Two steps before you leap – avoiding career blunders

March 7th, 2010 by richscot 4 comments »

For anyone that has known me a long time and potentially sought my advice on career changes then there is a piece of advice that I share consistently – that is before you dive off into a new role inside or outside your company (step one) make sure you have planned the step there after (step two). You see many people can see the bright shinny lights of a new job offering money, benefits, location etc…but they don’t pause to consider what they will do after the brightness dims to mediocrity.

I had a young woman working for me about seven years ago. We had developed a good career plan together but she was struggling with the patience it required to ‘live up’ to the work and effort required to realise her plan versus jumping ship. She decided to apply for a role in a lower pressure area with the promise of promotion – without my permission, which she needed. I tried to block her moving as I could see it was wrong wrong wrong. The was no second step, no outlook for future opportunity in her desired timeframe. In the end, I let her go and when she got there – they decided not to promote her, there was no scope for the second step and as far as I know she is still there. Her peers in her team are now 2 – 3 ranks higher and earning 3 to 4 times as much. OK, money and career aren’t everything.

I had a old peer, and sometimes subordinate approach me this week and ask for some career advice. He is 40 with 3 kids and hasn’t considered his career for the past 5 years – wow ! He asked me for some advice. I said to him :

•    You are 40 and want to work until you’re 60 +
•    You will probably change jobs every 5 years
•    Therefore you will have 4 more jobs by age of 60
•    What sort of work to you want to be doing at 45, 50, 55 and 60
•    Sales Rep, Manager, Operations, Consultant ?

You see my old peer needs to make wise choices if he wants to create longevity that will see him through the next 20 years (scary to think about I know). He may not want to be beating down clients doors at the age of 50.

As we plan our careers we need to plot multiple roles ahead and define skills we need to collect along the way. Easy money now in a new job may seem like the Holy Grail but it may look like folly with the benefit of hindsight.

Take Care, and please share with me your thoughts.

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Looking for a Partner? (…..a business partner)

February 17th, 2010 by richscot No comments »

When I first started with my current employer I was tasked with managing relationships with Business Partners. A Business Partner is a contracted company that you sell through. The concept of partnering with a 3rd party to extend your sales capability wasn’t that foreign as I had come from the air travel industry and we partnered with travel agents to great success.

Working with a partner is a much more powerful strategy than trying to go it alone. You see a partner represents an extended sales force to your own. By working with one partner to can reach say 10 clients whereas if you went it alone you would need to cover those 10 clients yourself.

Partners also bring unique skills, experience and services which you may not have or offer. This may make your products more attractive or accessible to certain types or size of clients.

Further Partners may already have established relationships which you wish to access to enter new markets or specific clients. There are lots of statistics floating around that talk how expensive it is to ‘go it alone’ in acquiring new clients.

What should you look for in a partner?

  • The partner should be focused on the market you wish to pursue
  • They should have dedicated resources to your market (so they don’t drop the ball when something more exciting appears)
  • You should be able to create a trusted working relationship with specific members
  • There should be an agreed way of doing business
  • There should be strong two-way communication
  • They should have the skills and certifications required to meet your needs.

We need to ensure there is mutual respect between your two organisations and there is no bullying. Both parties’ needs should be communicated regularly throughout business engagements.

Partnering can provide for more efficient and effective market access and can create rich and long lasting relationships. This will ultimately lead to a better corporate life. Cheers!

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Light behind your eyes

February 15th, 2010 by richscot No comments »

I was meeting with an acquaintance last week; he’s an IT Consultant whom is married with three kids. We talked about how his year was last year – and it was not surprisingly mediocre. As I looked at him he had no life in his eyes, he reminded me of a mouse on a tread wheel.

I asked my Consultant friend, ‘what are you passionate about?’ to which he said he didn’t know. I pressed him further and asked him what his hobbies are; he said he didn’t have any! Surely not, he finally admitted to having a talent for painting and drawing, which he was quite good at, but he hadn’t pursued in years. Like all of us, like me, he had found everyday excuses from stopping him doing the things awaken the light behind his eyes.

I spoke to another former colleague last week whom had just started with a new company. She was working extremely hard to get established but she had a real buzz in her voice. I asked her what had her so fired up. She said she had realised that she was doing nothing for herself. She had been involved in musical theatre whilst in school and university but had since let it slide. Recently a friend asked her whether she would be interested in auditioning for a new musical and she decided to say ‘Yes!’ No surprises she got the role and was working twice as hard with trying to juggle a new job plus fit musical rehearsals.

