Becoming Career Fit in Turbulent Times

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Becoming Career Fit inTurbulent Times

• Ron Elsdon
• The Center for Executive Options
• Relsdon_at_ceo-home.com, 415 765 5412

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Outline

• Environment
• Change and Transition
• Career Implications
• Path Forward

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Career Development Gone Wrong
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Environment
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The Emerging World of Work
Decreased commitment
Demographics
Value creation through people
Re-balancing of power between individuals and
organizations
Need to re-define the relationship with
individuals Support performance and development
equally
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A Dilemma
Today U.S. organizations spend over 50
billion each year on training and
development, yet a primary reason people say they
leave organizations is lack of development
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The Jobless RecoveryWhere Next?
?
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Changing Nature of Our Work Environment

• Local to global
• Stability to change
• Lifelong commitment to engagement for mutual
  benefit
• Paternalism to self-reliance
• Hierarchy to fluidity
• Abundance of people to scarcity
• Internal to external (customer)
• Constant skills to constant learning

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• What might these changes mean for us?

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Change and Transition
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Change and Transition

• CHANGE
• A situational event
• External
• Often starts with a new beginning

• TRANSITION
• A process over time
• Internal
• Must start with an ending

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Transitions

• Transitions are key times in the natural process
  of self-renewal
• e.g. from demonstrating competence to finding
  meaning
• Rites of passage reflect basic need for
  regeneration
• Types of change
• Losses of relationships
• Changes in home life
• Personal changes
• Financial changes
• Inner changes
• Job loss

William Bridges, Transitions
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What We Need During Transitions

• Structure
• Temporary systems that shape new courses of
  action
• Information
• Knowledge that we can apply to navigate moving
  forward
• Support
• Understanding and a nurturing environment

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A Transition Checklist

• Take your time
• Arrange temporary structures
• Dont act for the sake of action
• Recognize why you are uncomfortable
• Take care of yourself in little ways
• Explore the other side of the change
• Get someone to talk to
• Find out what is waiting in the wings of your
  life
• Use this transition as the impetus to a new kind
  of learning
• Recognize that transition has a characteristic
  shape
• Rite of passage lens through which to magnify
  the experience

William Bridges, Transitions
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T.S. Elliott, Little Gidding

• What we call the beginning is often the end. And
  to make an end is to make a beginning. The end
  is where we start from.

William Bridges, Transitions
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The Transition Process
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Career Implications
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So You Think You Have a Job?(Calvin Associates
from Money, 1994)

• Nobody has a job anymore. All you have is an
  assignment. Its like an actor who lands a part.
  You dont know how long it may last. You are
  your own small business whether you like it or
  not.

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Career Implications of Change

• Know Yourself
• Keep Learning
• Champion Change While Searching the Horizon
• Stay Flexible for Transitions
• Dare to Dream

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Know Yourself

• What gives meaning and value to your life
• the spirit within us, found in the core of
  our own selves, that slowly and painfully weaves
  its way through anxiety, confusion, tension and
  conflict to hear the rhythm of our own personal
  tune made up of choices and values that are truly
  our own. (Brewi and Brennan).
• Values that you hold dear
• Interests that you want to develop
• Personality preferences and their fit
• Skills to grow and develop

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Motivation and Capability
Capability
Low
High
High
Pursue
Develop
High
Motivation
Low
Avoid
Burnout
Low
Low
High
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Keep Learning

• College 1998 (Tapscott)
• 45 U.S. college students are 25 and over
• Students 35 and older outnumber those who are 18
  and 19
• Over 55 women, 15 non-white
• From 4 year degree to 40 year degree

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Champion Change While Searching the Horizon. The
Renewal Cycle (Hudson and McLean)

• Phase 1 Go for It
• Positive, Goals, Committed
• Phase 2 Stuck in the Doldrums
• Negative, Reactive, Feel Trapped
• Phase 3 Cocooning
• Turns Inward, Taps Core Values, Awakens
• Phase 4 Getting Ready for the Next Chapter
• Explores, Networks, Trains

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Stay Flexible for TransitionsBetsy Brewer

• Four work relationships to the external world
• Job material rewards
• Occupation greater meaning, doing dominates
• Career personal initiative, collective approval
• Vocation call in service of greater good
• May you live all the days of your life
• Jonathan Swift

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Job SearchPosition Transition Matrix
Industry/Environment
Current
New
New
Most Difficult
Intermediate
New
Function/ Position
Intermediate
Current
Easiest
Current
Current
New
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Dare to DreamMartha Graham

• There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a
  quickening that is translated through you into
  action. And because there is only one of you in
  all time, this expression is unique. And if you
  block it, it will never exist through any other
  medium ... the world will not have it. It is not
  your business to determine how good it is, nor
  how valuable, nor how it compares with other
  expressions. It is your business to keep it
  yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel
  open, and to live it.

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Metaphors

• What metaphor comes to mind when you think of the
  patterns of your life?
• For example a richly woven fabric

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Arthur Miller

• The only time a human being experiences real joy
  or a sense of fulfillment or satisfaction is when
  the person is using or giving away what he or she
  has been given to give.

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Path Forward
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Path Forward
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Process
Re-assessing Strategy
Building Strategy
Self and Significant Others
Executing Strategy
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What are some steps you can take in addressing

• Self-understanding?
• Opportunity identification and exploration?
• Direction and decision, communicating your own
  portfolio?
• Negotiating favorable entry?
• Integrating/excelling in new situation?
• Maintaining career fitness?

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Summarizing Some Potential Actions

• Self-assessment to provide foundation and
  direction
• Connecting with others in areas of interest
• Staying current on emerging trends and their
  impact
• Creating and communicating your portfolio
• Building job search skills and material
• Continuing learning and developing
• Begin now

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Personal Action Steps

• What are three specific actions that I will take
  in the next 60 days?

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Recommended References

• Transitions by Bill Bridges
• Lifelaunch by Frederic Hudson
• Let Your Life Speak by Parker Palmer
• Passion for Life by Anne Brennan and Janice Brewi
• Power Networking by Donna Fisher and Sandy Vilas
• The Ultimate Interview by John Caple
• Affiliation in the Workplace by Ron Elsdon
• Leadership Jazz by Max DePree
• Leadership from the Inside Out by Kevin Cashman
• The Heart Aroused by David Whyte

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Thank You and Best Wishes