A Few Warnings to Be Aware Of
June 28, 2011 by Joyce Richman · Leave a Comment
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.
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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.
Bringing out the Best
June 21, 2011 by Joyce Richman · Leave a Comment
Dozens of human interest stories have emerged as a consequence of this year’s earthquakes, oil spills, fires and tornadoes. We’ve learned about the brave few who helped the many; the risk taking few who endangered the many; and the reluctant few who created more work for the dependable many. Read more
Taking Another Look at Relocation
June 14, 2011 by Joyce Richman · Leave a Comment
As organizations continue to grow, shrink, and mutate, employees are getting used to doing the mobile shuffle: from working on-site to working in flight, on phones, and from hotels. The greater the distance and the longer the stay, the bigger the worry: I’m losing touch with my team and I don’t know what to do about it.
The more far flung our companies become, the more employees are sent to remote locations to head up global business units. Two years away can feel challenging at least, developmental at best. Longer than that and they start to feel adrift.
I’ve been away so long I think they’ve forgotten who I am.
Could they really forget where they put you? Have you been gone so long you’ve lost the connections that could bring you back?
What should you be paying attention to?
It depends on your career goals. If you enjoy working independently, you’re not into climbing the corporate ladder, and prefer a boss with no face, and you’ll probably enjoy the freedom of a cell phone, a lap top, and the great out there.
If you’re hard charging, upwardly mobile, politically savvy, and like the view from the top, you’re not apt to get there by staying at the home office or your office at home. You are apt to improve your chances with an international assignment that affords you continuing visibility with the home team. The trick is, don’t stay away too long.
There are pros and cons to staying close and moving away. If you want to know how successful your company is and how it compares to the competition, work outside the walls.
If you want to maximize networking opportunities with people who interface with your company but don’t pledge allegiance to it, work outside the walls.
There’s a downside to spending too much time outside instead of inside. You’re out of the loop. You won’t know who’s in and who’s out, who’s calling the shots and who just sounds like they are. As people are shuffled about, the person who assigned you to a place of many syllables may no longer be your boss, and the new boss may not know who you are. There may be no compelling reason to bring you back.
It’s not unusual for the most dedicated of company loyalists to take on tough international assignments in tough international terrain. With their families in tow, they turn around the untouchable, and in turn, expect to be rewarded with a promotion and a ticket home. That’s when they learn they can’t get there. Why? No one else is willing to work in East Lambchopia, much less haul a family there. What thanks do they get? Glowing letters on embossed letterhead, praising their efforts on behalf of the home team, that ironically, is back home.
What’s the bottom line? Take care of your career, because no one else will do it for you. That’s not a slam on your company, that’s a reality. Business and industry are making it clear to anyone who will listen that they have closed the career development store. They’re no longer selling career ladders, pathways, and roadmaps to where you can be in five years. You’ll need to buy your own flashlight, compass, insight and foresight. And remember, out of sight is like hindsight: it’s too little, too late.
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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.
Leaving with the best foot
June 7, 2011 by Joyce Richman · Leave a Comment
You’re more apt to be remembered for how you conclude an engagement, then how you begin one. Your reputation is established by the sum of your days, not by the start of them. Like it or not, it’s your proactive response to bad times, not good times, that defines your contribution. Consider that when you step into a project, a professional relationship, or a company.
Take Tom (Dick, or Harry) as a case in point:
Scene 1: Tom’s in a new job. He’s excited about the possibilities, motivated to do his best, and determined to convince his boss that she chose well when she picked him above all contenders.
Scene 2: He’s in the second year of his almost new job. He enjoys what he’s doing and works hard at it. He feels like he getting along with his boss and is getting more comfortable in a management position. He hasn’t had a review since he began but his boss assures him that everything is fine. In fact, she described him as a “high potential” employee.
Scene 3. It’s been three years, no reviews, and fewer assurances. Tom hasn’t had a salary increase since he joined the company. The boss he liked and seemed to like him, left a year ago and was replaced by someone who either doesn’t remember Tom’s name or chooses not to use it. Tom doesn’t care since he never sees him.
Tom’s become a slack manager; at least that’s what some of his more industrious subordinates tell him. It’s gotten harder for him to stay focused on work that doesn’t matter, and to attend meetings that don’t go anywhere. It’s gotten easier to go to work later and leave work earlier. Why bother if your boss isn’t around to notice and doesn’t notice when he’s around.
Scene four. Tom just got his first review in four years. It lasted ten minutes, maybe eleven. His evaluation said that he’s a marginal performer. His boss wasn’t specific about development plans because he said that he didn’t know him well enough to give him any. He asked if Tom had any questions. Tom shrugged a response, thanked him for his time, and went home and watched Oprah for the rest of the day.
Scene five. Tom didn’t know if he wanted to quit or get fired. Each had an upside. Quitting was faster and quieter. Getting fired took more energy and made more noise. He didn’t have the energy, so he quit.
What happened to the ball of fire that burned himself out in four years? Three Part Passivity: The company’s, the boss’s, and Tom’s. Tom couldn’t control anyone’s behavior but his own, and for reasons that are part personality and part naiveté, he folded.
No one’s going to make a career for Tom or you by clearing the roadblocks and shouting your name at every career crossroads. You’re living in a “what have you done for me lately” business culture. If you sit and wait for someone to take the lid off your light and shout Eureka you’re in for a long sit.
You’re in charge of your career and the trajectory that it takes. You may not get all of what you want but you’ll end up a lot closer if you know where you want to go and have a plan for getting there.
Making a plan is more than having a vision. You have to work it out. Ask the tough questions and then answer them: What’s your personal definition for professional success? What do you want to accomplish in your career? What actions are you prepared to take? What are the obstacles you’re likely to run into? How will you work your way around them?
You don’t have to go it alone to get it done. There are people in your company and your community who would be willing to assist you if you were willing to ask for their help. Take action. Take a chance. Take responsibility for your future.
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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
