What Should I Include?

“I’m confused. What’s more important to include in a resume: an objective or a summary? Is it better to include references or say they’re available upon request? Is it smarter to name prominent people (I know a few) as my references or list people who really know me? It is wiser to include all my years of experience or just my best years?”

No wonder you’re confused, you’re all options and no answers. Let’s sort through the possibilities one at a time.

Include an objective. It’s the lead story on your resume. It states the name of the job you seek. You don’t need to include a summary. It’s redundant: your resume is a summary.

Don’t attach a list of references to your resume. If you’re asked to provide references, immediately comply, and just as quickly, call your references with a heads-up description of the job you’re seeking, the name of the company, and the person likely to call.

About those references who just happen to be “prominent people”: Include them if you have reported directly to them, they valued your work, and they agreed to serve as references for you. Employers are interested in your skill sets and strengths; what you’ve accomplished that is relevant to what they need you to do for them. Your most effective references are those best suited to realistically describe your abilities: when, where, and under what circumstances you’ve been successful. Your least effective references are those who don’t have first hand knowledge of your abilities but support your candidacy as a personal or professional favor. Before providing names, be sure you have your references’ permission; be sure they fully understand the job you seek and are supportive of your ability to get it done.

When writing a resume, should you include all your years or your best years? Like them or not, highlight the last fifteen years of your work experience, focus on your most recent responsibilities and bullet point and quantify your accomplishments. No matter how memorable your earlier achievements, they’re history to a prospective employer. State them but don’t elaborate upon them.

“Should my objective be specific or general? And which resume format is better, the reverse chronological or the functional?”

Be specific when responding to a posting or want ad and be sure that your experience and your accomplishments warrant your application.

There are three types of resumes: Chronological, Functional, and Targeted. Chronological resumes begin with your most recent work history, and in reverse order highlight up to fifteen years of work experience. Functional resumes focus on skills and strengths rather than chronology. Targeted resumes are customized and highlight specific experiences relevant to the job to which you are applying. Employers prefer targeted/reverse chronological resumes because they clearly present what you’ve done, when you’ve done it and how successful you were at it.

“Should I follow up with employers after I’ve forwarded my resume or wait to hear from them? Should I follow up with employers after I’ve interviewed or wait to hear from them? And what should I say?”

If employers have requested your resume it’s appropriate to call and confirm they have received it; to ask if they need additional information and to answer any preliminary questions they may have of you.

It is appropriate to follow an interview with a call thanking employers for the opportunity to meet, to reinforce your interest in the job, and to ask if there are any additional questions they have of you or information they need from you. One good follow up call and you’re a strategist. More than one and you’re a nuisance.

Start & Stop

If you want to start doing something, you need to stop doing what was getting in the way. Some of these ideas might get you going or encourage you to adopt a few starts and stops of your own:

Start focusing on long- term objectives and figure out strategies to get there. Stop focusing on short- term goals at the expense of what’s important, long term.

Start focusing on your total presence, your confidence, capabilities, and ways of expressing yourself.  Stop limiting your focus to appearance, how good you look, how smartly you dress.

Start driving for the right results for the right reasons. Stop getting so hung up on the right reasons that you end up with the wrong results.

Start simplifying complexity. Stop making the simple needlessly complex.

Start aligning your strengths with your goals. Stop playing out of position.

Start saying what you think. Stop assuming that others can read your mind.

Start watching bottom line while you drive top line. Stop insisting on one at the expense of the other.

Start balancing empowerment with controls. Stop overdoing empowerment at the expense of controls.

Start celebrating small wins. Stop waiting for something to celebrate.

Start accepting accountability for the mistakes you make. Stop blaming others for your role in a flawed outcome.

Start rewarding transparency. Stop encouraging opacity.

Start leveraging team strengths. Stop focusing on team weaknesses.

Start reading your audience. Stop playing to your audience.

Start focusing on follow through. Stop dropping the ball after a strong beginning.

Start checking in. Stop checking out.

Start inviting, including, inspiring. Stop shutting up, shutting out, shutting down.

Start with a vision and follow with the mission. Stop changing course every time you hit a roadblock.

Start looking for balance in perspective. Stop worrying that balanced perspective means they win and you lose.

Start apologizing when you make a mess. Stop acting like apology is a sign of weakness.

Start accepting credit when you do a good job. Stop taking credit for someone else’s good job.

Start giving others the benefit of the doubt. Stop doubting the benefit of giving.

