Archive for February, 2010
Strive to be visible and valuable
February 27th, 2010 | 
Author: One of my personal goals in networking is to strive to be visible and valuable to the people in my professional life. I don’t want to be one of those people who call you only when I need you; or the kind of person who disappears for long periods of time.
I also don’t want to fall victim to the scary business statistic that I recently heard about: With every month that you are not in communication, you lose 10% of your influence. Staying in touch is clearly a business and career priority, in the good times and the lean times.
Here’s how I define visible and valuable in the context of networking and relationship building:
- Visible: be “front of mind” with the people that you care about. Communicate regularly, through both active and passive communication channels. Show up. Show your face. Don’t just communicate by email or texting. Let them see the whole human being that you are.
- Valuable: be a resource, be helpful, know what they need and care about. Help them solve their problems. Be collaborative, not competitive. Share your ideas, experiences, thoughts, ideas, content and resources that you have discovered and find worthwhile. Introduce people to other people that potentially can help them.
How often should you stay in touch?
The question of frequency of communication comes up when I speak to groups about professional networking and relationship building. The goal is to stay in touch frequently enough to have influence and visibility, without being overbearing.
Think of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears:
- “This one is too soft” – i.e., you are out of touch, you don’t reach out, you are neglecting your the people in your network. They start wondering if you are alive or if you simply don’t care enough about them to stay in touch;
- “This was is too hard” – i.e, your actions are too pushy, too much, you appear aggressive or worse yet, desperate or needy because you are constantly calling/emailing;
- “This one is just right” – i.e., you use the appropriate amount of follow-up, demonstrating that you care about the relationship, you are organized and professional and that you have self-confidence in who you are.
- Photo credit: Tito Verano, http://www.flickr.com/photos/88251752@N00/4085056238/
Are you Resume Ready?
While this may seem a bit ambiguous at first, this is a really important question – are you “résumé ready”? Being résumé ready is tantamount to being in a state of disaster preparedness or, to be a bit less dramatic, at least being ready for unexpected events such as a snow storm, power loss or, perish the thought, the loss of employment.
In my experience as a résumé writer, 99% of the clients who reach out to me are in a huge rush to update their résumé due to an unexpected layoff, a sudden dismissal or seeing an ad for their dream job to which they must respond within 24 hours. Wouldn’t it be far easier and more sensible to proactively keep one’s self in a state of readiness for whatever turn life might take by keeping one’s credentials current and available? After all, we take preventive health measures such as annual physicals and yearly dental checkups. We take our vehicles in for routine maintenance. Why not take the same approach to our careers and valued source of requisite income?
What would my advice be as an experienced recruiter and résumé writer? Update your résumé no less than once a year so that you’ll be “résumé ready” if disaster strikes or, more happily, opportunity knocks.
Download more articles from Bree Gurin. “Resumes and the Job Search: The Truth Revealed”
About the writer: Bree Gurin has been in the staffing industry for more than 28 years and is currently recruiting and placing candidates in the New York City area. She has also successfully been writing concise and informational résumés for candidates all across the country for the past 8 years. Bree can be reached at 860 485-1154, abgurin@snet.net or by visiting her website, www.gurinonline.com
What can we learn from the Toyota crisis?
We can all learn from Toyota’s current public relations disaster. It could happen to any one of our organizations. No one is immune from mistakes on a grand scale.
Successfully managing through costly and publicly-visible problems requires leaders to have a particular skill set and mind set. It’s called crisis management: the art of anticipating big problems before they happen so that you can handle them more effectively if and when they happen.
A willingness to address unpleasant truths. Sharpening your “crisis management” leadership skill set and organizational capability must be developed BEFORE the the proverbial poop hits the fan. Yet few companies “invest” in developing this organizational competency or training with their executive teams.
I found the following passage enlightening from a UK on-line magazine.
“The most effective crisis management takes place before the problem escalates out of control during the “incubation” phase. Some of the biggest potential crises have been identified and addressed before they ever escalated out of control: this is crisis management at its best. This requires an organisational culture that is vigilant for potential crises, has open lines of communication from staff to management, and a willingness to address unpleasant truths”. – Jonathan Hemus, guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 9 February 2010. Read the full article
An unforgettable experience. You only ever have to experience a crisis once to understand the importance of crisis management. It changes you in profound ways. It shows your character and your values, not to mention how well you can maintain your cool under extreme pressure. It can bring a team together in ways that no other business challenge can. It can also reveal other true leaders within the organization, those who perhaps fly under the radar screen and don’t have the fancy titles or authority, but have a natural proclivity to manage through crisis well. Yes, there is a gift in the crisis, if we choose to embrace it that way. It can make us personally and organizationally stronger. Our vulnerability, humility and willingness to learn makes us stronger.
Practice makes ready. They say that if it doesn’t kill us, it makes us stronger. Why not use the learning from our own business crises (and personal crises, for that matter) and the crisis experience of others, like Toyota, to shore up our weaknesses and round out our leadership skills and organizational capability. Perhaps as business leaders we should practice our crisis management skills regularly, like elementary school kids do with their fire drill rehearsals? We just need to think of all the potential “fires” our businesses may be susceptible to. Combustible problems comes in many different sizes and shapes.
Preparing yourself for a major career transition
U.S. Army Lt. Col. Christine Harvey is on a mission: Transition into the civilian working world.
I first met Chris Harvey at the 2009 Business Women’s Forum in Hartford, CT. It was hard not to notice her commanding presence and radiant energy. She is what I call a “motivated leader.” We have since networked together quite a bit and I am motivated to help her accomplish her “mission” in whatever way that I can. In my opinion, she is the kind of principled leader that “civilian” businesses need.
New York Daily News columnist, Carolyn Kepcher, highlighted Christine Harvey in her on-line column on February 8, 2010.
“Harvey is set to retire from the Army in nine months, and she realizes she’s entering a phase of life that will differ dramatically from the past 25 years. She joined the Army when she was 18 and moved up the ranks, enormously satisfied with the life of a career soldier.
Now a professor of military science at the University of Connecticut, Harvey is approaching her mission with the skill, dedication and positive attitude instilled in her by her military service. As a job candidate, Harvey brings quite a bit to the table.” reports Kepcher.
The action steps laid out by Christine Harvey serve as an excellent field manual for anyone contemplating a big career change. Included are major strategies including:
- Educating yourself on the ways of the new world you plan to enter;
- Preparing yourself including finding people that would be willing to let you observe them at work and answer your questions about their responsibility;
- Collaborating with others. Remember that you can accomplish far more as the member of a team than on your own. This is where networking comes into play;
- Executing the plan by setting a specific target date to make the big leap.
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