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):

1. If I called a member of your current staff and asked them to tell me about you, what would they say?
2. Describe the corporate management style and empowerment philosophy.
3. What collaborative management programs formally exist within your company?
4. 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)
5. Describe how you motivate a group of people to do something they did not want to do.
6. Who is your most effective manager/leader and your least effective manager/leader?
7. What are the strengths and weaknesses of each? What have you done to develop each of these managers?
8. 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.