[2021-06-16] Compendium of posts: career

During my morning walk today, I had a mentoring chat with a fellow public servant. Quite a few times during the call, I mentioned different blog posts that I had written that I thought would be helpful to her.

This afternoon, I looked back at past posts to put together this compendium of Jenesis articles related to career management, organized by themes.

Focus on the right things

It's very easy, in both our jobs and our personal lives, to spend time on things that are not aligned with our goals. In Efficiency and effectiveness, I share tips from Timothy Ferriss' The 4-Hour Workweek, in which the author advises readers to ruthlessly prioritize their activities. Ferriss makes a helpful distinction between effectiveness and efficiency: "Effectiveness is doing the things that get you closer to your goals. Efficiency is performing a given task (whether important or not) in the most economical manner possible." He continues: "What you do is infinitely more important than how you do it. Efficiency is still important, but it is useless unless applied to the right things."

In The Power of Less, blogger Leo Babauta provides similar advice. As I describe in MITs and other habits, Babauta recommends choosing those tasks that will have the greatest impact by doing one of two things:
  1. Examine your task list. Take a look at everything on your list and ask yourself the following questions about each one: Will this have an impact that will last beyond this week or this month? How will it change my job, my career, my life? How will this further a long-term goal of mine? How important is that goal?...
  2. Start with your goals. If you start by identifying the things you really want to accomplish in the next year, you can plan your tasks so that you are doing things each day to further those goals along. Let's say you have three long-term goals―each day, choose a task from your list that will move you closer to those goals.
My favourite tip in Babauta's book is to establish your MITs. These are your Most Important Tasks―the three tasks you most want or need to get done today, at least one of which should be related to one of your goals. That's not to say that you can't complete more than these three tasks, only that these tasks are ones that you want to be sure to finish.

Discover what skills you need to advance in your career and expand your visibility

The first blog post I mentioned in my mentoring call today, and the one I've come back to again and again, is on the Informational interview. As I explained in that post, I took inspiration from a book by Peter Veruki, who explains that "An informational interview is simply a meeting that you arrange to talk to someone in a field, industry, or company that interests you." Veruki identifies three benefits of an informational interview: (1) they help job seekers to increase their comfort talking with people in a particular field, (2) they provide insight into the kinds of topics that might come up in a job interview, and (3) they offer a chance to check compatibility with the organization. From my experience, informational interviews are helpful in two additional ways. First, they provide job seekers with practical information about competencies they may need to have to work in a specific field. Second, they give job seekers visibility among senior managers in their field of interest. This visibility can prove to be a stepping stone to a new job, either with the senior person who grants the informational interview or a colleague of that person. The post provides a guide to requesting and conducting an informational interview.

Learn from mentors

My recent post on Mentoring is useful for anyone looking to obtain advice and guidance from more experienced individuals. The post provides 13 tips for mentees on how to get the most out of their mentoring relationships, for example, do your homework on your prospective mentor, recognize that mentors are all around you, and be prepared for your mentoring discussion. While I don't think that a mentor is essential to career success, particularly if you are good at learning from everyone around you, I do think that there is value in having different people over the course of your career who can serve as a sounding board when you encounter challenges or obstacles.

Build your confidence

Everyone lacks confidence at various points in their career, often when starting a new job. This is true whether you are an analyst, a middle manager or an assistant deputy minister. In my post Confidence, I share 12 tips for building and maintaining a sense of self-assurance. Among the tips in that post are these: know that lack of self-confidence is a universal challenge, be aware of your self-talk, and stretch yourself, but not to the point of breaking.

Work on your emotional intelligence

In Emotional intelligence (part 2), I quote Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, who explains why emotional intelligence (EQ) may be more important that cognitive intelligence (IQ). Once you've obtained your degree and are in the workplace, you are competing with people who may have similar IQs. "But," he says, "whether they have the motivation that you have, whether they have the self-discipline, the self-management skills you have, whether they have the empathy, whether they’re socially skilled, that’s where the playing field really differs among people." He adds that's where you see stars emerge—people who have competencies such as being able to manage their emotions, work toward their goals, remain adaptable, and stay positive.

