“Am I out of sync with today’s workforce? What’s wrong with expecting a day’s work for a day’s pay?”

The caller said he had an idea for a blog post, was I interested?

“Always”, I said. “What is it?”

Here’s what he told me:

“My boss asked me not to work so hard. “Lighten up”, he said. Can you believe that? ‘Lighten up!’ He told me I was passed up for promotion because I expected too much of myself and of others. He said that my subordinates don’t take to me. Don’t take to me? What am I supposed to do with that? If I don’t do my job the way I think I should, I’m cheating my company and I’m cheating myself. If I don’t demand more of my employees they won’t grow and they won’t contribute. Don’t get me wrong. These are good people. I like working with them. I just don’t understand that kind of thinking. And I gotta’ tell you, I’m frustrated.”

He went on…

“I don’t yell at folks, I’m not mean, I’m not rude. I just say what I have to say. It’s true that I don’t ask about their kids and their mothers. I’m not interested in their dogs and their cats; not because I’m an uncaring person, I just believe the workplace is for work and not for personal stuff.

“How am I supposed to act? What am I supposed to do? I’m not from around here. Maybe we think differently where I come from.

“This isn’t the first time that I’ve been told that I’m serious and I’m focused. This is the first time I’ve lost a promotion to it. It blows me away.

I like this area, I like my company, and I like the people, so quitting my job doesn’t make sense. But if I’m not going to go farther because I demand more, what choice do I have here or anywhere?”

He’s been working at the company for two years. He received an “outstanding” rating at his first review along with a nice bump in salary. At his most recent evaluation, he dropped to “meets expectations“ and got a cost of living increase that didn’t amount to much.

I asked if his department’s productivity had changed since he’s been in charge:

“It improved at first but it’s been falling for the last six months or so.  My predecessor had been pretty slack. He let the employees do as they pleased. When I came in I instituted structure, procedures, and process improvements they didn’t have before. They seemed to take it well and a number of them mentioned they were getting more done than before.

“The more effective I was, the more time I spent at work. I’ve been called a workaholic and if that means I like to work hard and get things done, then it’s true.  I get a lot of satisfaction from my work. I don’t have much of an outside life; not many hobbies and not many friends. It’s not that I don’t like people, it’s just that when I get home I’m tired and I don’t feel like socializing.”

This caller is a high achiever who believes he’s been denied a promotion and a salary increase because he works harder and demands more than other employees have. He prefers to manage things instead of people and believes he’s paid to work and not play. He’s a private person and doesn’t want to get involved in his subordinate’s lives. He thinks employees should work hard, pull their own weight, and show initiative by doing what must be done without waiting to be told how, when and at what time. He tries to be his boss’s dream and ends up starring in a career nightmare.

The harder he works the less he succeeds for his boss, his subordinates, and his pocketbook. He’s gone as far as he can go unless he changes into a copy of someone else. What should he do? Leave or stay? If he leaves what guarantee does he have that the outcome will be different somewhere else? Whose problem is it?

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Yes! You may use this article by Executive and Career Coach, Joyce Richman, in your blog, article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since she started her own practice in 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com

A recent caller wanted to know how to search for jobs that are closer to somewhere else than to where he lives. I figure that if I’m going to tell him, I ought to share the same information with you.

There are barriers to conducting an out of town search and ways to overcome them:

Barrier: The prospective employer doesn’t want to interview someone who lives “somewhere else”. They don’t want to incur travel and lodging costs, believing that they can find talent locally and for less money.

What to do? If you’re willing to pay your own way: Attach a cover letter (whether emailing, faxing, or snail mailing, always include a cover letter) indicating that you will  be in their city several times in the coming weeks and can modify your meeting schedule to accommodate a conversation with them. Ask for dates that are convenient for them.

Barrier: You don’t know who’s hiring and for what jobs  in the city you want to live.

