Table of Contents - American College of Healthcare Executives

Transcription

TableofContents
NewWaysofThinkingAboutCareerSuccess
BuildingJobSecurity:StrategiesforBecomingaHighlyValuedContributor
DiagnosingRisk:StrategiesforPreventingUnexpectedJobLoss
ManagingJobTransitions:ThirteenQuestionsforaSuccessfulSearch SixStepstoCreatingaPersonalCareer‐DecisionFramework
CreatingandImplementingaReality‐BasedCareerPlan
C A R E E R S
New Ways of Thinking About
Career Success
Mike Broscio, director, Healthcare Career Management and Outplacement Practice,
Scherer Schneider Paulick, Chicago, and Jay Scherer, principal,
Scherer Schneider Paulick
O
ur healthcare work world is much different today from what we envisioned
early in our careers. We are being affected in many ways by stunning changes
in technology, government regulations, demographic swings, world politics, financial markets, and the dynamic economy, just to mention a few. Yet everyday we do
things that are consistent with how the world was, instead of how it is today or will
be tomorrow. Many of us continue to apply a set of career/work norms that have
become inappropriate. Have you thought about these contemporary work world
questions?
• Is it reasonable to be surprised by notification of job loss?
• Do you have a plan in the event your hospital is acquired?
• How much money have you invested in your own personal skills development
in the past year?
• Do you believe it is disloyal to return a call from an outside search consultant?
• Have you recently assessed your facility’s business needs and proposed a solution?
• Have you asked your boss for specific feedback in the past three months?
• Do you have a coach?
• Can you explain your value proposition in 20 seconds?
• What is your competitive advantage? What is your brand?
In this article, the first of a series on careers, we look forward. We ask, “Are you
thinking in a contemporary way about your career, and do you fully realize how
important current thinking is to your future success?”
H O W I S T H E H E A LT H C A R E W O R K W O R L D C H A N G I N G ?
Just about everything is changing:
• Technology improvements affect healthcare operations almost every day, requiring us to learn faster and sort through more information.
• Staffing shortages in clinical areas, fewer people pursuing healthcare careers,
younger employees who have different attitudes about work, and a more diverse
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C ar eer s
workforce make traditional management thinking obsolete. We must all change
how we lead.
• Continued merger/acquisition activity drives significant job requirement changes
and creates workplace stress, forcing us to make more decisions with less time
and information.
• Cost pressures, including reimbursement issues with government and insurance
companies, require regular operations adjustments.
• Job tenures are shorter because organizations and employees must make quicker
decisions to respond to today’s changing reality. The concept of a lifelong job is
vanishing. The road to success is more zigzagged than straight.
• Jobs are broader and not as well defined, which creates conflict. Leaders communicate less to staff about what is expected because they have less time.
• In the past the belief was that if you worked hard and were loyal to your employer, good things happened to you. Now such guarantees do not exist.
• Physicians have complex issues to address such as costs of malpractice, changing
reimbursement rules, and insurance requirements. These changes lead to significant workplace stress and conflict.
Not just healthcare is affected; most of these changes are happening in all industries. There is no escape! What’s your plan to succeed in this new world?
THE FUTURE: A WORLD FOCUSED ON SHARED SUCCESS
What we are all experiencing are symptoms caused by the emergence of traditional
free-market factors in the healthcare labor market and workplace. Evidence of
these free-market tools include more job-posting systems (within organizations
and Internet based), more turnover, more pay for performance, more career selfmanagement tools, and more alternate work arrangements. Each helps to promote
freer movement of talent to where it needs to be and when it needs to be there in
response to market realities. For the foreseeable future, we should be prepared for
more free-market impact on our careers. Because our workplace is not stable, our
careers will not be stable. It all adds up to a dramatically new world. Not good.
Not bad. Just real.
A key element of a free market is free will and choice, which is based on business realities: We agree to work together as long as it makes sense for each of us
to do so. A balance of power exists between the buyer and the seller (that is, employer and employee) that is driven more by supply and demand and not as much
by artificial restraints such as loyalty, security, fear, complacency, poor information,
and tradition. This reality can best be summarized by the term “shared success.”
Shared success must occur for relationships to be effective and to last. In our
new world marked by recruitment, retention, and performance issues, a reasonable
balance must exist between employee and employer needs so that the changing
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requirements of each, and of the marketplace, are met. To achieve shared success,
we all need an efficient way to ask and answer these five important questions:
1. What do employees need to do differently to keep up with the constantly
changing needs of their organization?
2. What do organizations need to do differently to keep up with the constantly
changing needs of their employees?
3. How can companies and leaders effectively communicate their constantly
changing needs?
4. How can employees effectively communicate their own changing needs?
5. How can we integrate answers to these questions to create shared success?
Achieving Shared Success
In the past, career planning has often focused on your personal “needs,” such as
your interests and values, but paid little attention to the needs of your employer or
boss. Although focusing on yourself is a priority, you must also balance your needs
with the concerns of the organization paying you. Naturally, you spend some time
evaluating what your employer is providing you in the way of benefits, compensation, environment, and opportunity. But you also have to fully understand your
organization’s needs. By doing so, you are taking an important first step to a key
responsibility you have in the new work world: creating shared success.
You need a personal philosophy and tools to help you understand your changing reality and to take appropriate action to ensure that your success is balanced
with the success of your organization. Being out of balance results in your organization asking you to leave or in your own dissatisfaction with your work. In a
changing world, you need to constantly monitor your environment and understand
what is going on. But how? We developed a new tool, the Q5 Framework, that can
help you do this quickly and effectively.
The Q5 Framework
The Q5 Framework (see Figure 1) is a tool that helps you to ask and answer important questions related to shared success. It provides the basis for developing and
implementing a career-success plan that will benefit both you and your employer.
In many ways, Q5 acts like a camera, allowing you to take a snapshot of your
current reality. You can then use that understanding to develop and implement a
plan. Have you ever looked at a photo of yourself and said, “Is that how I look?”
Unfortunately, the camera does not lie. Likewise, Q5 lets you see your career as it
is, not as you think it is, and helps you design a plan to achieve success.
More importantly, Q5 can be used as a high-speed camera, helping you to
take successive snapshots of your environment as it changes so that you can adjust
accordingly. You have probably witnessed a workplace situation in which someone
wondered why a certain employee did not seem to “get it” or understand. Of
course, that employee was not trying to fail. He or she just was not seeing reality
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Y
N
PA R
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O F
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• What are my values
and interests?
• What do I need to keep
my life in balance?
• What are my developmental needs?
IN
D
N IVID
EE U
D AL
S
FIGURE 1
The Q5 Framework
Instruction: Answer the questions in each quadrant below and look for gaps in your answer. Develop and
implement a career action plan to close those gaps.
L
UA
ID R
IV E
D FF
IN O
• What are my skills
and talents?
• How do I deliver
value?
• What is my competitive advantage?
C
O
N MP
EE A
D NY
S
PLAN
IMPLEMENTATION
• What are the growth
opportunities in my
company?
• What benefits does my
company offer?
• What can my company
offer to make me
more effective?
• What are the goals
and mission of my
company?
• What skill sets do I need
to help my company?