Start dealing directly with difficult issues. Stop thinking they’ll go away if you avoid them.

Start having fun. Stop waiting for an after life to enjoy life.

Start taking vacations. Stop acting like exhaustion is a virtue.

Start turning on the lights. Stop thinking bad ideas look better with the lights off.

Start taking action. Stop confusing avoidance with a constructive response.

Start talking to co-workers. Stop emailing them.

Start building ideas on fresh perspectives. Stop finding problems with every idea. Start letting go of bad outcomes. Stop holding on to flawed ideas.

Start opening lines of communication. Stop pulling the plug on discussion.

Start mugging problems. Stop mugging people.

Start working on what’s most important. Stop wasting time on busy work.

Start doing things that give you energy. Stop spending time on what takes more energy than it’s worth.

Start doing more of what you do best. Stop forcing yourself to do what others do better.

Start asking expansive questions that broaden the discussion. Stop asking closed questions that are self- serving.

Start showing respect for other people’s opinions. Stop interrupting the flow of ideas.

Start demonstrating confidence. Stop aggrandizing arrogance.

Start combining courage with consideration. Stop acting like disrespect is a sign of strength.

Start practicing the art of apology. Stop playing games with the role of responsibility.

Start talking about what’s right with people. Stop looking for what’s wrong in people.

Start tomorrow with what doesn’t have to begin today. Stop worrying today about what tomorrow has time to consider.

Start saying please and thank-you. Stop assuming courtesy is kids stuff.

Tell Your Story

The interviewer asks you to describe your strengths. You respond by reciting a ready list of tidy, scouts-honor phrases.

“I’m loyal, honest, hard-working….”

Are you making points with the interviewer? Probably not. She’s heard the same or something similar from everyone she’s asked. Rather than parrot words that may be true but sound like the National Anthem of all Job Seekers, advance your candidacy. Describe your attributes in ways that demonstrate your understanding of what those words mean to you and the circumstances in which they apply.

You are more than the sum of two or three words. Expand your responses so you’re more than a cliché. For practice’ sake, I’ve provided some examples. Tailor them so that your intentions match your impact. For example, if you typically say that you initiate, anticipate, and have integrity, create word pictures that tell your story. Here’s what I mean:

Initiate: When you initiate you capitalize on opportunity before the moment can pass. When you initiate effectively, you combine instinct, logic, and action and respond to all three. When you initiate you’re aware that consequences follow, that you learn, stretch, grow, make mistakes, and gain experience while developing a reputation as someone willing to take and manage risk.

Anticipate: Actions yield consequences. If you act on instinct without

considering consequence, your mistakes can outweigh your intentions. When you anticipate, you evaluate outcomes prior to creating them, improving your odds for long term and short- term success.

Integrity: Integrity is an inside-out process that integrates thought and

feeling, action and reaction.  It defines and clarifies what you value as important and are willing to defend without compromise. When you demonstrate integrity you conduct yourself accordingly and consistently, in all places and with all people.

Timeliness: If time is the currency of the workplace, your timeliness

describes how appropriately you spend it.  If time is a commodity, being timely dictates the value of your effort and the outcome of its worth. Spending time toward an end that benefits you at the expense of others, manipulates time. Utilizing time in ways that solve problems and achieve goals for all concerned is time well spent.

Loyalty: Loyalty is a demonstration of trust.  Trust in ones

employer is based upon an assumption of shared values and principles. Employees are perceived as loyal when they consistently behave in ways that mirror the observed behaviors, implicit beliefs, and effectively and efficiently respond to the expressed or unexpressed expectations of their leadership. Employees are seen as disloyal when those behaviors, beliefs, and expectations are ignored, questioned, or violated, consistently, and over time.

Employers are seen as loyal to their employees when they consistently communicate their intentions and reasonable expectations, do what they say they will, and tell the truth while demonstrating courage, conviction, and compassion.

Honesty: Honest people tell the truth as it is, not as they wish it

could be. They tell the truth to inform or persuade, not manipulate or conceal. Honest employees have agendas that are open to examination and clarification. They respond to criticism by focusing on solutions and common interests.

Strategic: Strategic thinkers consider, evaluate, and analyze potential as they envision future opportunity. They design and develop methodology to optimize that potential.

Tacticians respond to strategic vision by objectively modifying and codifying what must be done to achieve it.

Organized: Combining intellectual organization and

external structure enables you to prioritize importance and communicate findings, to take appropriate action or motivate others to do the same.

