Managing A Career Layne Robinson

There is a lot of uncertainty in the job market right now with so many news stories talking about this company or that company laying of large portions of their workforce.  If you've been following the guidance that I've shared in the various episodes of this podcast, you've likely done all within your power to keep your name off of "the list", but sometimes, no matter what you do, you could find yourself impacted by a layoff.
 
When you lose your job, it's ok to have feelings.  Acknowledge them.  Work through them.  Find support for them.  In Episode 043 - Mental Health and You, I cover several resources and strategies that may help you in this situation.  Additionally, most companies offer counselling services to those affected by a layoff; take advantage of them if you need them.  If you need an escape, spend a few days taking a mental vacation so that you can return refreshed and able to focus on finding new employment.
 
Once you have recovered from the initial shock, the next phase is to address short-term needs.  Begin by understanding what, if any, severance is offered -- not just monetary, but how long will your health insurance continue, what sort of job placement assistance will be offered, etc.  Additionally, apply for any government unemployment benefits as soon as possible.  It usually takes time for those processes to complete, so starting early ensure a minimal gap before they begin.
 
Once your immediate personal needs have been addressed, the next steps are to prepare for the upcoming job search.  If you are like most people, you haven't kept your resume up to date because there wasn't a need.  Take some time to review and update it.  If you were offered job placement assistance as part of your severance package, that usually includes someone available to help revise your resume.  Don't forget to review and update any online profiles such as LinkedIn or job boards as well.
 
Before you begin the actual job search, it's a good time to reflect on WHY you were let go.  Why were you selected instead of your peers?  What skills should you work on while you look for a job?  This is also a good time to look at new skills that you can develop that can open up additional options for potential jobs.  Use your time away from the daily grind to focus on learning and growth.
 
In Episode 029 - Building a Network, I had covered how to expand your network.  You don't build a network overnight, but if you've spent time building a strong network, now is the perfect time to take advantage of it.  As a personal anecdote, other than my very first job in high school, every job I've ever had can be traced back to my network in some capacity.  Reach out to those that you know to see if they have leads and connections on a new job.
 
At this point, you are ready to begin the actual search.  Determine what your ideal situation will be and target jobs that meet that criteria.  Will you look for a similar job to the one you had or will you leverage new skills that you are building to transition to a different type of job?  Would you be open to considering a freelance or contractor position?  Is this a good time to consider a management position?  Early in your job search, it's ok to be selective.  But the longer the search goes, the more flexible you may need to be, based on your personal situation.
 
Job hunting can be trying and stressful.  It is good to have someone on your side during this process.  Don't be afraid to engage a personal Mentor or a Career Coach to help you with the process.  They can help you review your plan and practice interview techniques so that you are better positioned to land the job that you want.  There may even be instances where you will want to use a Placement Firm to aid your search -- for instance, many executive positions are not listed on the public job boards and going through a placement firm can get you access to that type of pos

Manager, Leader, Mentor, Coach; all four can help you advance your career.  This week, we take a look at each role and how each one can help you in your quest for a promotion.
 
At the most simplistic level, the roles can be summarized as:
A Manager tells you want to do.  A Leader enables you so that you can do it. A Mentor shows you how to do it. And a coach changes the way you think about it.  
Your manager is responsible for what projects you work on.  It's important to have a manager that recognizes both your strengths as well as what skills you need to develop.  If they take these things into account when giving you assignments, they can ensure that you are successful while still growing as an individual.  And, of course, they are ultimately the decider on whether you are considered for a promotion.  With that much control over your activities, you don't need to be best friends with your manager, but you certainly need to build a positive relationship with them.
 
A leader is someone who inspires and motivates the team.  In Episode 016 - What Does It Mean To Be A Leader, I described a leader as someone who enables their team to do MORE.  A good leader can remove impediments and provide you with the tools and resources you need to complete your tasks.  Leadership can come from people in official leadership positions or from peers that lead informally.  Regardless of the source, a good leader will put you in the best position for success.
 
A mentor is someone -- sometimes on your team, but not always -- that acts as a teacher.  Episode 003 - Mentoring goes into types of mentoring in more detail   When you are learning a new skill or working in a new company, having a mentor to show you the ropes can help you learn skills faster but also the way to apply those skills in line with how the company values them.
 
