not matter. Wrong! No one likes a smart alec, but everyone finds irresistible people who make them genuinely feel worthy and good. This is the basis of establishing good relationships.
5. Set out an objective to advance your career in a measurable way. For example, if you are a senior manager vying to become a director in a year, merely doing a good job in your current position is not enough. You must become visible at the level that matters. Supporting your boss in front of their boss; becoming visible by taking initiatives and social causes that the company believes in, and so on. If you do this well, most of the people working with you will wonder how is it that you are just a senior manager and mingling with higher ups effortlessly. Once you become part of the circle in upper management you will be seen as a part of the upper management. Remember, to move up, relationships matter and not merely your competence.
6. Look for outside jobs that are one or two levels above your current title. Find what job skills you need to develop to qualify for those positions and then ask your boss for assignments that allow you to take on those opportunities. Each year proactively draft your resume for those positions and see what assignments will take you to claim that expertise. Now you are managing your career with you in the driver’s seat.
7. Learn how to look and feel important and project that image. You can influence people without authority. Understand the difference between influence, power, and authority.
8. Understand how senior executives in your company spend their time professionally, socially, and in the way that they project their image. For example, if they all belong to a certain club or a network, join that club and get in to be seen as one of “them.”
9. The best way to claim a position that you are vying for is to act as if you already are in that position and to start behaving as if you have that responsibility. Without alienating your team, show leadership that allows you to be seen as doing that role and getting everyone’s cooperation. When time comes for a promotion no one would be surprised if you get that promotion.
10. Senior managers and those in the executive suites have extensive networks. Start developing your own network of influential people and take time to nurture and expand your circle of friends and professionals. Make an investment of time every week to make this a scheduled activity in your routine.
11. Learn how to communicate effectively and to take on opportunities that require you to speak publicly. Nothing creates greater visibility than to have done well in a presentation that has public exposure. Join Toastmasters or similar organizations to ratchet up your leadership and communication skills
12. Do not wait to be assigned a project. Identify a project that will improve the company’s position and take it on. Send out a memo spreading the news of your successful accomplishment, and, once again, thanking your boss!
13. Take on someone to mentor and find yourself a mentor. Learning is painful but without pain there is no growing. Seek out opportunities to take risks and do not be afraid to fail. As Winston Churchill said, Success consists of jumping from failure to failure without admitting defeat!

Good luck!