Respectful: Respectful employees are true to their personal preferences, values, and principles even as they show consideration for those whose opinions, perspectives, and orientations differ.

Accountable: Accountable employees consistently examine choices, acknowledge consequences, and own results.

Rude Behavior

Bummer. You’ve spent weeks practicing answers to the toughest questions, days improving your resume, hours finding the right thing to wear, only to learn you weren’t made a job offer because the interviewer said you had bad manners.

“Bad manners! Can you believe it?” slumped the client.

“Tell me what happened”, I said politely, while correcting my posture and rejecting an overwhelming urge to remove a piece of celery from a niche somewhere between my teeth and gums.

“I don’t know for sure”, he responded, “ the interviewer didn’t say, but it must have been pretty bad to disqualify me.”

I asked him to recall the order of events so we could tag the behavioral culprit. Here’s what he said.

“I got there a little late, gave my name to the receptionist, and took a seat. As the minutes ticked by I started getting concerned and asked the receptionist what was taking so long. She said the interviewer would be with me momentarily. Well, momentarily changed to many momentarilies, and I was getting really worried. I had another interview across town, starting in just over an hour.”

I asked if he had considered that when agreeing to both appointments.

“No, not really. I figured if everything broke just right I could do it. Anyhow, an admin walked up, introduced herself and escorted me to the office where the interview was to take place. When we got there, the interviewer stepped outside his door and asked if I could wait just a few more minutes. He said he had a mini-emergency he had to deal with, and needed to take care of it before we could begin our conversation.

“Sure”, I told him, “ and I have a mini-emergency myself. I have an interview across town that starts in just under an hour. Could you hurry this up please? I said, “please”. I distinctly remember being courteous when stating my request. He looked at me pleasantly enough, went into his office without me, closed the door and I guess he took care of his ‘emergency’.

“I asked the admin if this was his typical behavior, and she smiled and said that he had a lot going on that day.

“Like I don’t,” I said. “Apparently I was a little edgier in my response than I had intended, since she immediately went into her boss’s office, and closed the door before I could squeeze through. In less than a minute the interviewer thrust open the door, invited me in, closed the door, a little sharply, I thought, and asked me to take a seat.

“He oughtn’t to have bothered, since I grabbed for the first chair I could find. Regrettably, it was his.

“He apologized for the delay, but didn’t seem very sincere, and proceeded to review my resume. He told me that it looked ‘in order’, whatever that means, and thanked me for stopping by.

“Don’t you have any questions for me?” I asked.

“No,” he responded. “You’ve given me all I need.”

”Come on!” I begged. “Ask me something.”

“That’s when he stood. I guess he wanted me to go but I wanted to press my case. Which I did, emphatically.

He opened the door, gesturing for me to leave. When I didn’t, he said something to his admin, and before I knew it, a security guard showed up and escorted me, politely but persuasively, to the parking lot and my car.”

“Wow”, I said, so amazed at his story that I had forgotten about the celery that lurked between my molars.

“Yep”, he sighed, “some people are so rude you wonder how they ever manage to get hired.”

With that, he put his sox back on, laced up his shoes, and left.

What can you learn from these seven snapshots?

#1 – I’ve been turned down by an employer who obviously doesn’t know talent when he sees it. For example, he asked me technical questions that I couldn’t answer. So I made up stuff that sounded pretty good, considering I didn’t know what I was talking about. He didn’t seem to appreciate my answers, or my jokes. Instead, he peered at me from over his glasses and read his questions off a long sheet of paper, like he was the Grim Reaper. Whatever I was selling, he wasn’t buying. With him being the boss and me being the applicant, you’d think he would have given me points just for hanging in. Well, it’s obvious now that he didn’t. It’s his loss. And I let him know it, in person and email. And I copied the president of his company. That’ll show him.

#2 – I applied for a job and wasn’t allowed to interview because I didn’t have a resume. I said I could talk about what I had done better than I could write about it. The employer said they had rules and one of them was that they needed a resume in advance of an interview, to determine if they wanted to go forward. I told him I was worth their time, and they should trust me on that. He said they’d take a pass. I showed up anyhow. He wouldn’t see me. That’s rude.

#3 – The interviewer had some nerve! Sure I had gaps in my resume. Sure I’ve lost a lot of jobs and quit a bunch of others. But the nerve of her to point that out like it was something I could control. Isn’t that against the law? Who can I report her to?

