Transitions at Work

By Karen McHenry

From: At Work Newswire

“What is the right career for me?” Whether you are a seasoned professional or a recent college graduate, you may be asking yourself this question. Sometimes this career consideration can feel overwhelming, and you may not know where to begin to find the answer. Many people have had success using a career coach to guide them through this process of self-discovery.

Career coaches offer assistance in many different areas. For example, some clients may be looking to identify the right career field. Others may want to transition from one field to a completely different one. In some instances, professionals will hire career coaches to refine their interviewing skills or to help them become more effective at networking.

Carol Donohue wanted to transition from a job in software product marketing to a career as an independent marketing consultant. Carol explained that: “I was at a juncture in my career where I felt I needed change. I had been doing a lot of thinking about my future and what I wanted to do, who I wanted to become. I had conversations with friends who said they had worked with a career coach and that the experience had helped them find their niche in life.”

For those who want to find the right career, one of the primary benefits that a coach provides is a set of tools and exercises that help to identify passions, interests, and skills. By aligning passions with skills, the career coach and the client can then narrow down which jobs and industries might be most suitable. Following a structured process tends to make the experience more productive.

Deirdre McEachern of VIP Coaching said, “In our experience, many clients come to us after spending time and money on the ‘trial and error’ method. By working through a targeted process with a career coach, our clients make their career change more quickly and experience more lasting success.”

Finding and selecting a coach

If you hire a career coach, you will usually meet with them on a weekly basis. Coaching may be conducted in individual sessions (where you meet one-on-one with the coach), or with a group with similar goals. The meetings may be conducted by phone, in-person, or over e-mail. It is very common for career coaches to meet with clients by phone. Pricing for career coaching services may vary. Some coaches charge on a per session basis, while others have created “packages” which include certain assessments and a specific number of coaching sessions.

One of the best ways to find a career coach is through word of mouth. Ask friends and colleagues if they have ever used a career coach and would they recommend them. Alternatively, you can consult one of the associations that trains and certifies coaches, such as Coach U (www.coachinc.com), The Coaches Training Institute (www.thecoaches.com), or the International Coach Federation (www.coachfederation.org/ICF/).

Most career coaches offer a free introductory meeting to potential clients. This is a good way to determine whether your style complements that of the coach, and also to obtain answers to questions that you may have. Working with a career coach typically involves a lot of one-on-one time. You want to be sure that you like the coach and feel comfortable with him or her. During the introductory interview, you may want to ask questions such as:

• How long have you been a career coach?
• How much experience do you have helping people like me, who are looking to find the right career?
• What type of process would we follow, if we worked together?
• What kind of training and certifications do you have?
• How much do you estimate it will cost to work with you?
• How many sessions do you think it will require to help me identify the best career for me?

Each coach uses a slightly different methodology for helping clients to uncover the right career for them. You will also likely discuss topics such as the type of work environment you enjoy most (small or large workplace, low stress or action-oriented, collaborative or competitive office culture, etc.) and when during your career you’ve been happiest.

Assessments

It is also common to complete various types of tests or assessment tools which are designed to uncover your innate skills, the types of activities that you enjoy doing, as well as what fields you feel passionate about.

You might be asked to complete the Highlands Ability Battery (www.highlandsco.com/battery.php) to discover your innate abilities. To better understand your style of interacting with others, you might complete the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test or a similar assessment. The coach may ask you to evaluate your work-life balance using tools like the “Wheel of Life” assessment or the StressMap.

“We highly recommend innate abilities testing, such as the Highlands Ability Battery,” Deirdre McEachern said. “Many people discover hidden strengths, abilities and talents that provide the powerful foundation for their career change.”

In addition to these types of assessment tools, you will engage in directed discussions with the career coach about what types of careers align with your interests and skills. Don’t be surprised if the coach suggests that you conduct some informational interviews with people who work in those fields. This is a good way to get insight into what an industry or a particular position is really like.

“I really enjoyed the experience of exploring my innate abilities because I felt that it put me more in touch with the right career,” Carol Donohue said. “Working with a coach forced me to network with others in careers I explored and allowed me to try on lots of different hats. You immediately are able to identify whether it’s a fit or not and that process enabled me to narrow down my career choices and finally settle on one area and industry that would allow me to satisfy my inner desires and passions for my work.”

Working with a career coach may not be for everyone. However, if you are rethinking your career, it can be an effective way to jump start the process.

Karen McHenry consults to the software industry on strategy and new product development, writes on business, technology and career issues, and teaches at Endicott College.

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By Karen McHenry

From: At Work Newswire

Networking as a way to enhance a career is nothing new. However, networking in today’s world has taken on a different look with the advent of the Internet. Before we delve into how to use online sites most effectively, let’s back up for a moment and consider why networking is important.

While many people scour online job postings for new opportunities, the truth is that many jobs are never advertised. Often companies need assistance in different areas, but overworked managers never find enough time and energy to formally budget for and publicize the job openings. Networking is a great way to learn about these types of jobs.

