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Nội dung được cung cấp bởi Layne Robinson. Tất cả nội dung podcast bao gồm các tập, đồ họa và mô tả podcast đều được Layne Robinson hoặc đối tác nền tảng podcast của họ tải lên và cung cấp trực tiếp. Nếu bạn cho rằng ai đó đang sử dụng tác phẩm có bản quyền của bạn mà không có sự cho phép của bạn, bạn có thể làm theo quy trình được nêu ở đây https://vi.player.fm/legal.
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All About Change
26:31
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26:31Joe Bates is a member of the Bad River Band, a Native American Tribe residing along Lake Superior in Wisconsin. He and his community have been embroiled in a long-standing legal and public relations battle against Enbridge, a Canadian energy company, to protect their ancestral lands. This struggle has been documented in "Bad River," a documentary film released in early 2024, which showcases Bates and his fellow activists within the band. Joe joins Jay to share his personal journey of activism, the profound influence of past generations of tribal and environmental activists on his own path, and the ongoing fight against Enbridge, which affects the future of water protection in America. To learn more about the Bad River Band, click here. Episode Chapters (00:00) - Intro (01:19) - Joe’s activist history (04:31) - The connection between the Bad River Band and their land (10:06) - How did Enbridge come to have pipes under native land against the Bad River Band’s wishes? (14:00) - The threat’s Enbridge’s Line 5 poses to the environment (18:10) - “You can’t put a price tag on what we have. What we have is priceless.” (19:23) - Joe and Jay discuss the documentary “Bad River” (22:58) - Thank you and goodbye For video episodes, watch on www.youtube.com/@therudermanfamilyfoundation Stay in touch: X: @JayRuderman | @RudermanFdn LinkedIn: Jay Ruderman | Ruderman Family Foundation Instagram: All About Change Podcast | Ruderman Family Foundation To learn more about the podcast, visit https://allaboutchangepodcast.com/…
Managing A Career
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Manage series 3564280
Nội dung được cung cấp bởi Layne Robinson. Tất cả nội dung podcast bao gồm các tập, đồ họa và mô tả podcast đều được Layne Robinson hoặc đối tác nền tảng podcast của họ tải lên và cung cấp trực tiếp. Nếu bạn cho rằng ai đó đang sử dụng tác phẩm có bản quyền của bạn mà không có sự cho phép của bạn, bạn có thể làm theo quy trình được nêu ở đây https://vi.player.fm/legal.
I help you navigate the path to professional success. Whether you're a recent graduate still searching for your place or a seasoned professional with years of experience, the knowledge and insights I share can show you how to position yourself for growth and career advancement.
…
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79 tập
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Manage series 3564280
Nội dung được cung cấp bởi Layne Robinson. Tất cả nội dung podcast bao gồm các tập, đồ họa và mô tả podcast đều được Layne Robinson hoặc đối tác nền tảng podcast của họ tải lên và cung cấp trực tiếp. Nếu bạn cho rằng ai đó đang sử dụng tác phẩm có bản quyền của bạn mà không có sự cho phép của bạn, bạn có thể làm theo quy trình được nêu ở đây https://vi.player.fm/legal.
I help you navigate the path to professional success. Whether you're a recent graduate still searching for your place or a seasoned professional with years of experience, the knowledge and insights I share can show you how to position yourself for growth and career advancement.
…
continue reading
79 tập
Tất cả các tập
×AI and automation have become game changers across every industry. No matter what you do for a career, you're going to need to figure out how to introduce their capabilities or find yourself falling behind those that can. This week, I'll take a look at some of the things you can do to integrate AI into your normal workflows. Before we look at the capabilities of AI, let's talk about data privacy. Unless the company you work for is paying for the enterprise version of whatever AI you are using, you should only submit information that is deemed public. If there is any question about whether you should submit the information to the AI tools, you should consult the appropriate departments at your company. There are many example instances where company secrets were leaked by someone unfamiliar with how these AI services worked. Don't let that be you. The other key thing that you need to be aware of when it comes to AI is the concept of hallucinations. In terms of AI, a hallucination is when the AI generates something that seems plausible but may not be factually correct. This stems from the basis of how these AIs work. When an AI generates an answer, it is just putting words together based on the likelihood that they would appear in that order. While this often leads to useful information, it can occasionally generate incorrect information. You should not implicitly trust the results of the AI without some level of verification. In spite of all of that, AIs are still a valuable tool across many different roles. Researching. One of the best uses of an AI chatbot is to be able to ask simple questions and receive in-dept responses. When using a traditional search engine, you likely have to look across multiple entries in the result to glean the information that is provided by a single chatbot query. And the real power comes when you ask deeper or clarifying questions about aspects of the response; it's this interactive chat capability that makes the AI really shine. Just be aware that if you do use a chatbot for research, you should also tell it to cite sources to make it easier to validate that the information comes from a credible source and reduce the chances of falling for hallucinations. Summarizing. If any part of your job involves reading lengthy websites or large online documents, there are AIs that can summarize those contents for you. Once the summary has been created, you can even ask follow-up questions about the document to dive deeper into specific aspects that most interest you. This doesn't replace the need to read them, but it can help you prioritize which portions to read in depth or which provides the information you might be looking for. Transcribing and Meeting Notes. There are specialized AIs that can extract information from a recording. They can create a transcript including identifying unique speakers. Additionally, they can summarize and provide meeting notes and summaries including calling out action items that were identified as part of the meeting. Some AIs even provide insights into how you sounded during the meeting; did you come across as confident or was the audience confused by what you said? This type of feedback can help your reformulate your ideas to be more compelling. Writing. One of the things that these AIs excel at is writing. Many of the modern AIs are what are considered LLMs - Large Language Models. These AIs have been trained on how language is constructed. You can easily turn bullet points and vague ideas into complete paragraphs. I don't recommend just copying and pasting the generated results, but it's much easier to edit a response than it is to start with a blank page. Even episodes of Managing A Career start with a brainstorming session with an AI. I use the results as inspiration, but every episode is my own creation. Images and Video. Much like writing, there are specialist AIs that can take a few sentences and generate graphical results such as images and video. And just like writing, I would not just take the results verbatim, but using the AI results as inspiration can kick-start the creative process. Specialty AIs. There are also many specialty AIs that have been trained on information specific to an industry. There are tools that focus on the medical field that can help with diagnosis or treatment or even in reading medical images. There are tools for the financial industry that can recommend investments based on a persons risk tolerance and investment goals. And one of the more popular areas for specialty AI is for the software development industry where AIs are able to write large portions of the code needed to run businesses. But, regardless of the industry, it's important to remember that these AI tools are still imperfect and you need to use your expertise and knowledge to vet any answer. Custom AIs. The final type of AI is one that is custom built for your needs. This requires more technical skill than the others, but it has the highest potential for benefit. This may require the assistance of I/T and clearance from legal, but when an AI is trained on your data, it opens up more specific questions that you can ask. You could ask the AI about buying patterns of your various customers. You could ask the AI about most common solutions to customers' problems. You could ask about potential design ideas and how customers would react to them. Automation. Once you have a custom AI built that understands your business processes and data, it opens up the possibility of automation using AI agents. These types of agents allow you to delegate tasks to a virtual assistant giving you more free time to work on more strategic activities. For instance, if you regularly respond to customer emails, you can have an AI agent author drafts for your final review before sending. Or if the AI understands how you onboard customers, you can let the AI agent begin the process while you just provide oversight to ensure accuracy and interject a human touch when needed. There is a lot of worry by the world at large that AIs are going to put people out of a job, but in reality, they are just a tool like any other. Tools like a powered saw allow you to cut wood more efficiently, but there are still people that cut the wood. Treat AI, like an assistant that you can delegate lower level tasks to freeing you up to concentrate on those higher level tasks that can help you advance your career. I would love to hear some stories of how this podcast has helped you in your pursuit of career advancement. Go to the ManagingACareer.com website and leave a message via the Contact form ( https://www.managingacareer.com/contact/ ) or click the button to leave a voicemail via your computer. Tell me which episodes have had the biggest impact for you. If I get enough feedback, I'll start including them in upcoming episodes. [episode artwork was generated by AI]…