• What changes affect my
company’s needs?
®SSP, LLC 1997, 2001
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as he or she should, perhaps because he or she has lost track of the requirements
for success today after all the changes in the past few years. If you are not paying
attention, change followed by change followed by change can very easily result in
inappropriate behaviors and outdated skills.
Understanding Your Needs and Offer
Using the Q5 Framework to plan a career success strategy means first taking
a hard look at yourself and taking stock. Questions to ask include What are my
values and interests? What are the things that I care about? What motivates me?
What are my skills and talents? What experiences do I have? What are my development needs? How do I deliver value? How do I want to deliver value? What’s my
competitive advantage?
Understanding Your Organization’s Needs and Offer
It is critical that you understand your organization’s needs, its key strategies,
how your job contributes to those strategies, and the skill requirements necessary
to succeed. Because your employer’s needs stem directly from the needs of its customers, understanding customers’ needs and how they align with your knowledge
and experiences can also make you a valued employee. Inside your organization,
you can talk with your supervisor about his or her expectations and how they may
change in the future. For positions outside your organization, networking can be a
significant help.
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You also need to fully understand your employer’s offer. Questions to ask
include Why are you working here? What are the pros and cons? Is it really better
anywhere else, and how can I find out? Talk with colleagues or human resources
professionals at your organization. Remember, finding an organization where it is
“less crazy” or where there is less change is no easy task!
Analyzing Overlaps and Gaps
With a snapshot of the four most important factors regarding your work—your
needs, your offer, your organization’s needs, and your organization’s offer—take
a hard look at that photo to see what you like and do not like. Key questions to
ask include What am I doing well to meet my organization’s needs? What can I
do better to meet my organization’s needs? What is my organization doing well to
meet my needs? What can my organization do better to meet my needs?
From this analysis comes an understanding of key gaps from which you can
then develop a short- or long-term plan to achieve shared success. But remember,
when a key change occurs in one quadrant, you need to react and do something to
ensure balance in all quadrants in your Q5 framework. Keep taking those photos.
Your Preliminary Strategic Career Plan
The next step is to map out a career action plan that will help decrease gaps
between your needs and offer and those of your employer’s. Fully developing and
implementing this plan takes a bit of thought and work. We will cover this issue in
our next column. Until then, think of one thing you might want to do differently.
It could be a change in behavior or attitude, something you need to learn, or a way
to get more information about what is going on in your organization. Ask a colleague, coach, or your current manager to review your ideas to keep you focused.
Find out how realistic they believe your thinking is and what suggestions they
would make. You might also receive some unexpected support from those who can
help.
Write down what you plan to do and set a timeframe (say, three months).
Then work on that one thing when you have time and review your progress at that
point. It really is that simple, and that hard. A single change in behavior can be
one of the most difficult things we as human beings have to do. However, change
is much easier if you can clearly see how the change helps you achieve shared
success and benefits you and your organization.
NO GOING BACK
Many authors, including William Bridges (in Creating You and Company) and Tom
Peters (in The Brand You 50), suggest saying goodbye to most of your hard-earned
beliefs about how it was supposed to be and embracing these new realities of
work:
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• We are all contingent workers serving increasingly demanding customers.
• We must continually produce value and acquire the new skills needed to produce this value in the future.
• Performance expectations and related rewards will change frequently.
• We need to be willing and able to transition from one facet of an industry to
another or from one industry to another.
Your future career success may depend on how you choose to respond to these
new realities. Accept them, and you begin to take control of your career choices;
ignore them, and you may be unable to take advantage of career opportunities that
will emerge.
For more information on the concepts in this column, please contact Mike Broscio
at mbroscio@ache.org.
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C A R E E R S
Creating and Implementing
a Reality-Based Career Plan
Scherer Schneider Paulick, Chicago, and Jay Scherer, Principal, Scherer
Schneider Paulick
D
o you have a plan to ensure your career success in the future? If you are like many
professionals, you must admit that you do not. Yet in other parts of our lives, most
of us do have plans. Most of us have regular checkups at least to understand what we
need to do to stay healthy. Most of us have a plan for continued financial success. The
same idea applies with careers. A career plan is critical to building long-term professional success. Like a financial plan, a career plan must be based on reality and must
be updated regularly to account for changes in personal needs and the marketplace.
In our career-coaching practice, we often hear professionals say, “I’ve made it this
far without a career plan, why do I need one now?”; or “There are too many unknowns
for me to develop a plan. It’s just a waste of time”; or even, “I can’t control my career,
it’s in the hands of others.” These comments are reflective of a time passed and of old
thinking. Because of rapid job movement today, you must have a dynamic, flexible
plan if you expect to get what you want out of your current position and career. You
cannot trust others or the market. You have to carve out and exploit your own niche.
This article, the second in a series, describes the steps involved in developing and
implementing a reality-based plan using the Q5 Framework discussed in last issue’s
column. The Q5 Framework provides the building blocks for creating shared success—
your ability to ensure a reasonable balance between the fulfillment of your needs and
meeting your organization’s needs.
THE THREE STEPS
The three steps to building a career plan are (1) understanding your reality, (2) analyzing overlaps and gaps in that reality, and (3) developing a written plan based on that
analysis.
Understanding Your Reality
Using Figure 1 as a worksheet, take a snapshot of your current reality by filling out
each box for your individual needs and offer and the organization’s needs and offer.
Write your answers on a separate piece of paper, then summarize them on the worksheet. If you need help, ask a mentor, a coach, or a colleague you trust. The following
guidelines will help you respond appropriately to each category.
Individual Needs (What’s important to you?)
• Choose three or four personal values that are most important to you. These values
may include advancement, compensation, change, creativity, health, ability to help
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FIGURE 1
Understanding Your Reality
A1: INDIVIDUAL NEEDS
A4: COMPANY OFFER
A2: INDIVIDUAL OFFER
A3: COMPANY NEEDS
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others, independence, intellectual status, location, personal development, family
relationships, recognition, security, teamwork, and work under pressure.
• List motivators and demotivators for each of your last four jobs. Do you see trends?
What do you want to do more of and less of?
• Think about how you spend your time. Each week has 168 hours. Add up the actual
amount of time you spend on working, eating, sleeping, being with family, partaking
in recreation, cleaning, and so on. Then, determine how you would like to ideally
spend those hours. What’s the difference?
• Write a paragraph answering the question, “The meaning of success to me is. . . .”
Are you heading in the right direction?
• Summarize your answers on the worksheet under A1.
Individual Offer (How do you provide value?)
• Write your top ten professional accomplishments. Summarize the key skills you used
to achieve each.
• Review your past performance reviews. List the key themes, both positive items and
those needing development.
• Think of how you contribute to your organization. What can people count on you to
get done? How are your skills and attributes important to the organization?
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• What business are you in today? As the CEO of your own “service business,” you
need to determine your mission, understand your key offers to the organization,
exploit your competitive advantage, and minimize your competitive disadvantage.
Write a one-page “business overview” that summarizes these ideas.
Company Needs (What’s important to your organization’s success?)
• What are the key competitive issues for your organization? What do your customers
want that you are struggling to deliver? Is someone else in your market doing a
better job?