The final role that can help you advance your career is a coach.  The role of the coach is to challenge your thinking and get you to look at things from a new angle or with a different mindset.  Where leaders and mentors are focused on the shorter term tasks, coaches are looking towards the horizon.  A good coach will help you set long term career goals and help you put a plan in place to achieve those goals.  Where the mentor is focused on skills and tools that address your current assignments, a coach will focus on skills and tools that will help you grow as an individual.  Often, a coach will come from outside of your organization where they will not be restricted in their thinking by the limits and attitudes of everyone else.
 
If you're lucky, you may find one person that serves all four roles, but that will be rare.  More often than not, you will need to find two or three different people to fill them.    Managers and Leaders, by their nature, will be people within your team or organization.  Mentors and coaches may come from anywhere -- within your company or even externally.
 
When looking for a mentor or coach, there are several places that you can look.
First, look to more senior or longer tenured members of your team.  Even if they are not interested or if they don't feel like a good fit for you specifically, you can leverage their connections to find other candidates. Another source for finding mentors and coaches is to reach out to your network and professional organizations.  Ask your personal connections if there is someone that can and will mentor you or if they know someone who will.  If you have access to a formal network such as an alumni network of your school or an industry association, they will usually have matching services that will put you in touch with potential mentors and coaches. Lastly, look towards professionals.  There are professional coaches that can help with various aspects of your professional career.  Whether technical skills or soft skills, look for a coach that is experienced in the areas that you wish t

The other day, while browsing Facebook, a quote appeared on my feed that I found very inspiring.  "The only difference between success and failure is the ability to take action" - Alexander Graham Bell.  This week, I want to break down why I find this quote so inspiring.
 
In general, I consider myself a fairly successful person.  But most of that success has come from not being afraid of the results and just TRYING…..or using the language of the quote, taking action.
 
If you are looking to make progress -- on anything -- you can sit an analyze (very likely over analyze), or you can take action.  Even when that effort does not produce the desired results, it still provides learnings and guidance for how to refine your approach and take additional action.  Regardless of the results, taking action puts you closer to your goal.
 
In addition to the aspect of progress, taking action also helps resolve fear.  Most fear comes from the unknown.  Each time you take action, you become more comfortable and familiar with the situation.  This results in eliminating doubt and transitioning the unknown that you fear to the known that you can overcome.
 
The final reason that taking action should be inspiring is the snowball effect.  Taking small action leads to small wins.  Small wins helps build confidence and momentum leading to bigger actions and bigger wins.  Over time, those early small actions have led to exponentially bigger and bigger success.
 
To reiterate the quote from Alexander Graham Bell, "The only difference between success and failure is the ability to take action."  Making progress, removing fear, and exponential momentum all leads to success….because you took action.
 
If you, like me, find this inspiring, the next question is how can you apply this to your career?  I stress in the intro and outro of this podcast that taking control of your career is entirely up to you because no one else will do it for you.  And part of taking control is to consider your situation and take action to move your career forward.
 
In previous episodes, I've covered the Individual Development Plan.  If you need a refresher on the IDP, a good place to start is Episodes 036 though 040 where I introduce the IDP and then proceed go through the process of creating one.  After following the IDP Process, you should have created an Action Plan.  If you find yourself struggling to make progress, find the simplest task in the plan and focus on completing it.  Let this small action build to others and clarify the unknown.
 
In addition to the Action Plan, the IDP includes a Successes section.  When you find yourself stuck, reflect on your accomplishments.  Remember how completing those actions made you feel.  Think about how you may have been unsure before you started the task, but once you took action, it built until you completed it.
 
If taking on tasks from your Action Plan and reviewing your Successes doesn't inspire you to move forward, seek out a mentor, coach, or trusted leader that can provide the motivation that helps you break through and resume career progress.
 
When you are ready to take action towards advancing your career, go to ManagingACareer.com and request a free IDP Template.  The IDP provides a framework for ensuring that the actions you take are in alignment with your career goals and the difference between career success and career failure is taking action that moves you one step closer to your goals.
 

If you regularly listen to my podcast, it's either because you know me personally and want to help me out (thanks, I appreciate it) or because you found me because you are looking for advice on how to position yourself for a promotion.  I hope that you find my advice targeted and actionable while being presented with simple clarity.
 