#4 – Can an interviewer tell me to leave because I’m smoking? All I needed was a couple of puffs to settle my nerves. The interviewer told me it was a “smoke free environment” which means they discriminate against smokers, and I told him so. That’s when he told me to leave. I said that I wasn’t going until I had my interview. He said there wasn’t going to be an interview. If that’s not illegal, I don’t know what is.

#5 – We interviewers know each other because we belong to the same organizations. It’s not uncommon for us to swap “war stories” about applicants whose behavior is outrageous enough to be memorable. When applicants are interviewing with one of us they’d do well to imagine themselves interviewing with all of us.

#6 – Some applicants like to ‘make friends’ with receptionists hoping we’ll put in a good word for them. What they don’t seem to understand is that we can, and do, put in a bad word as well. Our loyalties are to our employers, not to inconsiderate, clueless applicants who talk loudly and incessantly on their cell phones, who litter the reception area with food containers and soda cans, and stroll around like they own the place.

#7 – I conduct interviews in a small, poorly ventilated office. It‘s hard for me to breathe when applicants wear strong perfumes or have strong body odor. As a result, I have to conclude our conversations very quickly.

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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.

Career Warnings

Own Your Mistakes: Actions Bring Consequences

If you’re like many hard drivers, you can be more than a little defensive when criticized for something you’ve said or done.

“What do you mean, I’m defensive? I’m just explaining what happened and why I did what I did!”

“That’s what I mean, you’re acting defensive. Just admit that you were rude this morning. I was in the middle of an important presentation and you cut me off.”

“Rude? How was I rude? You were taking forever. I jumped in to keep from falling asleep. Besides, how can an explanation be defensive? You’re the one who’s acting defensive because you just don’t want to hear the truth. You know who’s rude? You’re rude! I don’t know why I’m even wasting my time explaining this to you.”

Joe, you’re boldly going where you ought not to go, attempting to right a perceived wrong by arguing your way out of it. If you continue, you’ll create a bigger problem than the one you started.

“What am I supposed to do? Apologize for something that I didn’t intend, something that others balloon out of proportion?”

It’s your actions that get you in trouble, not your intentions. Actions have consequences. Apologize for the actions that you take that result in the consequences you don’t intend.

“How’s that? I don’t follow you.”

Instead of arguing, defending, or explaining, say something like, “I can understand why you felt that I was rude. I got carried away and interrupted when you were in the middle of making your point. I apologize.”

“That’s true. I did that. I got so excited I didn’t pay attention to what she was saying or what was going on around me. She’s right. I was rude. I didn’t mean to be. I’m feeling kind of embarrassed right now.”

Will you apologize?

“Sure, no problem.”

There are times you’re asked to explain things that you’d rather avoid, like “why were you let go from that job?” Cut to the chase. State what happened and describe what you learned.

“I learned two important lessons from that experience. The first: have more than one mentor in a company that’s undergoing major change, and the second: get experience in more than one area of specialization. By having more than one mentor I’ll be more aware of the influences that can impact my position. By cross training I’ll have greater flexibility and opportunity to add value, particularly if I can move from an area that’s being consolidated to one that’s expanding.”

There are times you think you’re funny and you’re not.

“Jack, you made a serious mistake when you told that joke in the staff meeting. It was crude and insulting. You know we don’t tolerate that around here.”

“You’ve got to be kidding! Everyone knew I was joking. Everyone was laughing! Besides, I’m not the only one who talks like that and you know it. I’m not taking the fall for this.”

“Stop arguing and just admit you made a mistake.”

“I’m not going to admit anything. You people are too sensitive. You’re always looking for a problem when there isn’t one. So I told a joke. It was funny. Get over it.”

“You people? Where are you going with this, Jack?”

Jack’s taking an error in judgment and escalating it to a problem of potentially damaging proportion.

“OK, so what was I supposed to do? I knew the conversation with my boss was getting out of control but I couldn’t seem to stop myself.”

Own your mistakes, whether they’re tactical or strategic, personal or professional. If you don’t step up, quickly and honestly, others will force you to, and it won’t be pretty.

“OK, I hear you, but what can I say?”

“I apologize and I’ll apologize to the people who were there. We were all laughing and story telling and I didn’t think. I learned a good lesson. A joke isn’t funny if it’s at someone’s expense.”

Your boss is likely to accept your statement and move on, unless you do it again. Trample on people’s rights, show disrespect, act with incivility, and no amount of quick talking apologizing will get you off the hook. Pay now or pay later. You choose.