Hone your written communication skills

One of the most valuable skills anyone in the knowledge economy can have is excellent written communication. Good writing requires clear thinking and the ability to turn those thoughts into words. My post on the MACJ writing method provides an approach for breaking the writing process down into smaller tasks based on four characters that lead the various stages of writing:
  • The Madman gathers material and generates ideas.
  • The Architect organizes information by drawing up an outline, however simple.
  • The Carpenter puts your thoughts into words, laying out sentences and paragraphs by following the Architect’s plan.
  • The Judge is your quality-control character, polishing the expression throughout—everything from tightening language to correcting grammar and punctuation.
The post provides detailed instructions on what to do in each stage of the writing process.

If you are a manager, recognize your power to influence your staff and their performance

Poet and philosopher John O'Donohue said: "I've always thought that the way you address someone and the way you engage with them is a huge determinant of what actually comes forth from them." I believe this is especially true if you are a manager. In Leaders and followers, I suggest that how a boss treats their employees accounts for at least 50% of their performance.

Similarly, in Potential, I share research from a paper called The Neuroscience of Talent Management, which states that "Tapping potential is, by definition, seeing others for what they can grow to be, rather than what they are." Strong leaders, the paper says, encourage and support learning in their teams and provide opportunities for employees to stretch and challenge themselves. The paper argues that this is one of the most effective ways to achieve employee engagement. "Personal growth and learning are among the most engaging elements of work and are key motivators for many employees. Strengthening commitment through learning opportunities is a powerful engagement strategy."

Quoting social scientist Joseph Grenny in Feedback, I note that if people feel safe, they are much more open to negative information. Grenny says: "You can say almost anything to someone if they feel safe. Likewise, you can hear almost anything, if you feel safe." However, if you feel unsafe, even the tiniest bit of disapproval can be crushing. The post offers three ways to help others feel safe before you provide feedback and three ways to help yourself feel safe before you receive feedback.

I propose in Officers don't run that you cultivate your ability to manage stress and not pass it on to your employees. I share a story in which a former colleague marveled at the calmness of two managers—both former military men—which was so different from his own frenetic nature. He asked them how they could be so calm. One of the retired officers explained: "Officers don't run—it makes the troops nervous."

Finally, I assert in Lollipop moments that leadership is exercised in countless small ways. It's inviting a young person to take a place at the table. It's showing confidence in someone's ability to make the right decision. It's providing feedback on an employee's work and how it was received by senior managers. It's seeking input from all team members. It's smiling at an employee and listening intently while they present to a group of executives. It's learning, correctly pronouncing and regularly using others' names. It's taking time to say hello and to acknowledge staff. It's passing along compliments but also asking for permission to provide constructive feedback. It's taking junior employees along to meetings with senior colleagues.

Don't sacrifice work-life balance for your career

One of the biggest challenges you may be facing is how to balance your work and your personal life―a challenge that has been exacerbated by working from home and one that becomes harder as you advance in your career. In Limits, I pass along guidance from time management coach Elizabeth Grace Saunders, who says that while almost any of us can go above and beyond normal expectations in short bursts, particularly at the beginning of a job or project, pushing ourselves to work long hours over an extended period is not sustainable. She states: "The key to success at work and in life isn’t really starting strong, it’s staying strong." Saunders provides concrete steps for setting and upholding limits and quotes Greg McKeown, author of Effortless, in summing up her argument: "Do not do more today than you can completely recover from by tomorrow."

Similarly, in Traditions, habits and boundaries, I suggest that work will always demand more and more from us. So my advice to you if you want to advance in your career without sacrificing quality time with family or friends is to establish traditions, habits and boundaries when you are still early in your career. That could be a 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. sacred time for family or a Saturday morning ritual or a yearly trip to the cottage during summer holidays. When efforts to protect family time become part of your daily, weekly or annual routine, you are more likely to stick with them and to garner your boss's respect for them.

For my part, I acknowledge in Work hard but... that I might have made different career choices had I known that I would face a life-threatening illness at 54. As I wrote in that post, I still believe that hard work is noble, but I also believe in insisting on time away from work for family and friends, even if I wasn't a great role model.

I took today's mentoring conversation by phone so that I could do it while on my morning walk. As I explained in Walking meeting, combining a walk with work is a great way to achieve two objectives at the same time: giving back while taking care of my health.