My dad worked at the same company from when he was in his early 20s until he retired -- with a pension. These days, that is a rare event. Companies are driven more by the demands of shareholders to deliver ever increasing profit margins rather than to have any level of loyalty to their employees. With more and more executive compensation tied to stock grants and stock options, they are actually incentivized to perpetuate this drive for profit, so don't expect company loyalty to change any time soon. In today's world, if you want the company to have any sort of loyalty towards you, it all comes down to the value that you provide to the company. It's a harsh reality, but it's the only thing that can provide you with any level of protection when companies are downsizing. But it's very much a "what have you done for me lately" situation. You may have saved the company millions of dollars three years ago, but if you aren't actively contributing more to the bottom line, there will be no loyalty. In spite of the lack of loyalty towards you, what of your loyalty to the company? Obviously, there are legal ramifications if you were to take trade secrets and share them with the company's biggest competitor, so I'm not advocating any such action. But, I will recommend that you focus on YOUR needs over those of the company. You may have a family that you support or you may be looking to drive your career a certain direction. Given the current climate, you might want to prioritize those things over working nights and weekends for months on end. Layoffs are going to happen……are happening…..across every industry right now. This week, I'd like to take a deeper look at what you can do to protect yourself whether you are on "the list" or not. Understand what makes your company unique and align yourself with work that supports it. If the primary business of the company is to sell "widgets" is the work you do directly involved in the creation or selling of those widgets? If your department is considered "overhead", you are not in alignment with the company's key differentiators. Being closer to these core business activities doesn't guarantee anything, but they are usually less impacted than other departments. Listen to what executives are saying. Even if you aren't "in the know" in terms of what areas will be impacted by a layoff, there are often signs. It is very rare for a layoff to happen out of the blue. Each quarter, when earnings are announced, consider how the company performed against their targets. The most important is Profit Margin. Your company may have had record revenue numbers, but if that is accompanied by higher than normal expenses, the company may have missed the expected profit margin targets. When the quarterly numbers are announced, pay attention to where the executives talk about tackling the problem. Are they expecting an increase in sales (leading to more revenue) or are they talking about managing expenses? Focus on YOU. As a listener of this podcast, you've already taken steps to improve yourself when it comes to career. You have an IDP. You've built a strong network. You've taken steps to ensure you have a good work / life balance. Beyond those long-term activities, you should also take some steps with a shorter term focus. Invest in your career. You should always be prepared to invest your own money in your career. Consider hiring a career coach to help you navigate the changing conditions at work. Pay for training when it will set you apart from everyone else because training budgets are usually one of the first cuts made by companies. Keep an eye on the market. You should always keep your resume updated and periodically look at what positions are open. If something comes open that matches what you are looking for, don't feel guilty about applying. Diversify your income. For most people, their income comes solely from their job. However, this leaves you open to a lot of risk when the company you work for decides that you or your team are no longer part of their future direction. When it comes to the stock market, a good strategy is to diversify your portfolio and the same adage hold true when it comes to your income. Consider starting some sort of side hustle or look for freelance opportunities. In my case, I have a day job, but I also have a side business, a podcast, and I do career coaching. Other people receive income from rental properties. If you're looking for takeaways from today's episode, I'm going to assign you some homework. Update your resume. Ideally several times per year. But do it now because you never know when you will need it. Review the most recent quarterly earnings report from your company's leaders. How does their message affect you personally. Brainstorm five different alternative sources of income that you could add. A career coach can help you navigate these trying times. If you need a career coach, reach out to me via the Contact Form at ManagingACareer.com ( https://www.managingacareer.com/contact/ ). I'll schedule an introductory session where we can talk about your career goals and determine if we would be a good fit for coaching. If we are, we can arrange regular sessions to help you put your career on the fast track to advancement.…
When it comes to career advancement, all skills are not created equal. In this week's episode, we look at a framework for evaluating and prioritizing the skills that you should focus on for development. To begin this assessment, you will need to build two different lists of skills: the skills needed for your current role and the skills needed for your next role. When building each list of skills, evaluate how those skills are actually used; especially for those soft skills such as leadership, storytelling, or executive presence. Use this insight to rank your abilities in those skills as weak, strong, or competent. If a skill appears on both lists, consider how the use of that skill will change as you progress towards your next role. If you need help identifying the list of skills, review job postings for your role and look at the list of skills that are identified there. You can also use one of the various AI resources such as ChatGPT or Bard to ask what the primary and secondary skills are for each role. If you have a good relationship with your leader, you can ask them, but this might be misconstrued as you not knowing how to perform your duties. Now that you have a list of skills, you are going to place them on a quadrant map. For the left to right axis, the left represents skills that you need to have and the right represents skills that are nice to have. For the top to bottom axis, the top represents skills that you need now and the bottom represents skills that you need later. If you are unsure whether a skill is a nice to have or a need to have, consider that earlier description of how the skill is used in the role. Primary skills are usually need to haves and secondary skills are usually nice to haves. Now that you have classified the different skills from your lists, you can focus on the skills that are weak in the upper left quadrant. These are the ones that will hold you back from success in your current role. Put a plan in place to augment your abilities in these areas as soon as possible through training and direct mentorship. You should dedicate a minimum of an hour each week to work on these skills until you are competent or strong in these skills. The next tier of skills to address would be those in the lower left quadrant that also appear in the top half of the chart. While the form of the skill may be different between your current role and your future role, the fact that the skill is used in both roles emphasizes the importance of the skill. Even if you are currently strong in the skill, it is important to continue to build