Two weekends ago I went away on a men’s surfing holiday with my brother and a friend. We had a cottage on cliff top overlooking the beach and lived on bacon & eggs, steak and beer and it was wondrous. We went surfing twice on the Saturday with my arms almost falling off and were asleep by 9.30pm. I literally felt so good I couldn’t believe it. It felt like my surfing trips when I was 20. My brother came back so pumped he went surfing the Monday night after work.

We all need to be reminded of the things that we are passionate about and be challenged to pursue them. The things that make us awaken our creativity, our love for the outdoors, our hidden talents. It wasn’t until I did several writing courses and was then ‘dared’ by a friend (Iggy Pintado) that I started this blog – where am I now – 31 articles.

I challenged my consultant friend, nay I dared him to go and find an arts course and sign up and I wasn’t going to take no for an answer. I guess I will see my impact at our next meeting.

Now if only I could organise myself guitar lessons….

What are your passions that you are ignoring? What can you do about it? Write to me and let me know. Happy Year of the Metal Tiger!

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Hey True Blue !

January 29th, 2010 by richscot 2 comments »

My uncle, Robert Cardan Hammond, was buried today at age 62. He was a man of a different era, more of a knockabout type from the ’20’s and 30’s. He worked on fishing trawlers, down in mines, knew the bush like the natives and built skyscrapers. This song by John Williamson is the perfect match for Uncle Robert.

TRUE BLUE

Words and Music by John Williamson

Hey True Blue, don’t say you’ve gone
Say you’ve knocked off for a smoko
And you’ll be back later on
Hey True Blue, Hey True Blue

Give it to me straight
Face to face
Are you really disappearing,
Just another dying race,
Hey True Blue.

True Blue, is it me and you?
Is it Mum and Dad, is it a cockatoo?
Is it standing by your mate
When he’s in a fight?
Or will she be right?

True Blue, I’m asking you…
Hey True Blue, can you bear the load?
Will you tie it up with wire,
Just to keep the show on the road?
Hey True Blue, Hey True Blue, now be Fair Dinkum

Is your heart still there?
If they sell us out like sponge cake
Do you really care?
Hey True Blue.

True Blue, is it me and you?
Is it Mum and Dad, is it a cockatoo?
Is it standing by your mate
When she’s in a fight?
Or will she be right?
True Blue, I’m asking you…

True Blue, is it me and you?
Is it Mum and Dad, is it a cockatoo?
Is it standing by your mate
When he’s in a fight?
Or will she be right?
True Blue … True Blue.

True Blue
Steadfast loyal Australian who displays the Aussie ideals of a fair go for all, mateship, having a go, and solving problems.

Smoko
To ‘knock off for a smoko’ is to have a break for a coffee, tea or cigarette.

Fair Dinkum
Virtually the same as True Blue – honest, reliable, trustworthy, dinki-di; someone who has embraced the Aussie attitudes to everything, especially mateship. ‘Are you fair dinkum?’ means ‘are you telling the truth?’

Thank you for allowing me to post my tribute….

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Social Media Luddite? How to create a social media presence

January 26th, 2010 by richscot No comments »

Feeling like you have been left behind in having a social media presence? Not sure why you should have one? Don’t know where to start?

When considering a personal social media presence for the corporate world you need to think about what you want to achieve:

  • Promote yourself &/or your company?
  • Connect with colleagues, business partners, clients and like minded people?
  • Find and Create new contacts?

I personally use social media in a work context for the following reasons:

  1. to connect with people via social media rather than store business cards – stay connected even if I move jobs.
  2. to research people and companies
  3. to be a part of industry groups and join in on conversations
  4. to introduce people or be introduced to new business contacts

Social media can seem very overwhelming to many and the answer I hear from colleagues is that they ‘don’t have time to keep up’. In all honesty I probably spend 30mins a fortnight if that on keeping details up to date.

Is there a simple place to start? Yes, I think if you are new you only need concern yourself with one site – linkedin (www.linkedin.com). I discovered this site around 6 years ago and have used it ever since as my primary corporate networking vehicle. I also use Plaxo (www.plaxo.com) and some others but to a lesser extent.

Linkedin is free to join at a basic level (that’s all I am) and you update your profile and create connections with colleagues, partners and clients. You can then search for industry groups, peer groups, school and even your own company – there are more than 300,000 groups.

You can read the following two articles which cover why linkedin is being used by so many around the world.

http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/15/linkedin-career-networking-intelligent-technology-connections.html

http://windmillnetworking.com/2009/08/26/what-is-linkedin-and-why-should-you-join/

So you have taken your first step! That wasn’t so hard? Write to me and let me know how you use social media for your corporate life. Thanks.

