Month: July 2012
The Money has to be right (for both of us)
Many of us often make the mistake of not setting our basement on acceptable salary before we begin our search. Commonly, folks assume that if they made 140K in their previous career position they MUST make at least 140K and often 10-20K more in their next opportunity. That’s a mighty large chunk of change for doing nothing but making a decision to move into a new setting with a new opportunity. The “basement” or lowest salary figure provides the foundation for “painting your picture”. If you know your minimum, then you open the door to creative review of what you would like to do next.
Salary is a tricky thing. While it is necessary to allowing us to live and thrive, it is not the only or most important indicator for career satisfaction. I recently spent some time with a talented colleague. She was struggling with what to do with her career search. After a very difficult exit from her previous position, she was struggling with her accomplishments from her previous post as well as how to tie them into her current career search. We started with setting a basement (lower than she had originally anticipated). Then we talked about her passions, skills and things that held the strongest interest for her. Setting a basement allowed her to look more deeply at what she really wanted to do next. Her previous job in technology allowed for a much higher than typical salary but it did NOT provide her the satisfaction or excitement she had been seeking. Essentially, she was dramatically limiting herself by setting up salary requirements as THE indicator for which career opportunities she would pursue. The final conclusion was that she genuinely had a passion for non-profit causes. Accepting that the salary would be lower than in a corporate setting as an IT Executive, she realized that her personal and professional satisfaction was not tied to salary but to an opportunity that would resonate with her philanthropic motives.
Industry will impact salary, but so too will size. Start-ups are a personal passion of mine but I’ve long since recognized that salary (exclusive of stock options, ownership, and other compensation) would never be at the level of my average career salary range. However, the joy of working in a start-up or entrepreneurial environment greatly outweighs a lower salary. And, in my experience, success in a start-up setting can net you higher overall compensation over time without harming the company.
The objective is to ensure that you understand 1) what you need to satisfy your financial objectives and 2) what the company can comfortable bear and feel good about (i.e. value proposition you deliver to the company) before you begin to negotiate. I’ve watched far too many people pass up brilliant opportunities because the salary was short their previous salary or torpedo a career by demanding more money too early in their tenure because they “undernegotiated” their need (i.e. they did not know their basement and set themselves up for dissatisfaction or personal financial risk).
Professional growth and development opportunity
The majority of people naturally work toward professional growth. Being able to develop ourselves as the “best possible person” in both job and life is fulfilling. A sense of pride and accomplishment comes from progressing through stages in our career. There have been numerous books written about career stage development and modeling. In general, most specialists in this field agree that a professional (1) has an identifiable base of knowledge from which he or she practices, (2) has acquired a mastery of that knowledge through extended education, (3) has autonomy in making decisions regarding application of that knowledge, (4) displays a strong commitment to the field, and (5) has a lifelong commitment to professional development. (Kerr, Von Glinow, and Schriesheim, 1977)
The stages are:
- Groundfloor or Entry Stage
- Colleague Stage
- Counselor Stage
- Advisor Stage
Groundlevel or Entry stage is easily understood. It is the time in a career where we first enter either our chosen profession or a new job within the profession. We are interns working to understand the organization’s structure, culture, and purpose. At the entry stage, our goal is to quickly acquire the basic or core technical skills and prove ourselves. To attain any level of career satisfaction, we typically work hard to move out of this stage by moving from dependence to independence. The most successful person seeks out professional opportunities. The driven individual takes advantage of training, inquires about mentor relationships with a senior professional, establishes strong peer relationships and requests career counseling in order to achieve more.
Many professionals find satisfaction operating at the Colleague stage. As long as continuing education or increasing responsibility occur, it is possible to thrive on independent work in this stage. Colleagues build at least one strong area of expertise and are well-respected. Colleagues often become independent contributors in problem solving and establish a professional identity. These are the folks who continue to expand their knowledge in their area of expertise. They often find themselves moving from independency to interdependency – establishing synergy with their greater team.
