Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom

Is a Career Coach For You?

From humankind’s earliest days, mentors and coaches have been a significant ingredient in the careers of many accomplished individuals.

As they reported in Fast Company in 2006, Jim Bolt and Brian Underhill conducted a study that found that 56 percent of surveyed companies emphasized coaching as a major learning method, and two years later, 51 percent of the same organizations said that the use of coaching had increased.

The investigators also discovered that coaching was no longer a “fix it tool” for leaders with problems and was instead being used to help high-potential leaders get even better. In fact, at the time of the second study, 43 percent of CEOs and 71 percent of senior team members in the surveyed organizations has worked with a coach. Sixty-three percent of the companies said they planned to increase their use of coaching over the following five years, and an incredible 92 percent of coached leaders said they planned to engage a coach again.

For advice on whether or not hiring a career coach would help you, check out this post on the Fast Track blog.

See Yourself as Others See You

Over at the Harvard Business Review blogs, Linda Hill and Kent Lineback have a terrific post on the importance of knowing how your words and actions are perceived by those who report to you.  As Linda and Kent rightfully point out, though, getting a truthful answer is easier said than done.  Here are some of their top recommendations for getting honest feedback about how others see you:

Establish ongoing human connections

Is there an easy give-and-take between you and your reports? Are you able to carry on a real conversation about a variety of topics, business and personal? Can you disagree and respectfully discuss your differences? Without such connections, which require time to establish, little else you do is likely to uncover others' thoughts and feelings, especially about you as a boss.

React calmly and constructively to negative feedback

You needn't accept everything you hear. But when you disagree, do you seek clarification, pose thoughtful questions, and ask for examples? Or do you respond angrily and deny defensively what you're hearing? Only as people test your tolerance will you slowly build a reputation for a willingness to hear and accept candid comments.

Seek out perspectives in the context of a specific task

Asking broad, general questions can feel threatening to those you're asking, particularly if they work for you. So, develop a practice of checking in with people at the beginning and end of a piece of work.  Use the specific piece of work as a setting for a candid discussion of what worked and what didn't, where you might have done less or more, and what you should do differently next time.

Build an internal development network

Communicate regularly with a group of trusted advisers who are willing to provide their honest reactions to how you’re operating within the organization.  Members of your development network are most likely to be peers and colleagues and may include a more senior mentor.

Tap your boss

A good manager is willing to pass on what she hears about you from others.  She also has access to organizational information and commentary not available to you and so can offer a broader perspective on how you're perceived.

As Linda and Kent point out, being able to accurately understand how you are perceived requires putting in time and effort to establish strong internal relationships, which, as a manager, helps you in many other ways as well.

This post was originally published on Intuit's Quickbase blog.

What Does Being a Mentor Mean?

I received this e-mail from a reader, and it’s not the first time I’ve gotten this question:

Dear Alexandra:  A college graduate asked me to be her mentor.  What does this mean?  I have two kids in high school and I’m a little worried that I don’t have time for such a thing.

Attached at the Hip?

It’s a valid concern.  You want to help out a young professional, but you also have a day job and a family.  You don’t want to spend several hours every week helping her navigate through every minute aspect of her job search, college-to-career transition, or problem at work.

Lay out the Relationship Clearly

Fortunately, a good mentor relationship doesn’t necessarily entail that you become your mentee’s third parent.  The key is to concretely establish the parameters at the beginning of the relationship so that you and your mentee are on the same page.  What are her expectations, and will you be able to meet them?  What is she looking for help with specifically? How often will you meet, and how/when will she contact you outside of those meeting times?  How long will the engagement last?

It’s Easier Than it Sounds

You don’t have to turn a mentoring engagement into your next giant project.  In fact, you may well find that you have the ability to help your mentee meet her goals and pursue her path with confidence simply by occasionally sharing your own experiences and what you learned from them.  This can often be done over one or two lunch meetings.  Most of my mentoring relationships have been relatively short-lived, and it’s a pleasure to see that the few hours I invest on the front end often significantly influence my mentee’s future.   You can make a difference without having to replace the time and care you spend nurturing the important individuals in your life.

This post was originally published on Intuit's Quickbase blog.

8 Tips for Managing Summer Interns

It's that time of year again! College students and recent grads are starting their summer internships and their managers are wondering how in the world they're going to keep them occupied while providing a valuable experience. Over at the Intuit Small Business blog, Liz Magill has some excellent suggestions for leaders implementing an internship program this summer.  Among them:

Offer a real learning opportunity

Making coffee and copies won’t do. Bright, energetic interns want a chance to do something meaningful. Although you can start with basics, gradually increase the complexity and scope of the job so your eager talent feels a sense of accomplishment.

Set challenging, but attainable goals

Don’t expect a writing intern to win a Pulitzer, a science intern to develop the next great patent, a sales intern to land your company’s biggest client, or a tech-savvy intern to build the next Facebook. Setting goals outside the capabilities of your intern may lead to frustration, while goals that are too easy will bring on boredom.

