Notes From Josephine

Career Secret #2: Showcase Your Strengths

2012-03-12T05:52:00.003-06:00

Moving your career ahead requires you to use your natural strengths in a way that produces solid results. However, if you're like many of the people I have coached, you've lost sight of how much you know and the uniqueness you bring to any environment. You might even pooh-pooh compliments and think you're arrogant if you know what you do really well.

But it's not arrogant to be aware of your strengths. That's called confidence. And confident, talented people rarely work more than 40 hours a week, nor do they need to suck up to anyone to get ahead. Best of all, they love their work.

If you're having a hard time identifying or remembering your strengths, ask respected peers (inside and outside of your organization) to give you feedback on what you do best. Ask your family and friends, too. And when they tell you, believe them!

Once you have identified your natural strengths, consider applying these guidelines when deciding what to do first:

1) Everyone should benefit from your idea...especially you

2) Never identify a challenge that highlights a weakness of your boss

3) Make sure your idea allows you to spotlight your unique strengths

4) Adopt a 'can do' attitude...nothing is more engaging or more powerful

5) Keep it simple

Here's an example of how this career secret worked for me:

Eight years ago, as a medical social worker, I was responsible for helping families and staff cope with difficult situations like traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries and near drownings. Under these circumstances, tensions are high and everyone feels the stress.

Our nursing staff - also stressed - was not dealing well with parents that were upset Instead, they were melting down and getting defensive with families and other staff members. This had been going on for years, but no one knew what to do about it, so the parents were blamed for their bad behavior and the situation kept getting worse.

Ah-hah moment: Upset parents didn't bother me at all, so I began paying attention to what I was doing differently than the nurses. Then it hit me. Nurses simply didn't know what to say when parents were upset. They didn't have the right words at the right time.

My opportunity appeared.

Very quickly, I put together a simple, three step process that works whenever confrontation is needed, from dealing with upset parents to addressing an employee that is not performing.

1) 'I've noticed that'...(you seem upset lately/you're coming late for work every day/you're tearful whenever we meet/you're not completing your work on time)

2) 'I'm wondering if'...( you're getting enough sleep/you have challenges at home/you're depressed/you understand the assignment)

3) 'How can I support you to make things better?'

That's all there is to it.

I began training the nurses on this 3-step process, which they used with great success and shared with peers and leaders hospital wide. Only weeks later, I was honored as the hospital's medical social worker of the year. A month after that, I was asked to provide psychosocial support to a family in one of the highest profile cases our hospital has ever handled.

Within three months, I was directing a department of fifty.

And less than six months later, I was overseeing ten departments within the hospital.

Certainly, other things happened during this time to propel my career forward. But my rapid progression began with these three simple steps that, for me, were as natural as breathing. I did nothing more than recognize a need, identify an area of my strength and offer a solution that helped everyone.

Unforeseen Challenge: To grow and expand, you will need to let go of some details of your current role in order to pay attention to the big picture of your organization. If this seems impossible (I don't have time, I'm swamped already), let your boss know you would like new opportunities that will improve the department and allow you to grow professionally. Then ask for help in managing the details of your job. If you have a good relationship with your boss - Career Secret #1 - you'll get the opportunity.

You have the ability to change the environment of your organization - right now - and move ahead in ways that will surprise even you. Identify your own strengths, trust your instincts and make no apologies for your ambition or your confidence. Because once you discover how to make the most of your talents, everyone around you will benefit and you will have taken the next important step in igniting your career.

image from robertfagan.com

Still In Search Of The Perfect Perfume

2012-03-10T11:12:00.001-07:00

So I just finished the first week of my new job - I'm going to love it. Until now, I've never had a downtown job where I could walk out of my office building and step onto a sidewalk with other corporate types, also dressed in gray and black.

Leave me alone, I wore a scarf one day.