this skill in preparation for the next role. Since you are often expected to display the ability to do a job before you are promoted to that job, building these skills will provide you a path to faster advancement. The third tier of skills would be those that appear in the lower left quadrant and do not appear in the top half of the chart. These should be considered growth skills that you should work on as time allows. These skills will be the ones that set you apart from other peers that are competing for the same promotion. If you have worked through those three groups of skills and have not identified at least three skills to work on, only then should you extend your view towards the nice to have skills. Be selective from the nice to have list and only picks skills that put you in a position to be assigned to strategic projects that can provide additional visibility that can help put you in a position for a promotion. Once you have a list of skills to work on, put a learning plan together. Any in tier one should have a plan to address any deficiencies within the next quarter. For skills in tier two or three, take a longer range view towards building them. Use a multi-pronged approach that includes working with your leader on stretch assignments that allow you to use the skill as you grow it. Review your progress with your leader and mentors and update the plan based on their feedback on your progress. For those of you following this podcast in real time, I will be shifting to a less frequent release schedule for the next few months. Between the holidays and the fact that I am in the process of packing and moving, I will not be able to be as consistent with new episodes. By the end of January next year, I should be back on a regular schedule. Please bear with me during this transition period. If you are looking for any specific career advice, feel free to reach out to me via the contact form at https://ManagingACareer.com/contact and I will answer them directly in the meantime.…
When it comes to career advancement, one of the hardest transitions is from junior level to senior level. This isn't because the change in responsibilities is difficult, but because this is the first significant change in someone's career and they usually don't have a full understanding of what it takes to make the transition. When talking about junior roles vs senior roles, each company could have different titles and number of positions between those levels. For instance at one company, you might find it easy to progress through titles of Analyst I, Analyst II, and Analyst III, but then feel like your career hits a wall because your current company considers Analyst IV to be a protected senior position. At another company, they may only have positions of Analyst and Senior Analyst. Regardless of how many steps there are between them, this episode is focused on that transition from junior to senior level roles. Those early promotions are often some of the fastest in your career. Back in Episode 017, I discuss the Corporate Ladder ( https://www.managingacareer.com/17 ) and rough timelines that people are typically at each rung. Promotions within the first few years of your career are often driven by just growth in skill and competence at your role and being capable of taking on more work. When your company has several titles within the junior level, you may even receive promotions every year or two setting unsustainable expectations for the rest of your career. It's these expectations and the fact that the role is changing that makes this transition exceptionally difficult. Those making the transition often don't have the corporate maturity to understand the fact that what has worked in the past is not what will work now. This leads to a situation where a person attempts to take on more and more tasks and gets frustrated when that doesn't lead to the desired promotion. Why this approach doesn't work When you are making the transition from junior level to senior level, it becomes more important to take on the right tasks and not focus on more tasks. If you are just taking on more tasks, you will eventually find yourself spread too thin which means that your ability to deliver will be impacted and your previously strong performance reviews may begin being impacted -- compounding the problem of obtaining a promotion. Alternatively, if you maintain your performance levels, it could come at the expense of your work/life balance or your mental health, all leading to burnout. You might also lead people to have the perception of your lack of strategy or focus if the additional tasks you take on do not represent your core responsibilities and don't align with the goals of the company. So, if taking on more work is not the path to advancement, let's define what it means to take on the right work. The biggest change from junior to senior is changing your focus from the work at hand to understanding the why of the task and how that work fits within the overall process. It's this shift towards more Strategic Thinking (see Episode 049 for more thoughts - https://www.managingacareer.com/49 ) that shows that a candidate is acting more senior in their approach. Focus on these higher level tasks that have the most impact on the wider, organizational goals. As you move up the tiers -- junior to senior to management to executive -- you work shifts from doing to influencing and impacting; you shift towards being a force multiplier. When you are task focused, your efforts produce results in a one-to-one ratio. But, there are some ways that you can become a force multiplier where your efforts have a much larger impact. By mentoring your coworkers who are less knowledgeable or experienced, the effort spent helping your teammates grow is multiplied by their increase efficiency. Another way is to work to remove roadblocks that your teammates face allowing them to complete their tasks sooner. The final capability you should exhibit in order to be viewed as ready for a senior role is to show leadership skills. Being a leader doesn't mean being a boss. It's about being a thought leader as much as it is about leading people. There may be opportunities to show leadership by delegating some of your tasks. This can be a chance to show how you can grow trust and encourage collaboration within a team. But, more likely than not, leadership when you are junior looking to transition to senior means that you are starting to show thought leadership. This could be through learning about upcoming technologies and how they can be applied in your field. Or, it could possibly be about bringing new ideas on how to optimize the processes you support, bolstered by a larger understanding of how your work impacts the business. Next steps So, as you look to transition to more senior level work, evaluate the work you do and where it fit within the bigger picture. Prioritize things that have higher impact and look for opportunities to say "no" to things that do not. Sign up for activities that allow you to show your leadership abilities. Additionally, review some of the past episodes of this podcast where I talk about additional strategies. Episode 030 - Getting Ahead By Saying "No" - https://www.managingacareer.com/30 Episode 026 - Should You Be Promoted? - https://www.managingacareer.com/26 Episode 006 - Is Your Work Important? Is it Urgent? - https://www.managingacareer.com/6 Episode 003 - Mentoring - https://www.managingacareer.com/3 The promotion to senior level is one of the hardest for someone to achieve, but a career coach can help you work through the transition. If you need a career coach, reach out to me via the Contact Form at ManagingACareer.com ( https://www.managingacareer.com/contact/ ). I'll schedule an introductory session where we can talk about your career goals and determine if we would be a good fit for coaching. If we are, we can arrange regular sessions to help you put your career on the fast track to advancement.…
