18. November 2008 by pfitzgerald.

One of the difficulties I’ve had in recent years is being able to manage all the things coming in, going out and circulating around my life. I always seem to have more projects than I can possibly handle at one time, but at the same time I’ve gotten enough done on all of them to move them forward. Now sometimes that’s been in dribs and drabs, sometimes in intermediate sprints and spurts and sometimes in seemingly unending marathons.

The conclusion I came to a while ago was to look at how each project was paced and make sure that the ebbs and flows of each tie in with my energy available in that area. Once I realized this, it was a small step to expand into finding ways to remind myself of all the next steps on all of my outstanding goals. I spent some time figuring out a productivity model that works for me, and nowadays my efforts are all blending into a nice activity level. I’ll be the first to admit it’s a hodge-podge of more than a couple of approaches.

Now, this might seem like a bit of a diversion in some ways when looking at managing your career but the reality is that managing your time is a foundation for planning. If you don’t know what you’re spending your time doing, or you do know but don’t feel like you have any control over it, you can’t plan for the future.

 At all. On any time scale.

Does that seem ridiculous? Think about it. If I don’t have a picture of what’s hanging out there to be done, then I can’t figure out the best time to do it or possibly even what I need to be able to accomplish the tasks at hand.

Being able to plan your career, your life, even your week, relies on you being able to manage your time. It’s almost as important as having a picture of what you want, and it lets you get a clearer picture of the paths to your goals.

Naturally, I’ve got a couple of recommendations on places to start looking at your productivity and managing your time. The two sites that I consistently find the best information on personal productivity are www.lifehacker.com and www.lifehack.org. Both offer great information and great links out to other articles across the blogosphere and the larger web.

So go on, get productive!

Peter Fitzgerald is the founder of CareerSherpas.com and is currently working on his first book, conducting high-level business analysis, connecting individuals with ideas and opportunities, and attempting to learn the bagpipes.

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10. November 2008 by pfitzgerald.

For all of us, there is a constant struggle of how to allocate our time and energies, and nowhere is this more true than in traversing our career paths. Each opportunity, challenge and effort offers a new learning experience and a chance to prove ourselves. The question we need to have in the backs of our minds when provided with a fork in the road is which direction makes the most sense for the goals we’ve set.

Sometimes it’s not a question of can we make a decision now, but rather have we got the right basis for making a decision. To try to figure out if this is the case for you, try asking yourself the following questions:

• Are your goals too far out to make a real plan?
• Are your goals too short term to make decisions?
• Does either choice prevent the other alternatives from being possible?

Clearing the fog to see a bright day ahead can be difficult, but if you can frame your decision in terms of what your ideal future looks like, you can make wise decisions and move forward without second-guessing your choice.

Peter Fitzgerald is the founder of CareerSherpas.com and is currently working on his first book, conducting high-level business analysis, connecting individuals with ideas and opportunities, and attempting to learn the bagpipes.

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4. November 2008 by pfitzgerald.

 A recent Harvard Business Review article (via BNET) lends credit to the well worn concepts of how to make your position secure in an organization. While it’s hard to argue with their recommendations, many are thoughts that appear time and time again and which definitely hold true in any economy.

It’s important to remember that layoffs happen even in good economies, and many of the practices of making yourself appealing as an employee are important whether or not the storms are brewing or the waves crashing over your company. As Salary.com’s Ruth Morss lays out in her article “Guide to Surviving a Layoff”, there are many opportunities to shore up your position, whether the options make sense for you or not, investing the time to try to avoid the layoff list is well worth your time if you want to stay in your current job.Take Fortune’s “Ask Annie” as Anne Fisher lays out again in “8 ways to recession-proof your job”, your visibility, contributions, cost saving ideas, your network and maintaining a positive attitude (or as she puts it “no whining allowed”)all play a part in making your position more stable.

For a more visually cheery approach, you might want to try Forbes’ article “How to Recession-Proof Your Job” which shares much the same ideas, but with an “in pictures” twist for fun.

