Career Tips from Phineas & Ferb
July 24, 2010
In a recent episode of my family’s new favorite show, step-brothers Phineas & Ferb learn about reverse engineering, defined by the host of the “Uncovery Channel” show they’re watching as the process of closely examining [an object] and its individual parts to figure out “what do it do?” and “how it do what it do?”.
Eureka! Career tips from a Disney cartoon! (A stretch that perhaps only a mom of a 6-year-old who happens to be a career coach can finagle.)
Let me connect some dots…
“WHAT HAVE I DONE?”
We’ve all done it at one time when looking for a job. Open the job board (or, showing my age, opening the Sunday paper looooong ago) and start with a keyword search, maybe. Marketing, IT, sales… See something of interest (for God only knows what reason at that particular moment) and think, “I could do that.”
In a land far far away, a long long time ago it may have gone something like this…
We do the resume to fit that job perfectly and get the interview. We tell them everything they want to hear and by week’s end we have the offer. We start the next Monday and within the first 90 days we awake one Monday morning, sweating uncontrollably over some unnamed source of stress and suddenly it hits us, “What have I DONE? This job isn’t ME!” But we stick it out and promise ourselves we’ll stay two years so we don’t look like a job-hopper on our resumes. Then…
“HOW DID I GET HERE?”
15 years later we wake up one day after chasing jobs and promotions in the same area because those are the skills we have now and say to ourselves, “How did I get HERE? This job isn’t ME!” Ah if we’d only trusted our gut earlier…
[Do you hear the voice of experience in this story? <ahem>]
Where did we go wrong?
CAREER REVERSE ENGINEERING
For starters, we did the job search backwards. Sure it may be the somewhat conventional way job seekers do what they do. But it’s certainly backwards from a job satisfaction point of view.
So I offer this: Instead of starting with what’s out there, the most successful job-seekers-turned-happily-employed start with what’s inside themselves.
Career reverse engineering is the best way to kick off a job search that results in finding that ideal position… the role that will bring the new employee a higher measure of self-worth and <gasp> joy. Yes, it IS ok to actually be HAPPY AT WORK.
5 STEPS & ACTION TIPS
To reverse engineer your own ideal career to jumpstart your search for the next job on that path, it starts with a close examination of YOU. To understand “what do it do” when the it is you.
1) Pay Attention to Your Energy Level
We are each uniquely programmed, if you will, to do something (maybe several things) really well. Those tasks that give us energy — versus deplete it — give us clues about what we are hardwired to do better than anyone else.
PUT IT INTO ACTION: Pay attention for a full week at work or think of your most recent position and it’s daily requirements. Make a list of the energizing activities from each day. Do you see any trends? Categorize these tasks into 3-5 themes. You now have a starting place for your ideal duties and responsibilities on the job.
2) Separate Strengths from Skills
You learn skills. You’re born with certain inalienable strengths. Ignore them at your own peril! [Again, voice of experience here.] Conventional development plans insist, “Work on your weaknesses to improve the things in which you do not already excel.” Really? “Fixing your weaknesses” or “maximizing your strengths,” that is getting better at those things at which you’re already naturally good. Where’s the better return on investment?
PUT IT INTO ACTION: We are our own worst critics, aren’t we? Especially when it comes to valuing what we do best. Ask friends, family, coworkers and others in your circles to write down 5 things they appreciate about how you operate. You may be surprised when you see the words they use. “Really? But that’s just what I do.” Exactly. Now, how do you get to do “that’s just what you do” in your job every day?
3) Stick to Your Core Values
One of the worst things that can happen in an economy such as we’re in now is that we lose sight of what’s most important to us when we get desperate for a paycheck. Might there be compromises along the way? I’m not so Pollyanna to think we might have to give up a few perks to make sure there’s food on the table. But beware sacrificing the principles that are woven into the fabric of your very being.
PUT IT INTO ACTION: This article includes a list of common personal values. Cross out the ones that are unimportant to you. Next, try to narrow the remaining values to 10. Now, take an even closer look. Can you settle on the top 5? How about 3? If these 3-5 values are not shared or at least respected by a potential employer, is it worth taking a position knowing you’ll be compromising what you hold most dear?