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Yes! You may use this 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 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.

Placing Our Challenges in a Time Capsule

Time Capsules. Why would anyone in 2110 be interested in what we did or thought in 2010 if no one seems to care about what we’re thinking or doing right now.

“That? We did that.” “Been there, done that.” “Oh no, not that!”

Are they likely to be intrigued by the artifacts of our technology? Influenced by the incivility of our interactions? Impressed by the chaotic management of our business processes?

We haven’t done a great job of learning from the past and here we are, sending a message to the future. That’s taking procrastination to a whole new level.

Instead of boxing up a time capsule of errors and omissions for an unknown generation some 100 years hence; let’s create time release capsules and open them often, consistently, and over time while we can still do something about the challenges we face.

What should be included? How about:

The best ideas of the week and why they worked. Names of the people with the best ideas and how they got their points across. Names of the best implementation teams of the week and how they did what they did to deserve the honor.

Another week’s worth could be:

The biggest blindsides of the week and steps you’ve taken to correct them. The biggest blindspots you have and what you’re doing to reduce them. The biggest blinders you wear and what you’re doing to remove them.

And a third week’s worth:

The best leads of the week and who got them, the best deals of the week and who did them, the best saves of the week and who made them.

Opening the capsule now enables you to learn from an immediate past to avoid repeating errors, to confront what’s not working and replace it with what is, all while keeping an eye on future goals and objectives to achieve them.

If you don’t, you’re rehearsing mistakes to the point of forgetting that’s what they are. The most common problems you’re apt to encounter aren’t mechanical, they’re human. When a part breaks, you do whatever it takes to get it fixed. When the problem is your colleague, the human tendency is to wait, avoid, and hope the problem will go away. It won’t and will become increasingly difficult to handle.

Handle your problems now.

Keep your comments direct, descriptive, objective, and non- judgmental. Here’s an example:

You’ve become increasingly frustrated with a peer: “Our team meetings are always held on Wednesdays at 8:30 a.m. You’ve been a half hour late the last three times we’ve met. Because your project is key to our current change process we’ve not been able to begin the meeting without you. Your colleagues have indicated their frustration and it’s impacting your credibility. Let’s figure out how to make this work for everyone.”

Then use basic negotiation strategy: Get tough on the problem (and go easy on the person); find out what you don’t know; stay objective; brainstorm for solutions; decide on an action plan that benefits everyone involved.

It takes practice to get better at this “appropriate confrontation” stuff. That means starting now. Anything else is procrastination and belongs in a time capsule.

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Yes! You may use this article in your blog, website 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 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 www.thecoachingassociation.com.

Are You a Greater Risk Than a Reward?

How’s this for a cautionary tale?

“He is so blatant in his demands it’s just breathtaking. That’s his style; impolite, self centered, arrogant, dismissive. I’m not alone in this opinion but I may be the only one willing to take what he dishes out. I’ve been working here ten years, the last five, for him. I’m one of the few still standing. He intimidates everyone, including our company’s President. We’ve had constant churn since he took over as VP. Many of our top producers have left or are leaving us to work for the competition.”

She’s describing what it’s like to work for a combination steamroller-wrecking-ball; someone whose behavior she has endured and has no intention of leaving. He’s the pain she knows, the cross she’ll bear, and the insult so familiar that to be without it leaves her feeling disoriented.

“I don’t want to work for someone else. This person needs me. He depends on me. Who else would take it?  Yes, he’s rude and insensitive but I don’t think that he’s a bad person; that’s just how he is. And I’m not perfect, none of us are. I make mistakes and so does he.”

After so many years of enduring the expected, tolerating it, sometimes welcoming it, she is still being surprised, offended, and hurt by it. She has no desire to find another job, and no intention of telling him what she thinks. She won’t or can’t entertain the thought.

“He’d never let me finish my sentence. He’d cut me off with a few choice expletives and tell me to get back to work.”

Her boss describes their relationship this way:

“She’s used to me and it doesn’t bother her. She’s tough; she can take it. If I really offended her she would have left, so I’m not concerned. Am I politically incorrect? Absolutely. I don’t have time to couch my words and make nice, I don’t have patience with people who need coddling and I’m not going to Charm School.  If employees want to sing Cumbaya, they need to work somewhere else. Turnover doesn’t bother me. People who quit bother me. I don’t have a problem finding talent to replace them.