Whoever makes the most compelling case, or offers the ideas that fit your situation best, look realistically at where you are, what turn your company’s fortunes are taking and how you can best weather the storm. It may be that your position is already much more secure than you think, and if not, maybe it’s worth showing that you’re engaged, delivering and ready for the challenges ahead.

Got your own suggestions for protecting your job? Share them in the comments.

Peter Fitzgerald is the founder of CareerSherpas.com and is currently working on his first book, managing a team of project managers, and attempting to learn the bagpipes.

Posted in layoff, Recession | 2 Comments »

10. October 2008 by pfitzgerald.

In working with a client a while ago, they made an interesting Freudian slip when referring to executives as the “Leadersheep”. This led me to think about the concept of leadership in general, and the recognition that this concept of “Leadersheep” at the top of an organization was a surprisingly common theme.

In many cases there seems to be an amount of sheep-like activity driving many organizations as those who are looked to for direction mill around, failing to give real direction. This sense of ambiguity really causes a great deal of anxiety through organizations as individuals attempt to rise to the occasion in addressing issues and opportunities, but don’t have a clear path to give them focus. The end result leaves the unit, department or entire organization in a state of disarray and frustration.

A lack of clear, shared direction, strategy and, in some cases, communication channels delivers the perception that the leaders are not making decisions and not in touch with the reality of the business they are supporting. In some cases I have seen this drive managers to hyper-active micro-management as they pursue less specific goals. Undirected fear and anxiety are then often allowed to derail any and all progress toward improving the fortunes of the organization.

So is there a solution? Definitely.

Individuals in leadership positions need to get a handle on the fundamental problems and requirements of leading. Leaders need to understand what it means to lead, what their followers need from them and how to make sure everyone marches along together. Recently I’ve been reading Bob Lewis’ very slender but highly accurate portrayal of leadership in “Leading IT: The Toughest Job in the World”. While it was originally intended for IT leaders, as the title suggests, the points in it are equally applicable to anybody trying to lead a group of people.

In any case, let’s all work to exercise leadership and not be “Leadersheep”.

Peter Fitzgerald is the founder of CareerSherpas.com and is currently working on his first book, managing a team of project managers, and attempting to learn the bagpipes.

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13. April 2008 by pfitzgerald.

As clouds brew in the economic forecasts and the fortunes of companies shift, the announcement of layoffs is becoming more commonplace. Being caught in a layoff cycle is never a fun experience, but can offer great opportunities to re-evaluate and even gain more control over the direction of your life. For those left behind after layoffs, life can be challenging as workloads are distributed and the unsettling questions over the stability of ones position arise.

So what can either group do to balance the disruption?

Reach out!

If you’re on the receiving end of a pink slip, your former co-workers can help you make new contacts that you might not be able to make on your own. Reaching out to them can help you get a start on the job search, get pointers on new directions, and help you find other connections. In many cases the larger the community you live in, the more chances you have to connect with a chance of a lifetime contact just by asking at the right time or when you need it.

On the other side of the fence, if your co-workers have been laid off, offer to help. Ask them how they’re doing, what they’re planning to do now, and if they’d like to go for coffee or lunch. The simple act of offering comfort will help you both deal with the situation. Share contacts that you think might be able to help the person bridge the gap to what they want to do next and, if you’re able to follow through, offer to make the connection for them. Aside from feeling good about helping someone, you will strengthen your own network by helping to connect different needs. You’ll also increase the chance that, if and when the time comes that you need help bridging a gap or recovering from a layoff, someone might be able to help you.

Reaching out to people you know costs you little or nothing and helps form stronger relationships. Either way, you haven’t lost anything by talking to someone.

Peter Fitzgerald is the founder of CareerSherpas.com and is currently working on his first book, managing a team of project managers, and attempting to learn the bagpipes.

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31. March 2008 by pfitzgerald.