In Episode 12, I discussed some strategies for soliciting effective feedback ( https://www.managingacareer.com/12 ). However, feedback is only as good as what you do with it. This week, I'm going to take a look at how you can best act on the feedback that you receive. The first step in acting on feedback is understanding what is driving the comment. In the previous episode, I suggested that when receiving feedback, you should ask clarifying questions along the lines of "Can you explain that in more detail?" or "Tell me more." The goal with this clarification is to turn high-level, generic comments into something more specific. If you receive feedback that you need to "improve your communication skills", there could be several underlying causes and each one would be addressed differently. If the source of the feedback is because you don't provide regular updates or hold back on negative news, you may need create a weekly report that you send to your superiors; you can hear more by reviewing Episode 44 ( https://www.managingacareer.com/44 ). However, if the source of the feedback is based on recent presentations, you may need to practice presenting more so that you become more comfortable or you might need to work on the content of your presentations (see Episode 56 - Presenting to Leaders https://www.managingacareer.com/56 ). Without knowing the underlying reasoning for the specific comment, you may not work on correcting the right behaviors. If you've received feedback, but are unable to coax additional details about what they mean, the next approach you can take is to reach out to other people that can comment on the same topic. Continuing on the example above, if the feedback you received is about your communication skills, reach out to those that you have presented to or that you regularly provide status to. Ask each of them specifically about the area in question. Look for patterns in the feedback they provide and use that insight to target your improvement. As you consider the different elements of feedback that you have received, how does that feedback align with your career trajectory as well as your personal career goals? Prioritize anything that advances you over things that apply to your current level. If you've created your IDP, these items should be represented on your Assessment and Next Role sections. Review Episodes 36 through 40 for details on your IDP ( https://www.managingacareer.com/36 ) and if you need an IDP template, drop me a note requesting one via the Contact form on the ManagingACareer.com website ( https://www.managingacareer.com/contact/ ). Now that you have a list of feedback to address, talk with your mentor or coach and develop an action plan. They can help you identify training and activities that will help you develop the skills that you need. Be sure to define goals and deadlines to ensure that you put appropriate focus on addressing the feedback. Episode 47 covered some goal setting frameworks that you may find useful here ( https://www.managingacareer.com/47 ). As you reach the identified milestones, update your IDP and discuss your progress with your leader and anyone who participated in giving you feedback. Request updated feedback based on your progress. A career coach can help you identify activities to address feedback. If you need a career coach, reach out to me via the Contact Form at ManagingACareer.com ( https://www.managingacareer.com/contact/ ). I'll schedule an introductory session where we can talk about your career goals and determine if we would be a good fit for coaching. If we are, we can arrange regular sessions to help you put your career on the fast track to advancement.…
When it comes to dealing with people, it can be difficult when they don't share the same opinion you do as to how to handle a specific situation and that can often lead to conflict or complications. The fastest way to move past those differences and get back to moving forward is to put yourself in their shoes. If you can understand people's thoughts and motivations it goes a long way towards formulating an argument that sways them to your side. How well can you read them? Some people will mask their true thoughts and feelings, especially when it comes to professional relationships. To really understand them you might need to rely on your observational skills and not just listen to the words that they say. Start with how they are speaking. When someone is excited about something, even if they are trying to suppress it, they will speak slightly faster and with a higher pitch. Conversely, if they are unsure, they will slow down and be more cautious as they speak. Even their word choices can give you a clue as to their mindset. Open language will indicate a higher level of trust. Strong, clear language indicating confidence. If you find that their words are not in alignment with their body language, it becomes even more important to observe them closely. Visually, watch their body language and look for micro expressions that may clue you in to something that they aren't saying. Whether they are smiling genuinely or politely says a lot. Is their stance closed with their arms crossed or are they open and receptive or possibly even leaning in with excitement? When you say something new, is there a flash of humor or anger in the corners of their eyes? Some of these visual cues will be easier to spot, but the more nuanced actions can be more revealing. In general, people are not malicious in their actions, but, the actions they take may come across that way. For instance, I have seen multiple times where Person A feels like Person B is purposefully undermining the ability for Person A to perform work. But, in reality, Person B is just focused on taking steps that they think will let them reach their personal goals that they never even considered how that could impact Person A. Once Person A sat down and spoke with Person B and everyone's views were communicated, both people were able to be more productive and reach their goals quickly. The easiest path to knowing someone's motivations is to come out and ask them. But, sometimes, you don't have that type of relationship with them and it may take a little bit of detective work. For example, how have their current projects been going recently? If positively, their mood probably reflects that. Though if they are experiencing project stress, they may be taking it out on everyone around them. The "no" to your request may be coming from this type of stress more than anything else. Looking for these types of factors can help you find the motivations of someone that you would not ask directly. No matter how you gain the insight, how can you use this understanding to your advantage? When you understand someone, you can build a stronger relationship with them. Stronger relationships lead to stronger networks. And I can't stress enough how powerful a strong network can be. ( https://www.managingacareer.com/29 ) If someone's actions are not in alignment with what they say, you can look towards their secret motivations for guidance on how to bring them back to alignment. Someone who accepts tasks but looks for ways to avoid them may be missing key knowledge or resources and does not want to admit that weakness. Understanding this, you can provide the tasks as well as information on how to close the resource gap so that they can be successful without looking weak. If you are making a proposal to someone, you can tailor your pitch accordingly based on how they feel about the idea. If someone is excited about the topic, play up the capabilities and benefits to get them more excited. If someone is unsure, focus on the approach and risk mitigation plan so that they gain some certainty. Building these people reading skills will take practice. With all of your interactions, make notes about your observations and review those notes with your close coworkers and mentors; especially if they are involved in those same conversations. They can help you refine your deductions. Over time, this will come more naturally. I would love to hear some stories of how this podcast has helped you in your pursuit of career advancement. Go to the ManagingACareer.com website and leave a message via the Contact form ( https://www.managingacareer.com/contact/ ) or click the button to leave a voicemail via your computer. Tell me which episodes have had the biggest impact for you. If I get enough feedback, I'll start including them in upcoming episodes.…
If you want to be successful in your career, you will need to build relationships with the people at work -- peers, superiors, and subordinates. Strong relationships build strong networks. This week, we look at the different types of relationships you'll find in the office and key aspects to building them. Unless you're the CEO, everyone has a boss, a manager, a leader. When it comes to career growth, this is probably the most important relationship to build and maintain. A good relationship with your boss will ensure that you get the assignments you need to develop. The first step in building this relationship is to spend time understanding your leader. What is their preferred form of communication? What is their approach to leadership? What are their priorities and how does your work support them? Once you understand these factors, you will need to adjust your communication approach to match theirs. Knowing their priorities allows you to focus that communication on the right messaging. If your leader is customer focused, talk about the impact of your work on customer satisfaction. If your leader if driven by the financials, report your status in terms of dollars saved. Your goal is to have your manager view you as a partner; someone who supports them and their goals. Clear, frequent communication that addresses the things that they care most about will help them view you as someone who "gets it". If your manager is the most important relationship, the next most important is with your peers. A great relationship with your peers will lead to more productive efforts on your projects. When it comes to peers, the focus is on collaboration and cooperation. People respond favorably towards people that help them. If you focus on the competition side and take steps to undermine your peers, they will react in kind and make it more difficult for you to