Choosing employer

I had my first real face to face with my manager today. I mean real as in the first time we sat down, went through priorities and the last months and the nest few months agenda. And it has been long enough to be past the honey-moon-phase (you know, the first weeks on a new job where everything is just great!) and enough time for some good healthy conflicts.

Well, I had my first real conversation with my manager, real in a sense that he dared giving me feedback. And it struck me, that this manager (although all managers have their flaws) is one of the better ones I have had. Not only does i openly share what I have done right - something so many managers often forget - but he also openly shares what things WE should try to work on.

Not even myself in a manager role have ever used "WE" will work on these improvement areas. But just that little word, on top of everything else like: giving constructive feedback, giving praise, setting clear goals for the next weeks as well as the next quarter, setting expectations on what I should own and deliver AND what not to own and deliver. I just went home singing from work today.

Again, every manager has their flaws, but I believe this one will be one of the better bets I've ever made.

Oh and by the way, why I formulate it this way is because I always choose my boss. Every assignment I have accepted, has had one big decision stone it it based on the manager and the style and what other people say about him or her. And good reasons for leaving a job is always if your manager doesn't allow you to grow or doesn't guide you in a growing path with clear direction. Or if the manager is purely incompetent on leading and motivating people. There are just sooooo many bad managers out there, that have only been promoted because they have been around too long. So, you don't have the time to waste working for an incompetent diminishing manager, no!! Make sure to choose your path your career and above all your employer and manager.

I am happy with my choice. And what a difference from the place where I was before, where there were no respect what so ever. And no room for learning or making mistakes. If there is no room for mistakes, how will you ever dare being creative or innovative?

DARE CHANGING JOBS IF YOUR MANAGEMENT IS INCOMPETENT. It can only get better, and it is never a good career to work with incompetent people.

It isn't always as it seems

Just got reminded today that sometimes your own bad conscience decides how you judge people around you. It isn't always as it seems. Actually most of the time it isn't at all as bad as you think it is.

So what can you do when you have a "hunch" or a "gut-feeling" that makes you interpret certain signals a pre-determined way? Well, you have to QUESTION if this is reality or perhaps one of your own insecurities tainting your glasses - e.g. making you view the world in a non-objective way.

Let yourself travel into other glasses, other shoes, other perspectives. Try to see it from angels where you are not stuck in your own values, patterns, or pre-perceptions. If you manage to see it from at least two other angles, you are right to lower the probability of your own view being the "true" one and the "only" angle of a problem.

The best lesson I have re-learned this week has been that if you fight your own will to come up with the best solution, and allow other solutions - however crappy they may seem at a first glance - you can jump up and bet your glasses on that there is a valid reason for solving an issue the way someone else suggests it. Take a second and LISTEN to those reasons, before you decide. It will save you a lot of pain and re-payment later.

I took the time to listen this week. I allowed me to be patient although people were waiting for answers and blowing up the importance of things. And in the end, I gained two weeks work and the respect of two VPs.

Take the time to listen to ALL suggestions, and evaluate them equally and fair. There are sometimes reasons you don't know. And as long as those reasons are objective and not for anyone's personal career, then they should be paid attention to. It may save you a fortune of time and effort.

Good luck with listening to all input next week, and allowing yourself to evaluate even if first reaction is that they are wrong. Good luck with allowing yourself to be patient.

I know you can do it.

Achieving Your Goals

To achieve your goals (see my previous blog for how to create them) you need to be selective. You can't have 100s of goals at the same time. Select a few, and if possible find dependencies to what goals you should do first, to make path for other goals to be achieved much easier.

Example: If I focus on a better communication with my boss, I can later express my interest in travelling more...

SO....HOW do you achieve your goals. Well there are different ways I have used.

DIVIDE AND CONQUER
Goal: I want a Donna Karen purse within 6 months
Strategy: I will save money to afford it
Divide: I need to save $xxx per month to reach the amount needed
Action plan: If I don't spend money on clothes, coffee, and drinks w friends I can achieve that amount per month...

If the goal seems unachievable, try to break it into steps and backtrack. To achieve A, I have to achieve B, and to achieve B, I need to do C by this time.... and by listing C, B, A, you have your action plan.

Sounds easy? Well, it is harder than one can imagine sometimes.

So, what if parts of the goal is not within your control? Then there is the aim sideways approach.

AIM SIDEWAYS
Keep your focus on achieving the goal. And let all your actions lead to steps closer. If there are parts of the distance that you can't do, at least not in a direct fashion, then do them sideways.

Example
Goal: I want to become manager for the engineering department within the next two years
Strategy: Take more leadership and more responsibility, get assigned to important team-leading tasks, show my value to the upper management, and to the team, etc.
Blocker: My boss does not believe that I am ready to become a manager (and you have done your homework of finding out what is required, and proven that list to him over a 6 month period...) - e.g. you are shore he or she is just blocking
Sideways-approach: Modify your goal -- you can become a manager for another department for a while, focus on showing your management qualities to the support organization, keep your ears and eyes open, talk to their management that you are seeking more responsibility. Apply for opportunities under other managers.

Baseline: You can allow yourself to side-track into an almost similar goal-situation - e.g. if you become the manager of the support team, you grow with the management experience, even though it is not what you first desired (development) and next opening for development manager, you have the management experience on your list....which gets you one step closer.

Side tracking is good, if you stay focused on the goal!

And remember, the GOAL is always to GROW. Grow your potential and your comfort zone.