The Counselor stage signals a desire to take on responsibility for the growth of others. A counselor level person may not take on direct managerial responsibility but does provide professional growth facilitation to others. One of the most rewarding steps in professional growth comes from the ability to stimulate thought in others. Developing coaching and mentoring capabilities and initiating job enrichment and expanding (redesigning) opportunities for peers provides relevance and value during the counselor stage. It is at this stage of career development that the opportunity for self-renewal through job redesign, greater responsibility in decision-making and opportunities for special projects and formal and informal mentor opportunities present themselves. The value that the counselor stage presents is often under-estimated and provides a tremendous amount of personal and professional satisfaction.
Individuals in the Advisor stage play a key role in shaping the future of the organization by “sponsoring” promising people, programs and ideas. The sponsor has often developed a distinct competence in several areas of expertise and often has a regional or national reputation.
Motivators for Professional Development:
* Becoming involved in strategic organizational planning
* Achieving the respect of others in the organization
* Engaging in innovation and risk-taking
* Understanding complex relationships
* Achieving a position of influence
* Sponsoring individuals, programs, and people
* Increasing responsibility
* Expanding knowledge regarding relevant issues
Developmental Opportunities:
* Opportunities to utilize expertise and influence
* Complex and challenging assignments
* Increased responsibility
* Involvement in strategic planning
* Opportunities to represent the organization to internal and external groups
* Obtaining resources
* Career counseling
* Retirement planning
It is important to note that no stage in professional development is superior or inferior to any other position. Each of us owes it to ourselves to examine which stage resonates with us at any point in time. Each stage provides opportunities to achieve a level of self-examination and comfort that determines where we are most comfortable fulfilling our personal and professional goals.
Special credit to Roger A. Rennekamp, Ph.D. and Martha Nall, Ed.D on their Professional Growth: A guide for Professional Development. Many of their ideas are not only well-formed but provide a strong foundation for what we regularly see in leadership and corporate positions.
Corporate Gardening – Situational ability to hire, mentor, and grow people
I waited until after we received rain in Phoenix to complete this segment. Sounds risky, but I listened to the weather report and a 30% chance of rain in Phoenix in July is a higher chance than it sounds. Sure enough, we woke to drizzle and a pleasantly cool 4th of July. My plants were delighted and our friends were too. No 100+ 4th of July for us. As a matter of fact, the temperature remained in the 80’s all day making an outdoor celebration just perfect and my plants (and friends) got a brief respite from an overwhelming heat.
I promised garden analogies in my last post. Not simply because the parallels between gardening and management are obvious, but I am an avid gardener as well as devoted servant leader and the similarities resonant for me.
Some owners often make the mistake of saying they are building a company. You can build buildings and infrastructure but in reality companies are grown, not built. As with gardens where the key elements are the plants, PEOPLE are the key elements that allow a company to grow. Like plants, people come with their own genetic encoding and personal motivators that drive how and when they grow and develop, as well as what motivates them to grow.
The reason situational ability to hire, mentor, and grow people is a critical driver may already be obvious. To grow a garden one must prepare the soil and create the conditions that lead to optimal growth. A manager needs to know what types of people, from skills to personality fits, are needed.
After all, if the garden is for flowers and not vegetables, a gardener will shop only for flowers, and will look for the best plants for the weather, pest, and weed conditions the garden will inevitably experience. Similarly, a manager should have clear job descriptions for all positions and a powerful interview strategy to identify the best possible people to add. She should have a strong understanding of the people who are currently working within the company, what motivates them, what they believe they are doing and why (i.e. the vision) to assure good hires and complimentary fit.