Whether you’re considering a course of action or just trying to find a general direction to head in, setting goals is the only way to home in on what you want and what you need to do now. Knowing where you’re headed helps you understand the ramifications of your choices and gauge the benefits of opportunities.
No matter whose mantras you follow, whether it be David Allen motiviating us toward “Getting Things Done” or Alan Pease directing us toward better interactions with others and recognizing opportunities, goal setting is the cornerstone. By setting goals, we not only help ourselves understand the target, we can open ourselves to opportunities as they present themselves.

The core concepts that experts seem to agree on are:

• Set short-, medium- and long-term goals: Each type of goal should offer a chance to move toward a longer-term goal. Every step should build on the previous one, letting you see the progress you’re making toward your bigger goals.
• Set realistic goals: This doesn’t mean don’t set goals that you don’t know how to accomplish now, but it does mean consider what’s feasible. A goal of being the king (or queen) of England might not be feasible, but generalizing it to being a king (or queen) might actually be a possibility. (There are small islands for sale all over the place that are technically their own countries. As the owner, you could declare yourself to be royalty… A crazy idea? Perhaps. But then again…) Another example which has become more feasible in recent years is the concept of travelling into space. Sometimes a seemingly impossible goal becomes more realistic over time.
• Write your goals down and update them: A written list of goals that can be read again and again is important. Without a documented list goals can be forgotten or disrupted.
• Review and update your list regularly: Depending on who you ask, daily or weekly goal reviews are necessary. Practically, the frequency of your reviews seems directly connected to the ultimate success one has in achieving larger goals. While I’m looking for someone to do a study on the ratios and to give us all some direct guidance on optimal review cycle, clearly the most effective path to achieving your goals is making sure they’re fresh in your mind.

How do you set your goals? How far out are you looking? Please share in the comments!

Peter Fitzgerald is the founder of CareerSherpas.com and is currently working on his first book, managing a team of project managers, and attempting to learn the bagpipes.

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24. March 2008 by pfitzgerald.

Having made decisions in your career that moved you into management, do you regret it? Have you reached a pinnacle of success only to find yourself constantly reminescing about the fun of delivering on the front lines? If you’re having these thoughts, there are really two possibilities for where they come from:

• You’re feeling nostalgic (completely understandable) or
• You’ve moved into a position where you can’t do what you enjoy

If you’re consistently having thoughts like this, it’s important to really consider whether you’re in the latter camp. Given the wide variety of organizational styles that might provide the aspects of the job that you’re missing and the simple opportunities of taking a step back into a lower-level role, there’s no reason you can’t reconsider your position.

Most often this seems to occur with front line managers who aren’t too far removed from the delivery team and so get to see the parts of their jobs that they enjoyed dangled in front of them on a daily basis. It’s tantalizing to want to reach out and move the curtain, get your hands dirty and really get into the work. The problem is that by crossing that boundary, you limit the chances that your staff has to grow and mature professionally.

At the same time, a different structuring of your team could provide you with the opportunity to work on some of the day-to-day problems of your team without eclipsing them. An example is a round-robin style leadership where each individual can engage and help drive issues that the team is facing. This offers a chance for you to join in as a participant while giving the team opportunities to stretch and be challenged.

In some cases it might be better to shift to another company that has a structure that allows you to comfortably work on the day-to-day problems as well as maintain your managerial life. Some organizations with a flattened hierarchy as well as many start-ups have ample opportunities to dive in and help in the delivery realm either because there’s a need for everybody to work on problems as they arise or from simple resource limitations. Either way, being able to jump in and help when it’s needed and step back when it isn’t can make life significantly easier for everyone in these environments instead of complicating a chain of command.

However you choose to handle it, take time to think it through and try discussing the situation with your boss or peers, you might be surprised the doors that can open up for you.

If you’ve worked through this problem, or if you’re currently in the midst of asking these questions, let us know in the comments!

Peter Fitzgerald is the founder of CareerSherpas.com and is currently working on his first book, managing a team of project managers, and attempting to learn the bagpipes.

