Your Ideal Team at Work. Can You Define It?

May 21, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Ideal TeamYour Ideal Team

Can You define Your Ideal Team at Work?

You know, the group of people where everyone gets along. Well, maybe that is not what you are looking for.

I just had a conversation with a gentleman where he left his last two jobs because of his team.

Job #1 - He was a contractor and was told to do his job. He was not privy to information that the rest of the team had. He felt like an outsider. He is very social and having people around him was very crucial. He left when a better opportunity came up.

Job #2 - He moved to another company where he was to institute structure and change where there had never been any. He was to manage a team of sales people through this process. He totally misread the situation, and he quickly became the “bad guy”. He was let go after six months on the job.

Now he is looking for a new job.

(More: Why do you want to leave? Is it your team?)

We had the discussion about what his ideal team looked like. In this case, his team was absolutely critical to his success and more importantly happiness.

I learned years ago how important my team was to me.

I left a position at IBM in the mid 1990′s where I worked with a superb team. I left because I was bored and took a position as a consultant for IBM. I was on a year long project where new consultants would cycle in and out every few weeks. These people were either unhappily married, or unhappily single, or unhappily divorced. Do you get the picture? They were not a fun group of people to be around.

They were smart and talented. They all had miserable personal lives because of the constant travel. WOW! I missed my team from my old job.

I like a team of talented people, where there is little hierarchy, and everyone is focused on what is best for the team.

I once worked with a woman who really liked to have a team that had varied skills, and there was a certain amount of competitive drive between them.

Reflect back on when you worked on a great team.

What were the characteristics of that group?

Maybe your best team was one that you never saw! If you like to work alone that maybe that was the right mix.

This is part of step 2 in the Cure for Career Insanity.  Determining what you really want in your next job, which includes getting the team you want!

What does your ideal team look like?

Does this sound interesting?

I will be blogging a few times a month on these five steps of the Cure for Career Insanity and will be offering free webinars throughout the summer.  If you are interested please register for updates on the Cure for Career Insanity.

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Repurpose Your Career by Marc Miller and Susan Lahey

Available on Amazon.com

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You can also download my whitepaper “Don’t Retire Even If you Can and What to do Instead – A Baby Boomer Manifesto”

Marc Miller Career Design Specialist

Filed Under: Career Insanity Tagged With: ,

Do you feel valued at work?

May 14, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Feel ValuedWell, do you feel valued at work?

#2 reason for leaving a job is you do not feel valued!

Most people want some kind of reward for doing good work.  That reward can come in many forms:

  • The job’s mission or outcome
  • Pay increase/Bonus check
  • Public Recognition and Award
  • Pat on the back and thanks from management
  • Pat on the back and thanks from your peers
  • Pat on the back and thanks from your customer

When I wrote about this previously I never included the first item – The job’s mission or outcome. I have since discovered this is really key to people in the military and non-profit work.  Believing in the mission and having a successful outcome far outweighs anything else.

I have done my own personal reflection, and I have found I have felt most valued when I have gotten compliments from my customers and then my peers.

What about you?  What do you need?

Have you told anyone about the kind of rewards that make you feel valued? When you have found yourself not valued, did you ever ask for what you wanted?

Are you a  stealth competitor.  These are mostly women who are very nice people.  They perform in the work place for the common good.  They are very good team players.  However, DANG IT, they want to be rewarded for GOOD WORK! If you are you might want to read Knowing Your Value: Women, Money, and Getting What You’re Worth by Mika Brzezinski. I actually had a female client give me this book and insisted I give to most of my female clients!

Do you demonstrate this characteristic. When you interview for a new job, you could specifically ask about the reward structure, evaluation process, and the competitiveness in the workplace.  You will want to ask because we do not know about your need for rewards by their pleasant demeanor.

When interviewing for a position, you need to know the kind of reward you need, and then ASK FOR IT!

I know several individuals who really needed the feedback from their boss and they were not getting it. One of these individuals just simply asked her boss -

How an I doing?

The boss responded great!

She asked – Can you tell me that more often?

Boss replied – Sure!

It was that simple. Just ask for what you want. You have to know what you want first.