A good gardener is always inquisitive about the conditions of the garden. Is fertilizer needed? More water? Less water? Are there any unwanted pests, weeds, or diseases? Gardeners ask these questions and make any needed adjustments because they know what kind of results they’ll get if they simply give a plant an intimidating look and bark out a command to “grow!” Unfortunately, I’ve witnessed owners and managers who try this technique in the office. Typically, the result is the same as a gardener would experience; no growth and in the case of the employee, de-motivation. Even more challenging is when the manager tries again, using the same technique, and then blames the employee when nothing happens (i.e. no growth, no change in motivation, etc.) If a gardener were to take this tact and then complain that his plants were not growing at the expected rate we would all think he was fairly loopy. However, this happens in companies so frequently and yet very few question the technique or the logic.
In gardening, there are three key risks that young plants must be protected from: Weather, Weeds, and Pests. Without the watchful eye of the gardener, advance planning, and risk mitigation these risks can have strong, daily, and often detrimental effects on the “corporate garden”:
In Phoenix, AZ weather is synonymous with sunshine. That sounds pleasant but with the sun comes crushing 110+ day temperatures. Our weather zone makes it challenging, but not impossible, to produce vibrant, bountiful gardens. However, typically, it’s not the day to day sun or rain that we worry about, it’s the sudden changes that cause problems. Strong winds, unexpected frosts, flooding, are all examples of conditions that can wipe out young plants. In our corporate garden, it is also the unexpected that causes significant risks to be realized. Sudden changes in priorities, funding changes, staffing changes can wipe out high potential ideas, energy and effort as quickly as a frost will kill a plant. It is critical, as a servant leader, to protect the people and their innovative ideas from these conditions wherever possible by insulating them from the unexpected situation/risk.
Any gardener knows that weeds left unchecked will take over a garden and rob the plants of the nutrients they require for growth. Likewise, in a corporate garden setting weeds are the distractions that arise from the culture and slowly choke out enthusiasm, motivation and powerful ideas by diverting the necessary resources to other areas. This doesn’t happen overnight (typically), but rather gradually over time. A seasoned gardener removes the weeds as they surface rather than letting them form a stronghold. A seasoned manager will do the same thing.
Pests come in many forms, but always come from outside the garden. Their goals often involve consuming the plant for their own purposes and needs, then leaving it when it is no longer of interest or offers feeding material. In the corporate garden, these pests come from all directions. They could be people that are outside a project team that want to involve themselves (i.e. put their “stamp” on an idea) so they can selfishly take credit later. The pest could be an individual who does not understand a vision, or corporate direction and continuously gets in the way of innovation or moving ideas and concepts forward by complaining about the “change” even after large scale change management issues and communication are in place. These pests can be an individual or an entire department. In any case, it is critical for managers to be on the lookout for Pests, and repel them as efficiently as possible.
Finally, when a garden is not being managed, it will simply keep growing, but in another direction than what was intended. Corporate gardens, and the beautiful people who make up the fabric, require a tremendous amount of attention and care. The more collaboratively and cooperatively senior management works together to ensure the attention is on the people and what they need to be successful, the higher the probability of an abundant harvest; year over year.
Getting Started
For many of us, one of the most difficult things to remember during a career opportunity search, is to be discerning. Plan and envision what you want from a job opportunity. Write it down and then spend each day painting a picture of the details until you are very clear on what you need to be successful. For example, determine what THE most critical drivers are for you professionally.
Drivers can be anything. For example, money is often what people assume is “the” driver but we’ve all been in positions where the money was fine and we were still miserable. I’ve listed some of the components of an ideal career opportunity that drive an motivate me.
- Autonomy and respect from corporate leadership
- Situational ability to hire, mentor, and grow people
- Professional growth and development opportunity
- Financial compensation commiserate with not only my experience but in consideration of what the company can bear comfortably
Painting the Picture
It took me at least ten years to begin to understand the importance of painting the picture and selecting my personal and professional drivers and clearly articulating them. I don’t want y’all to think I’m a slow learner but my length of tenure in any role typically lasts at least 3 years and often up to 5. This is a longer curve than the typical executive, so during that ten years I only had the opportunity to “paint the picture” 2-3 times.
