Every square is a rectangle, but not every rectangle is a square

Posted on March 29, 2007 by Rick Turoczy

Career management measuring up?And every time you engage in a job search you’re engaging in career management, but every time you engage in career management you’re not engaing in a job search. So says Matt (can I call you Matt?) Blevins, over on Insourced.

Matt hits several upon several facets of the job search versus career management conundrum in his “Job search paradigm shifts are fun.”

To wit:

[J]ob search and career management are not mutually exclusive and, in truth, everyone engaging in career management must still conduct a job search, even if that search involves steps that don’t actually appear to be a “search”. Those engaged only in a job search, however, don’t necessarily engage in career management. In fact, they’ll be perfectly capable of finding a job by conducting a job search and not working on the career management aspect – as Jason would likely note, however, they wouldn’t be maximizing their career potential by doing so.

Read more.

(Hat tip to JibberJobber)

Posted in Career | 1 Comment

Intel's 'Hard Knocks' Performance Reviews

Posted on March 29, 2007 by Toby Lucich

Performance reviewMike Rogoway of the Oregonian writes today about the employee evaluation process at Intel, a Portland area employer of some 16,000 in the area alone. These evaluations, or Focals, drive reward and punishment at the area employer. Bonuses to probation, depending on your performance in recent months.

Rick Brumble, a former business analyst at Intel who lost his job last October in a companywide layoff, said the competitive nature of the reviews feels out of place to many employees who would prefer to be collaborating. The “brag sheets” employees compose each January to summarize their accomplishments are particularly off-putting, he said.

“You have to look better than some other person,” Brumble said. “You have to say, ‘I did this,’ and word it in such a way that it looks like you walk on water.”

Because Focal rates employees based on their comparative performance with one another, rather than their achievement against a fixed set of goals, Brumble said, he felt in the dark about exactly what was expected.

“They don’t tell you what the bar is you have to reach in order to do your job successfully,” he said.

Grumble, grumble.

Rogoway shares a few anonymous comments at the Silicon Forest blog, including

“Focal can work when it is used as a tool to help managers make sure they are doing effective performance management. I have seen it used well when the managers involved trust each other and are given enough freedom to do the right thing. When it becomes ‘manage by the numbers’ then things go south quickly.”

Hmm. I guess everyone thinks the grass is greener somewhere else.

I have to ask the obvious question here: Whose review is it anyway? With all the apparent mumbling and groaning, you would think that time spent at Intel had no impact on enhancing one’s personal brand. It strikes me as interesting that people would knowingly seek out a competitive employer and then get wound up that they are being measured against one another. Were you looking to land a job, or build a career (important point of view)?

Hard Knocks indeed, gang. This “comparison” isn’t just happening at Intel, it happens everywhere (ok, I’m sure you can find the exception, but can you realize your potential there?). The fundamental difference is that most employers don’t ensure you create your ‘brag sheets’ to record your performance each year.

Regardless of where you work, you should be composing your brag sheet every quarter, capturing your achievements and contributions on a regular basis. This is your career to manage, to plan, to measure.

Posted in Career, Kumquat, Performance, Review | 2 Comments

What practical things do you do every day to manage your career?

Posted on March 29, 2007 by Rick Turoczy

Continuing the career management versus job searching conversation, Get that job offers some advice on how to keep managing your career, even when you’re happy with your current job.

To wit:

I try to do a little bit every day to manage my career, whether it’s setting up a lunch appointment with a friend, or us[ing] my LinkedIn URL as I comment on this and many other posts. I also maintain a portfolio blog. I also look for other ways to share what I’m learning about career management.

Read more.

(Hat tip to JibberJobber)

Posted in Career | 3 Comments

Remember to have some fun

Posted on March 29, 2007 by Rick Turoczy

LaughterMuch of the time, we at little ol’ More than a living tend to get on the soapbox a bit. Raining fire and brimstone down upon the modern day workplace. Its foibles. And its inadequacies.

Sometimes that can seem a bit negative. We don’t mean for it to be. But it can be that way.

So, I’m going to make a conscious effort to inject a bit of levity in, here and there. Just to show, we’re not all doom and gloom.

Why?

Because business doesn’t have to be so serious.

We all get wrapped up in our own stuff. We all lose perspective. We all think about our work in life-and-death seriousness, from time to time. But we’ve got to work to remember that it should be fun, too.

We’re all people creating stuff for other people. That’s really all it is.

We’re trying to keep this in mind as we build Kumquat. Software doesn’t have to be boring. Business doesn’t have to be boring. You could actually like reading help files and FAQs and whatnot.

It’s possible.

And what’s the most important part of injecting that type of fun? Respecting your intelligence.

And no one seems to remind us of this fact quite as often as the folks at Google. (They’re a moderately successful company. So I use them as an example. They might just scrape by this year.)