But, I'll also be the first to tell you that you should listen to multiple people and synthesize your own plan about the best course forward because no one else lives in YOUR personal situation.  The advice on my podcast comes from my personal experience or from conversations I've had with others that I have either worked with or lead.  Even when inspired from another source, I still try to put my own spin on the content.  But the factors that come into play in your life may not line up with my suggestions because they have been filtered through my lens and generalized for a wider audience.
 
There are quite a few famous names such as COO of Facebook Sheryl Sandberg, author Brene Brown, entrepreneur Seth Godin, or several other authors, coaches, or executives that you can follow, and if their approach speaks to you, you should certainly do so.  But, this week, I wanted to highlight several less well-known public voices that you might also want to follow to hear different takes on similar topics.  Combining what you learn from me as well as any of these other people can help you figure out the best option for your personal circumstances.
 
The first voice I want to mention is Jackie Simon of Jackie Simon Coaching.  I mentioned her in Episode 012 - Receiving Effective Feedback as that episode was inspired by one of her posts.  Jackie posts daily on LinkedIn with information targeted at people leaders, but as evidenced by my podcast episode, you can extrapolate the information to people of all levels.  I find her posts to be inspirational driving me to want to be a better leader for my team.
 
The next person that I follow is Jayme Edwards from Healthy Software Developer.  Jayme is someone that I actually know personally and respect highly. He and I worked together for several years.  Jayme's podcast and YouTube content is targeted toward helping software developers maintain a healthy work life balance driven by a lot of personal stories.  But, I would argue that his content applies to ANYONE because work life balance is crucial for everyone.
 
For those in a position of leadership with a goal of reaching the executive level, take a look at the content of Ethan Evans of EthanEvans.com.  Ethan is a former VP from Amazon who offers deep knowledge of what it takes to move into the executive ranks.  Learning from someone who has been there before, especially in such a challenging environment, is extremely beneficial.  If his more direct style is agreeable to you, I can personally recommend his courses as I've paid for some with my own money and gained a lot of value from them.  Ethan also have a newsletter that offers insightful answers to questions from his followers.
 
Wes Kao, the co-founder of Maven, posts on LinkedIn and offers a valuable newsletter at WesKao.com.  She offers insights on how to build a positive relationship with your manager in order to gain more opportunities and build a successful career.
 
The last voice that I want to highlight is Randy Mahoney, Jr with his Work With Purpose podcast.  Randy releases episodes of his podcast once a month with information targeted at job seekers looking for insights into how to stand out during the job application process.
 
Now, you may be wondering something along the lines of "these people are your competition, why are you telling us about them?"  And the answer to that is the same thing I would say if there were one available promotion and someone else I knew was also up for that same promotion.  One of the best signs of a good leader is how they lift up those around them.  I allu

In Episode 001, I touched on the subject of Higher Level Tasks.  In that episode, I talked about how you can position yourself for advancement by transitioning from process oriented tasks to higher-level tasks that leverage more discretion and judgement.  This week, we'll revisit that topic and discuss additional strategies for making this transition.
 
Process oriented tasks are those that follow a standard flow and can be done more through rote action than through personal agency.  Higher-level tasks are often unique and require more understanding and experience to resolve.  These types of tasks usually provide more value to the organization leading to additional responsibilities and, eventually, a coveted promotion.
 
Previously, I offered several methods you could use to showcase your creativity, problem solving, and decision making skills.  These included optimizing processes that you owned and volunteering to take work from senior members of your team.  This week, I'll cover some additional options for stepping into higher-level tasks.
 
Understanding the BIG picture
Higher-level tasks are often focused on decisions that move the organization forward.  Having an understanding of the values of the company and its leadership, allows you to align your decisions with them.  So, how do you go about learning about other areas of the business?
 
First, you can pay attention during organization-wide meetings.  During these types of meetings, they will often talk about projects that are important or that have a high, cross-departmental impact.  This will give you insight into what ideas and initiatives you could champion in your area that would build on those important projects.
 
Next, look for cross-functional teams that give you exposure to people in other areas.  Leverage those teams to build your relationships and expand your network.  Schedule sessions with these new contacts to discuss what they are working on and how that relates to your work.
 
Lastly, keep up with trends in your industry.  Dedicate time each week to read up on everything related to your industry and competitors.  Are there new approaches or new technologies that you can bring to your organization?
 