I like to compete and win. That’s who I am and what I do. I want the life I want, and in my universe, that happens when you focus on the end game, work hard to make it happen, and if people get in the way, you get them out of the way. If they’re too soft to take it, they leave on their own or I tell them to go.  It’s business, it’s not personal.”

I wouldn’t bother telling you all this if it weren’t for the irony of the situation. Several weeks after this self proclaimed King of the Hill described his take on business and his role in it; he was terminated, effective immediately. Who did him in? His long-suffering secretary? The dozen or so employees who left because they couldn’t take him?  Those who remained and wanted him gone? No. The Board. They fired their “intimidated” President and hired a replacement who saw an accident waiting to happen and took action before the company was sued for supporting an environment of harassment or discrimination.

If you consider yourself untouchable, indispensable, and indestructible, because you drive decisions and people harder and faster than whoever is in second place, you may not be as safe as you think. At some point someone bigger than you can take you out for no reason greater than you’re a bigger risk than you are a reward. And they’ll tell you it’s business, not personal. 

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Yes! You may use this 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 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 www.thecoachingassociation.com.

Don’t Just Work Hard and Be Smart: Work Smart!

Carolyn (not her real name) comes to work tied up in knots and goes home the same way. She’s worried that she won’t have enough time to get her job done. She’s worried that someone will ask her a question that she can’t answer. She’s worried that she’ll never be as smart as she needs to be.

If Carolyn were the only victim of her angst, that would be difficult enough. But she isn’t. Everyone who comes into contact with her is affected:

• Her boss. Carolyn is temperamental, so he treats her with kid gloves. No matter how careful he is when making a request, asking questions or providing feedback, he ends up feeling like the heavy. He doesn’t like the feeling.
• Her peers. Carolyn insists on working in a quiet space. If they talk loudly, she looks angry. If they whisper to not distract her, she looks suspicious. They feel like they have to tiptoe around her. They don’t like the feeling.
• Her direct reports. Carolyn micro manages and second-guesses everything they do. They feel intimidated and inadequate. They don’t like the feeling.

When Carolyn was in college she was long on honors and short on friends. She avoided anything and anyone that got in the way of her studies. Whatever she learned didn’t include managing her emotions or her relationships.

How has she remained so insensitive to the effect she has on others? Everyone just kept their collective mouths shut.

Her parents: “Leave Carolyn alone. You know how difficult smart children can be.”

Her teachers: “Carolyn is very intense and emotional, like many gifted students. People will learn to work around her and accept her as she is.”

The problem is, they haven’t and they won’t.

What’s Carolyn’s take on all this?

“I work harder than anyone else in this company. I come in earlier and stay later and take work home when I leave. I work every weekend and still worry that I won’t get it all done.

I know that people resent me. It’s obvious. But if I allow myself to be influenced by that, I’ll fail at my job. Doing my work right is more important to me than being popular.

I’m too intense? Well, I guess so! Wouldn’t you be? Now, get out of my way, I have work to do.”

Sorry, Carolyn. Despite your commitment to excellence, you are ineffective. Being smart, hardworking and focused just doesn’t cut it if no one is willing to work with you. Unless you learn how to behave differently and act upon what you learn, you’re going to be on your own. Completely.

What can Carolyn do? If she knew, she’d probably be doing it.

So Carolyn, (or Caleb, Carl or Carla) here’s a crash course in business savvy:

Stop worrying about what you can’t control. Focus on what you can. You will never get it all done or have the answers to questions that may never be asked. And if you are spending your time trying to do both, you’re spreading yourself thin and wearing yourself out.

Are you saying “yes” to the wrong things and saying “no” to the wrong people? What are your boss’s priorities? If you don’t know, don’t assume. Ask. Your productivity should correspond to your boss’s expectations of you, not what you think those expectations should be.

Are you making your boss’s requests into something more complex than he intends? Simplify. Unnecessary complexity begets complication that can gum up the works and increase everyone’s tension levels. You end up wasting time with needless delays and pointless headaches.

Are you carrying more of the load than anyone should? Who’s putting it there? If it’s your subordinates, you may be the one extending the invitation. When your do-more attitude collides with their do-less behavior, you end up doing it all. Bad idea. Learn how to delegate. Learn what to delegate. Learn to provide honest and timely feedback to those who do it well and those who need to do it better.

If you only remember one thing, remember this: People won’t remember you as working the hardest or being the smartest. You’ll be remembered for how well you played the game and how well you treated your teammates along the way.

* * * *

Yes! You may use this 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 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 www.thecoachingassociation.com.

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