What to do? Whether from home or the library, get on the internet. Places like www.linkedin.com, www.monster.com and www.companiesonline.com have all kinds of information regarding businesses, their locations, size, and more. If you’d rather get your hands around hard copy, reliable sources include Dun & Bradstreet’s Million Dollar Directory and Standard  & Poor’s Register of Corporations. Mary Alice Watkins, Business Services Specialist at the Greensboro Public Library, also suggests taking a look at Ward’s Business Directory, a collection that includes small to medium privately held companies.

Barrier: You’re not internet savvy and don’t want to be. You want to work on an out of town job search but feel limited.

What to do? As you can see from the above, there are plenty of resources for those who prefer to wrap themselves around a good read, even if it reads like a telephone book. However, and before leaving the computer/internet subject too quickly, there is help out there for you, should you choose to avail yourself of it. The librarians in business reference can assist  you (as can many young children). It takes a little courage to be a novice but you’ll find it worth the humility and the effort.  The information you can tap into will knock your socks off.  And in the job hunt there’s an expectation now that 21st century workers need to be comfortable using computers and the internet.

What else can you do at the library? Ask for newspapers from cities you’d like to live. If they aren’t available in hard copy, you guessed it, find them on the internet.

While we’re on the subject of newspapers: check for more than what you’ll find in the classifieds. Quality of life counts. It counts even more when transitioning from where you’ve been to where you’re going. Are you well matched to the place you want to call home? What are the issues that editorials and news articles address? Do city leaders, movers and shakers dedicate time, interest, and budget to sectors that you believe are important? What’s the city’s economic base and is it healthy?

Barrier: You want to take a job in another city. Your spouse is hesitant but willing to go. The problem? The kids. Your spouse doesn’t want to uproot your young children from the schools and neighborhood in which they have grown comfortable.

What to do: Be mindful that your children listen to the spoken and silent messages that you send. If you and your spouse talk with them and listen to their needs, while providing  security, stability, and practical optimism, you can reduce the unexpressed fears a transition can cause.

Barrier: You’re not sure how another city’s salaries compare to what you’re earning. You don’t want to sell yourself short or aim higher than the market will allow.

What to do: For salary surveys that report data at the national, state and metropolitan statistical area levels, go to http://stats.bls.gov/oes/oes_data.htm. If you’re looking for a web site that provides cost of living data (and more) for hundreds of U.S and foreign cities, log onto http://www2.homefair.com/calc/salcalc.html.

If you need more, ask you local librarian, they’ve always been helpful to me and to the job seekers I’ve worked with.

* * * *

Yes! You may use this article by Executive and Career Coach, Joyce Richman, in your blog, article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since she started her own practice in 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com.

Warning to Workaholics on Vacation

No beach is warm enough, no pool deep enough, no book long enough to keep you from the next call, the next report, the next conquest.

No companion is fun enough, no escapade strange enough, no catacomb deep enough, to keep you from the next deal and the next plane that gets you to where the heat is hot enough, the mountain high enough, the trial tribulation enough, to make it worth the time that it takes to get there.

Warning to Vacationers at Work

No challenge is great enough, no boss loud enough, no report timely enough, to look up, look out, and get it done, for any reason greater than your colleagues are depending on it.

No boss is strong enough, no rhyme reason enough, no siren shrill enough to polish it off, finish it up, and put it away, for any reason greater than your customers are waiting for it.

Warning to Teams without Players

No goal is clear enough, no value grand enough, no cause worthy enough to get together, pull together, and get it done together, for any reason greater than that’s the way this game is played.

No reason is valid enough, no need compelling enough, no cause desiring enough, to get it done, outside the isolation and comfort of your mind,  for any reason greater than they need you to be there.

Warning to Players without Teams

No group is large enough, no talk complete enough, no break long enough to get you back to work, getting it done, for any reason greater than you’re bothering folks.

No quiet is safe enough, no space sane enough, no reflection revered enough, to keep you from using your cascade of words, just because they are there to be spoken.

Warning to Visionaries without Plans

No scape is grand enough, no leap long enough, no star far enough to keep you from unleashing your insight on those least capable of hitching it all to a wagon, and driving to get it all there.

