Managing Your Career

1. Managing Your Career Prepared for UCSD LAMP Program 5/8/2012 Instructor: Roger Colbath

2. So what is a career anyways? …and why should I manage it?

3. According to Dictionary.com ca·reer 1. an occupation or profession, especially one requiring special training, followed as one's lifework: He sought a career as a lawyer. 2. a person's progress or general course of action through life or through a phase of life, as in some profession or undertaking: His career as a soldier ended with the armistice. 3. success in a profession, occupation, etc.

4. Today’s Agenda • Philosophy • Strategy • The vision for your future • Tactics • Activities to help position yourself along the way

5. Philosophy To study , and when the occasion arises to put what one has learned into practice – is that not deeply satisfying? Confucius

6. How the World Works… Do Be Have

7. Considerations

8. Management vs. Leadership • Management • Relating to planning, organizing, execution, and monitoring • Detail oriented • Leadership • Relating to vision, influence, and motivation • Big picture oriented Which is More Important?

9. Management vs. Leadership • Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things. Peter F. Drucker • Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out. Stephen Covey • “Management is about arranging and telling. Leadership is about nurturing and enhancing.” Thomas Peters

10. How to Get Promoted -The 3 E’s Education Experience Exposure The 4th E - Effectiveness

11. Attitude • At the end of the day we all work for ourselves • The ‘service provider’ mentality • Cats vs. Dogs

12. Strategic Thinking and Planning Where do I want to go?

13. Career Planning Algorithm

14. Evaluate Yourself • Identify Your Values • Evaluate Your Capabilities • Determine Your Core Competency

15. Useful Self-Evaluation Tools • Strategic Planning Worksheet • Evaluation of key attributes • Focus on values • DISC • Breaks down personality into 4 main types • Dominance - relating to control, power and assertiveness • Influence - relating to social situations and communication • Steadiness - relating to patience, persistence, and thoughtfulness • Conscientiousness - relating to structure and organization • Myers Briggs • Based on Jung’s eight mental functions • Extroversion/Introversion – relating to orientation of energy and management of information • Sensing/INtuition – relating to how people take in information • Thinking/Feeling - relating to how people come to conclusions • Judging/Perceiving – relating to how people orient themselves to the external world • Strength Deployment Inventory (SDI) • Breaks down personality as a blend of 3 main types • Blue – Altruistic • Green – Analytical • Red – Assertive • Presents probable behavior traits under stress • 360 • Feedback and perspectives from superiors, peers, and subordinates • Identification of blind spots

16. Evaluate Your Company • Understand the Values • What’s important? • How is it measured? • Understand the Culture and Protocol • How do things get done? • How do promotions happen? • What are the rules of engagement? • Determine the Direction • Growth • Technical • Establishment of new capabilities

17. Identify Potential Opportunities • Identify Potential Paths for Advancement and set goals • Long term goals – 5 to 10 years • Mid term goals – 2 to 3 years • Near term goals – 6 months to 1 year • Who has the job at your company that you would like to have? • Any emerging capabilities you might be interested in?

18. Strategic Thinking • The shortest path between any two points may not be a straight line • The higher the level of an action or decision, the higher the level of political involvement • The ability to think and plan strategically has a huge impact in our ability to let others ‘have our way’

19. Strategic Thinking - An Algorithm • Don’t underestimate the power of alliances – both for and against your ideas • Try to maintain at least three moves ahead • Every step doesn’t have to involve motion • Sometimes the right ‘action’ is to wait • The best solutions are the ones that meet most of the stakeholders needs • Maintain your flexibility and objectivity –ideas can often be improved • Look for opportunities to turn opponents into supporters • Don’t let it get personal • This is about ideas, not people • Don’t ever, ever, ever compromise your integrity to get your way

20. Tactical Execution Creating and Executing ‘The Plan’ Networking Other Useful Tools and Behavior

21. Career Planning Algorithm

22. Establish Your Target Opportunity • Write your Mission Statement • Clear and concise • Affirmative • Review the mission • For consistency with your values • For consistency with your talents • For consistency with your organization’s values and direction

23. Gap Analysis • Identify the credentials and experience required for the desired position • Compare against your self evaluation

24. Create the Plan • Create the plan to fill the gap • What will you need to accomplish by the 5 year point? • What will you need to accomplish by the 2 year point to enable the 5 year plan? • What will you need to accomplish in the next 6 months to enable the 2 year plan?