complete your projects. In the event of a conflict between you and your peers, it's important to handle them calmly. Don't attack the person, but, instead, address the issue. If you are unable to separate the issue from the person, take a break and document your reasoning so that you can present it later. If you are still unable to come to a resolution, bring in someone else to act as a mediator. Handling conflict professionally will improve the relationship with your peers even when you disagree. If you are a manager, yourself, a positive relationship with your subordinates builds a team that performs better and directly leads to your personal success. When it comes to your team, your relationship relies on some key aspects. Be open and honest in your communication, this transparency will help you build the second aspect -- trust. But, trust is a two way street. Showing your team trust by guiding and empowering instead of commanding and micromanaging allows them to trust your leadership in return. So far, I've focused on professional relationships. But, when we spend as much time at work as we do, you are bound to develop social relationships as well. These friendships can help make your time in the office more enjoyable and can even extend beyond working hours into personal time, too. But, be careful that these friendships do not lead to cliques that exclude other members of your team. This can erode any positive relationship you've built within your team. Draw a line of professionalism when performing your duties and save the personal interactions for downtime and breaks. By maintaining a boundary between your social relationships and your work, there will be no impediment to continue growing your relationships with the rest of your team. The final relationship type to address is that of a romantic relationship. Like friendships, keep your relationship professional at work so as to not disrupt the performance of the team. But a romantic relationship comes with additional concerns. Be sure you stay in compliance of any company policies. There are often restrictions on romantic relationships that involve any sort of reporting structure. There is also the possibility of complications that could arise if the romantic relationship sours. One or both participants in the relationship may need to be prepared to transfer to another area within the company to address any issues related to the relationship. I would love to hear some stories of how this podcast has helped you in your pursuit of career advancement. Go to the ManagingACareer.com website and leave a message via the Contact form ( https://www.managingacareer.com/contact/ ) or click the button to leave a voicemail via your computer. Tell me which episodes have had the biggest impact for you. If I get enough feedback, I'll start including them in upcoming episodes.…
In the 1960s, Dr. Laurence Peter defined a theory known as the Peter Principle. This theory states that people in an organization are promoted until they reach their level of incompetence. This usually happens when someone is promoted from a position that requires one set of skills to a new position that relies on completely different skills that the person is not equipped with. While they may be quite competent at their previous position, in their new position, they don't have the competency required to be successful and their career stalls. The story typically goes like this. You start your career and begin learning the skills you need to be successful in your field. As you become more competent, you'll progress from junior roles to more senior roles where you have larger responsibilities but are still leveraging the same skill set. Eventually, the next rung on the ladder will rely on different skills. As you progress through the ranks, the available training diminishes and as an experienced team member, you're expected to just figure it out. It's at this point in the story where you face two different paths. The first path is to continue to struggle and face the fact that you have reached the Peter Plateau. The other path is find ways to break past the plateau to put your career back on track. The most common reason for reaching this plateau is when the role transitions from using hard skills -- those more quantifiable in nature -- to soft skills -- which usually involve interactions with other people. Hard skills are easier to teach because they can be shown as right or wrong. When it comes to soft skills, success is a lot more fuzzy and results involve a lot of "it depends". Because soft skills involve people, what works with one person may not be effective with another person. When you reach a position that relies on soft skills, training resources become more difficult to find and you will need to find other methods for building these skills. If you've been following this podcast for any length of time, you'll know that I'm a big proponent of creating your Individual Development Plan or IDP. If you need a refresher on building your IDP, review Episodes 036 through 040 ( https://www.managingacareer.com/36 ). Those episodes walk you through a description of the sections of the IDP and the process of integrating it into your discussions with your leader. If you need a free copy of my IDP template, reach out via the Contact form on the ManagingACareer.com website ( Contact | Managing A Career ). If you have your IDP created, your Assessment section should detail what skills you need to work on in order to reach the next level. If you find that you have reached a career plateau, review the items here to determine which skill or skills are holding you back. This would be an ideal time to speak with your coaches, mentors, and leaders to do an honest assessment of your current progress on building these skills. Review the items in your Action Plan to make sure that they are addressing the skill gaps that are holding you back. Work with your leader to find assignments that can help you focus on those specific skills. If you can pair up with someone strong in that skill -- especially in the context of what is successful within your organization -- it can help you grow faster. For example, if you struggle with executive communication, start by pairing up with someone who excels at that skill so that, together, you prepare a presentation. As your skill grows, take more of a lead of creating those presentations, but review it with your co-worker. Eventually, when you have gained skill and confidence, create and deliver the presentation on your own. This pairing will ensure that you have clear examples of what constitutes "good" within your company and the direct hands-on approach can help identify specifics that you need to work on. A career coach can help you create strategies to close skill gaps and break through the Peter Plateau. If you need a career coach, reach out to me via the Contact Form at ManagingACareer.com ( https://www.managingacareer.com/contact/ ). I'll schedule an introductory session where we can talk about your career goals and determine if we would be a good fit for coaching. If we are, we can arrange regular sessions to help you put your career on the fast track to advancement.…
When you speak up at work to offer your ideas, have you considered how loud is your voice? I'm not talking about volume, but how many people hear your message? How much weight does your opinion hold? How large is your sphere of influence? A management position comes inherently with influence over the team that you lead based on being in a position of authority. But influence does not necessarily mean power or authority. This week, we look at some strategies for how you can grow your sphere of influence. As you consider these strategies and the steps that you will be taking, keep in mind where you are in your growth and your career. While the strategies apply no matter what level or position you're at, the targets of those strategies may be closer or further away from you within the organization. The same can also be said based on how much influence you already have. When your sphere is small, start closer to home, but the strategies will apply no matter how large your sphere already is. When it comes to building influence everything starts with relationships. In Episode 029, I covered Building a Network ( https://www.managingacareer.com/29 ), but influence is not just about creating connections; it's about building trust and collaboration. Identify those that you seek to influence and reach out to them regularly. Ask them how you can help them, especially with cross-team initiatives. If you don't have the skills to help directly, learn to be a connector. Helping them resolve their problems -- or connecting them to people who can solve their problem -- will increase their level of trust in you. More trust will lead them to listen when you present your own ideas or suggest solutions to those cross-team projects. Another way that you can build your influence is to become the resident expert on some process, technology, or resource. The goal isn't to be a gatekeeper, though, that is a form of influence. Limiting access to a resource will lead to resentment and a possible loss of the trust that you are working to build. Instead, by being the expert on a piece of technology and being collaborative, people will seek out your opinions and solutions when that technology is involved. The third strategy for growing your sphere of influence is to become involved in critical problems. If the problem has already been identified, this could mean volunteering to work on the project to address it. However, you may need to apply some Strategic Thinking as covered in Episode 049 ( https://www.managingacareer.com/49 ) to find a critical problem where you can contribute. By solving a high-impact problem, you will build your reputation and have people reaching out to you in order to grow THEIR network. The final strategy for increasing your sphere of influence is communication. Whether communicating up the management chain or across departments, information is a valuable resource. Being seen as someone who both has and shares information will help keep you in the loop on what is going on within the organization as well as give you early notice of areas where you can apply the other strategies. There have been several episodes covering different communication top…