This is part of step 2 in the Cure for Career Insanity.  Determining what you really want in your next job, which includes getting the rewards you want!

What makes you feel valued? We are all different!

Does this sound interesting?

I will be blogging a few times a month on these five steps of the Cure for Career Insanity and will be offering free webinars throughout the summer.  If you are interested please register for updates on the Cure for Career Insanity.
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Like what you just read? Share it with your friends using the buttons below?

Subscribe

Check out my new book!

Repurpose Your Career by Marc Miller and Susan Lahey

Available on Amazon.com

Available at Barnes and Noble

You can also download my whitepaper “Don’t Retire Even If you Can and What to do Instead – A Baby Boomer Manifesto”

Marc Miller Career Design Specialist

Filed Under: Career Insanity Tagged With: ,

What makes a good boss for you?

May 7, 2013 by 5 Comments

Good BossWhat makes a good boss for you?

Notice I did not ask what makes a good boss.  This is very individualistic.

My post last week I asked Your Boss Sucks! Why and What are going to do next time?

I asked you to get very clear on what you did not like about your current boss.

Now I want you to get real clear on what you want.

I have clients who want and very much need someone who is very collegial or almost a peer.

I have other clients who very much want someone who is in control.

What I find most common is the desire to have a boss who is politically astute and gives my client complete control to do what needs to get done. It is what I call, Get out my way and let me do the job Syndrome.

My favorite boss was Theresa who managed the IBM AIX Briefing Center in Austin.  She was phenomenally good at hiring superstars and then leaving them alone to do their jobs.  If anything went wrong or there was a political conflict she was right there to back us up. She was not technical competent to make technical decisions and left those to her team.  Best manager I have ever had.

I have often run into young engineers who thought their boss had to be a better engineer than them.  I would tell them that is simply not true. Some of my best bosses in my technical career were technically incompetent. They were great managers of technical people. It is a different skill set.

I ran into the same thing in schools.  Teachers thought principals needed to have extensive and successful classroom experience.  Boy is that so not true.  It takes a totally different personality makeup to be a successful principal than a successful teacher.

What makes a good boss for you?

What characteristics do you value in your boss?  Who has been your best boss and what made them so good?

How do you ensure during the interview process that you get the boss you want?

You have to ask the right questions!

Ask the hiring manager about their management style. Ask everyone else you interview with about the hiring manager’s management style. Did you get consistent answers?

If you have a panel interview ask the hiring manager to describe their management style, but I want you to pay attention to the body language of everyone else on the panel. Did they start to squirm?

Think back to when you were happy at work and you had a boss you really liked.

What were their characteristics that made them a really good boss?

This is part of step 2 in the Cure for Career Insanity.  Determining what you really want in your next job, which includes getting a good boss!

Does this sound interesting?

I will be blogging a few times a month on these five steps of the Cure for Career Insanity and will be offering free webinars throughout the summer.  If you are interested please register for updates on the Cure for Career Insanity.
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Like what you just read? Share it with your friends using the buttons below?

Subscribe

Check out my new book!

Repurpose Your Career by Marc Miller and Susan Lahey

Available on Amazon.com

Available at Barnes and Noble

You can also download my whitepaper “Don’t Retire Even If you Can and What to do Instead – A Baby Boomer Manifesto”

Marc Miller Career Design Specialist

Filed Under: Career Insanity Tagged With: , ,

Your Boss Sucks! Why and What are going to do next time?

April 30, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Your Boss SucksYour Boss Sucks

You say your boss sucks. How the heck did you get into this position and what are you going to do so it does not happen again?

I have written about this topic before, but it is worth repeating, the number 1 reason people change jobs is —- the boss!

It seems in this recession, the worst behavior has become more common by managers.  We have articles like:

Then there was the movie “Horrible Bosses” which explores three horrible bosses.

So your boss sucks!  Why does he or she suck?

I want you to get real clear on what your manager does to make your life miserable.

Is he or she a micro-manager?  One common theme I am finding with my clients who are very experienced professionals is they want a manager to support them, but to get the heck out of their way so that they can get the job done.

Is your boss a wimp?  Does he or she just keep dumping work on you that comes from above.  Usually, this means you are over worked.