4) Articulate Your “Why”
Highest job satisfaction happens when we feel that we’re making an impact, when we care about the work and its outcomes. It’s about finding what is personally meaningful. So, what is it that will elicit, “I get to go to work today!” when the alarm goes off each morning?
PUT IT INTO ACTION: Just for fun, imagine you’ve won the lottery. And I mean the never-have-to-work-another-day jackpot. You no longer need a job for financial security. What do you have to do anyway? What do you care enough about that you will invest your time to see it through? Call it passion, cause, mission… This is your work.
5) Outline Your Success Factors
PUT IT INTO ACTION: Think on these things that can directly impact your professional and personal career success. What do you know you need to be truly successful? What does your physical space look like? Who are you teammates? What kind of leadership support do you need? How are you managed? How do you manage your direct reports? What’s the ideal culture that will bring out your personal best?
OTHER RESOURCES
It’s challenging to try to uncover and articulate our own strengths. One of my favorite resources that can help you do just this is StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath. All major book stores are likely to carry it. For about $20 you can purchase the book and take the online SF 2.0 assessment that will help you pinpoint natural talents that when practiced, developed and put to good use become true strengths.
Here’s to getting to do what you do best… every day!
MEET PHINEAS & FERB
The quickest summary: P&F, as it’s now known at the Masse home, is about step-brothers who, as a means to beat Dog Days boredom, devise outrageous activities throughout their summer vacation… like building a large-scale roller coaster throughout their hometown of “Danville,” opening a fine dining restaurant in their backyard and other mega shenanigans. Trust me, it’s way more hilarious than I’m portraying here, I swear.
The short relevant clip is from 1:15-1:40 but by all means watch more…
DISCLAIMER: I take no responsibility if you too get hooked. Enjoy!
Employee Engagement: Games We Play
September 22, 2009
So many give great lip service to the idea of getting the right people on the bus. But then what? How much time is spent getting the right people in the right seats based on what they bring to the game? Oh, not important in this economy? Wait… is employee engagement… just a game?
Wearing ‘Em Out?
You’ve seen it. The player drops in the coins, eagerly presses START and the ball appears. The player slowly pulls back the plunger and POW! it slams into the pinball propelling it into the game. It ricochets wildly, bouncing off bumpers, careening into drop targets. Lights flashing, bells ringing, music heralding points, points and more points! A popper shoots the ball out in the direction of the middle lane, drawing it down… down… down toward the inevitable end…
One down. Two to go. An exhilarating game. Unless you’re the ball. Sure, the frenzy can be energizing… for about 5 minutes. Is your employee engagement strategy like pinball or…?
Or Leveraging Strengths?
Or is it more like… chess. Individual contributors working together to move forward directed by a singular goal. It’s a complex game which the player leads leveraging each piece’s unique qualities to meet the ultimate objective.
Each piece knows its role, what the player expects of it and the value it brings to the game. Using its natural movements and relying on other pieces to fulfill their roles. Each with an important role to play. All working strategically toward the same goal.
OK, OK. Sure the analogy’s a little silly. But you know exactly what I’m saying. Here’s the real game-ender: Engage ‘em now or lose ‘em later. And here’s the data to back it up.
How to Keep ‘Em
Let’s get practical. A few key steps to keep employees engaged in tough times:
Focus on Natural Strengths vs. Proximity
You’ve downsized, rightsized and have asked employees to supersize their jobs as a result. This as a great opportunity to actually get more done with fewer people. Take a good hard look at the total value each employee brings to your game: their skills, instincts and natural talents. Be open to shifting job responsibilities based on these versus simply giving assignments to the next closest cubicle-dweller to that guy you had to let go. And by all means, ASK THEM for their input. If their work is comprised of things they are naturally good at doing they will get more done. Again, Gallup studies show that employees who are given the opportunity to do what they do best are 6 times as likely to be engaged in their jobs.