Take their driving directions on Google Maps for traveling from New York to Dublin:

  1. Swim across the Atlantic Ocean: 3,462 mi

Now, how hard was that? How much more do you want to use Google Maps, now?

And better yet, if Google and their legal department can take these kinds of leaps–by respecting the intelligence of your customers, don’t you think your company can probably handle it?

(Hat tip daisy chain Boing Boing via Kottke via Ayush)

Posted in Career, Corporate Culture, Creativity, Fun | 1 Comment

How's your career road map coming along?

Posted on March 28, 2007 by Rick Turoczy

Measuring upToday, Toby, Amy, and I sat down to discuss some of the future features and functions of Kumquat.

Okay, I can hear you already.

“Wha…? Why don’t you get the first one out the door before you go planning 18 months down the road?”

I get that. I do.

But here’s the thing: You can’t work that way.

You have to know where you’re going, even if the here-and-now isn’t exactly concrete. You’ve always got to be thinking of the next version. The next upgrade. The next feature.

Because it’s what keeps the product exciting.

Your career is no different.

I’ve said it once. I’ll say it a million times. Everything is a product management problem.

I don’t care if you’re happy as a pig in slop right now. I don’t care if you’ve hit rock bottom.

You need to be thinking ahead.

You need to be looking at your career road map.

What features and functions can your current gig help you add? When you hit your next gig what features will that add? Where do you need to go to get to the next version? Can you accomplish it with the current resources? If not, what’s going to give? Employer or version?

Even if you’re working the best possible job right now, you need to be thinking about your career. Because that job isn’t going to last forever. You’re not going to retire from there.

You need to be thinking about your career management.

So how is that career road map coming along?

Posted in Career, Kumquat, Product management | 6 Comments

Job Search or Career Management? There's a difference

Posted on March 27, 2007 by Rick Turoczy

Getting the pink slipJust stumbled upon a great post over on the JibberJobber blog, entitled “Paradigm Shifting: Job Search vs. Career Management.” It hits upon the same points about which we’ve been carping recently.

You shouldn’t be looking for a job or working a job. You should be managing your career. That way, everything becomes another step along your career path. Sometimes it’s a step forward, sometimes it’s a step back. Often, it’s a leap.

But it’s all on the same path.

Comparing “Job Search” to “Career Management” provides a great deal of clarity. To wit:

Job Search: I need something NOW (you know, mortgate, bills, mouths-to-feed, etc.) and am prepared to sacrifice what I really want to get what I need for now.

Career Management: My career is planned out – with flexibility. I won’t have control over everything but I know that my career is mine to own, and I’m making sure that I do everything I can to work towards my end goals.

You see, career management is about being involved in your career–taking control. Job search, on the other hand, is about being reactive and out of control.

I’d much rather you were in control, gentle reader.

So head on over to get more great insights. Well worth the read.

Posted in Career, Involvement, More than a living, Passion, Perspective | 4 Comments

Do you have a growth mind-set or a fixed one?

Posted on March 27, 2007 by Toby Lucich

Growth mind setWhat kind of employee would you prefer to have (or be)? A naturally intelligent one focused on performance, or a hard worker focused on learning and growth? According to Stanford professor Carol Dweck’s research described in her new book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, you’re in much better shape choosing the hard worker who believes they can improve through personal and professional development.

Sure, that sounds right – but how often do we assume the “smartest” people are the most talented or will be the most successful? (Don’t forget, the documentary about the fall of Enron was called The Smartest Guys In The Room).

Dweck’s work has found that individuals who view ability and intelligence as something that can be developed have a “growth mind-set” and are more likely to achieve their true potential, vs. those with a “fixed mind-set” who view ability and intelligence as something inherent. Tell me, does this sound familiar?

Students for whom performance is paramount want to look smart even if it means not learning a thing in the process. For them, each task is a challenge to their self-image, and each setback becomes a personal threat. So they pursue only activities at which they’re sure to shine—and avoid the sorts of experiences necessary to grow and flourish in any endeavor. Students with learning goals, on the other hand, take necessary risks and don’t worry about failure because each mistake becomes a chance to learn.

Full disclosure: I didn’t find Carol’s book on my own, but was turned on to her work through an excellent Stanford Magazine article that is both thought-provoking and well written. It’s a bit long, so I urge you to grab a cup of coffee and take a break to read it.

The article covers Dweck’s research and its connection to psychology, children’s education and more relevant to More Than A Living readers, employee performance. An excerpt:

Business School professor Jeffrey Pfeffer says Dweck’s research has implications for the more workaday problem of performance management. He faults businesses for spending too much time in rank-and-yank mode, grading and evaluating people instead of developing their skills. “It’s like the Santa Claus theory of management: who’s naughty and who’s nice.”