Recent college graduates and people new to networking should keep a couple of guidelines in mind, as they embark on the process. The essence of networking is creating two-way connections with people, with the goal of sharing information and helping one another. Building a network doesn’t happen overnight. Patience and persistence are key success factors.

Networking effectively

Online networking sites have gained a great deal of visibility in the past few years. However, these resources are just one component in a networking toolkit. Time-tested networking techniques, like informational interviewing, professional associations, and alumni organizations, are still excellent ways to find people with similar interests. Informational/exploratory interviewing can be particularly useful for recent college graduates who are exploring different industries and career paths. (See “Ten Tips: Effective Exploratory Interviews“).

There are numerous networking sites, such as LinkedIn, Plaxo Pulse, Facebook, Spock, and others. One of the most popular for business networking is LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com). LinkedIn currently has over 20 million members, with an average age of 41. These online networking sites offer a convenient way to create and maintain a network, and they also are a common way for recruiters to search for promising candidates.

Matt Benati, Director of Product Management at Application Security Inc., found his current position through LinkedIn. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the job found him. Benati commented, “The stars aligned for me. My current boss was looking on LinkedIn for people with product management expertise. He saw my profile and cold-called me. I interviewed and got the job.”

Ways to use LinkedIn to maximum advantage include:

• Creating a profile outlining your professional and educational experience
• Incorporating keywords and skills into your profile that emphasize your professional goals
• Building an online network by connecting with people you trust from school and work settings
• Asking co-workers and managers to provide recommendations for your work

Online networking sites can be a particularly effective way to develop a network in a new geographic area. Before accepting his Massachusetts-based job at Application Security Inc., Matt Benati was also considering a move to the Atlanta area. He found that LinkedIn was instrumental to developing contacts in that city. Benati explained, “I found a position at a company in Atlanta which looked interesting. I searched LinkedIn to see if there were any members who worked there. I learned that the hiring manager was three degrees removed from my network. I asked one of my contacts to pass my information to his acquaintance in Atlanta who knew the hiring manager. Not only did I learn more about the company that I was initially interested in, but I also had an informational interview with the person who passed my information along to the hiring manager.”

Networking is all about building relationships – whether it is through online communications, phone conversations, or in-person meetings. Showing good manners is a sure way to create a foundation of goodwill in your network. Be sure to:

• Respect others’ time when scheduling and conducting meetings.
• Keep your word, if you have committed to helping others with developing new contacts or by providing information.
• Express your thanks through an email or note. Most people like to help others. It is always nice to know that efforts are appreciated.

For those who are patient, employ a full portfolio of networking approaches, and use a few etiquette tips, networking is sure to have great outcomes. You never know who you will meet and what hidden career opportunities may be uncovered!

Karen McHenry consults to the software industry on strategy and new product development, writes on business, technology and career issues, and teaches at Endicott College.

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Twentieth-century psychologist Kurt Lewin developed an influential three-stage model of how organizational change occurs. Lewin’s model was based on his observations of group dynamics and organizational development. This “unfreezing-change-refreeze” model focuses on how people can be motivated to accept organizational change and reject and replace the status quo with a new approach.

COMMENTARY from D. Quinn Mills, professor emeritus, Harvard Business School, on Kurt Lewin’s Change Model:

Lewin’s change model continues to be useful. More recent management insights, however, have modified the way we look at organizational change.

Recent thinking about managing change stresses the importance of the Unfreezing stage. Far too often people identify a problem then spend time and effort figuring out a solution. Finally a solution is arrived at and the people involved, usually only one or two, become very excited. They jump to what Lewin labels the Change stage. They take their solution to a broader group in the company, only to have it rejected. Yet they’re sure that the solution was the right one.

What has gone wrong? The answer is that a person should never offer a solution before others accept that there is a problem. People don’t want to fix things that they don’t think are broken. When we insist that they do, they are most likely to reject our solution. Worse, once rejected a solution is likely to be discredited for the future, even when the problem becomes apparent to all and it was in fact the best solution.

Since Unfreezing is so important, how should we go about it? The first thing is to get people close to the situation. Let them discover for themselves what the situation actually is by coming face-to-face with the problem. To get police sergeants to recognize that traditional police tactics weren’t working, the police commissioner of a large city reassigned many for a period to high crime areas. It worked. Once the sergeants realized that there was a real problem in the field, they became open to solutions that the commissioner was prepared to offer.

In the financial services industry executives who are aware of the importance of the Unfreezing stage insist that managers in their companies “manage by the facts.” What they mean is that managers should not accept explanations for results that are based on assumptions rather than on actual data. When managers look at the facts, they often get a very different picture of what is happening than before and begin looking for solutions to the new problems they perceive.

Stage Two of Lewin’s model is insightful and correct, but sketchy. Modern thinking has elaborated the Change stage into multiple steps, adding depth to it.

Stage Three, Refreezing, is misguided.