• How can you make a difference on these issues? What skills are needed to so do? Do
you have these skills?
• What competencies does your organization require for success? For example, the
American College of Healthcare Executives has ten standards of excellence for its
staff, including service, quality, integrity, responsibility, timeliness, professionalism,
teamwork, resourcefulness, fiscal responsibility, and development. What do your
organization’s competencies mean to you? How are you doing on each?
• What changes do you see coming for your organization? What can you do to get
ready? Can you suggest a project to help your organization’s competitive positioning?
Company Offer (How does your organization fulfill your needs?)
• List benefits, compensation, learning opportunities, and formal training programs
at your organization. Which ones work well for you, and which are sources of dissatisfaction?
• What other job within your organization would you like to take on? Do you have
the skills to be successful at it? Remember, job requirements also include “soft”
qualifications such as style, maturity, judgment, and trustworthiness.
• Can you volunteer to work on a project to learn or contribute in new ways?
• Is there an important new job that needs to be created? Talk with someone why that
role delivers value and why you are the one who can do it.
• How would you change your current role to make it more consistent with your
needs and offer? Remember, any change must achieve shared success.
With this snapshot of your reality, conduct an analysis of the overlaps and gaps in your
answers to categories in Figure 1. Answer the questions in Figure 2 to identify current
areas where there is a good fit between you and your organization and where there
is not a good fit. How far out of balance is your Q5 Framework? If it is somewhat
out of balance, your short-term and mid-term career success is probably achievable at
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FIGURE 2
What am I doing well to meet my organization’s needs?
What can I do better to meet my organization’s needs?
What is my organization doing well to meet my needs?
What can my organization do better to meet my needs?
GOOD FIT & OVERLAPS
POOR FIT & GAPS
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your current employer. If your framework is significantly out of balance, you may be
able to do things to balance it but you may also need to consider moving to a new
organization or even changing your career.
Developing a Written Plan
Figure 3 is a worksheet for your short-term and long-term action plans. Overall, the
plan should include:
• a summary of the current reality and a thorough analysis of overlaps and gaps between each category;
• a list of key activities that can close the gaps and capitalize on overlaps;
• prioritization of activities, including time frame (both short term and long term) and
specific steps needed to accomplish them; and
• a process for regularly updating the plan to adapt to changes (see Figure 4).
A journal is also helpful to track your progress with following your plan.
I M P L E M E N TAT I O N
Although a plan is always indispensable, it is worthless unless implemented. Increase
your implementation success by:
• adjusting your plan regularly to reflect current reality. Take successive snapshots of your
reality every few months or when a significant change occurs. Key changes that may
require a plan adjustment include personal changes, such as a family addition or
sudden financial problem; professional issues, such as boredom with work, newly
learned skill, or feedback on a development need; and organizational events, such as
a new boss, new organization strategy, or a merger and acquisition. Organizational
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FIGURE 3
Developing Your Written Plan
SHORT-TERM ACTION ITEMS
Overlap/Gap Activity
What I Will Do?
By When?
LONG-TERM ACTION ITEMS
Overlap/Gap Activity
What I Will Do?
By When?
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culture changes, such as loss of an important coworker or team member, can also
be included.
• making career decisions more quickly. In general, the longer you wait to make a career
move (when you cannot reasonably balance your Q5 Framework in your current
job), the higher the risk that someone else will make that move for you. If you cannot achieve balance and are thinking about a job or career change, you can analyze a
new job opportunity with the Q5 Framework.
• investing in yourself to stay relevant. Why wait until your organization provides you
training? Get it yourself. Find a program that closes gaps in your plan. Take a vacation, if you must, to be able to attend.
A NOTE FOR MANAGERS
What do managers and organizations need to do differently in the new workworld to
support employees and achieve shared success? They must
• assert less control. As the free market enters the workplace, managers are less able
to control everything. In fact, top-down control creates significant conflict in an
organization that is trying to respond to market needs in a timely basis. Delegate
responsibility. Trust employees to do their work. Ask them what they plan to do instead of telling them what they should do. Use the Q5 Framework to communicate
expectations.
• focus on shared success. There is no win-lose in today’s workplace. There’s either
win-win or lose-lose. If your employees feel they are losing and the organization is
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FIGURE 4
Adjusting the Plan to Reflect Current Reality
TYPE
DESCRIPTION OF CHANGE
WHEN IMPACT ON MY Q5
My Needs
My Offer
Company Needs
Company Offer
Other: market,
finances, long-term
goals, etc.
LIST OF ADJUSTMENTS REQUIRED
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winning, they will not stay or their contribution will begin to slide. To help them
balance their Q5 Framework, you can provide more information, ask more questions, be more flexible, and mentor.
• clarify changes in the organization’s needs. Work on ways to communicate changes to
your employees. As a manager, one of your key roles is to simplify external complexities so your employees can understand how changes can affect them. This way,
employees know how to adjust their individual offer.
For more information on the concepts in this column, please contact Mike Broscio at
mbroscio@ache.org.
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Building Job Security: Strategies for
Becoming a Highly Valued Contributor
Mike Broscio, director, Healthcare Career Management and Outplacement
Practice, Scherer Schneider Paulick, Chicago, and Jay Scherer, Principal, Scherer
Schneider Paulick
S
ome healthcare executives continue to believe that job security is something that
is automatically provided by their organizations. This perception may have been
true in the past, but even then, executives still had to make contributions to earn this
security. The increasing competition and performance requirements in the work world
today require executives to focus on providing relevant value everyday to secure their
positions.
Among the most important skills of successful healthcare executives is their ability
to understand the changing needs of the employer and marketplace and to find effective ways to meet those needs. Still, that is not enough. An executive also needs to
ensure that others in the organization are aware of his or her contributions. By doing
so, the executive is creating shared success, delivering value that benefits him or her
and the organization, and building on security.
F I V E S T R AT E G I E S F O R B U I L D I N G S E C U R I T Y
These five approaches will help you build your short-term and long-term security in
today’s work world.
Understand the Organization’s Requirement
Following are techniques for understanding the requirements for success at your organization. Choose one or two that make sense for you. Remember that taking any
action is better than doing nothing!
• Keep a change journal. When you see new and different things occurring at your organization, write them down. What are the patterns? What do you need to do to
adapt?
• Develop a strong internal network. You can learn important information by talking with
people in the know. Set a goal of talking with someone once per week about current
trends and practices and future issues. You need to seek out information, not wait
for it to come to you.
• Find mentors. Having several mentors who have differing skills and positions inside
and outside your company is useful. A single mentor is unlikely to have enough
scope of expertise, experience, interest, or contacts to help you maximize your personal progress and professional growth. Select someone who has your interests at
heart, who has contacts, who is knowledgeable about your field or interest, and who
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will level with you. Good mentors may be a senior manager, a peer, a subordinate
who will level with you, a technological guru, an industry expert, or a former classmate. Invite your potential mentor to lunch or coffee to see if you have common
interests.
• Study the organization’s strategic plan. Do you know where your organization is going?
Is the information available? Can you collect it from newspaper or magazine articles
or from investor analysis? What are the implications for your position now and in
the future?