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Welcome to the Tweenies or Happy New Year

January 7th, 2010 by richscot No comments »

On new years day I thought out loud, “ so if that was the noughties, what are we now ? The Teens ?”, my brother correctly went on to say, “ No, this is the tweenies!”.

A Tweenie being, for those of you whom aren’t aware, a pre-teen aged between 10 to 13 years. So, upon that basis – Welcome to the Tweenies!

Another thing common to New Years Day is the discussion around you’re ‘ New Year’s Resolutions ‘ – gee, the whole concept is so noughties….

Anyway, I thought to myself – I don’t have any. Should I? I feel a little weird not having any? – I went on to summarise what my current personal objectives were and shaped them into reasonable and realistic New Year’s Resolutions :

1)    Get fit before my tropical holiday in February
2)    Start guitar lessons (one year after I got my guitar)
3)    Continue my Masters Degree with Credit Average
4)    Buy some Golf Clubs and get some lessons
5)    Start house renovations

But I have many more than this – should they be so self focused ? What about my family? Supporting good causes ?

Frankly, I think New Year’s Resolutions are pretty dumb. Whilst it is good to have some broad ideas about what you would like to do – if you are going create a plan for your year then I think it is worthwhile to go through a more complete process.

My wife introduced me to the 5-Year Plan process that she used a number of years ago. I won’t go through it in huge detail now but the idea is that you:

a)    Create a 5 year plan committing to a single line of direction (not this or that)
b)    Include components like Career, Finances, Family, Spirituality, Health, Fitness and Friends
c)    Make statements on each for each year over the next 5 years

You can create this with a close friend and then you review it together regularly to keep each other on track. There are heaps of sites on the internet that refer to different approaches.

I met a woman once whom told me she wrote a 10-year plan but didn’t look at it for 10 years. It wasn’t until she was moving that she found it and decided to read through – she realised that she had achieved every single goal except the final “10. Move to live by the seaside “ – where was she moving to? The beach. She said the mere fact of writing it down is psychologically very powerful – I believe her.

Good luck with your New Years Resolution or your 5 Year Plan. Happy New Year!

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How to get a Fast Start for 2010

December 28th, 2009 by richscot No comments »

Ski Race

Do you normally take January to get your head into gear and start to plan in February so that by March you are ready to rock and roll ? The problem is you realise that you’ve now lost two months and if you are chasing objectives, targets and deadlines you could be stressed out and in trouble with the boss.

I am certainly guilty of this scenario and have paid the price over and over again which can take you the remainder of the year to recover.

So if you want to stop creating stress in your life and stop chasing your tail then you have the choice to fast start your year. How do I do that I hear you say?

Define your objectives for the year

•   Personal business commitments
•    Targets & deadlines
•    Other measurements
•    Development goals

Don’t know what they are or haven’t been told ? Not a good excuse – they will likely be like last year so use them as a base and add 10% to any targets.

Do research on your field via internet

Use search engines like yahoo!, google and bing to research what are the expected trends for your market or business area for the prevailing year. Think about what the claims versus what you know – if it sounds logical then include it in your plans.

Note: your marketing department may have done this for you already!

Create a Fast Start Plan

Create a 30/60/90 Day plan which incorporates all the things within your objectives and allows you to get started straight away and build up to a solid first 3 months.

e.g. First 30 Days:
1.    Break up Full Year Target into Monthly Goals
2.    Analyse Top 20 Clients for potential business
3.    Define Gap between Top 20 and Full Year Target
4.    Call all Top 20 Clients for ‘ New Year Call ‘

In all likelihood this will put you way beyond your peers whom are still drinking coffee and talking about ‘how they can’t believe it’s the new year‘ or ‘I can’t believe my holiday is over!’.

If you choose to show your manager your plan – don’t be surprised if they ask you to present this to your team or peers. This is a good opportunity for ‘self promotion’ if it presents itself. Doing this in a humble way will make people aspire to copy you and not think you’re sucking up to the boss.

BB1162-002

How is your head for 2010? Need a Fast Start? Write to me and let me know! …and please rate the article as you go below : )

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Season’s Greetings

December 22nd, 2009 by richscot No comments »

christmas-tree-with-presents

I love Christmas, always have – you may love the holiday or the break – but the season gives us the great opportunity for several things:

i)    reconnect with our families and loved ones
ii)    take a breather & rest
iii)    watch sport
iv)    go on holidays
v)    focus on our spiritual selves

This Christmas is much more special than maybe any I have ever had – this is because it is my first Christmas as a father. This is a whole new journey now for my wife and I. We are really thinking about the kind of Christmas we want to create for our son. What family traditions to we want to make part of our family experience. How can we make it special and significant?