Advancing your position or getting promoted at work can sometimes feel like a struggle. If you are feeling stuck and wondering why you aren't advancing, this week's episode will help you understand the key misconception that most people face and learn some strategies you can put in place to get past it. As we go through childhood, we are often told that through hard work, we can be successful. While this is true in large part, just by working hard and being good at your job is not always enough to get promoted. Early in your career, when advancement is focused on learning and growing, competence can lead to a promotion. But, once you advance beyond the junior phase, you may find yourself stalled no matter how much you increase your skills. The biggest factor that is holding you back could be visibility. When the organization is deciding on who is promoted and who is not, the leaders need to know who you are and what value you have provided to the team. If you are unsure if you have a visibility problem, consider the following: Does your boss just know the status of the project, or does your boss also know what you contributed to the project? How often are your projects mentioned in the wider organization? Do you have a relationship with your boss' peers and leaders? If you can't answer yes to each one of those questions, any struggles you experience when it comes to advancement can be traced back to the lack of visibility. When promotion discussions are held, it's a lot easier for your boss to justify the promotion to their peers when you are visible. When it comes to visibility, everything starts with actually performing your duties. But, after that, you have to sell yourself. Most people are uncomfortable with self-promotion because it can feel awkward or like you are bragging, but if you want to progress, you will need to get past those feelings. It's not about bragging as much as it is about factually stating your accomplishments and the value that they provide. Review Episode 018 - Selling Yourself ( https://www.managingacareer.com/18 ) and Episode 044 - Reporting Status ( https://www.managingacareer.com/44 ) for insights into how best to communicate your value to various management levels. One way to ensure that your status does not come across as being braggadocious is to communicate it regularly. If you send status focused on larger items either irregularly or only when asking for a promotion, it will appear to be insincere. Instead send a weekly status to your boss and communicate progress on assignments of all sizes. Once per month or once per quarter, include a recap where you highlight the larger items that were reported on previous status reports. Beyond just reporting status, you need to make yourself known to other teams throughout your organization. Part of being known is creating a Personal Brand as covered in Episode 043 ( https://www.managingacareer.com/43 ). But you must also engage with those other teams. Organize cross-team sessions where you share ideas and techniques. Participate in departmental social events. And, through it all, build your brand. The last thing you need to do in order to build visibility is to build relationships with your manager's peers such that you find an advocate or sponsor. When you've identified someone that will support you, meet with them regularly and talk about how the work that you are doing aligns with their goals and how you can help them. When your manager elevates your name as a promotion candidate, your sponsor will add their support increasing the chances that your promotion will be approved. Is visibility something that you struggle with? I'd love to hear about how you've overcome this. And if there is something else that is keeping you from the advancement you seek, let me know and I'll cover that topic on a future episode. You can send your stories on the ManagingACareer.com website via the contact form ( https://www.managingacareer.com/contact/ ) or leave me a voicemail through your computer.…
If you pay attention to what is going on within your company you can often see what direction things are going to go. With this warning, you can PRE-act to upcoming changes instead of RE-acting to them. This proactive stance will put you in the best position to succeed when those changes happen. Whether the changes are localized within your department or if there are larger changes coming that impact the entire company, everything starts with understanding who are the key players in decisions at each level. You can start with people in positions of power such as the CEO or a department head, but key players could also be individuals with significant influence over those people in key leadership roles. These people may not be within your immediate network, but make every effort to understand what their priorities are. When you know who the key players are, look at how they make decisions. Are they someone who is driven by emotion or facts? Are they strategic or tactical? Do they look for consensus or do they make the decision on their own? The insight into the decision making process can help you anticipate how and when decisions will be made. For example, If the decision is being made emotionally, when a triggering event happens, you can prepare for an emotional reaction to that event. Whereas if decisions are made based on facts, you can expect that those decisions are made methodically with great care. Listen to the language that these key players use when they talk about the concerns of the company; especially when their language changes. Most companies are for-profit entities and money is a huge driver of many decisions. As such, focus on revenue, expenses, or margin will lead to different decisions all with the goal of increasing company profits. If the executives focus on revenue in all of their speeches and newsletters, you can expect decisions focused on increasing sales. If they focus on expenses, decisions will usually be focused on reducing overhead and cutting things they consider non-essential. With a focus on margin, look for negotiations around material costs and an investment in technology that offers process improvements. The last factor to pay attention to in order to predict company change is to be aware of what is happening in your industry overall. If your competitors are having a different level of success, look for your leaders to make decisions to capitalize on those discrepancies. If new regulations are being discussed, what changes will that drive for your company? Are there new ideas or new technologies that you company can benefit from and how will they be adopted by your company? Once you have some insight into the factors that could lead to change, you can use this knowledge to begin to predict what changes may be coming for you. These predictions can give you an opportunity to get ahead of the change and potentially influence how it impacts you. If you are already aligned with the key decision makers, use this connection and your influence to turn the decision your direction. Even better if you have predicted the change before they have as it will strengthen the relationship and showcase your ability to think strategically. Look ahead to the potential choices and identify the ones that are most advantageous to you. Put together a justification for these options and present your case to the decision maker. Even if the final decision doesn't go your way, a compelling argument will usually provide some benefit for you. Whether you have influence over the potential decision or not, understanding what's coming gives you time to react before the actual decision is made. If processes or technologies are changing, learn everything you can about them beforehand; become the resident expert. If your area will see growth, position yourself to take on higher level work potentially even with a transition to a leadership role. If your department will be impacted by budget cuts, spend time communicating the value you provide to set you apart from others and reducing the chance that you will be impacted by any reductions. Episode 44 ( https://www.managingacareer.com/44 ) provides more insight into Reporting Status. A career coach can help you gain the foresight you need to get ahead. I would love to be that coach for you. Reach out to me via the Contact Form at ManagingACareer.com ( https://www.managingacareer.com/contact/ ). I'll schedule an introductory session where we can talk about your situation. If we are a good fit, we can schedule regular sessions to help you get your career on the right track.…