• Ask for feedback. Feedback is critical to security, but good feedback is difficult to get
and give. Instead of waiting to be told how you are doing, you have to figure it out
by doing the following:
1. Ask your manager. Listen to the response well, paying attention to subtleties. Do
not overreact or argue over suggestions.
2. Collect input on events in which you were involved. Get a sense of people’s expectations from you and the event. Have them evaluate what went well and what
needed improvement.
Understand the Market’s Needs
The best way to understand more about the market is to do your own research. Read,
talk with experts and peers in other organizations, attend professional conferences, and
join professional associations and volunteer on one of their task forces.
We have informally studied the practices of successful executives and professionals
in the healthcare market. Our study revealed key lessons, which are summarized below.
Use the questions in each lesson to find out what you can do to meet the market’s
needs.
• Contribute. Do you produce value every day? Do you or your employees focus on
critical business elements?
• Behave appropriately. How you conduct yourself may be as important as the results
you get. Do people trust you? Can you work with a team? Is your work approach
consistent with those of your leaders?
• Adapt. Are there changes in your organization that you do not agree with? Do others
perceive your disagreement? Are your adapting and flexibility skills up to speed? In
our career-management practice, we find that many successful senior executives leave
their positions because they disagree with or cannot adapt to the new direction of
the organization.
• Learn. To keep up with change, executives must constantly learn. Are your skills and
knowledge of the healthcare field and its technology current? Do you take responsibility for your learning?
• Anticipate vague performance expectations. Rapid changes in the marketplace create
rapid changes in performance requirements. How good are you at meeting expectations that are not articulated to you? Can you figure out what needs to be done
when sudden changes occur?
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• Focus on customers. Everything is about the customer, so being knowledgeable about
and responsive to the customer’s requirements are vital. Are you good with customers?
• Be likeable. People want to work with people they like. Do you focus on establishing
effective working relationships?
• Understand business. Look at the big picture of running a business by learning about
finance, marketing, information technology, and other important areas. Consider
problems from differing points of view—that is, from a financial view, clinical standpoint, and so forth. Do you think and act like a businessperson?
• Know how to sell. Achieving buy-in for an idea is not easy. The most effective form of
communication is when you enlighten people on how a point of view or suggestion
helps them, not you. Your point of view needs to be balanced with those of others.
Can you sell?
Uncover Unmet Needs and Solve Them
CEOs and boards may not know all of the organization’s unmet needs. Your contribution in pointing them out and solving them can ensure your security. Examples of
unmet organization needs or problems include customer dissatisfaction, inefficient
processes, lack of innovative or creative thinking, poor communication among departments or groups, or overfocus on unprofitable businesses.
Summarize on a sheet of paper (1) your understanding of these unmet needs
within your organization and within the marketplace and (2) your recommendation
for meeting these needs. When deciding on the actions you might take, remember that
to successfully meet a need you must have the skills (value proposition) and interest
related to that specific need. Here are some pointers:
• Look around you. Sometimes unmet needs can be found within the scope of your
position. If this is the case, you have an advantage, as you already know your area
and may offer solutions that are practical and easier to implement.
• Help others. If you uncover unmet needs outside your role, offer help, but be careful
with your approach and use your selling skills. You can make a suggestion within the
context of working together to get better results for the organization.
• Create new roles. Sometimes creating a new role is the answer to meeting an unmet
need. If this is the case, put together a presentation that outlines the advantages of
this new role and your willingness and ability to fill the role. If your skill set and
personal needs do not fit the role, suggest someone who might best fill the role.
• Think strategically. Our career-management practice is often retained to help a leader
think more strategically. Strategic thinking is often defined as carefully examining
the organization to identify its unmet needs and then outlining improvements and
working to meet those goals.
Many leaders often say, “We need people to think outside the box.” In this section,
we just outlined the process for doing so.
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Make Others Aware of Your Value Proposition
Many people object to using self-promotion as a success strategy, as many of us have
been raised to be humble about our accomplishments. However, it is necessary for
those who have an influence on your career success to be aware that you and your
skills are important to the organization’s success. Maintaining a positive “brand” may
help in accomplishing this strategy.
Each person has a brand that identifies that person in the market. Examples of
brands include “difficult to work with,” “business savvy,” “creative,” or “very thorough.”
The brand is based both on the impressions a person makes in the marketplace and on
the well-received activities the person undertakes to promote recognition of his or her
abilities and contributions. If you view yourself as a service business, then your brand
must somehow relate to being “highly knowledgeable in customer service, marketing,
operations, and delivering quality.”
Here are suggestions on selling your ability to contribute in ways that are viewed
positively.
• Develop internal relationships. Whether you like it or not, security is often based on
who you know and how strong that relationship is. What are you doing to work on
building broad-based relationships with your peers, senior leadership, board, and
staff?
• Volunteer on teams. Volunteer on teams where you can make a contribution. But make
sure that those teams are positive and forward thinking and are composed of the
organization’s movers and shakers.
• Write articles. You can build a brand as an expert when you get published. Look for
opportunities to write for a publication in your field or to serve on editorial boards
or publication review panels.
• Join external organizations. Select one or two professional associations or trade groups
where you can meet a broad group of people who work in organizations or industries that you may contact if a need arises for you to make a transition in the future.
• Build external friendships. You can get your work done effectively and at the same time
develop lasting relationships with outsiders (e.g., suppliers, consultants, customers)
based on respect and shared success. These relationships with people who are “in the
market” on a daily basis can be critical to building an outside network in the event
you need it.
Of course, you need to balance these activities with getting your work done, so
select only a few at a time. You do not want your brand to be “joins everything and
never gets his work done.”
Make Career Decisions Based on Shared Success
One of the most difficult ways we can protect our security is by leaving our current
organization. So many of us hesitate in doing this, opting to wait for things to get
better. We may also feel we do not have the time or skills to find something new, so
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we use excuses such as, “I’m going to retire soon anyway.” What criteria do you follow
for determining whether it is time to begin looking? Here are helpful questions to
consider:
• Can you reasonably balance your Q5 Framework? (see previous articles in this series)
• Is there a critical personal need you have that the organization is no longer able to
meet?
• Do you have a new boss who does not view your value proposition as relevant or
adequate?
• Has your organization’s strategy changed so that your skills are no longer important?
• Are you unhappy with your current role and are there no other satisfactory opportunities in your organization?
For more information on the concepts in this column, please contact Mike Broscio at
mbroscio@ache.org.
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Diagnosing Risk: Strategies For
Preventing Unexpected Job Loss
Scherer Schneider Paulick, Chicago, and Jay Scherer, principal,
Scherer Schneider Paulick
I
n our executive-transition coaching practice, we find that many executives are
unprepared when their career plan is interrupted unexpectedly. But is being
surprised by job loss reasonable in today’s ever-changing work-world realities?
Continuing cost reductions and increasing pressure to get immediate results have
helped set the stage for downsizing. With more free-market dynamics affecting the
job market, including basic risk–reward principles, receiving higher compensation
today naturally means taking on higher risk.