This year we bought our first ever ‘real’ Christmas Tree. It looks amazing. Whilst my son is too young to appreciate it we invited the neighbour’s kids to come over and help us decorate. We had Dean Martin crooning in the background – it was great.

This year is also the first Christmas in 10 years that I am taking off. Being in sales I normally need to work right through – but not this year.

Let me take this opportunity to wish you all the very best these holidays and a hearty ‘Season’s Greetings ‘.

Thank you for sticking with my blog during 2009 and I wish each of you a wonderful start to 2010.

Regards,

Richard

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Why taking a holiday will keep you sane and your family happy

December 16th, 2009 by richscot No comments »

relaxing-on-the-beach

If there was a fan club for taking holidays then I could be voted the #1 fan. People are often amazed at how often I go away – for me it is never enough. Maybe I love travel so much because I use to work for a major airline ? I don’t think so – I love holidays and I need holidays because it keeps me happy.

I have never been able to understand why people make these proud pronouncements like ‘I haven’t taken a holiday in 5 years!’ No wonder they look like an old potato and are stressed out.

You see better qualified people than me will tell you that taking a holiday is critical for a number of things :

  • Dealing with stress
  • Overcoming anxiety
  • Allowing your mind & body to rest
  • Overcoming illness
  • Reconnecting with loved ones

What do I mean by holiday? I mean time away from your everyday responsibilities and resting. I don’t mean being on a manic tour schedule and racing from place to place. I believe there are two types of holiday, there a) flop on the beach and b) being a tourist. It is fun to be a tourist but you really need some down time.

Can you have a holiday at home? I say ‘not really’. Why? Because I have tried successive times to holiday at home including putting money aside to do things, making a schedule to eat out and go to the movies. The problem is that your everyday home chores are still there. People still call you. Your friends and family still drop over unannounced.

So to distill things down here – I am saying you need a ‘flop on the beach’ holiday maybe once a year to let you mind wander and recoup so that you can bounce back and be a happy individual.

With the Christmas holidays approaching my wife and I were looking at going somewhere but it is too expensive so we have booked a tropical holiday in February for half the price.

So I am all set for my holiday – how about you ? Write me and let me know and please see the following articles supporting my vote for a holiday.

Health benefits of taking a vacation
http://ezinearticles.com/?Health-Benefits-of-Taking-a-Vacation&id=1193870

Health benefits of rest
http://psychology.suite101.com/article.cfm/health_benefits_of_rest

p.s. you don’t need to go to an island, down by the river, lake, mountain cabin or in the forest – whatever gives you downtime : )

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Acing Your End of Year Review

December 10th, 2009 by richscot No comments »

i-targets-target-1inxbull-full

Have you ever been surprised by your End of Year Review result with your manager? That may be fine if it’s better than you expected but it certainly can be deflating if it doesn’t meet your expectations.

Should we blame our manager for a disappointing review result? Maybe partially but we have an equal responsibility in the process – although many people don’t realise this.  If we are ‘passengers’ in the process then I can pretty much assure you that a ‘surprise’ is guaranteed.

Further, if we aren’t engaged with our End of Year Review then this means we aren’t taking it seriously. Depending on whom you work for then the outcome of the End of Year may mean different things, for example:

a)    Pay Increase
b)    Promotions
c)    New Roles
d)    Career Development Support

So if your End of Year Review is so important then what are the steps we can take as an individual to ensure that we are not a passenger and are fully engaged to maximise to best outcome for you:

i) Be involved in the design and development of your objectives as they are being set for the year. Challenge inappropriate items or ask how they will be measured. Ensure you recommend the measures that you want to see – make sure they are ‘measurable’.

ii) Ensure you have a mid year review with your manager. This gives you the ability to ‘check in’ on how you are being perceived by your manager and provides you an opportunity to define areas for improvement. Review all of your objectives and make notes.

iii) In October (or Two to Three Months Out) arrange another meeting with your manager and check how you are performing against the areas for improvement.

iv) Two Weeks before your End of Year Review – Take the time to review all of your objectives and write down your answers for each including examples, achievements, KPI measures and other feedback such as emails.

v) The Review – Send your consolidated feedback to your manager in advance so that when you sit down for the meeting they have all the information and there are no gaps. During the meeting take the opportunity to make notes on feedback and if there are areas for improvement ask your manager for their support to address these (like maybe going on a course or short term project).

This approach will dramatically change the outcome of your End of Year Review and will ensure you have the best possible chance of the best rating and therefore benefit from the flow on results such as pay, promotion etc.

Are you a passenger in your End of Year Review process? What are you doing to change? Write to me and let me know and please rate this article. Thanks.

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