Accelerate Your Search™ Now

Mid-year evaluations are complete.  Maybe you spent weeks tuned into the gossip about who would get a raise, who’s getting a promotion and who is on the way out the door.

Then you learned your verdict.  No promotion and only the standard cost-of-living increase or maybe no increase.  Or, you had been asking for help and instead got more work.  You hoped completing more work would, at least, get you promoted.  It didn’t.  Now you are frustrated, upset and unsure of what to do.

Do you really want to do something different?  If so, here are some practical suggestions to help you move forward:

 1. Identify the conditions you want to change about your work.

What are the true conditions and issues you want to change?  Clearly identify what you want and what you are willing to take action on.  It is difficult to resolve an unidentified condition or vague matter.  It is a challenge to request support if others don’t know what you want, what you need or understand the help you wish to receive.

2. Identify what you are protecting or avoiding.

Complaints and/or comments seem to be a way to release our internal stress.  But oftentimes, when the stress is gone so is the desire to change the matter.

If you have a strong desire to change the situation look deeper.  If you are just ‘blowing off stream’ or releasing your frustration, find a way to do so that does not cause harm to your reputation and your relationships with other people.  If you are avoiding something you fear, identify the fear and how you want to productively deal with it.

3. Set up your ongoing and future success.

Identify the actions and valuable resources that will help you gain knowledge about what changes and performance level are needed to secure your desired promotion.  Start with your conversations/interactions.  When someone asks, “Did you get the promotion?” share the news and your intention.

Here a suggestion: “No, I did not receive the promotion, yet.  Thank you for asking.  If you’re interested in my progress, would you like periodic updates, in confidence of course?”

Not getting the promotion you wanted can be disappointing and frustrating.  It can also bring up concerns, stress, and doubts.  Growing to the next level is exciting, fun and fulfilling, but it can also present bumps and challenges along the way.  Having the support you need to achieve your goals helps smooth the road.

Have you missed a promotion you wanted?  What is next for you?

What are your thoughts or comments?  Please post them below.

Who are you partnering with to grow to the next level?  Do you have a mentor or coach?  Have a question or want to talk about how you can get the promotion you want?  Give us a call.

“Faith is not something to grasp, it is a state to grow into.” – Gandhi

The job search can be the toughest job you will ever have.  Sometimes despite “positive thinking,” great marketing, resolve, determination, focus on your goals and vision, doubts jump into your thoughts.  Go ahead, admit it.

Pause and think about how you FEEL about building, connecting and interacting with your network.  Those feelings dictates how your network grows, how fast you have an impact and your growth to the next level.

Sometimes when you reach for the phone or start to type an email your inner voice of doubt begins to chatter.  It asks, “Why would this person be interested in hearing from me, we’ve not talked in years?” or “What will this person think of me?”  You don’t want to be known as “underemployed and begging for help” or “that person that needs help to make it.”

When inner doubt shows up it can change how you feel.  The way we feel directly impacts the actions we take.  Especially in marketing ourselves, our value, and with whom we are willing to share information.

What you choose to do (or not to do) will determine the opportunities you have and those you will find.  Actions directly impact the results you achieve, your income and your success.  The choice of what to do will also impact how you FEEL and ACT this afternoon and tomorrow.

Discover how you feel.  Decide if you like it or not.   Decide if you want to change it or not.

How you feel shows up in how you THINK and ACT.  If you feel bad, do you what that to continue?

What would be different if, as Gandhi suggests in the quote above, you grow into the faith that connecting or re-connecting with each person will bring good things to you and to them?

Intellectually, you and I already know you have significant value to offer.  Why not grow the value you offer by sharing it with the world or at least your network?

Have the courage to BELIEVE the results you achieve are indeed coming from your feelings, thoughts and actions.  Be a magnet for success and prosperity in your search.  FEEL confident about your value and be willing to ACT.  You must be aware of your feelings and take action or your will miss the opportunities available within your network.

Assess your network.  Take inventory of the people you know.  As in any business, inventory is an asset and will impact your bottom line.

The network of people you know is a component of your social and business capital.  Who are your critical connections?  Who are the critical connections you need to add to your network?

Create a plan to connect and stay connected.  Who knows you?  Who likes you?  Who trusts you?  Who will you connect with this week?  How will you stay connected?

Share your feelings and thoughts below.  Do you need help with your networking plan?  Give Cindy a call.

Have you given culture much thought?  Seventy-five percent of the executives I work with rank culture more important than pay.

Is the culture of an organization important to you?  Are you struggling to discover a company’s culture?

If you are looking for a promotion, new position or considering a career transformation and fit is important to you, may I suggest you give some thought to culture. Start by think about the culture of your current or last company.

I believe there are two critical things to understand about an organization’s culture:  (1) all organizations have a desired culture and (2) an actual culture.

Often there is a big difference between the desired culture and the actual culture.  This may be because the organization is growing and changing.  Culture does not usually change fast.  Organizations in transition may also have teams or key leaders wearing grey or rose-colored glasses.

Here are proven steps to researching and discovering company culture:

1. Begin by recording your view of the company culture.  Note why you have this view, then note the evidence that supports your view.

2. Look for and read about what the organization states about its culture.  Note your sources, then note the behaviors and actions that indicate there is evidence of the stated culture.

3. Connect with and ask a representative sample of people within the organization about the culture.  Note what your sample tells you.  Realize that cultures have sub-groups or sub-cultures.  Be sure to gather data from a diverse group of people or you may only discover part of the culture.

4.  Connect with and ask vendors and customers about the culture of the organization.  Realize that cultures have layers and may look and feel different from various angles or points of view.  Again note what you are told.