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14. March 2008 by pfitzgerald.

So you’ve been at your current job for a while, and you’re looking around and wondering if there’s something more. Should you go looking for something new?

Naturally, there are as many reasons to move from your current position as there are situations where it starts to sound like a good idea. There are some fairly basic criteria to look at when you’re considering a move:

• Have you done what you came to do? Let’s say that when you started at your current job you set out with a plan in mind of where you wanted a position to take you, it should be fairly easy to look at that plan and see whether you’ve reached those goals. If you haven’t seen those goals come to fruition and you can achieve them in your current role and you can stick it out long enough to do it, then it’s probably not the right time to move. Focus on reaching those goals, and plan to line up your next move after you’ve reached those milestones.
• Are you going through a bad patch, or are you stuck in a bad pattern? Sometimes we look at incidents like mistakes (not always our own), a bad assignment, or a not so stellar review and ask why are we doing what we’re doing. It’s important to remember that one problem doesn’t necessarily mean that the job’s not worth doing. Then again, if you’re always catching the bad assignments, or always caught up in your or someone else’s misfortune, you might actually be in a bad spot. If there’s a pattern of bad news, it’s probably time to think about moving on.
• What is it that’s making you want to move? Ultimately, something is making you think about moving on. Maybe you’re not feeling challenged enough. Maybe you don’t get along with your co-workers or, worse yet, your boss. Whatever the situation, think about what you like about your job, take the time to consider the positives along with the negatives. If the negatives consistently outweigh the positive aspects, it might be time to change positions. At the same time, if you find more you like about your job, try looking at the issues you’re dealing with a different way. You might find more there than you thought.

Ultimately, when considering whether to leave a position make sure you take into account the whole picture. Remember that if there are problems where you are, the same problems might be waiting where the grass looks greener. Take the time to think about the issues and really weigh them carefully against what you like. You might find a surprise or two.

Got your own criteria for leaving a job? Let us hear about it in the comments!

Peter Fitzgerald is the founder of CareerSherpas.com and is currently working on his first book, managing a team of project managers, and attempting to learn the bagpipes.

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23. February 2008 by pfitzgerald.

Maybe it’s a cliche, but a lot of people I talk to still don’t really ever ask themselves if what they do is a career or just a job that they’re marking time with. If you aren’t thinking in terms of what your career is and where you want it to go, you’re likely to be unable to reach your potential, hate what you’re stuck doing, or worse yet - both!

So for those of you who might have trouble with the distinction, a career is less about what you’re doing now and more about what you’re trying to get to do. Consider that many people with somewhat more generally applicable skills like IT workers, writers, salespeople, financial analysts and call center representatives are seeing the average tenure time drop dramatically. I’ve heard a number of recruiters quote recently that the average IT job lasts 18 months. Knowing that there’s a lot of folks out there with much longer tenures, that means the vast majority are hopping after less time than that!

The reality that this illustrates is that none of us have any real reason to believe that we’ll be staying at the same company for a long time. In this reality planning for where we want to be in our next job, or the one after, or even the one after that becomes not just a nice idea, but an imperative to success.

Over the coming weeks, I’ll start to explore the different stages of a career and how to make the most of them to help propel you onward and upward through whatever trajectory you choose in your career.

Peter Fitzgerald is the founder of CareerSherpas.com and is currently working on his first book, managing a team of project managers, and attempting to learn the bagpipes.

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22. February 2008 by pfitzgerald.

This blog has been a little while in the making, but it’s finally here!

As the posts develop, we’ll cover many of the topics that someone considering the current state of their career and looking to the horizon might be able to use to improve their next step. The weekly series will look at everything from assessing your current career path to driving toward new goals and even different directions.

After all, we’re not all happy doing the same things, and we all grow to enjoy new opportunities and challenges.

Peter Fitzgerald is the founder of CareerSherpas.com and is currently working on his first book, managing a team of project managers, and attempting to learn the bagpipes.

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