Why do executives continue to be surprised by job loss? Many are victims of itmay-happen-to-someone-else-but-not-to-me thinking. Confident with their current
contribution and security, these executives often do not pay enough attention to
the reality around them. Many executives are overworked and too busy to notice
signals that all is not well or that fundamental organization or strategy changes
have occurred that affect their roles. In busy times, you absolutely must pay close
attention to your job performance. In today’s work world, however, you must also
keep an eye on issues broader than your performance, such as office relationships,
politics, communications, and perceptions of you and your behavior; market dynamics; strategy changes; and the organization’s bottom-line performance. These
factors can potentially create risk for you and your current role.
In this article we offer simple guidelines to help you pay closer attention to
risks in your environment and to take more effective control of your career.
PROCESS FOR REDUCING YOUR CAREER RISK
When change happens, especially rapid change, staying in tune with your environment and its realities becomes difficult. Provided in Table 1 is a checklist to
help facilitate your own efforts in diagnosing significant career risks that may need
your attention now. Awareness is the first step in reducing your risk and gaining
back control of your career direction. In this section, we present a process you can
implement to help prevent an unexpected career interruption.
Step 1: Review and Describe the Risk Factors. For each risk factor in Table 1 that
applies to you (checked yes), write out a brief paragraph describing the situation.
Include in your description the following key components: (1) the specific event(s)
related to the risk factor, (2) the date the event occurred and when you became
aware of it, and (3) the potential causes. Are there any other issues not addressed
by the diagnostic checklist? If so, add them to your description. Does the situation
look different when you see it on paper? In what way?
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TA B L E 1 R i s k D i a g n o s t i c C h e c k l i s t
Does it Apply to Me?
Yes
No
Risk Factor
1. Is your organization in a high-risk situation?
a. Is your organization performing poorly?
b. Has a major new-technology implementation occurred that may affect your
function or role?
c. Have you recently been acquired or have you just made an acquisition?
d. Has a significant strategy change occurred recently?
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6. Are you feeling differently about your work?
a. Is your work becoming significantly less satisfying to you?
b. Is your stress level increasing?
c. Are you making mistakes more frequently?
d. Do you feel overwhelmed by the demands of your job?
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7. Are your behaviors inconsistent with behaviors required for the new work world?
Are your behaviors potentially causing problems on the job?
a. Do you tend to “tell or yell” to get things done, rather than “sell”?
b. Have you failed to increase your sense of urgency?
c. Have you failed to improve your adapting skills?
d. Have you failed to improve your time-management or prioritizing skills?
e. Do you try to overcontrol your staff?
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2. Have key organizational high-risk events occurred recently?
a. Do you (or your boss) have a new boss, who started within the past 12 to 18
months?
b. Has a key mentor or sponsor left the organization recently?
c. Do you have any new key peers who have significant influence with your boss?
3. Have there been noticeable changes in communications?
a. Have key people, including your boss, stopped or significantly reduced their
communications with you?
b. Do you consistently get unexpected reactions to something you say or do?
c. Have you been left out of the loop on important decisions?
d. Have you been passed over to take a lead role on a project or to be a part of a
committee that would normally occur?
e. Are you getting noticeably more feedback than before about a specific
performance issue?
4. Do you find yourself consistently disagreeing or at odds with the organization’s
mission or direction?
a. Are your priorities or focus not what your boss wants or what the organization
is saying it needs?
b. Are you increasingly frustrated with decisions that get made by the executive
committee or your boss?
c. Are you feeling less connected or committed to the organization?
5. Have you become dependent in your thinking or behaviors?
a. Do you find yourself hesitating more, waiting to take action, or uncertain of
priorities?
b. Have you stopped learning or developing your skills?
c. Have you achieved most of the career goals you thought you would?
d. Have you become overly fearful of job loss?
e. Have you delayed developing and implementing your personal career plan?
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
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Step 2: Assess the Risk Factors and Prioritize. How does each risk factor potentially
affect your career success? Assess each factor in terms of (1) who or what group it
affects besides yourself, (2) what that individual’s or group’s influence is over your
career success, and (3) how the issue is currently visible, or if it has been noticed
yet. After reviewing your notes, identify one or two factors that can affect you most.
Step 3: Generate Alternative Solutions. What potential action can you take to solve
or reduce each of your risk factors? At this point, brainstorm alternatives without
evaluating whether the possible action item would be effective.
Step 4: Get a Second Opinion. In assessing your risk and developing alternative
ideas, you may realize that you need more information to better understand what
is going on and what you can do to correct the situation. For each risk factor,
record (1) the additional information you need, (2) the individual or location
from which you can get facts, and (3) the lessons you learned after collecting more
input. Fully comprehending the elements of a potential career risk without input
from others is difficult. Discuss the issue with your mentor, trusted friend, spouse,
former classmate, or executive or career coach.
Step 5: Develop an Action Plan. Based on the situation, risk factor, and input from
others, choose one or two issues to concentrate on; then, lay out your plan for
reducing your risk. Very often at this point of the process, key action plans have
become readily apparent. If they have not, then consulting with an executive or
career coach may be necessary (see “Professional Help” section). Your action plan
should have these key components: (1) goals/desired outcomes, (2) time frame,
and (3) action steps. Support from others is also essential. Remember, behavior
change almost always helps you solve your problems if that change is focused on
helping you get what you want and is balanced with the needs of others.
Step 6: Implement the Plan. As you begin to implement your plan, determine if you
need to have a discussion with your boss. One reason is to gain buy in to your
action plan; another reason is to find out if there has been any damage done to
your relationship. Often, people are afraid to have such a discussion for fear of
bad news. If a meeting is in order, you will need to take the lead in bringing up
any item concerning you. Direct communication is usually better. Never forget the
power of a positive attitude. During the discussion, be prepared with solutions;
don’t just raise problems or questions. Putting together ideas that solve issues is a
key component to reducing your risk and improving relationships with others.
Step 7: Prevent Future Risk. What can you do to avoid risk factors? Sometimes,
job difficulties occur when executives have in some part misunderstood the world
around them. They are not in tune with their own interests and needs, and that
in turn affects their perceptions. Developing a comprehensive, reality-based career
plan (which was discussed in previous columns) can help you feel better about
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your career and prospects. A good plan reduces your frustration, indecision, and
dependency; increases your understanding of reality; and moderates your overall
risk.
PROFESSIONAL HELP
The use of executive or career coaches is rising quickly in popularity, in part because they reduce the career risks of busy executives. Consider the benefits of a
coach. Coaches can provide sound professional advice on a wide variety of career topics. In some ways, coaches take the place ofl eadership training or even
human resources confidants, which help executives meet the demands of today’s
workplace. In addition, coaches come from a variety of backgrounds, including
the business, psychology, and counseling fields. You can pick a coach based on
background or training that you think will be most useful for your situation now
and in the longer run.
Selection of a coach should be based on the coach’s experience with delivering
results and on his or her ability to relate with you. Because coaching is a relatively
new solution, you have to be aware ofi nexperienced coaches. Don’t be afraid of
asking a long list of questions that specifically relate to the coach’s experiences,
knowledge, and methods. Get references as well. Ask professional organizations
or coworkers to refer you to a good coach.
Many executives now rely on coaches the same way they depend on a doctor,
accountant, or lawyer. They develop lasting relationships with their coaches over
time, and they call on their coaches when needed, including for an annual career
check up.