At some point, you may find yourself in a position where you are able to attend an industry conference. When this happens, with enough planning, you can leverage this conference to help advance your career. At any conference, there will be panels, talks, and sessions by industry experts. These can help you understand upcoming changes to any regulations that apply to your industry. They can also offer new techniques and solutions to problems that you may have been facing. Often, the speakers also represent the companies that create the software commonly used in the industry and you can learn about new features that are coming to the tools that you use. Before you travel to the conference, review the schedule of talks and identify the ones most relevant to your projects. Also talk with your leader and teammates to see if any of the presentations will cover topics that will benefit them. There will often be overlapping events, so identifying the most important sessions will let you plan your daily schedule. It will also let you identify alternative sessions so that if your primary session is full or underwhelming, you can attend a different presentation that will still provide some value. During each presentation, make every effort to remove any distractions. Turn off the alerts from your phone. Position yourself where you can see anything projected on the screens as well as the presenter. Be sure to take notes of the most important points. Over the course of the conference, you will be hearing a lot of new information and it may be difficult to remember it all without good notes. Beyond the opportunities for education, the other major activity at a conference is to network and socialize. Try to get to the conference city a day early so that you can attend any kick-off social events. Include time during your day to gather in the common areas and talk to attendees. Make a note of the speakers that had the most insightful talks and look for opportunities to connect with them outside of the meeting rooms; unless they are a major keynote speaker, they are usually excited to talk with conference attendees. If this is not the first time you've attended this industry conference, reach out to everyone that you have met during previous years and arrange to meet with them again this year. This will strengthen these connections and allow you to compare notes on how others are progressing in your industry. Have them introduce you to others attending in order to grow your network faster. If you are introverted, networking may not come easy to you. Take advantage of the quieter times in the conference when you can mingle in smaller groups. Leverage the fact that those attending the conference work in a similar field as you so there is a common topic for starting conversations. And when in doubt, stand next to someone who is outgoing and wait for them to bring you into their conversation. Send an email to each person that you meet as soon as you have any sort of break. In that email summarize the conversation and offer to follow up after the conference. This will help you remember not just who you talked to but what you discussed. Fostering these connections will pave the way for future collaborations or even recruiting opportunities. Be sure to visit the expo floor during the conference, too. Beyond just the conference swag, walking the floor can help you find new tools and technologies that may not be covered in any of the presentations that you attended. You can also meet vendor contacts which can help you bypass any of the red tape in getting support for the tools that you use. After you return home from the conference, schedule a recap session with your leader and coworkers. Go over the highlights from the important sessions, especially those that discussed upcoming changes to the tools used by your company or any new government regulations that apply to your industry. Send an introductory email between your team and any vendor contacts so that they can extend their network, too. Lastly, reflect on what you've learned and look for ways that you can inject new ideas into how your company works. In Episode 049, I covered thinking strategically ( https://www.managingacareer.com/49 ). Use the insights you gained at the conference to understand the competitive landscape of your industry and to guide your solutions to these bigger problems. I would love to hear some stories of how this podcast has helped you in your pursuit of career advancement. Go to the ManagingACareer.com website and leave a message via the Contact form ( https://www.managingacareer.com/contact/ ) or click the button to leave a voicemail via your computer. Tell me which episodes have had the biggest impact for you. If I get enough feedback, I'll start including them in upcoming episodes.…
I've mentioned Jackie Simon in the past. If you aren't following her on LinkedIn ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackiesimon1/ ), you should. She's a leadership coach and regularly posts some insightful content. This week's episode of the ManagingACareer.com podcast is inspired by a post she made this week on Delegation vs Leverage ( https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jackiesimon1_delegating-wont-get-you-promoted-activity-7230196646461026304-D_UT ). Links to Jackie's profile and the inspiration post will be in the show notes for this episode. As with anything, we start with definitions to establish a context for further discussion. Delegation is assigning tasks to others. Leverage is using your resources (including people resources) to complete your work more effectively. While they can seem very similar, the differentiator is the goals and outcomes of the action. Way back in Episode 001 of this podcast ( https://www.managingacareer.com/1 ), I covered Higher Level Tasks. In that episode, I covered that your goal should be transitioning from process driven tasks to tasks that rely more on your personal discretion and judgement. Part of this transition is delegating lower level tasks. The goal of delegation is to pass activities that distract you from more strategic work to someone else. You do this because the task needs to be done but you are less focused on HOW it's performed. If done well, delegation is an opportunity to build trust with those that you delegate to because it helps them expand their role and provides them a level of autonomy. However, done poorly and they can feel a level of resentment when the delegated tasks are menial or if you continue to inject too much influence into the details of their performance of the task. When it comes to leverage, however, the goal is to continue to be involved in the task but to bring others into the activity. You may need to augment your skills by bringing in an expert. If the task requires navigating tough political waters, you may look to leverage someone with the right connections. Another reason to use leverage is when you are mentoring someone and you get them involved in order to expose them to new situations. The focus with leverage is to multiply your efforts through the resources available to you. Delegate small, routine tasks. Delegate to divide and conquer. Delegate to grow your team. Use leverage for those impactful, strategic, higher level tasks. Use leverage to augment your abilities. Use leverage to grow your network. In Episode 006 ( https://www.managingacareer.com/6 ), I introduced the concept of the Eisenhower Decision Matrix. This matrix divides work based on two scales: Urgency and Importance. This results in four quadrants: Urgent and Important known as the DO NOW quadrant; Important but not Urgent known as the SCHEDULE quadrant; Urgent but not Important known as the DELEGATE quadrant; and neither Important nor Urgent known as the IGNORE quadrant. This can be a useful way to determine which of your tasks would benefit from delegation and which would benefit from leverage. By definition, work that is urgent but not important falls into the DELEGATE quadrant, but there may also be opportunities to delegate some of the tasks that are in the DO NOW quadrant. If you have trusted members of your team that have shown growth or when specific skills are needed to accomplish them, consider delegating some of these urgent and important tasks within your team. When it comes to Leverage, the SCHEDULE quadrant is the perfect opportunity to take advantage of Leverage. This work is strategic in nature and being able to leverage your connections to make progress on these tasks while continuing to put focus on the work in the DO NOW quadrant will allow you to showcase your impact to the organization. Speaking of the DO NOW quadrant, this is another opportunity to apply leverage to remove any roadblocks preventing you from doing the things that should receive your primary attention. I would love to hear some stories of how this podcast has helped you in your pursuit of career advancement. Go to the ManagingACareer.com website and leave a message via the Contact form ( https://www.managingacareer.com/contact/ ) or click the button to leave a voicemail via your computer. Tell me which episodes have had the biggest impact for you. If I get enough feedback, I'll start including them in upcoming episodes.…