No matter what, I find a little time to walk every day, watch people and enjoy the sites. Remember the Mary Tyler Moore show from the 70's where she throws her hat in the air to the theme song lyrics of 'you're going to make it after all?' (I know, how f-ing old am I, right?) Well, that's how I felt this week.

In my initial search for a new work perfume, I tried Prada Infusion D'iris and found it 'too girly, with a dry down of Aqua Net,' to quote an earlier post. But, hello, that was the eau de parfum. The eau de toilette is a whole different deal. Still feminine, but more sophisticated and without the hairspray vibe. That was to be my new work perfume and it was delivered to my home on Monday. Decision made. Done deal. You can take that to the bank.

Then I had second thoughts.

Sur le Nil by Hermes emerged in my mind as the perfume I should have repurchased as my new work scent. Luckily, I have a sample of Sur le Nil and decided to re-sniff just to be sure. It's a little more masculine than I remember, not that I have anything against wearing masculine scents (Yatagan and I go way back). And Sur le Nil might suit me well, since B-man described my walk as 'cosmopolitan gangster' when we were out with Paige this morning.

No respectable gangster would be caught dead in Prada.

Today, I'm convinced that the perfect perfume will always remain one step out of reach, and I will forever want something slightly different than the one I just ordered. But I'm okay with that because the ongoing search for perfection is what keeps me in the game. My perfect perfume is just around the corner.

Come back on Monday for Igniting Your Career: Secret #2

image from theridgeathleticclub.wordpress.com

Career Secret #1: Learn To Like Your Boss

2012-03-05T06:06:00.001-07:00

Liking your boss is essential to moving your career forward.

Read the above sentence again, because it's true.  No matter what other support you have in the organization, if you are out of sync with your direct supervisor, it will derail your progression. Rather than focusing on your strengths, other leaders will get stuck on the fact that you don't work well with your boss. And important projects always go to the proven team players.

Yes, I know, I know.

'But my boss is an asshole.'
'My boss doesn't support/promote/encourage me.'
'My boss is out of touch/doesn't get it.'
'My boss is incompetent.'
'My boss doesn't really care about me.'

Maybe you're right. But if your goal is to advance your career, it really doesn't matter. Your boss doesn't exist to take the place of a parent or to be your friend or to ensure your career success, for that matter. Her job is to move the organization forward, and she's always looking for help from a skilled employee.

That should be you, since advancing your career quickly means constantly trolling for new opportunities.

Once you have found something - anything, really - that you and your boss can agree on, offer to work with her to accomplish that goal. This will reflect well on you, and if you truly engage in the process, it will be hard not to like her, at least a little. Down the road, when you approach her with your next fabulous idea, she will be much more willing to help you make it happen.

Notice I haven't said 'love' your boss. Loving your boss is dangerous to your career because it's easy for professional boundaries to become blurred (golfing together on weekends or meeting for a drink after work).  If you focus on this pseudo friendship over your own career, your boss will have too much control over how and when you advance. Objectivity is key in staying open to opportunities. You want a relationship of simple, positive regard.

Unforeseen challenge:  At any point in your career, it's wise to steer clear of conversations where staff members complain about leadership. But it may surprise you when at least one colleague accuses you of sucking up because you no longer see your boss as the enemy.  The fact is, not everyone will be excited about your skilled alignment with leadership.  Stay cordial to your harshest critics and simply keep moving ahead.

All through your working life, you will have bosses that are great and bosses that suck - it just comes with the territory. But you alone have the ability to ignite your career. Just keep your eye on the goal and remember that finding a way to like your boss will get you there even faster.

image from robertfagan.com

Secrets To Igniting Your Career: A Ten Part Series

2012-03-04T10:31:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow, I begin a new role as the systemwide Service Excellence Coordinator for a large healthcare organization. In the process of leaving my last position, several people asked how I have advanced my career four levels through three promotions over the past eight years.

It's easier than you might think.