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Managing Job Transitions: Thirteen
Questions for a Successful Search
Practice, Scherer Schneider Paulick, Chicago, and Jay Scherer,
Principal, Scherer Schneider Paulick
S
ometimes the result of proactive career management and careful thought is
a decision to make a job or organization change. Sometimes despite all your
proactive efforts, something occurs that changes your role unexpectedly and
quickly. Business relationships end, and others begin; those changes are normal.
But change is difficult. In spite of all the organizational downsizing in the last
20 years and the increasing amount of job switching initiated by individuals,
human reactions to any kind of job transition (whether company or self-initiated)
have not changed. Reactions range from fear to relief to anger to disappointment.
Also, doubt is almost always present. A recent survey conducted by our executivetransition coaching practice on 150 executives and middle managers in transition
confirmed something we suspected: The perceived value of job-search advice is
greater for issues related to the mind than to nuts-and-bolts topics; that is, job
seekers prefer guidance on confidence, decision criteria, mindset, and emotions
over tips on resume making and interviewing. One executive summarized our
findings well, saying “success in this process is not about this nit or that nat, it’s
about what’s between your ears.”
In this column, we present job transition advice that is more strategic than
tactical. Your answers to the 13 questions we pose below can help you build a
solid understanding about transition and can enable you to sort through and apply
to your situation the broad range of tactical recommendations (such as for resume
development, interviewing strategies, and networking techniques) that are available
everywhere else.
1. CAN YOU MANAGE REJECTION?
Rejection is a significant part of any effective job search, whether it comes from
your former company or in the form of a search firm that does not call back after
promising to do so. Sales professionals use one technique for staying positive
through constant rejection: to think that “each no I get means I’m that much closer
to a yes.” This thinking reflects the belief that if you get up to the plate enough,
you will eventually get a hit. Most executives in transition highly underestimate the
volume of continuous activity needed in a successful job search. They seem to not
understand that no matter how good they are, they will face rejection during the
search process.
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Embrace rejection, as it may very well mean you are making progress toward
your goal! Find a good sales book that has a chapter on dealing with rejection to
help you change your outlook and manage your choices.
Another mistake many executives in transition make is putting too much stock
in one opinion they receive. One negative opinion is not an adequate sample to
base actions on. Consider your reactions carefully before making changes based on
one opinion.
2. HAVE YOU ACCEPTED THE NEW WORK WORLD?
Most executives in transition remain resistant to the free-market forces affecting
the job market. This emerging free-market system, marked by increasing movement
of talent and fewer artificial movement barriers such as job security and organizational loyalty, requires adapting by executives. One way to adapt is to view yourself
as a service business competing for customers. What are your mission, value proposition, and competitive advantage? What is your best market segment? What would
your 20-second commercial outlining how you deliver value look like? You need
answers to these questions to compete effectively in the free market.
Accept this new work world. Read about it, plan for it, anticipate it. Resist it
and you will fall behind and reduce your long-term viability and competitiveness.
3. DO YOU HAVE A PLAN?
To articulate his career plan, one of our executive clients developed a PowerPoint
slide presentation. The presentation includes the following titles: (1) Why Am I
Leaving My Company?, (2) Focus of My Job Search, (3) Geographical Preference,
(4) Value Propostion, (5) Strengths, (6) My Leadership Style, (7) Areas for Improvement, (8) Important Personal Values and Interests, (9) Specific Career Ideas
and Options, (10) Market Segment Options, (11) Action Items and Priority, and
(12) Start-Up Plan for the New Job.
What is your plan? You decide the format, but its components should reflect
the notion that you are launching a service business in today’s marketplace. A good
plan builds confidence in action and tactics, and confidence is a critical element to
job search success.
4. ARE YOU SEARCHING FOR SOMETHING YOU WANT?
Executives in transition sometimes feel like they have to pursue a job that they are
no longer committed to or interested in. Financial realities sometimes lead to a
feeling of being trapped in a specific career path. Seeking a role that you are not
fully excited about will likely negatively affect your motivation to execute the often
grueling and frustrating day-to-day tasks required of a successful search.
One way to mitigate this potential demotivator is to begin thinking in the
longer term. Evaluate the next job by asking the following: Can it be a stepping
stone to something you truly value? Can it teach you skills or present you challenges that will prepare you for the job following that? Thinking longer term is the
difference between walking into a cave and walking into a tunnel: a cave surrounds
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you in total darkness, while a tunnel offers you a speck of light on the other side.
A vision of a different and better future can help adjust your motivation and attitude.
5 . D O YO U U N D E R S TA N D T H E DY N A M I C S O F T H E M A R K E T ?
The executive job search market has several unique aspects, which continue to
change. A few of these changes are listed below as well as our view on them:
• The assessment of risk is changing. Reduced risk now depends as much on the
strength of the relationship between what you deliver and what your organization needs as on the financial stability of the organization.
• The impact of basic risk-reward tradeoffs is increasing. The more money you make,
the higher the risk you assume—that is a natural market dynamic. What are you
going to do to help manage this increased risk?
• Time is being redefined. In today’s busy marketplace, one day to working executives feels like seven days to executives who are not working. One executive
recently said to us, “when you’re waiting for someone to call back, it’s like dog
time.”
• Searches are more like a 10K race than a sprint. Dashing out unprepared to this new
marketplace may get you a head start, but it will likely tire you out before you
reach the finish line. Do you have a plan that can be implemented indefinitely?
6. HAVE YOU ACCEPTED YOUR TRANSFER TO SALES?
Having to look for a job is like being transferred to sales. All of a sudden, you have
to look for buyers. The first step in making this transition work is to put together
a good marketing plan that anticipates the realities of your market. Then, you
must commit to implementation. However, many job seekers do the minimum
and never fully commit to an all-out sales effort. Have you committed to your
job search?
7. DO YOU KNOW YOUR BARRIER TO SUCCESS?
Everyone has at least one barrier to job search success, whether it is poor personal
image, an unclear value proposition, a preference for waiting for the market to
come to you rather than you going to the market, lack of a key credential or certification, or lack of full commitment to the search process. Understanding what
your barrier is and then forming a plan to eliminate or at least reduce the impact
of that barrier are crucial to job-search success. Evaluate consistent feedback you
have received at work and during your search to see if any patterns emerge; those
patterns may represent a barrier. You may also ask your mentor or someone you
trust to provide constructive feedback.
8. ARE YOU WORRYING ABOUT THINGS YOU CANNOT
CONTROL?
You cannot control the fact that the job market is difficult. You cannot control the
fact that recruiters or hiring staff do not call you back in a timely way. You cannot
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control the fact that your age may be a factor in your job search. And the list goes
on and on. Yet, job seekers spend significant time fretting about things that are
a given. Over an extended period of time, this behavior takes its toll on mental
well-being. When something is bothering you, first think, “Is there anything I can
reasonably do about this issue?” If the answer is no, try to move on to something
that you can influence such as your effort, strategy, skills, and fitness.
9 . A R E YO U R E D U C I N G YO U R U N C E R TA I N T Y ?