25. The Plan • Design with enough granularity to execute with fidelity • Use the ‘What’s the next action?”* method to break the ‘clouds’ into actions • Keep a copy in view as a daily reminder * See Getting Things Done by David Allen

26. Evaluate Regularly • Determine the interval for evaluation • Evaluate progress against the plan • Re-valuate your plan against the viability of the selected mission • Things change • People grow • Life changes • Make course corrections as necessary Stay flexible and keep an open mind

27. Stay Motivated • Envision your success • Celebrate your accomplishments • Then on the next goal • Read a book • The Little Red Book of Selling by Jeff Gitomer

28. Networking The way of the world is meeting people through other people. Robert Kerrigan

29. Build Your Network • Internal • Multi-level • Superiors • Subordinates • Peers • Learn to ‘manage’ in all directions • Each level requires different techniques • External • Professional societies • Classmates and professors • Peers at other companies

30. The Uzzi and Dunlap Perspective • Networks provide three unique* advantages: • Private information • Access to diverse skill sets • Power • The importance of the ‘Broker’ *from “How to Build Your Network” by Uzzi & Dunlap

31. The Network Spreadsheet • A useful tool? • How big is your network? • Any insights? Analyzing a network is interesting… … but how do you build one? … or repair a damaged one?

32. Use Your Network • Learn the Organization • Identify the sources of power and influence • Get the ‘book’ on them • What’s their mission? • What motivates them? • What do they value? • How do they assimilate information? • What can you do to help them complete their mission? “The strength of a network connection can be determined by how much they will do for you. How much they will do for you is determined by how much you have done for them.” Steven R. Hart

33. Build Your Network • Become an information broker • The elevator speech • Focus on the issues, not the people • Build your business acumen • Who are your competitors? • What are the trends in your business? • Stay informed • Read the WSJ, HBR, Fortune, Barron’s • Learn to communicate in ‘business speak’

34. The ‘Elevator Speech’ • Must be brief and concise • Must be in the language they speak • Must at the minimum contain: • What – Description of the topic • So What? – Why it’s important • What Now – Recommended next steps

35. Other Skills, Behaviors, and Actions Some Odds and Ends that might be useful…

36. Generate Visibility • Declare your intentions • Seek help in attaining them • Work within the protocol at your company • Think at the ‘System Level’ • Know how the scope of your activities impacts the organization • Take a business perspective • Ask questions

37. Focus on Personal Growth • Seek out a mentor • Someone who is experienced and accomplished • Internal or external to the organization • Willing to be brutally honest • Develop new skills/improve old ones* • Target some areas for improvement • Go after them *I recommend FYI – A Guide for Development and Coaching – Lombardo & Eichinger

38. Develop Your Leadership Persona • Get Organized • Your appearance • Your office • Your project • Develop good communication skills • Study the techniques of good communicators and adopt their methods where applicable • Learn to tell stories

39. Develop Your Influence • What is influence? • What are the character traits of the influential people you know?

40. Influence – 1 Perspective + Likeability Credibility Self-Orientation

41. Develop Your Assertiveness • Assertiveness is the art of allowing others to ‘have our way’ • Assertiveness = Pushy • Assertiveness = Aggressive

42. The 5 Steps to Assertiveness • Understand clearly what you wish to accomplish • What exactly is it? • Why is it worth doing? • What’s in it for the organization? • What’s in it for them? • Communicate it in unambiguous terms… • Say it like you mean it • Use direct language • …with congruent body language • Make eye contact • Use your space • Get their buy-in • Follow up • Make sure that things get done… • …but avoid micro-management

43. Dealing With Irrational People Irrational Emotional Intensity Rational Silence Active Listening Silence Active Listening Time Courtesy of Alex Zak

44. Create a Succession Plan • Can’t move up unless someone can fill your current position • Identify resources that can backfill you when you move up • Develop them

45. Closing Thoughts If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. Isaac Newton

46. Questions

47. Bibliography • Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey • The Little Red Book of Selling by Jeffery Gitomer • Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress Free Productivity by David Allen • FYI – A Guide for Development and Coaching by Lombardo and Eichinger • Primal Leadership by Daniel Goleman • The Art of War by Sun Tzu • The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell • Introduction to Type by Isabel Briggs Myers • The Dilbert Principle by Scott Adams • The Trusted Advisor by David Maister • Financial Intelligence by Karen Berman • The Now Habit by Neil Fiore