5.  List what you discovered about the culture.  Verify your data.  Determine what you have learned about the culture.  Note how you fit (or don’t) into the culture you discovered.

Don’t forget company cultures evolve and change at a pace different than many other elements of business.  Be careful if you are only talking to people who ‘once upon a time’ worked or did business with the organization.  As you review your notes, think about the key factors that influence a company’s culture:  growth rate, age of the company, industry norms, competitiveness, company strategy and supporting tactics.

Also, culture is influenced by the leadership and management style of those you work for and the job itself.   The culture of an IT department may differ from the culture of an accounting department.

In five simple steps you have collected the data to discover and analyze the culture of a company you are interested in joining. When your transformation includes finding a specific culture or if culture in general is important to you, this data is helpful.

Will you invest the time and resources to discover some of the key components of the company’s actual culture?  If you need help removing your culture blinders, assessing where you fit, or seeing the blind spots that tripped you up in the past, let’s talk.

Have an amazing week!

At the end of the week we, in the United States, will celebrate July 4th — our Declaration of Independence in 1776.

What will you celebrate on July 4th?

Will it be freedom, independence, awareness or . . .

How will you celebrate?  A concert, parade, picnic or . . .

Have you given thought on how to really enjoy this day?

Will you be reviewing the past, reflecting on history and past experiences?  Or, will you be looking to the future, perhaps to a July vacation or your next amazing position?

I will be present and celebrate the freedom I have as a citizen of the USA and of the world.  I am grateful to be an American and to also celebrate an “Independence Day” of my own journey of freedom.

July marks when I first realized the power and freedom of being present — intentionally being attuned to the current moment. I recognized that the past holds history, experiences, and memories and that the uncertainty of the future will never arrive.

Awareness of NOW guarantees freedom, choice, joy, and much more.  Whatever and however you celebrate at the end of the week, may you have the blessings of celebrating each minute in the present.

Have an amazing 4th of July!

Last week, I shared how one experience created many limitations for me over the years in both my career and in business.  I allowed the past to limit my future.

For a long time, I did not stop to think, design and intentionally review the opportunities presented to me.  And, unfortunately, I did not realize it or know why.  Years later, I have come to understand my behavior and spot it in a second!  Now, I do my best to pause in lieu of reacting immediately.

Here is the story that created my limiting beliefs:

It was my first solo sailing trip after purchasing my sailboat.  I had learned how to sail, purchased the boat and went out alone on a great summer day.  Unfortunately, I opened my sails too fast and very quickly the wind caught the main sail.  The wind shifted the boat and dumped me in the water.  I am a good swimmer and almost fearless in the water.  Yet, on that day, the wind was strong and the water cold.  I felt the sting to my confidence of being ill prepared for a brief minute.

This sting momentarily rattled my confidence and tested my knowledge.  A voice in my head said, “You don’t know enough to do this alone.”  That voice was scary and loud.

A moment later, I climbed back aboard the boat and I immediately knew I could correct for the error I made — so I did.  I tried again and enjoyed sailing for another couple of hours.  I was happy, had fun and went home to share the events of the day.

As I shared my adventure with others, they added their voices of concern to the little voice in my head that kept repeating, “You don’t know enough to do this alone.”  Over time the voice in my head, and the voices of others, grew to sound like a bold, robust choir!  I started to believe that perhaps the others knew better than I did.  What if they were right?  What if I did take too many risks?

In the moment that I lifted my head out of the water that day and the cold wind stung my face I began to write the ending to a story that would evolve and limit my opportunities for many years.  My story that resulted in quick “NO’s” kept telling me, “Don’t be too fearless.  Don’t be too courageous.  Don’t risk too much.”

Now when that choir shows up like a cold wind, instead of saying “NO” immediately, I use it to offer encouragement to myself to pause and assess each opportunity.  When that sailing experience flashes through my mind, I see it as an opportunity to design, craft and set an intention for each opportunity before me.  Rather than being a limitation, as it initially was, it is now helpful.

What story do you tell yourself that limits your opportunities?

What story or stories do you need to review?

If you are a courageous, do-it-yourself person, much like me, you may be putting off seeking help and support.  I can tell you I did not learn to turn off the choir and write new endings without help.

Just like learning to sail, building a career or a business are adventures that are much more fun and profitable when they are not solo adventures.  I sought out mentors, coaches and many others to help me.  Who is helping you rewrite your “stories?”  Who is helping you build and transform your career?

If you are ready for a career, business, or life experience that will transform your work and create an amazing new career filled with fun and many opportunities, let’s talk.

I love the summer season.  It brings play, work and fun into a different space for me.

Most of all, summer is a reminder to create, design, and intentionally write the endings to the experiences and stories of my life.

What about you?

Do you have stories you tell yourself that limit your opportunities?

For years I had many ‘stories’ that created interesting limitations.  One in particular came not from previous work experience, but rather from a sailing experience.

In my youth, I learned to sail with my dad and family.  I enjoyed sailing and decided to buy a sailboat.  This is where my limiting story began.

It took me years to realize how one event created so many far-reaching limitations for me. Later I was offered an invitation to ‘open my sails’ and I immediately said, “NO.”    Not, “No thank you” or “Let me have the details” — replies that would have allowed me to assess the opportunity and risk.  My reply was just “NO!”  It was a time when the winds of change were strong.  In an instant, I felt the winds on my face and decided the invitation was too risky.  Why?  On that day, I was not sure.  It was later, while talking with my coach that I sorted out the reason.

The simple answer?  A story from the past that instantly wrote an ending to this invitation.  An ending that felt too risky.

Do you do this with career opportunities?

What story do you tell yourself that limits your opportunities?

Join me next week for more about my sailing story . . .