No path is clear enough, no strategy sharp enough, no objection judicious enough to keep you from derailing the good that you started with your dreams.

Warning to Doers without Vision

There is no time good enough, no turn safe enough, no prediction right enough to leave behind your need to be absolutely sure before the journey is begun.

There is no path straight enough, no rule right enough, no detail plain enough to abandon your need to know from getting in your way.

Warning to Leaders without  Followers

There is no command strong enough, no control tight enough, no rigor right enough to satisfy your need to be all, have all, regardless that no one follows your lead.

There is no language tough enough, no mandate sure enough, no distance far enough from the people you drive to the place they don’t want to go.

Warning to Followers without Leaders

There is no map clear enough, no need great enough,  no strength strong enough,  to bridge the distance from where you are to where you need to go.

Warning to Leaders without Passion

There is no analysis sound enough, no logic clear enough, no goal defined enough, to merit the movement of people who care, by those who aren’t able to express why they should.

* * * *

Yes! You may use this article by Executive and Career Coach, Joyce Richman, in your blog, article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since she started her own practice in 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com.

Frank needs some help and no one here seems to be able to get through to him.

I asked Frank’s boss to describe the problem. His response told me more about what it wasn’t than what it was.
“Frank’s not rude or withdrawn; he’s not outspoken or overbearing. He never gets angry. The guy is very intelligent. He understands how our business works and does what it takes to get his job done. We could let him stay here and rock along, but we’re not going to do that. We’re looking for leaders. Here, it’s up or out. The way he’s going, it’s going to be “out”. He’s a bright guy, so that’s a real waste of  time and talent, for us and for him.”

As directors go,  Frank was young; maybe early thirties. A senior vice president, who felt that his protégé needed to improve his leadership skills, had referred him. 
My initial reaction to Frank was that he just didn’t project much. He answered my questions by saying as little as possible. Whatever the subject, he offered no spark, reaction or comment that revealed his state of mind or sense of  well being.

He did provide an opening when he described positions  he had held when working for a former company.  Those job requirements demanded  skills and abilities 180 degrees from those he was currently using. I asked which roles he preferred and he responded simply “it doesn’t matter.”

“It doesn’t matter?” I pushed back. “How can it not matter?”

“Nothing matters if all you’re trying to do is earn enough money to  retire before your work kills you.”

And that was his bottom line. We just got there faster than I thought we would. Now he started to open up.

Frank had career dexterity. He was competent in whatever position he worked while not excelling in any. Frank had pride in his ability to adapt to the circumstance he faced. His early childhood experiences trained him to keep his head down, get his chores done, and stay out of trouble. Success in his first few jobs continued the pattern: keep your head down, get your job done, and stay out of trouble.

In order to sustain himself, Frank chose one goal worthy of such self restraint: earn enough money to retire early and live whatever life was left.

That worked as long as he was part of a command and control organization. The game changed when he changed companies.

The new rules required that he work through his direct reports, empowering them to do and be more. The new company’s culture was about trust and communication at all levels and to all people. To succeed, Frank would have to put his future and his confidence into the hands of the people that he managed.

As capable as Frank was, nothing had  prepared him for working in an organization that forced you out of the trenches. The lights were on and Frank couldn’t find the dimmer switch.

• Leading others is about more than getting the job done while watching the bottom line.
• Leaders must develop different strengths from those they relied upon earlier in their careers.
• Leaders take calculated risks, learn from their mistakes, and keep going.
• Leaders encourage and empower others to take chances and to learn from the mistakes they are going to make.
• Leaders provide others the training to learn and opportunity to work out the kinks.
• Leaders don’t have all the answers; they just have most of the questions.
• Leaders keep their egos in check  by realizing that their success is sustained and enhanced by the best and the brightest around them.They learn to take care of each other.

Making it, in today’s workplace, is about much more than keeping your head down, working hard, and staying out of trouble. If that’s been your pattern up to now,  heads-up. The future has landed.

* * * *

Yes! You may use this article by Executive and Career Coach, Joyce Richman, in your blog, article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since she started her own practice in 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com.