A modern manager doesn’t want to freeze anything in a rapidly changing world. This stage is better rephrased as “Consolidation” of the new so that it becomes the culture of the moment. But we want to keep it flexible so that it can be more readily unfrozen when new problems arise and when change again becomes necessary.

For information on MindEdge’s online self-paced “Leading and Managing Change” course, please click here.

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Harvard Business School professor John P. Kotter outlined an eight-stage change management process in his 1996 book, Leading Change. This framework has been embraced by many as an accurate representation of the steps needed to effect major change within an organization.

COMMENTARY from D. Quinn Mills, professor emeritus, Harvard Business School, on Kotter’s change model:

Kotter’s Eight Stage Change Management Process is a useful approach. Followed carefully, it will produce good results. That said, it requires some care in application.

The eight steps aren’t of equal importance, nor should a leader spend equal amounts of time, effort and resources on each. The first stage is crucial–people must understand that there is a problem that needs to be solved, or an opportunity that it is important to seize. They must also be helped to believe, if it is true, that they will gain, not lose, from the change.

If people don’t accept the need for a change, and if they believe they are going to suffer from it, then resistance will mount and Kotter’s eight stages will need to be extended to several more, under the heading, “Overcoming resistance to change.” But if the first of Kotter’s steps is done correctly, then resistance can be avoided, and there will be no need for an extended effort to overcome resistance to change. This is the most important observation to be made about Kotter’s model– how important it is to focus on step one and get it right before moving on.

The second stage of the process reveals it as a highly political approach–not in the negative sense of politics, but in the positive–that it involves a number of people working together to accomplish a purpose. Kotter advises us to form a guiding coalition to direct the change process. It’s a coalition because he thinks we should have the various stakeholders included.

Finally, the process Kotter describes shouldn’t really be considered a management approach, per se. Instead, it’s a process for leading, not managing, change. Managerial approaches focus on clearly defining objectives, making detailed plans, setting time tables, assigning responsibilities, and monitoring progress via supervision and metrics; and finally, intervening when things are going well.

In contrast, leadership approaches focus on energizing other people to take action. Kotter’s process is a method of energizing others around a goal. Hence once a need for change is established via the first stage, then developing and communicating a vision and empowering others to act on the vision become crucial. These are leadership activities.

Why does Kotter recommend a leadership process rather than a management approach? Presumably because he thinks it is more likely to be successful. Probably that is true. Nothing is more difficult than to achieve a change in the culture of the organization (Kotter’s final stage) by using managerial methods. People have to be brought to welcoming change via leadership; since they can rarely be put in that position by direction and orders.

For information on MindEdge’s online self-paced “Leading and Managing Change” course, please click here.

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American psychologist Bruce W. Tuckman developed an influential model of team development, first enunciated in a 1965 article “Developmental sequence in small groups,” published in Psychological Bulletin. Tuckman’s model traced the evolution of a team through four stages: forming, storming, norming and performing. Tuckman argued that these stages were necessary to build an effective team.

COMMENTARY from D. Quinn Mills, professor emeritus, Harvard Business School, on Bruce Tuckman’s team model:

Tuckman’s model has remained on target. The four states of team development that he identified are still regarded as the main stages. His emphasis on the dynamics of team progress remains valuable.

The limitation of the model is that it suggests that once the four stages are completed in the initial formation of the team, then a steady-state emerges in which the team simply performs well week after week, month after month, year after year. But many cases show that teams require continual monitoring and intervention by team leaders to keep a performance edge.

Without continual attention from team leaders, teams tend to degenerate into contending cliques in which personal animosities destroy team effectiveness.

In other words, Tuckman’s model describes the early stages of team development – the stages from which a team is launched successfully into its business mission. But there are later stages which are crucial to continuing team effectiveness which Tuckman ignores, and thereby suggests do not exist. But they do exist and they are very important to the continuing success of a team.

The challenge of building and continuing effective teams goes well beyond the development stage.

For information on MindEdge’s online self-paced “Leading Teams” course, please click here.

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Here are several insightful books on networking for your career. They can be purchased from Amazon.com or other online booksellers:

• Networking for Career Success, Diane Darling

• Master’s of Networking: Building Relationships for Your Pocketbook and Soul, Ivan Misner
  
• Make Your Contacts Count: Networking Know-how for Business And Career Success, Anne Baber and Lynne Waymon
• Dig Your Well Before You’re Thirsty: The Only Networking Book You’ll Ever Need, Harvey Mackay

• Fearless Networking, Ken Marsh

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Joann S. Lublin is a journalist who covers career issues.

Here is her article “Notes to Interviewers Should Go Beyond A Simple Thank You” from the Wall Street Journal.

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Marci Alboher writes for the New York Times blog Shifting Careers.

Here is her article: “Mastering the Informational Interview.”

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Mark Schnurman is a veteran human resources executive and lawyer.

Here is his article from nj.com: “Career Coach: Changing paths? Map out a plan.”

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Deb Shinder writes for itmanagement.com

Here is her article: “How to Ace the Technical Interview.”

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