Through the coming weeks, I will share career secrets that reflect my own experience and are best suited to anyone who seeks the following perks:

- More influence in an organization

- More opportunity to create positive change
- More visibility and recognition
- More money
- More fun

Should you implement these tips into your own life, you will be embracing an ambitious path. Ironically, some of the colleagues coming to me now for advice are the same ones that questioned my ambition along the way. However, as I leave the hospital, they have all expressed thanks for my vision and the calculated risks I took to create a higher profile for them as well as for me.

True achievement is always a win-win.

My secrets for rapid career growth are somewhat prioritized, but they are meant to build on each other wherever you choose to start. I hope you'll come along for the ride and take away anything that sparks your passion and compels you to dream big.

image from askmanisha.com

Eating My Way Into The Future

2012-02-28T20:27:00.003-07:00

My work at the hospital ended last Friday and my new position begins on Monday. This week, I'm attending the Health Care Improvement training that accompanies the project that is both over my head and, as of yet, out of reach. Life is weird here in the 'transition hallway.'

Of course, I can't focus on a damn thing and my irritation - at everything, basically - is up. For example, during today's lecture, claustrophobia sets in. I think I might jump up and throw chairs just to create space from other people, especially the woman behind me that smells like mothballs. After lunch, I actually do move to the back of the room (quietly, with no chair throwing) so I can stand around, go to the bathroom or wander outside to watch the foot traffic when the talk of statistics gets too heavy.

And speaking of lunch, I'm eating everything in sight. At my training, each meal is catered by a downtown restaurant and I have simply lost my mind over food. For example, early this morning we have a huge array of fruit, bagels, breakfast burritos and biscuit/bacon/egg/cheese sandwiches. For lunch, we have black bean and mushroom ravioli, salad with spiced walnuts, beets and feta cheese plus a variety of desserts. I go back for seconds.

Don't even ask about between meal snacks.

My eating-everything-that's-not-tied-down mode may be connected to the fact that I'm feeling a little anxious as I approach my new job. What, exactly, will it look like? How long will I feel like a newbie? And tonight, I'm also asking myself, why am I so driven? What, exactly, am I hoping to achieve? I'm constantly pushing boundaries, seeking opportunities and putting myself out there in a way that is, at times, exhausting. But it's also what keeps me excited about my work. After all, believing in the Next Big Thing is fundamental to my career plan.

Like winning a bagel and ravioli eating contest.

image from esltogo.wordpress.com

I Need A New Work Perfume

2012-02-21T19:36:00.001-07:00

Predicted response to my new office perfume

Yesterday, all day - ALL DAY - I searched two of my 'biggest one-day sale ever' perfume sites and tried to choose a new work scent. A new job deserves a new perfume, don't you think? Besides that, I was cranky and didn't want to work on the big project that is looming...that's completely over my head...that I was going to overachieve as a way of seeking a new promotion.

Now that I got the promotion, the project can bite me. Albatross comes to mind.

Last time I was at the corporate office (scene of my new job), a sign in the bathroom said, 'please don't spray perfume or put on scented lotion in this restroom.' Bummer. Who's the princess that gets the vapors from a little Shalimar? Up until now, I haven't given much thought to what others might think of my perfume.

'Oh, right, the world's greatest attention whore doesn't care what anyone thinks of her perfume.'

I hate Inner Critic.

Still, I've never spent much time researching perfumes that were office appropriate because then I'd have to check out the Jo Malone line. Dude, those bottles are hideous. After reading several websites that said Prada Infusion D'iris was the best office perfume out there, I thought, 'damn, I wish I had a sample of that.' Then I remembered, 'damn, I do have a sample of that!'

Nope, too girly with a drydown of Aqua Net.

And if one more person suggests D&G Light Blue, I'll snap.

Last week, when Daphne dragged me out for a sniff-fest, I tried Stella Nude by Stella McCartney on a scent strip but not on my skin. I've never liked the original Stella - too schoolmarm - but Stella Nude? Could be a contender.