Is your boss upwardly focused?  Does your manager focus on looking good for their boss but does nothing for career advancement for their people?

Is your boss abusive? Does your manager take advantage of people by verbally or emotional abusing them?

So what is it that makes your boss so bad to work for? Why does your boss suck?

You should be able to come up with a short list.  The reason we are doing this so that we can come back to this later and work a list of what you do want in a boss.

This is part of step 1 in the Cure for Career Insanity.

Does this sound interesting?

I will be blogging a few times a month on these five steps of the Cure for Career Insanity and will be offering free webinars throughout the summer.  If you are interested please register for updates on the Cure for Career Insanity.
————————————————

Like what you just read? Share it with your friends using the buttons below?

Subscribe

Check out my new book!

Repurpose Your Career by Marc Miller and Susan Lahey

Available on Amazon.com

Available at Barnes and Noble

You can also download my whitepaper “Don’t Retire Even If you Can and What to do Instead – A Baby Boomer Manifesto”

Marc Miller Career Design Specialist

Filed Under: Career Insanity Tagged With: ,

Help me I hate my job – Step 1 of Cure for Career Insanity

April 23, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Help me I hate my jobStep 1 – Why do you hate your job?

Have you been saying lately Help me I hate my job!

Step 1 of the Cure for Career Insanity is to clearly define the problem: What are you running away from in your current position or role? Is it the boss? If it is the boss what about the boss causes you to want to run away? Is it the work environment? What about the work environment?

You need to get real clear on why you want to leave your current position. Is it one of the following:

  • Boss – What is the real problem with the current boss?
  • Team – Are you co-workers rubbing you the wrong way? What are the behaviors that are irritating you?
  • Rewards – Do you not feel valued?
  • Structure – Is the current environment to unruly or is it too rigid?
  • Variety – Are you being asked to do too many things or has the job become boring?
  • Activity – Are you sitting behind a desk all day or are you up on your feet? Is either too much for you?
  • Emotional Environment – Is the emotionless environment too stale for you OR is there way too much drama in the work place?

I want you to take inventory of what is wrong in the current work place.

Quit saying I hate my job and start getting specific.

Can you change anything?

I worked with a client who really does not like getting interrupted. One small solution was to turn off Microsoft Outlook’s automatic downloading of e-mail. She can decide when to download e-mail.

We sometimes call this the bright shiny object syndrome. She would be working on something and Outlook would download e-mail every 15 minutes. She would spot something that she thinks she should read and stops working on the current task. 15 minutes later the same thing happened….

I had another client who made three small changes in his work habits:

  1. He took his ear buds out. He is a programmer and would listen to music all day. He now engages in regular office conversations.
  2. He stopped deflecting compliments. He always thought they were insincere. When he stopped deflecting them, more came. He found they were actually sincere.
  3. He always ate lunch at his desk. He made a point to go out at lunch with a co-worker one a week.

Those three changes made a huge difference at work.

When you say help me I hate my job you may be really saying  help me my boss rubs me the wrong way or I do not feel valued or ………..

This is step #1 in the cure for career Insanity!

Does this sound interesting?

I will be blogging a few times a month on these five steps of the Cure for Career Insanity and will be offering free webinars throughout the summer.  If you are interested please register for updates on the Cure for Career Insanity.

————————————————

Like what you just read? Share it with your friends using the buttons below?

Subscribe

Check out my new book!

Repurpose Your Career by Marc Miller and Susan Lahey

Available on Amazon.com

Available at Barnes and Noble

You can also download my whitepaper “Don’t Retire Even If you Can and What to do Instead – A Baby Boomer Manifesto”

Marc Miller Career Design Specialist

Filed Under: Career Insanity, Employment Tagged With:

Cure for Career Insanity

April 16, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Career Insanity

Cure for Career InsanityDo you suffer from Career Insanity? There is some much angst in the job market. There are many reports that a majority of American workers are unhappy in their currents jobs.

The fact is most of us do not know how to find a job that will make us happy.

As a Baby Boomer I can honestly say that I started my professional career not focused on what would make me happy, but where I could make the most money. Well, maybe that is not totally true but it is called WORK. I was told it was not suppose to be fun!