Don’t babysit

Interns should be mentored, not watched like a hawk.  You can put them on a leash, but make it a long leash. Interns come with a huge bucket of enthusiasm; don’t stifle it.

Enforce deadlines

It may be summer, but it’s not summer camp. Let your interns know that their work is very important to the success of your business, and that you expect deadlines to be met — and work quality to be high.

Abide by labor laws

In order for internships in “for profit” companies to qualify as unpaid, they must meet six federal legal criteria  as outlined in this United States Department of Labor fact sheet. If these six criteria are not satisfied, then an “employment” relationship exists, which means the intern must be paid.

Additionally, I believe open communication with interns is essential.  Get your interns started on the right foot by encouraging them to:

Look around and listen

Interns should pay attention to the comings-and-goings of more experienced colleagues, and routinely ask for feedback on their performance.

Be social

While they have the opportunity, interns should network with as many colleagues as they can, going out with the group for Happy Hour and attending the summer party.

Show appreciation

When dealing with other team members, interns should come across as gracious  and can-do.  They should constantly look for ways to share their expertise and add value to the team’s operations.

With the right preparation and guidance, your interns will contribute substantially to your team, both workwise and interpersonally.  You know you’ve managed them the right way when, at the end of the summer, your team members ask if an intern can stay on as a full timer.

This post was originally published on Intuit's Quickbase blog.

Elders Don't Always Know Best

Usually I tell young professionals to respect their elders, because I don’t see enough of that behavior these days.  

The danger of this advice, however, is that young professionals sometimes take it too far. They seek out older professors, experts and mentors in their field and listen blindly regardless of whether or not the information is valid or the source is truly qualified to give it. As a result, they can be steered down a path that is detrimental to their career progress.

Just because someone has been in a field for a long time does not mean she is necessarily good at what she does and/or that her experiences will be 100 percent relevant to your own.  People stay in and even succeed in careers for a variety of reasons; and frankly, true skill may not be a factor. Also, the judgment of some older individuals is so clouded by their own experiences that they can’t help insisting that you follow their actions and trajectory to the letter.

Case in point

I recently overheard a 55-year-old Fortune 500 female executive advising a 22-year-old college graduate to engage in hardball strategies to break through the glass ceiling at her consulting firm. These strategies didn’t suit the grad’s personality and might be perceived as over-aggressive and unnecessary in today’s corporate culture of greater gender equality.

It’s a good idea to talk to older professionals; and yes, you can learn a tremendous amount from them.  But instead of acting on information right away, please take the time to filter it and deem it appropriate for your situation. 

What Do You Want to Be Known For?

My friend Tim Ferriss just released his new book, The 4-Hour Body.  It contains lots of tantalizing body hacking strategies from losing 20 pounds in a month without exercise to reversing permanent injuries. 

More intriguing than the book itself is how Tim intends to keep it on the bestseller lists for the better part of this year.  As my other buddy Jonathan Fields put it on his Tribal Author blog, instead of trying to appeal to as many people as possible, Tim created an ultra-slick, James Cameron worthy book trailer that “makes a bee-line for the hearts and souls of most rabid, hyperbolic, youth and performance driven part of the market, knowing that there were more than enough of them to push the book onto the New York Times list.”

People wonder why everything Tim Ferriss does turns to gold, and here’s the reason:  he knows his audience better than himself.  He has slowly but carefully cultivated a loyal legion of fans on his blog by providing advice of a very specific nature: think extreme breath-holding and round-the-world plane tickets.  After years of using the blog to analyze what his audience wants, Tim now serves it up in The 4-Hour Body.  And it’s working.

The point is, Tim doesn’t try to be all things to all people, and neither should you.  As you progress in your career, do you have a solid understanding of your strengths, where you add the most value, and the people who most appreciate what you bring to the table?  Can you articulate what you want to be known for in your organization and your field besides pleasing people in the senior ranks?  It’s only with these insights that you will be in a position to actively drive your career forward.

Evisors: A New Networking Must

Just when I thought there were no ideas in the online career advice space, someone surprises me, and that’s what happened when I read Christine Apold’s e-mail last week.

Christine wrote to let me know about Evisors.com, an online marketplace for expertise that connects people with qualified and knowledgeable experts in their fields. 

Evisor.com’s growing collection of 500 real world experts can tell job seekers first-hand what it’s like to work at 475+ companies across a range of industries and functions. Says Christine:  “Today, when someone embarks on the job search, they scour their personal and professional networks for advice and help preparing for applications and interviews. However, if that expertise does not lie directly in their network or they are not comfortable seeking advice from friends and family for any reason, job seekers can quickly start feeling like they are wandering in the dark.”

The Evisors provide the inside scoop on a wide variety of topics within an industry or company including firm organization and culture, how make a smooth transition, what the firm really looks for in an interview and ways to make your application stand out.  Many of the experts were former interviewers as well as employees at these firms so their practice interviews and resume reviews are truly representative of what you will face in the interview. It’s like knowing somebody in every company you apply for.