So, help me out here. What's your favorite light, fresh perfume that is alluring but won't piss everyone off? And that might last more than 10 minutes? I haven't bought a new perfume since September of last year, so I'm willing to splurge. I have already told B-man that Saturday will include a sniff-fest somewhere and he'll come with me and he'll like it, too.

He didn't put up the fight I was hoping for at all.

image from ceiainc.org

Daphne's Back

2012-02-18T12:50:00.000-07:00

I've changed...again. Last week, compelled by God knows what, I decided to sift through my boxed up perfumes and put a few of them back into my cabinet. Still in their boxes, but back nevertheless. Then, on Tuesday and Wednesday, I wore Caberet by Gres. Thursday was Un Jardin en Mediterranee. Friday? Agent Provocateur.

After work Thursday, my nose, Daphne, begged me for a smell-fest at Sephora and Nordstrom. So we sniffed one perfume after another until we were both exhausted. Fortunately, even though it's been months since I did this, I have not lost my marathon ability to smell perfumes for a long period of time. No coffee beans needed, thank you. This spray-and-sniff interlude was the most therapeutic thing I have done in a long time.

Today is a special day, my dad's 80th birthday party. B-man and I are hosting a small family event, just as Dad requested. This warrants an amazing perfume, don't you think? Black Aoud comes to mind...

image from photo-dictionary.com

Living in Transition

2012-02-15T20:19:00.004-07:00

My computer is on the fritz...has been for a few weeks, so I'm using B-man's lap top...which I have used for the past few posts. Last weekend, B-man and I went shopping for a new computer but I ended up just being 'meh' about it for whatever reason. I can't get too worked up right now since I'm totally preoccupied with my new job.

Gearing up for a new job, while winding down from my current position, is exhausting. Not because I have so much to do (although it has turned out to be a bit crazier than I thought), but because of that whole 'letting go' thing. The hardest part of that is not to act as excited as I am about moving on. Whenever anyone asks me about my new role, I indicate my excitement and then always add, 'but, you know, it's hard to leave, too.'

Such a f**king lie.

Then again, if I say, 'I am so glad to be moving on,' it may not be super cool, either. So I'm faking it on two fronts, acting like it's hard to go and also pretending I know exactly what I'm going to do in my new position. At last, I am a true poseur.

But here's the weirdest thing. Over the past several days, people have come to my office and said, 'can I talk to you before you leave?' I say, 'sure, what did you want to discuss?' All have said, in essence, 'I want to know how you moved your career forward consistently over the past eight years, because I want to do that, too.'

Didn't really see that coming.

So I've been thinking about this and trying to identify exactly what I have done to advance my career three levels during that time. Because I have taken deliberate steps and can't act like the trajectory has been accidental, although luck and timing have been involved, too.

Dad said, 'why don't you blog about that?' Maybe I will.

image from sandrophoto.com

Life Changes

2012-02-09T20:53:00.000-07:00

I have a new job. A bigger, very different, more fun job. Fortunately, I'm staying with the same healthcare organization, but I'll be leaving my hospital and taking a role that oversees all 26 of our hospitals. So, right in the middle of an intense training and accompanying project, I'll be transitioning to a new role.

My new position does not include supervising a staff, which will be both weird and incredibly freeing. No more mothering and mediating serious disputes.

'She touched me!'

'Shut up, I did not!'

'Did too, Stupid!'

'I know you are, but what am I?'

Yeah...that, I won't miss.

Inner Critic has been working overtime the past week, asking constantly what made me think I was qualified for the position. Didn't I remember my lost promotion almost two years ago? Was I ready to go through that again? What the hell was I thinking?

Pausing to gloat.

Up until now, I have moved into larger roles simply because they were there and I was there and it seemed like the thing to do. This new role is one of my choosing, and one I've had my eye on for a long time.

Everything about it feels right. And a little overwhelming.

Holy shit, I got the job.

image from mysoulmission.org