In today's episode of the ManagingACareer.com podcast, we take a look at a framework you can use to evaluate whether your current role will have a positive impact on your ability to advance your career. This framework is supported by four E's: Enablement, Empowerment, Engagement, and Enthusiasm. Enablement: The first E is Enablement. In Episode 51 - Success or Failure ( https://www.managingacareer.com/51 ), I use the quote from Alexander Graham Bell, "the only difference between success and failure is the ability to take action." A big factor in your ability to take action is whether or not you are enabled you to perform your role. Enablement refers to the support you receive to actually perform the duties of your role. Do you have the tools and access you need to be successful? When you face barriers, do your leaders help you break past them? Do you have a clear understanding of the expectations of the role? If you are a leader or a senior member of the team, how do you enable the rest of your team to perform their duties? Do you provide the documentation and SOPs that junior members require? Review Episode 5 ( https://www.managingacareer.com/5 ) on how Documenting Your Work can help you get ahead. Do you carve out time from your day to mentor others on your team? Review Episode 3 for more insights about Mentoring ( https://www.managingacareer.com/3 ). When you are enabled, you will have confidence that you can be successful in your current role. When you are enabled, you have the tools you need to be efficient. Empowerment: The second E is Empowerment. Where Enablement is about having the tools needed to perform your duties, Empowerment is about having the authority to perform your duties. If you have to check in with someone else for every decision you need to make, it can be demoralizing and discouraging. When you are empowered to make decisions, you will take initiative and drive results proactively. When you have responsibility of others on the team, do you empower them? Delegating decision making can free you up to do more important tasks. It will also lead to team that is more satisfied and more willing to follow your leadership. Engagement: The third E is Engagement. Engagement is when you feel connected to your work and have a desire to complete your duties at the highest level of quality. When there is a clear link between your role and your company goals you will have a higher level of satisfaction and be more willing to see things through. When the work you perform aligns with your goals, successful completion will lead to a positive performance review and the rewards and recognition associated with those reviews and ultimately to the advancement you seek. Enthusiasm: The final E is Enthusiasm. With Engagement being your connection to your company goals, Enthusiasm is your connection to your personal goals. Alignment with your interests and desires makes work easy. You don't need to be convinced to do the work because ultimately, it's what you want to do. I speak often about the Individual Development Plan and how it can help you identify the path you want your career to take. When your role aligns with your Career Vision (see Episode 37 - https://www.managingacareer.com/37 ), this linkage will provide personal motivation because you see how it will lead you to your ultimate goal. As a leader, watch for members of your team who only half-heartedly complete their work. There may be a mismatch between what you are asking them to do and their interests. Enablement, Empowerment, Engagement, and Enthusiasm. Resulting in Confidence, Initiative, Satisfaction, and Motivation. When your job provides you with all of these factors, career progression is just a matter of time. When any one of them are missing, reach out to your leaders and have a conversation on how, together, you can resolve that. I would love to hear some stories of how this podcast has helped you in your pursuit of career advancement. Go to the ManagingACareer.com website and leave a message via the Contact form ( https://www.managingacareer.com/contact/ ) or click the button to leave a voicemail via your computer. Tell me which episodes have had the biggest impact for you. If I get enough feedback, I'll start including them in upcoming episodes.…
Having regular conversations with your manager is important to ensure that you are on track for your desired career growth. But just as important is to occasionally have similar conversations with your skip level leaders. When it comes to skip level one-on-ones, there are three key outcomes to look for. First, is to build a relationship with your leaders. Second is to have an opportunity to highlight your contributions to the organization. And third is to have more insight into the direction that your leader is driving the team. Even just requesting the one-on-one will help you stand out when it comes time for promotions because most people never request a skip level meeting. This one act shows your leader that you are proactive and interested in advancing your career. Building a relationship. Unless you work for a very small company, your leaders are responsible for a lot of people; potentially a couple of hundred in larger companies. It is very rare for your skip level manager to know much about you individually. Requesting a one-on-one with them allows you to get to know them on a more personal level and for them to get to know you better. People are more likely to help people they like, so establishing a positive relationship and not just engaging in small talk should improve your chances of better assignments and eventually career advancement. Showcasing your contributions. When the conversation eventually turns towards your work, this is your chance to practice your presentation skills. Episode 056 covered Presenting to Leaders ( https://www.managingacareer.com/56 ); revisiting that episode should help you here. If you think about the scope and timelines that you are responsible for compared to those of your skip level leaders, their focus is on larger efforts and longer time horizons. So, as you describe your recent accomplishments, make sure you focus on describing them in relationship to the bigger picture. Many of the insights from Episode 44 - Reporting Status ( https://www.managingacareer.com/44 ) apply when communicating verbally, too. Focusing your contributions in terms of value produced will ensure that your skip level leader can relate what you do to the things that they care about. One of the benefits of presenting your contributions in the context of value to the organization is that it signals to your leader that you are starting to think strategically. Back in Episode 49 ( https://www.managingacareer.com/49 ), I cover several ways that you can transition to more strategic work and having your skip level leader recognize that growth should help. Gain Insight. The third goal of a skip level one-on-one is to learn about the direction of the organization from your leader. The purpose of this isn't to feed the rumor mill. Use this time to understand the drivers for the decisions that they make and figure out how those drivers can also be applied to your priorities. How can you leverage these insights to devise an idea that involves a bigger scope than your current level of responsibilities? Don't try to formulate the idea and make the pitch during your skip level one-on-one, but by understanding how your leader thinks and knowing what aspects are important to them, you can look for opportunities where you can expand your role. After your one-on-one is finished, spend the next few weeks refining your pitch. Reach out to trusted peers and mentors to vet the idea. Along the way, socialize the idea with decision makers and direct reports of your skip level leader. By winning over support, when you finally present your idea, it will be much easier to convince your skip level leader to adopt your idea. I would love to hear some stories of how this podcast has helped you in your pursuit of career advancement. Go to the ManagingACareer.com website and leave a message via the Contact form ( https://www.managingacareer.com/contact/ ) or click the button to leave a voicemail via your computer. Tell me which episodes have had the biggest impact for you. If I get enough feedback, I'll start including them in upcoming episodes.…
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