I ran several pilots of my Cure for Career Insanity program in 2012 and plan to formally launch the program in September of 2013. I also plan to have an e-book out at the same time. The e-book will be a practical step by step training program that will teach you the process of the Cure for Career Insanity.

Cure for Career Insanity

Albert Einstein defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

Sound familiar? When it comes to our careers, most of us have a limited set of strategies we reuse over and over and, sure enough, wind up with the same results. The building’s different, the boss is different, there’s a different ficus tree in the lobby, but essentially we keep landing in the same job over and over again.

That’s Career Insanity.

I broken this down into five steps!

Defining the Problem: What are you running away from in your current position or role? Is it the boss? If it is the boss what about the boss causes you to want to run away? Is it the work environment? What about the work environment?

Defining the Goal: What do you want to run towards?  What do you want in your next job that at least fixes what you are running away from?

Learning to Ask for What You Want: How do you ask for what you want? How do you use strategic networking and interviewing techniques to ensure you get what you want in the next position?

Framing Your Job Search for Maximum Effectiveness: What do you tell your next prospective employer when he asks why you want to leave your current position?  If you tell him the job stinks and your boss is an ogre, he will say: ”NEXT!”

Negotiating From Strength: How do you negotiate for what you want and IT IS NOT ALL ABOUT MONEY!!

Does this sound interesting?

I will be blogging a few times a month on these five steps and will be offering free webinars throughout the summer.  If you are interested please register for updates on the Cure for Career Insanity.

————————————————

Like what you just read? Share it with your friends using the buttons below?

Subscribe

Check out my new book!

Repurpose Your Career by Marc Miller and Susan Lahey

Available on Amazon.com

Available at Barnes and Noble

You can also download my whitepaper “Don’t Retire Even If you Can and What to do Instead – A Baby Boomer Manifesto”

Marc Miller Career Design Specialist

Filed Under: Career Insanity

Do you treat your career like a first date?

December 17, 2012 by Leave a Comment

CareerFirst date.. Career… You heard me correctly!

Do you treat your career like a first date?

I remember what it was like to be single. That was over thirty years ago but I remember the awkward feelings of trying to find someone who would just go out with me on a date.

When I graduated from high school I was 6 feet 4 inches tall and a mere 145 pounds. I had a big head of red hair. I was no chick magnet!

I was an awkward nerd.

When I asked a girl out, I was just hoping not to be rejected.

When I got a date, I was just trying to make a good impression. Was she the right girl for me? I was not worried about that I just wanted her to like me.

Does this sound familiar? It should because this is how many of you treat your job search.

  • You scour job boards looking for a date…. oh I mean a job
  • When you find a girl….  a job that meets your requirements you send in your resume and pray you will hear a response
  • When she calls…. I mean the recruiter calls you put your best foot forward hoping not to get rejected
  • When you get the first phone interview you especially put your best foot forward hoping not to get rejected
  • When you get the first interview you put your best foot forward… you get the picture

Are you concerned that this might not be the job for you? Heck no!You just want to get the the next step!

Your job search is just like dating! You have to date to get married. Not every date turns into marriage. In the job search you have to interview to get the job. Not every interview turns into a job. Half of all marriages end in divorce.

Your career is very much like a marriage. It is about finding common ground, compromises, happiness, successes,….

Have you gone on a date that you just wanted to walk out? I hear there are strategies for that now.

Have you gone into an interview prepared to ask all of the right questions? Is this the right job for you?

Do you even know what the right job for you is?

What kind of boss do you want?

What kind of team? How do you want to be rewarded?

Stop treating you job search like the dating game!

Have you taken the job and suddenly realized what have I gotten into!

This is why I developed the Cure for Career Insanity webinar series. It is all about understanding what you want and then asking for what you want. It is not about getting a job but managing your career in a holistic fashion.

This is an small group, under 20, interactive series that teaches you a holistic strategy for finding that next job and then next and the next and….. Check out the Cure for Career Insanity page and if you are interested in hearing more please  register to receive updates!

I will be announcing dates for the next series in early January.

Will 2013 be the year that you get the cure?

___________________________

Like what you read? Click here to subscribe to this blog! Better yet share it with your friends using the buttons below.

