An Unconventional Path from “In Transition” to New Career

by Cheryl Crumb

I reconnected with a colleague today who was “right-sized” by his employer after 15 years. He told me he’s currently an “in transition consultant”, a way to put food on the table while scrambling to find a new job.

In these uncertain times with high performers out of work, here are some less conventional ways to proceed.
 

Become conscious of your mood

The first step is simple, but not easy. Examine and reflect whether you’re feeling bitter about your “ex” and how you were unfairly treated after years of faithful service. While resentment is natural — and there are hundreds of friends who will fuel the evilness of The Dastardly Company — it’s essential to consciously put energy into accepting the situation.

Why … especially because feeling “victimized” makes you feel so “right” and them so “wrong”?
As human beings, we’re always communicating, and people can “hear” what we don’t say loudly. In other words, our bitterness will be evident to potential new employers, and that’s not something they find attractive. Employers are looking for resilient people with positive attitudes.

Consider that resentment is a choice we make (albeit unconsciously). That opens the possibility of our choosing acceptance, a counter-intuitive, but healthy alternative. To do so, we need to find a way to reframe the situation that allows us to move on to the future rather than getting stuck in the past. How? Come up with reasons why the business decision to let you go was smart. It’s not about right/wrong, but moving yourself through the change process.
 

Don’t automatically drift

The second step is to realize that we can design our future or drift into the future. Again, it’s our choice.

Let’s call my colleague “Fred”, and his project “Designing Fred”. Rather than drifting into applying for jobs similar to what he did previously (knee-jerk reaction), “designing” has two components “Reading Fred” and “Reading the World”. The former is getting to know yourself better and the second is increased knowledge on the world (business) since you will be uniting both.

Take a computer/pencil/paper and jot down answers to the following questions. Keep a journal so you can reflect, input, wait, sleep on it and input more. Allow yourself to float in the questions rather than look for “right” answers.

Reading Fred

• What is the value that you bring to an organization? (This is not “resume speak”.)
• What are activities you love doing, even if they don’t add up to a “job”?
• For each, what about it gives you energy and joy?
• If you could design the worst job in the world for you, what would it be asking you to do?
• What are your talents? (Don’t be shy.)
• What were key moments for you in life? What did they offer you or what did you learn?
• What haven’t you done, but the thought sounds exciting? Why?
• What environment brings out the best (worst) in you?

Ultimately, you’re a collection of talents and preferences that shouldn’t be constrained by the jobs you’ve previously held.

Reading The World
Your access to “the world” is through perceptions of senior level people in various fields. Your goal is to engage them in provocative conversation, not to sell yourself as a possible candidate, but to learn insights and perspectives. Consciously get outside of your comfort zone industries. Questions to ask them might include

• As you look off to the future, what are the challenges you see organizations facing?
• What are the changes you see coming down the pipe?
• What is different about what you’re looking for now compared to a few years ago?
• What kinds of jobs/roles are becoming more (less) necessary?
• What are lessons you’ve learned from your customers/suppliers/shareholders?
• Where recently were you blindsided? What did you learn from that?
• What lessons have you learned through success and failure?

 

The results

Why are the questions valuable? These are the issues that will drive job creation. Consider that a job is the gap that exists between the world as it was and the world as it’s becoming. Why might an executive even engage with you? I believe that profound and extraordinary conversations are a gift to executives. These questions help them articulate thoughts never uttered but dancing in their heads.

So, if you were downsized out … consider that your Ideal Future might be something more invigorating than a repetition of the past.

Links

• image courtesy of Svilen Milev

Cheryl Crumb helps you get customers for keeps. She is an ISO 9000 accredited trainer, coach, transition consultant and facilitator who designs training programs to fit specific corporate needs. You’ll find more details on her website, the Experion website and LinkedIn.

Overcoming Mediocrity Consistently

by Jay Perry

I came across a quote from Jim Collins, best known as the author of “Good to Great”.  He states:

“The signature of mediocrity is not an unwillingness to change. The signature of mediocrity is chronic inconsistency.”

In every business I have worked with I find this to be true.  Some things get done well one time and then not as well another time.  A case in point is a client company where we had instituted a scheduling program to better control work flow for their production.  It was off and running well two months prior.  I arrived for a follow-up visit to find that they were using the system only 50% to 60% of the time.  In other words, inconsistently.  What were the results?  Chaos!

Diagnostics

I also see inconsistency and mediocrity in diagnostics.  When done properly, there is a smooth production flow.  Then someone has a “better idea” — usually to go back to what they used to do — and the everything falls off the rails again.

The true enemy of greatness in business is this inconsistency in performance.  What causes that inconsistency?  Myriad reasons but one of the most common is complacency or satisfaction with the status quo.  That is fear.  People are afraid to make a full commitment to a new way of being.  They have reached a certain level of comfort and go into “preserve mode” which means let’s not get too far from the average way of doing things.

Great Leaders

That is where the call for great leaders comes in.  Without a great leader who is willing to look at bold ideas and then present them in a safe way that the followers can support the new initiatives, nothing will get done.

The followers will not do proceed on their own.  Not because they do not want the benefits of a better way but because they cannot connect the dots between their current position and where they potentially could be.
In leadership the job entails more than looking at new ideas.  You must make it OK for people to accept the changes necessary to affect improvement.  Followers are willing to change if shown an acceptable way to do so.

Accountability

What follows next is the need to root out the inconsistency that will creep back into people’s behaviors. Holding people accountable for the promises they make in implementing new ways is one of the most important things a leader has to do.  A leader often figures that everyone else can see the same benefits that they see. To the leader it is a “no-brainer” that we should do this and everyone will support it.  That’s a mistake as others do not see things exactly as we do.  Accept that truth and make your life easier.

Many leaders also do not see themselves as helpers.  They like to think of themselves in a more romantic fashion, riding the great steed, leading the army into victory, always looking forward.  Like the old saying says “Get off your high horse.”  Your job is to constantly help others do their job better today than they did it yesterday.  Once that mindset is firmly entrenched in your being and your behavior shows it.

Links

• 15 lessons from the 2012 Global Leadership Summit
• image courtesy of puravida

Improve the processes and you change the culture. Ally Business Coaching helps progressive companies manage both aspects of these kinds of transformations. Leadership is developed in people, not trained. With over 20 years of experience in developing leaders through a coaching style, Jay brings quick, effective and permanent improvements to clients all over North America. Here are the complete services. You’ll find more about Jay on the Experion website and LinkedIn.