Career Fitness for Project Managers in Turbulent Times

1. Career Fitness for Project Managers inTurbulent Times Ron Elsdon, Ph.D. Elsdon Organizational Renewal & New Beginnings Career and College Guidance renewal@elsdon.com, 925 586 9039 www.elsdon.com

2. Outline • Environment • Change and Transition • Career Implications • Path Forward

3. Career Development Gone Wrong

4. Environment How is the workforce changing?

5. Changing Nature of Our Work Environment • Younger to older • Same to different • Many to few • Local to global • Lifelong commitment to engagement for mutual benefit • Information deficit to data overload • Hierarchy to fluidity • Internal organization focus to external focus • External individual focus to internal focus • Police ourselves to Sarbanes-Oxley • Constant skills to constant learning

6. Tightening Labor Market

7. The Emerging World of Organizations and Work Decreased commitment Demographics Value creation through people Re-balancing of power between individuals and organizations Need to re-define the relationship with individuals Support performance and development equally

8. What might these changes mean for us?

9. Change and Transition

10. Change and Transition CHANGE • A situational event • External • Often starts with a new beginning • TRANSITION • A process over time • Internal • Must start with an ending

11. Transitions • Transitions are key times in the natural process of self-renewal • e.g. from demonstrating competence to finding meaning • Rites of passage reflect basic need for regeneration • Types of change • Losses of relationships • Changes in home life • Personal changes • Financial changes • Inner changes • Job loss William Bridges, Transitions

12. What We Need During Transitions • Structure • Temporary systems that shape new courses of action • Information • Knowledge that we can apply to navigate moving forward • Support • Understanding and a nurturing environment

13. A Transition Checklist • Take your time • Arrange temporary structures • Don’t act for the sake of action • Recognize why you are uncomfortable • Take care of yourself in little ways • Explore the other side of the change • Get someone to talk to • Find out what is waiting in the wings of your life • Use this transition as the impetus to a new kind of learning • Recognize that transition has a characteristic shape • Rite of passage: lens through which to magnify the experience William Bridges, Transitions

14. T.S. Elliott, Little Gidding What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from. William Bridges, Transitions

15. The Transition Process

16. Career Implications

17. So You Think You Have a Job?(Calvin Associates from Money, 1994) “Nobody has a job anymore. All you have is an assignment. It’s like an actor who lands a part. You don’t know how long it may last. You are your own small business whether you like it or not.”

18. Career Implications of Change • Know Yourself • Keep Learning • Champion Change While Searching the Horizon • Stay Flexible for Transitions • Dare to Dream

19. Know Yourself • What gives meaning and value to your life • “ … the spirit within us, found in the core of our own selves, that slowly and painfully weaves its way through anxiety, confusion, tension and conflict to hear the rhythm of our own personal tune made up of choices and values that are truly our own.” (Brewi and Brennan). • Values that you hold dear • Interests that you want to develop • Personality preferences and their fit • Skills to grow and develop

20. Motivation and Capability Capability Low High High Develop Pursue High Motivation Avoid Burnout Low Low Low High

21. Keep Learning • College 1998 (Tapscott) • 45% U.S. college students are 25 and over • Students 35 and older outnumber those who are 18 and 19 • Over 55% women, 15% non-white • From 4 year degree to 40 year degree

22. Champion Change While Searching the Horizon. The Renewal Cycle (Hudson and McLean) • Phase 1: Go for It • Positive, Goals, Committed • Phase 2: Stuck in the Doldrums • Negative, Reactive, Feel Trapped • Phase 3: Cocooning • Turns Inward, Taps Core Values, Awakens • Phase 4: Getting Ready for the Next Chapter • Explores, Networks, Trains

23. Stay Flexible for TransitionsBetsy Brewer • Four work relationships to the external world • Job: material rewards • Occupation: greater meaning, doing dominates • Career: personal initiative, collective approval • Vocation: call in service of greater good • “May you live all the days of your life” • Jonathan Swift

24. Dare to DreamMartha Graham There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action. And because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium ... the world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, nor how valuable, nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open, and to live it.

25. Metaphors • What metaphor comes to mind when you think of the patterns of your life? • For example: a richly woven fabric

26. Arthur Miller The only time a human being experiences real joy or a sense of fulfillment or satisfaction is when the person is using or giving away what he or she has been given to give.

27. Path Forward

28. Purpose Values Goals Actions Path Forward

29. Self-Understanding Opportunity Identification And Exploration Maintaining Career Fitness Integrating/Excelling In New Situation Direction and Decision Communicating Your Own Portfolio Negotiating Favorable Entry Process … Re-assessing Strategy Building Strategy Self and Significant Others Executing Strategy

30. What are some steps you can take in preparation … • Self-understanding? • Opportunity identification and exploration? • Direction and decision, communicating your own portfolio? • Maintaining career fitness?

31. Preparing for Transition While Employed • Use tools of self assessment to provide a foundation • Maintain an active network • Colleagues, Professional organizations • Stay current with external trends • Monitor signals of change in your organization • Keep your portfolio current • Resume, interviewing skills • Continue learning and developing • Begin now

32. Considering Options When in Transition Industry/Environment Current New New Intermediate Most Difficult New Function/ Position Intermediate Easiest Current Current Current New

33. Personal Action Steps • What are three specific actions that I will take in the next 60 days?

34. Recommended References • Transitions by Bill Bridges • Lifelaunch by Frederic Hudson • Let Your Life Speak by Parker Palmer • Passion for Life by Anne Brennan and Janice Brewi • Power Networking by Donna Fisher and Sandy Vilas • The Ultimate Interview by John Caple • Affiliation in the Workplace by Ron Elsdon • Leadership Jazz by Max DePree • Leadership from the Inside Out by Kevin Cashman • The Heart Aroused by David Whyte

35. Thank You and Best Wishes