Uncertainty about where you will work next and in what capacity, combined with
the uncertainties of your day-to-day life, can become overwhelming, making you
feel like things are out of control. Make decisions about whatever you can—those
areas that you can control. Take items off the list. Being undecided on too many
issues adds to feeling overwhelmed. What can you decide today to reduce the
uncertainty in your life?
10. HAS THE MARKET SEEN YOU IN THE ROLE YOU ARE
PURSUING?
In our coaching practice, if a client obtains even one interview for the type of role
he or she is searching for, we view the case as being “proved.” Our thinking is that
if one organization/search firm was impressed enough to grant an interview, then
other organizations/search firms will most likely follow and the search will be
eventually successful. After you have had at least one interview, the market knows
you exist.
If time continues to drag on without a solid interview (with a search firm or
organization), then you may have to adjust your strategy or tactics. Take a careful
look at your plan and how you are implementing it; this examination may yield
some answers. Examine your search progress by reviewing the following current
trends:
• Organizations are hiring people who match exactly the position specification.
• Organizations are interested in candidates who can produce revenue for the
enterprise.
• Salary offers are down; variable pay is increasingly presented.
• Some of the most marketable leadership skills and attributes include the following:
1. Success in dealing with tough issues such as declining reimbursement, impact of physician liability insurance, and staff migration and shortages
2. Ability to build solid physician and board relationships
3. Knowledge of managing diversity and successful integration of cultures
4. Skills in business development
5. Broad experience working for diverse types of employers, including practice
management, managed care, and hospital organizations
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1 1 . A RE YO U M A K I N G A D JU S T M E N T S T O T H E W R O N G
THINGS?
A job search has two parts—strategy and tactics. Strategy covers the big picture,
including the seeker’s value proposition, target market, and basic communication
approaches to such elements as resume and interviewing. Tactics are specific techniques and distribution approaches that help sell the job seeker. Once a seeker
gets into a search and does not see the expected results, the pressure is on: he or
she typically begins adjusting either the strategy or the tactics to determine and fix
what is going wrong. However, this can be highly counterproductive if the seeker is
adjusting strategy when flawed tactics are the issue or vice versa.
The tension of a search also leads people to make adjustments based on little
feedback. Our advice is to put together a solid plan, understand good tactics, and
then implement it. Collecting and analyzing feedback is always good practice,
but slow down on making significant adjustments. Thinking things through well
before the pressure of the search begins will likely result in fewer inappropriate or
unnecessary adjustments.
1 2 . A RE YO U F O C U S E D O N L E A R N IN G ?
“Can I still perform the job?” is a natural question asked by many individuals who
have been engaged in lengthy job searches. The answer is relax, you cannot lose
your edge in a matter of months. To help with your confidence, take advantage
of your job search period as a time to learn. The outplacement industry is known
to say, “looking for a job is a full time job.” However, very few job seekers can or
should spend 50 hours on their search—that is a sprinter’s pace that will lead to
burnout. Conservatively, you have at least five to ten hours per week extra time
than you had while working. Some executives use that time to reconnect with
friends and family, while others use it to learn. Over a six-month job search period, try to devote 130 hours to learning a new skill or a new language. What’s
your learning goal during your transition?
1 3 . A RE YO U C O N F ID E N T IN YO U R A B I L IT Y T O M A K E A
G O O D E M P LO Y M E N T D E C I S I O N ?
During the job search, hesitation and procrastination can come from not having
clear decision criteria in mind. Defining your requirements for a new job early in
your search is crucial; you can use those required criteria later when evaluating
solid opportunities. When considering whether to accept an offer, you should
already have established a systematic approach for evaluating the organization and
the opportunity.
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Six Steps to Creating a Personal
Career-Decision Framework
Practice, Scherer Schneider Paulick, Chicago, and Jay Scherer,
Principal, Scherer Schneider Paulick
F
rom time to time, career opportunities present themselves to you, both from
within and from outside the organization, or you may hear of a job opening
that is appealing. When it comes time to decide whether to pursue a job opportunity or to accept an offer, do you follow a process for decision making? What steps
do you take to maximize your career success in the short- and long-terms?
This final article in the careers column addresses the important issue of making
good career decisions. The increased movement of talent in the workforce, initiated
by individuals and organizations, has presented people today with far more career
decisions than those required 10 to 15 years ago. Many employment experts predict that the average working person in the United States will change jobs between
five and ten times during their careers. Therefore, having a personal career-decision
framework focused on maximizing success is a critical requirement in effective
career planning.
THE SIX STEPS OF A CAREER-DECISION FRAMEWORK
Little is written about techniques for better weighing the pros and cons of working at a certain organization or in a specific role. One reason for this lack is the
complexity of the issue—that is, how can you account for all the factors relevant
to deciding on a job offer? Another is the difficulty of collecting accurate and
meaningful information that serves as the solid foundation for your decision.
In this section, we present six steps that will help you begin to build a decision
process that works for you. At the core of these steps is the objective of shared
success: to make a win-win decision that maximizes your success, balanced with
the success and needs of your potential employer organization, department, or
supervisor.
Step 1: Reduce Decision-Making Barriers
Being in the right frame of mind is a critical requirement in effectively deciding
whether to take a new job. The following are ways to clear your head:
• Do not think traditionally. Are you stuck in the past, operating without a career
plan? Are you dependent, waiting for someone else to manage your career and
determine your success? Do you understand that in the new work world you are
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a service business operating in a free marketplace? Do you realize that taking no
action is also a career decision?
• Take emotions out of the equation. Speed is the enemy in any employment decision. Rushing through the process does not allow you or the organization to
collect and deliberate on enough information. The old saying “quick to hire,
quick to fire” often holds true for the organization. Try not to be over anxious,
fearing the employer’s interest will wane if you do not stay aggressive. Do not
react; rather, plan.
• Gather enough information. Not knowing enough about the opportunity or
organization is risky. It is human nature for many successful people (who are
by nature often optimistic) to fill in blanks in information with positive guesses
and inferences. Wishful thinking often leads to poor decision making.
• Do not put too much stock in one opinion. Ask for input and advice from those
you trust, but remember that one feedback is not sufficient for basing a decision
on. Many people are willing to give advice, but that advice may not be based
on a full understanding of your situation, your desire for a change, and the
advantages and disadvantages associated with the opportunity. Be careful about
asking for input. Conduct an organized research initiative instead.
• Do not let a “push away” be the only reason for making a change. Many job
changes are initiated to get away from a difficult situation or boss, an underperforming organization, or a demanding environment. Often this feeling to “push
away” allows you to take control of your career. But it should not be the sole
motivating factor. The new job offer also has to have “pull”—that is, it has to
have an appeal based on the job’s consistency with your requirements. Without
feeling this pull, you risk jumping to another opportunity that replicates the one
that pushed you into making a change in the first place.
Step 2: Use The Q5 Framework
To ensure decision success, you need a decision tool that fully accounts for personal and professional needs, skills, and value proposition. It must also account
for the new opportunity’s requirements for success. The Q5 Framework (Figure 1),
introduced in the first two articles of this column, provides such a decision tool,
which is flexible enough to support your personal career decision-making process.