Personalize Recognition
Now more than ever you need to demonstrate — genuinely, authentically — that you care about your employees as human beings. They’re working tirelessly for you; how will you let them know you appreciate all their efforts? Give the working mom a Friday afternoon off for pampering or extra family time. Supply the Starbuck’s junkie with his fix for the day with a $5 gift card. A simple thank you note may make the biggest impact. The point is: make it meaningful to each individual and make sure the appreciation is indeed genuine. One-size recognition does not fit all.
Don’t Manage. Coach.
A favorite resource is Unleashed! Expecting Greatness and Other Secrets of Coaching for Exceptional Performance by Gregg Thompson. It teaches how to put the needs of the other person first and coach them for exceptional performance. Traditional managers direct tasks. The manager coach manages for results, allowing employees some freedom and flexibility in how the work gets done.
Communicate. Communicate. Communicate.
Check in with employees… often. More often than usual especially if your organization has gone through significant changes (lay-offs, reorganization, leadership change, etc.). One-time message delivery will not stick so if you’ve told them once, tell them at least another dozen if not 100 times. Remind them why you each come to work every morning, reiterating through words and actions that it’s all about the mission of the organization. Deliver bad news compassionately but purposefully. Always answer “why” and “what’s in it for me.” Ask for feedback. Involve them in the conversation. You never know what time-, resource-, money-saving ideas are just waiting to be discovered.
So… ready for a game of chess?
Prep for the Turnaround: Hire Right the First Time
July 13, 2009
RIGHT FIT = SKILLS + INSTINCTS
You meticulously reviewed the resume. Used your best behavioral interviewing techniques. Checked references until you were blue. But the new hire still turned out to be a dud. What was missing? He looked great on paper and blew the interview out of the water. But once on the job he not only didn’t play well with others and ran with scissors, he didn’t fulfill the responsibilities of the job even though his skills indicated he could. What happened?
More importantly, how do you make sure that never happens again?
To quote an article from Landscape Management — featuring friend and fellow Certified Kolbe Consultant Jason Cupp — “There is solid evidence suggesting that defining an employee’s or candidate’s natural instincts will often provide the information you need to make your best job placement decision. While employers can choose from many assessment tools, the Kolbe Index is a simple and accessible tool to outline and reveal a person’s initiating and supporting instincts.”
Bingo! The missing link: instincts.
When a hiring manager can rate candidates in an unbiased (by gender, age, race, national origin…) way based on matching their natural instincts to the instincts required for the job, they have the ability to identify the required methods of operation of the ideal candidate. In addition to skills listed in a resume or motivators discovered in behavioral interviewing. The power to predict performance — based on those instincts that drive actual, observable behaviors — can save another bad hire, which saves an enormous amount of time and financial resources. Can you afford afford not to do this triple-check?
COST OF A BAD HIRE
I’ve read several articles, blogs and tweets recently talking about hiring and the cost of making a bad choice. Some of the information I read included results from a 2007 survey by Right Management reporting that the cost of a bad hire ranged from one to five times annual salary. Twenty-six percent of respondents reported that replacing an employee that doesn’t work out cost their organizations three times annual salary and another 42 percent said bad hires cost two times annual salary.
“How do they figure that?” I wondered, which prompted me to throw together this perhaps unsophisticated yet telling formula:
Total cost of a bad hire =
% of salary paid
+ portion of benefits paid
+ direct management time (supervisor’s time spent with employee face-to-face)
+ indirect management time (time on planning for arrival, coordinating training, etc.)
+ management stress time (time spent not focused on work, putting off the inevitable)
+ IT time for computer, phone, and other systems set-up (and take-down for security purposes after the firing)
+ HR time setting up benefits, payroll, etc.
+ % salary of colleagues’ time spent/wasted on the time-sucker
+ cost of time to rebuild postpartum team morale
Yes, I’d say this adds up to somewhere between one to five times the annual salary of the departed disappointment. So the question then is…
Is it worth investing a small amount up front to ensure a candidate’s fit with the role, the team, the organization?