Go ahead – have a growth mind-set moment and read more here.

Posted in Career, Develop, Failure, Growth, Performance, Success | 1 Comment

Should Rachel Ray work at KFC?

Posted on March 27, 2007 by Rick Turoczy

Not another picture of Rachel RayToby and I have been chatting quite a bit about “personal brand” as of late. About its value to both you and your organization. But I’ve been struggling for a way to describe the value of personal brand in a tangible way.

I’m still not sure that I’ve found it, but I’m getting closer.

Should Rachel Ray work at KFC?

I can hear you. “What kind of stupid question is…?”

Whoa, tiger. Stick with me a second.

That question, in our overly saturated, Rachel-Ray-staring-at-you-from-every-last-form-of-media world, may seem inane. But that’s my very point:

Would Rachel Ray get value out of working at KFC? Would KFC get value out of Rachel Ray?

Let’s take a look at the positives:

  • They have complementary brands: quickly prepared food, targeted at busy families, accessible
  • The Queen of Quick + the Colonel of Crispy = Magic
  • Rachel certainly knows her way around the kitchen
  • KFC would be yet another venue to showcase Rachel’s talent
  • Rachel could draw others into the KFC family, maybe Emeril or Mario or somebody
  • KFC would have a well-known chef

Still doesn’t make any sense, does it?

Why would Rachel Ray, you ask (or I’ll pretend you’re asking), subsume her brand under the brand of seemingly complementary, but clearly off-target, corporation?

She shouldn’t right? Doesn’t make sense.

But what about 10 years ago, did make sense to do it then? It might have. What about 10 years from now? Again, it might.

Now let’s take the brand names off of this one: Should you subsume your brand under the brand of a corporation? What do each of you stand to gain?

Hmm. Interesting. Now, I think we’re getting closer to my point.

And that point is?

Personal brand and corporation brand should always strive to be symbiotic. Never lecherous.

Every time you choose a new employer, you need to seriously consider this balance. It’s always a matter of balance.

What is the corporation getting out me? What am I getting out of the corporation? Is it fair and equal? Is one giving a bit more in the short term to gain more in the long term? Do I feel as if I’m being sucked dry? Do I feel as if I’m a fraud?

But that doesn’t mean at every single second of the day. There are times of non-balance. Like when you’re learning the ropes. Or that time that the organization needs to send you to a tradeshow to speak. Or maybe the company is investing money in your education to make you a more valuable employee.

There are times that are unbalanced. But it shouldn’t be lopsided or continual. It should be mutually beneficial. Give and take. Find the balance.

Every career relationship should move both parties forward. If it doesn’t, it’s wrong.

And that balance may be short-term balance.

The benefit for each party may only last for 6 months or a year. So what?

Know that going into the relationship.

This is just a step along the path of building your brand.

And your brand needs careful consideration. Don’t ruin your long-term brand equity for short-term gain.

Posted in Branding, Career | Leave a comment

Performance Review Hard Luck Story: Number 237

Posted on March 26, 2007 by Toby Lucich

Hiding from the painHere is a new “performance review hard luck story” for the files, courtesy of JoJo’s World:

During my stay here for 2.5 months, my supervisor kept on changing. My leave approval and performance assessment is done by different bosses and the boss who I report to on daily work was not the one who gave me performance review due to a suddent change in their management structuring.

This certainly put a big damper on my confidence in my future- who is going to stand up and speak up for me, for my hard work and efforts when I am not even sure who is my boss? Something more astonishing happened.Then on another turn, the boss who reviewed and recommended my pay rise quit his job because of some dramatic changes in their management positioning.

Gulp. Have you got a story that will make heads spin, or would make prospective hires shiver? We’d love to hear it.

Posted in Career, hard luck story, Performance, Review | Leave a comment

Iglesias v. Gonzales: Kumquat, Anyone?

Posted on March 26, 2007 by Toby Lucich

KumquatWhat some folks wouldn’t give right now for hard evidence of past performance reviews. Regardless of your political bent or theories on who did what and why, everyone seems to be wading through a confusing mismatch of facts, trying to get at the truth. Isn’t there a file full of performance reviews that could clear the confusion? If only someone could lay their hands on those records.

(Blatant pending-product promotion) No surprise that Rick and I wish we had been quicker out of the gates with Kumquat to help parties set the record straight. Sure, maybe we couldn’t have prevented this courtroom drama, but I sure wish we could have tried. (Warning: this is not a silver-bullet, and will not prevent national leaders from painting themselves into a corner; note our initial disclosures about our wee-little tool in our faq).

Know that, in our own small way, we will make every effort to help you help your leaders from doing the flip-flop about your performance when bonuses (and continued employment) are on the line.

Posted in Career, Kumquat | Leave a comment