Autonomy and Respect
Starting with autonomy and respect from corporate leadership, I’ll explain why that is my number one driver. Autonomy simply means the freedom or independence to determine ones own actions. Companies and corporations are micro-cultures with specific goals and objectives. A well-run company understands that in order to be successful, common goals and objectives need to be defined and then clearly communicated throughout on a very regular and very consistent basis. A consistent and structured delivery of goals empowers leaders to take those skills that make them unique and collaboratively determine their teams actions and approach. Without autonomy and a level of respect for leaders and staff, a company can literally paralyze itself through lemming-like execution and dramatically reduced empowerment. Everyone needs to be empowered in order to own their work and take responsibility for the results.
Questions to Ask during your Interview or first meeting (autonomy and respect):
- If I called a member of your current staff and asked them to tell me about you, what would they say?
- Describe the corporate management style and empowerment philosophy.
- What collaborative management programs formally exist within your company?
- What is the corporations’ current attrition rate? (If it is low leave it alone. If it is high, ask why the executive leader or founder believes it is high)
- Describe how you motivate a group of people to do something they did not want to do.
- Who is your most effective manager/leader and your least effective manager/leader?
- What are the strengths and weaknesses of each? What have you done to develop each of these managers?
- Tell me about some of the people who have become successful as a result of your (or your teams) management. What was your role in their development?
Asking these types of questions is surprisingly effective. A company that understands the importance of autonomy and respect, has a strong philosophy of empowerment in place. The enthusiasm with which they are answered tells the tale. This line of question is typically self-weeding because rarely does a company with either a leader/founder or a management team that does not support autonomy, respect and empowerment able to answer or quickly dismisses you and these questions as “unimportant” or worse, inappropriate (get up and run if you hear that word!).
Stay tuned for Critical Driver #2 – Situational ability to hire, mentor and grow people. I promise a good deal of gardening analogies.
Early Morning Musing
It’s five am. Nothing earth-shattering about that time except that I haven’t seen it for years. Why do I keep waking up at 5 am? My professional and personal world changed last week. For the past two years, I’ve been running and growing a technology firm. It has been wildly challenging and rewarding beyond measure. While growing the company (330% in 18 months) was fulfilling, it is what it took to produce that growth that is the real story.
Because I continue to wake up early, mainly due to processing events and some level of grieving, I think I will take this time to explore the experiences of the past 20 months. This exploration will be most heavily focused on the stellar employees who I hired in, and who quickly became collaborative colleagues in the quest for professional success. But I will weave in experiences that come from my 20 years in the C-Suite and what I’ve learned. No person becomes “great” overnight — it takes a tapestry of experiences woven together to produce a “powerhouse” leader and frankly it is the people behind and beside me that create that leader over and over each day.
I was a manager/leader first. Over the years, I realized that perhaps I had it backwards. In order to be a powerful leader, I first needed to serve. I had to figure out a way to measure my transition from a “leader first” (i.e. power/money being the drivers) to a servant leader. I had to ask myself the following questions about the folks who worked for me. Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants?
Stay tuned as I talk about what I learned on my way to producing professional fulfillment in unexpected ways.
Hello world!
Greetings and welcome to my blog. Who am I? Wife, mother, daughter, friend, and C-level executive for twenty years. If you want the professional details – go to LinkedIn. You’ll find lots of details but the short bio says I am a Business-focused Executive with experience in ensuring technology empowers and supports highly effective management throughout the business. Stand-out abilities include ensuring delivery of quality products and services and strategically focused management decision making. Successful in finding ways to ensure technology is never an afterthought but rather forms the basis for competitive capabilities and advantage.
More importantly, I’m a “people” person. I’m not really an extrovert so when I say I’m a people person, what I mean is that I love all the complexity that people present. Learning who they are, what makes them tick, what their strengths are and what demons they are challenged by in daily life.
The Change Mage 