Strategic Thinking
Once you've built an understanding of the big picture, you'll be better positioned to develop your strategic thinking skills.  There are a few exercises you can undertake that will take your understanding of the big picture and use that to think strategically.
 
First, practice Critical Analysis of your existing work.  Challenge the assumptions underlying each decision.  Use techniques like the "Five Whys" to get to the actual root of them.  Ask probing questions to understand why those assumptions are believed and look for evidence that those assumptions are still valid or if they need to be changed.  When you determine that the assumptions are incorrect, analyze how that changes the original decision.
 
Next, leverage Systems Thinking.  With each problem that you face, focus on the interconnections between the different systems involved in the problem.  The interconnections will be where changes will have the biggest impact.  Start by understanding the system at the highest levels and spiral down to lower and lower levels looking for areas where you can have the highest impact.
 
Finally conduct Scenario Planning exercises.  Using the knowledge of the industry trends, play "what if" to see how those trends could be beneficial or detrimental to your company.  What are some changes you could champion that would turn negative trends to your favor?  How would that impact your current projects?  What if your competitor is in a better position to take advantage of these trends?
 
By understanding the big picture and utilizing strategic thinking, you will be showing your ability to handle higher-level tasks.  When you have your one-on-one meetings with your

Early in your career, advancement is generally easier and is just a matter of doing "more"……more tasks, bigger tasks, more responsibility.  But, transitioning to senior levels may require a different approach - being more innovative.  Senior members of the team are usually expected to bring new solutions, approaches, and ideas to the problems the team tackles.  These expectations can best be met by those on the team that are the most innovative.
 
Innovative solutions can often lead to improved efficiencies, reduced costs, or new product lines.  Before we look at some techniques that could help you be more innovative, let's talk about some of the benefits of adopting this mindset.
Opportunities to lead - those who provide thought leadership are often the ones given the chance to lead the efforts to implement those ideas. Demonstrates value - those who provide the most value are often promoted fastest; by being the one to solve difficult problems, you can give yourself an edge. Drives learning - innovation requires learning new skills and staying abreast of advancements in your field. Inspire teammates - by facing difficult problems with curiosity and determination in order to find a solution, others on the team will follow suit resulting in an elevation of the capabilities of the team.  
With some of the key benefits outlined, we turn towards some techniques that you can  leverage to encourage more innovative thinking.  Some of these techniques will work better in person, but several of them can be used in a remote setting, so regardless of whether your company has deemed there to be a Return To Office, you can still find ways to be innovative.
Host brainstorming sessions - whether in-person or virtual, hold sessions where anything and everything is considered a viable solution.  Spend the first half of the session just listing out possible solutions, regardless of how absurd the idea seems.  Then, as new ideas slow, transition to analyzing each idea.  Don't consider why an idea WON'T work until every idea has been reviewed as to why it WOULD work.  This will ensure that each idea has had adequate consideration and not dismissed unfairly. Bring together cross-functional teams - by working with people in other areas, you may be able to find parallels within their respective fields that can be applied in novel ways to your problem.  Additionally, it can help you strengthen your network making it easier to implement the solution once identified. Schedule "thinking" time - one way to foster innovation is to schedule regular time on your calendar to just sit and think.  During this scheduled time, turn off all distractions and if possible, get away from your normal workstation.  Innovating is a skill and you build skill through repetition and practice.  By scheduling recurring time to just think, over time, you'll find that you are able to envision ideas and solutions with less and less effort. Create prototypes - prototypes allow you to test aspects of an idea without focusing on a complete solution.  Proving smaller complex pieces reduces the overall risk of adopting an unfamiliar approach and allows the cycle of innovation to proceed faster.  
Regardless of the techniques you use, there are several tools that can aid you as you work on ideas.
Whiteboards - whiteboards are one of my favorite tools because they allow you to capture notes or quickly edit as you think through ideas.  Using multiple colored pens provide simple ways to categorize your notes or to make important parts stand out. Idea prompts - There are numerous apps and websites that will generate random words or random prompts.  There are also physical books that offer thinking strategies.  Using these types of tools allow you to contemplate the problem from angles that you may not normally consider. Idea diagrams - There are also several different popular brainstorming diagrams such as mindmaps, fishbones, fl