Get Your Career In Gear

Log Your Successes And Achievements

Do you ever look back on something and say to yourself, "Gee, I wish I'd done that!"  Well this post is one of those "Gee I wish I'd done that" moments for me.

Jacob Cazzell from the SuccessMinders blog hit the nail on the head in one of his posts titled " Is Your "Success Resume" Up To Date?"

I happily worked for the same great company for over 28 years.  That may give you an idea of just how rusty and out of date my resume was.  When it was time to pull it out and update it, the scope of the job was enough to make you want to jump off a cliff.  Very tough lesson learned here!

Jacob starts his post by asking a couple of short, but very important questions:

• Do you keep an achievement cheat-sheet?
• Do you keep your "success resume" up to date on a regular basis?

He then outlines a process for getting it under control in 5 easy steps:

1. Choose your tools
2. Layout the document
3. Play catch up
4. Stay current
5. Update Quarterly

He gives plenty of detail and ideas to get you going, so be sure to check out his post here.

If you're already on top of the game here, congratulations!  If you're like I was, make the commitment to get going now!

Let me ask you this...What additional tips would you add to Jason's post?

Ask For Feedback - Regularly

The subject of FEEDBACK is one of those muddy little areas in the corporate world.  I'd dare say most managers squirm at the thought of it.  Why?  Not because they don't think it's important.  Not because they don't have anything to say.  But because they don't quite know HOW!  And not knowing how makes it uncomfortable enough to avoid.

On the flip side, most professionals don't take the initiative to ask for feedback either.  They simply adopt the mindset that "no news is good news" and keep doing what they've always done.  When the annual review process to comes along they start stressing about what kind of surprises might be in store.

Butch Ward from the Poynter Institute recently wrote a great article called The Value Of Feedback. It was based on some training he attended on becoming a more creative leader.  Here are a few excerpts from the article:

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"How well are you doing your job?" I asked. Lots of humility: some hesitant nods, a few uncertain head bobs –- in general, a reluctance to answer.  "Note that I didn't ask you, how do you think you're doing," I clarified. "I asked, 'How well are you doing?' How well does your boss say you're doing?"  The reluctance began to morph into an unspoken -– but clear -– answer. I asked the obvious follow-up.  "So how many of you get regular feedback from your boss?"

Maybe you've heard the same statements. Or maybe they're yours:

• "I don't really need a lot of feedback."
• "I must be doing okay, since no one's telling me otherwise."
• "I gave up a long time ago on getting any feedback –- I figure if they're unhappy with my work, they'll tell me."
• "I'd like to give more feedback, but there's just not time."

Truth is, constructive feedback rests at the heart of our efforts to become better people.

Do you receive enough feedback from your boss?   If you're not sure of your answer, consider these questions:

• Do you know how well you're doing your job?
• Has your boss given you specific examples of what you're doing well, and examples to illustrate what you need to work on?
• Have you and your boss agreed on a plan for measuring your growth over time? What do you agree improvement will look like?
• Does your boss know your ambitions? Have you received straightforward feedback on what you need to do to achieve those ambitions?

If you answered "yes" to these questions, you seem to be receiving the information you need to help you grow as a journalist. If not, maybe it's time to ask your boss for a conversation.

After all, you have that right. Just as much as you have the right to a computer, a telephone and auto reimbursement, you have the right to honest, constructive feedback. Otherwise, how can you do your job?
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To add to that, this is the process I used for getting my boss to give me feedback.

At the end of our weekly meeting, I simply asked 3 questions:

• What's going well?
• What could go better?
• What needs to change?

Then I followed it up with questions that made it easy for her to give me SPECIFIC feedback.  Just short phrases to get her started.  Things like:

• What should I should keep doing?
• What should I start doing?
• What should I stop doing?
• What should I do more of?
• What should I do less of?

As you can see, the process was simple and painless and it made it easy for her to be very specific.  It also helped me navigate better going forward.  Best of all, there were NEVER any surprises when it was time for my annual review.

Let me ask you this...How do you get feedback on how you're doing?  Talk to me!

Final Step - How To Manage Your Hot Buttons

If you're just catching up with us, here are step 1 and step 2 on How To Manage Your Hot Buttons.

By now you should know what your hot buttons are and how you tend to react.  You should also have a good idea about how your reactions negatively impact situations.  In other words, what you regret later.

So, how do you go about managing those situations better?  The simple answer is make the decision and just do it.  But you might need a couple of more steps in there to make it happen.  So let's take a minute and go back to Brad's situation in step 2.

The reality is that Brad could lose his job if he doesn't make some changes.  His behavior is causing tension in the team, and he's alienating his customers.  Both of those situations cost the company time.  Here's a strategy that he could try:

Decide  - By making the decision to change his behavior he's more likely to follow through

Pause & Plan - He knows that every day he needs to cover the tech support line.  He has time to anticipate and create a plan.  His plan might be to change the way he thinks about it.  Instead of thinking about how much he dreads the job, he can focus on how good it feels to help his customers get unstuck.  He could even create a little game for himself.  He could keep a scorecard next to his phone and give himself a point for each customer he helps.

Practice - Changing behavior takes practice.  We're creatures of habit, and it's easy for us to fall back into our old habits, unless we pay attention.  That's why tracking his successes would be a good way to measure progress.

Reflect & Adjust - Brad needs to make time at least every week to review his progress.  Chances are things aren't perfect yet, and reflecting gives him an opportunity to recognize where he still gets stuck.  It also gives him the chance to consciously think about what he can do a little differently to progress further.

Repeat - Persistence is important when you're creating new habits.  So when you're focusing on something specific it's helpful to follow a process and keep repeating it until you get the results you want.  It's the same process that athletes use in their training.

Ok, are you ready?  If you're going to take on this final phase of the challenge, let me know!  I'm happy to help if I can!

Step 2 - How To Manage Your Hot Buttons

If you completed step 1 of How To Manage Your Hot Buttons, you should be more aware of:

1. Which situations tend to push your buttons

2. The warning signals your body sends you when your buttons are being pushed

3. How you tend to react in those situations

Now you're more aware. You have consciously gathered some very important information. Before we move on to "what to do with the information", let's look a little closer.

If I asked someone close to you about how you react when your buttons get pushed, I'll bet they could answer in the blink of an eye. It's one of those things that's easy for others to see, but more difficult for us to admit to ourselves. After all, it's usually not something you're going to brag about. And that's my point. As Dr. Phil would say, "How's that working for you?"

That leads us to Step 2. What is it costing you?  By that I mean, take a good close look at the consequences. What damage is being done, and what is the impact?

Let's take Brad as an example. Brad is an IT guy.  Part of his responsibility is to answer the "help line" for one hour every day.  He hates it.  He thinks it's a waste of time.  He thinks the callers ask stupid questions, and he does everything possible to get out of it.  When he finally does take his turn, he makes sure he let's the caller know he thinks they're stupid.  No, he doesn't come out and say it, but they can hear it in his voice.  He's impatient, he sighs, and he makes sarcastic comments.

So what is this behavior costing Brad?  Well, for starters, nobody wants to call in when he's answering the phone.  People go out of their way to find out when he's scheduled so they can avoid him.  I'd say he's created a reputation for treating callers poorly.

Secondly, his team members are tired of his excuses.  They're tired of covering for him and they're tired of his lame reasons for getting out of the responsibility.  I'd say this is also impacting teamwork.

I'm sure there are several other consequences to Brad's behavior, but you get my point.

For the next several days, ask yourself these questions

§           What are my hot buttons costing me?

§           How are they getting in the way of what I want for myself?

§           What changes am I willing to make now?

Let me know how you do!