Whether you’re looking for a new job or hoping to expand your network, I hope you will check this out.  Once again, a resource I wish I’d had ten years ago!

5 Success Tips for Gen Y

It's been a while since we've talked generationally, and since these ideas came up in two media interviews this week, I thought I'd share them here:

• Focus on acquiring transferable skills.  You have all the time in the world to get promoted and have the responsibility of a senior executive.  Enjoy not having to take care of anyone but yourself and focus on acquiring skills like project management, budgeting, sales, marketing, and client relations.

• Use your initiative one small contribution at a time.  Rather than insisting on changing the company overnight, identify areas where you can improve upon a product or process and make your suggestions selectively.  Once one idea is well received and implemented successfully, you can move on.

• Take charge of your own career path.  Just showing up and doing a lot of work doesn’t mean your contributions are visible or that you are deemed worthy of a promotion.  Use job descriptions and work with your boss to develop a six month and year long career plan with concrete goals that you will achieve.  Insist that your performance reviews are done on time.

• Make your boss look good.  Go to lunch and discuss exactly what she needs from you.  Determine how to surpass her expectations.  Be self-sufficient and solution-oriented, respectful of her time, and accommodating. 

• Look for a mentor with a generosity of spirit who is just a few years ahead of you on the ladder, ideally in another department.  Emulate how she looks and behaves, dresses and interacts with colleagues and clients.  Define the relationship, set up a regular meeting schedule, and have questions prepared for each session.  Look for ways to do something for her in return. 

Team Leaders Must Communicate Expectations

Team leaders, heed this warning: good upfront communication is critically important to successfully integrating a new employee into your team.

If you do not make your expectations known, and you do not provide the new team member with the information he needs to do his job well, then you cannot complain when he falls short.

They Don’t Know What They Don’t Know

New team members “don’t know what they don’t know.”  It is your responsibility as the leader to share protocols on your team and in your organization, how business is conducted with co-workers and clients, and best practices for delivering work product.   Never assume that unspoken rules should be understood by the new team member, especially if he is young or inexperienced in your type of company.  If it doubt, spell it out.

Don’t Fire Your Way Out of the Problem

Since most employers are at will, this means that if you have hiring and firing responsibilities and a new team member royally screws something up, you can let her go if you want.  In all honesty, you probably aren’t going to get sued, and it probably won’t negatively impact your career.  But if you fire someone for doing something that’s a direct result of your failure to communicate, then you should feel ashamed.

Mistakes Are Learning Opportunities for Both of You

The screw up should actually be a valuable lesson to both of you.  The team member should be provided with the opportunity to do things differently next time, and you should examine why you didn’t instruct her properly in the first place and hopefully adhere to a higher standard with your next new team member.

This post was originally published on Intuit's Quickbase blog.

Take Your List of Ingredients and Make a Recipe

I love this post from the ever-insightful Pamela Slim of Escape of Cubicle Nation fame because I get asked all the time how to do a self-assessment exercise that results in a clear direction in which to take your career.  Says Pam:

I spend a lot of of my time working with people who are trying to figure out what to do for a living.  I usually start by sending them on an internal expedition, examining the nuances, thoughts and feelings of their body, mind and spirit for clues about what interests them.  They carry around notebooks in which they furiously scribble insights, create vision boards, bookmark websites like crazy, make spreadsheets and stuff files with pictures and magazine clippings.  Then they get back in touch with me, feeling a bit perplexed and overwhelmed, sharing a summary list which looks something like this:

My interests: old rugs, Pittsburgh Steelers, organic farming, my family, writing code, speaking Russian, salsa dancing, old episodes of Friends, small business marketing, photography.

They say “I sure love all these things, but how in the world can I make a business out of them?”  To which I reply:  You are ingredients in search of a recipe.  Or perhaps many recipes.  A common misconception about the process of entrepreneurship is that you have to fit all your interests into one neatly tied up and integrated business which will allow you to express all of your passions.  Instead, I like to think of skills and interests as ingredients to use selectively in different business models, depending on the opportunities and market.

So you could say: “I think I want to use salsa dancing as the main staple for my next venture.  I will round out the flavor with a bit of coding, by creating a killer website that hosts great instructional videos for novice dancers, and will sprinkle in a little bit of photography so I can take stunning photos of professional dancers to use in their promotional materials.”

OR...

“I would love to spend some time in Pittsburgh so I can catch all the Steeler home games live. I think I will focus on organic farming in the northeast, using a few cups of marketing to help local farmers expand their offerings in the slow winter season.  I hear that there are some amazing rug dealers in the area, so when not doing small business marketing, I will try to find some great pieces and sell them on eBay.”

Looking at your interests this way, you can see that you don’t have to use all the ingredients at once, in the same measure, in the same recipe.  All you need to do is to continually refine your list of ingredients, and combine them in ways that interest you and taste great.

Wonderful and more importantly – clear and useable – advice!