The Q5 Framework allows you to ask and answer questions to assess how a job
opportunity’s needs and offers fit with your own.
Step 3: Clarify Your Needs and Offers (see the Q5 Framework)
Any good decision starts with an understanding of what is important to you. With
your career, you must have a solid, realistic view of your strengths and weaknesses
and know how you can deliver value to your employer. Potential criteria for understanding your employment needs and offers are listed below. Take some time to
complete the sentences framing the criteria, then think about which criteria are
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C ar eer s
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
FIGURE 1
The Q5 Framework for Effective Career-Decision Making
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
most important to you; force rank or prioritize each criterion to determine the
order of importance. This ranking will be used in Step 6 below.
• My primary responsibilities should be . . .
• The organization’s strengths/market position should be . . .
• My compensation needs (including variable and fixed) are . . .
• My benefit plans needs are . . .
• Other perks should include . . .
• My bosses’ style and approach would ideally be . . .
• The culture of this organization should be described as . . .
• This organization’s core values should be . . .
• The organization’s position/reputation in the marketplace should be . . .
• The location of the job (now and the future) needs to be . . .
357
• Learning opportunities should include . . .
• Travel requirements should be . . .
• The opportunity for me to make an impact/difference should be . . .
• The physical environment I work in should include . . .
• The flexibility in my work schedule should include . . .
• Time-at-work requirements should be . . .
• My input into my work assignments should include . . .
• The type of people interaction (including type of people) I will work with should
include . . .
• The team reporting to me should be . . .
• My peers should be . . .
• Important tools/resources available to me should include . . .
• Other issues important to me are . . .
Step 4: Be Aware of Opportunities at Your Current Organization
More opportunities may be available at your current organization than you know.
In a recent study of exiting high-value employees, one major global consulting
firm found that almost 70 percent of employees who resigned ended up taking
roles that they could have filled within the organization they left. Your internal
network is critical to uncovering these internal possibilities. Many organizations
now post job openings, but the postings rarely mention more senior-level roles.
Often executives compare their current role to the one being presented by the
search firm, but they overlook a third potential—a new internal role.
If you feel good about your organization but not your current role, then uncovering internal opportunities may be in order. Because you have more information
about your current organization’s culture and requirements on hand than what you
can gather about a new organization during the interview process, a move within
your organization is possibly less risky and demands less work. If you have been
presented with an internal opportunity, try to step back and look at your organization as if you were an outsider. Only then can you look at it with fresher eyes.
Step 5: Seek Information on the Potential Organization
A decision to move to another organization should be based on solid information.
Although it is hard to fully know an organization until you start working there,
research will yield useful insights. Following are a number of suggestions for determining whether a specific organization is a good match and is a place where you
can be successful.
• Ask questions. Formulate interview questions related to your needs-and-offers
criteria (see steps two and three). For example, if flexibility in working hours
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C ar eer s
is important to you, ask questions such as, “Do my peers have home offices
set up?” “How many of my direct reports have alternative work arrangements?”
The timing of your questions is important. The common advice is not to raise
questions about compensation and benefits early in the recruiting process, unless
you have significant concerns regarding those items.
• Talk with relevant people. First, collect insightful information from former or
current employees. Usually the best way to do this is to use your network, which
may include individuals who are directly or indirectly tied to the organization
you are interested in; with their help, you can identify employees you can approach. Second, talk to vendors/suppliers or customers/patients. Remember, you
have to talk with enough people to form more complete conclusions, instead of
relying on just one or two sources.
• Collect company materials. Marketing materials, employee publications, newsletters, and web sites all provide an organization’s philosophy, focus, and priorities.
Get as much insight from these vehicles as you can. The knowledge will also
better prepare you for the interviewing process.
• Visit or walk around. Prior to or after any interviews, visiting the location to get
a sense of the internal and external environments is a good idea. In this time of
increased security, unplanned visits have become more difficult to do; but they
may still be possible at some organizations. As part of the interviewing process,
you should be given a tour of the facility. If not, ask for one, but do not ask
until the second round of interviews.
• Conduct research on the Internet. Checking out official web sites, doing article searches, and accessing healthcare-industry-related web pages can give you
quick information about a target organization. Excellent sources include
www.hoovers.com and www.guidestar.org. The ACHE (www.ache.org) and AHA
(www.aha.org) web sites are great resources as well.
• Imagine a day at the new organization/job. This exercise can help you identify
feelings about a new place and opportunity, and it may lead you to seek more
information that will help in decision making. Find a quiet place, close your
eyes, and imagine yourself driving/commuting to the organization. Think about
the details of the commute, including parking the car and walking into the
building/office. What does everything look like? What do you do first when you
get there? Who do you see? Think about the details of the job. When is your first
meeting? Who is invited to the meeting? What is the central issue that needs to
be addressed? And so on.
• Consult or work temporarily. For individuals in the job market, working for a
potential employer on a temporary basis can be a great way to learn more about
the operation (and for those in charge to learn about the individual). If your
objective is to ensure a good fit so that shared success results, this kind of trial
period is ideal.
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3
3
3
3
3
2
2
1
1
1
(range: 3 to 1*)
Weight
Current Job
67
12
9
6
12
12
6
2
4
3
1
Total
5
4
4
1
3
2
5
5
4
4
Score (range: 5 to 1**)
New Job
78
15
12
12
3
9
4
10
5
4
4
Total
5
4
3
4
5
2
4
2
2
4
Best-Ever Job
83
15
12
9
12
15
4
8
2
2
4
Total
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
4
3
2
4
4
3
1
4
3
1
*3 = highest priority; 1 = lowest priority; **5 = highest score; 1 = lowest score
Total
Desirable Location
Lack of Organizational Bureaucracy
Good Compensation
Extensive Time with Family and Friends
Trust and Integrity of Bosses/Partners
Ability to Lead Process/Strategy
Need/Desire for My Expertise
Responsibility for Revenue
Ability to Lead People
Become More Knowledgable/Expert
Job-Selection Criteria
FIGURE 2
Sample Career Decision-Analysis Worksheet
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
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Step 6: Make an Informed Decision Based on the First Five Steps
Career success requires shared success. Your best decision is one that accommodates your contributions to the success of the organization and the organization’s
contribution to your success. Figure 2 is a sample career decision-analysis worksheet. The worksheet lists, in order of importance, the job-selection criteria for
a hypothetical healthcare executive. Each criteria is given “weight” in the second
column, with 3 being highest priority and 1 being lowest priority. The remaining
columns rate the executive’s satisfaction with current job, new job, and best-ever
job, with 5 being the highest and 1 being the lowest. This sample worksheet provides another view of all the factors you must consider when making a decision
focused on shared success.
THE NEW JOB
Now that you have chosen to accept the position, what are you going to do to
be successful in this role? This question has been growing in importance, as executives are increasingly required to fix problems and improve performance in
very short time frames. It has also given rise to coaching and training initiatives
that are focused on the art of “on boarding”—proven techniques for starting anew
successfully at an organization.
Our final question for all careerists who are actively managing their careers and
who have just decided to make a change is this: “What is your plan over the next
six months to ensure you achieve shared success in your new role?”
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Table of Contents - American College of Healthcare Executives

Transcription

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