You can also download my whitepaper “Don’t Retire Even If you Can and What to do Instead – A Baby Boomer Manifesto”

Marc Miller Career Design Specialist

Filed Under: Career Insanity Tagged With:

Are you ready for a Targeted Job Search

December 11, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Targeted Job SearchTargeted Job Search

A targeted job search goal is to find the right company and then find the right job.

By the way this is included in step 3 in the Cure for Career Insanity.

I just wrote about steps 1 and 2:

  1. Defining the problem - Do you want to change jobs in 2013?
  2. Defining the goal - What job do you want in 2013?

The third step is learning to ask for what you want!

Build Your Target List

The first step in getting what you want is to build a target list of companies and then start doing your homework!

Your goal with each company on your target list is to determine is this someplace I want to work!

I have a close friend who took a job and they ended up with a miserable boss. What he failed to do is some detective work. If he had, he would have discovered there was pretty high turnover of employees. He would have discovered that he really did not want to work there. After one year on the job, he is out looking to change jobs again.

Your next goal is to develop relationships at each company such that they call you when a position is available.

Finding a position this way is like dating and marriage. Not every date turns into marriage and both sides need to agree.

When you get an interview I want you to take the attitude, it is all about you!

Unfortunately, so often we look at the interview like a first date, we put our best foot forward and hope that we do not screw up and get rejected. I wrote a post last year called  It is all about you! It is your DAMN Interview!

Target the Company and not the Job

When you apply this approach, you will find out about positions in the hidden job market. The challenging part is you have no control over the timing. You have to do your research and keep in touch. Reality is you never were in control.

What I have just covered with you is Step #3 of the Cure for Career Insanity! I piloted this program twice in 2012 and I am ready to launch the program in the first quarter of 2013. Take a moment to review the Cure for Career Insanity page and register to receive updates!

Have you ever tried a targeted job search?

___________________________

Like what you read? Click here to subscribe to this blog! Better yet share it with your friends using the buttons below.

Check out details of my upcoming book - Repurpose Your Career – A Practical Guide for Baby Boomers

You can also download my whitepaper “Don’t Retire Even If you Can and What to do Instead – A Baby Boomer Manifesto”

Marc Miller Career Design Specialist

Filed Under: Career Insanity Tagged With:

What job do you want in 2013?

December 5, 2012 by Leave a Comment

What Job Do You Want in 2013?What job do you want in 2013

In my last post I asked you  “Do you want to change jobs in 2013″, now I want to ask you what job do you want?

I asked why you want to leave your current job. Why are you unhappy?

Now I want to ask you what you want in your next job.

Most you would respond by describing the aspects of the job.  You want to do PR or systems management or program in PHP or ……

The reality is most of us leave jobs because of the environment. What environment do want?

Boss

What kind of boss do you want? Think about the best boss you have ever had? What made them a good boss?

Describe your ideal boss! I wrote about this last year — What makes a good boss for you?

Team

What kind of team do you want? Think about when you enjoyed being around your team? What were the characteristics of the team?

Describe your ideal team!

Rewards

How do you like to be rewarded? When have you felt most valued at work?

I wrote about rewards last year –> #1 need that should be met in your next career pivot

Structure

How much structure do you want at work? Who creates the structure? When have you been the happiest?

Variety

Do you like variety in your day? Do you want or need to multi-task?

Check out this article — Are you a Steady Eddie or Juggler Extraordinaire.

Activity

Can you sit at a desk all day or do you like to up and about? Think about it!

Read more — Are you a runner or walker?

Emotional Environment

What is the emotional environment that you want at work? Do you want it to be unemotional or do you want to come to work and be able to express your feelings.

What I have just covered with you is Step #2 of the Cure for Career Insanity! I piloted this program twice in 2012 and I am ready to launch the program in the first quarter of 2013. Take a moment to review the Cure for Career Insanity page and register to receive updates!

Are you looking to change jobs in 2013? Are you ready to do this differently?

___________________________

Like what you read? Click here to subscribe to this blog! Better yet share it with your friends using the buttons below.

Check out details of my upcoming book - Repurpose Your Career – A Practical Guide for Baby Boomers

You can also download my whitepaper “Don’t Retire Even If you Can and What to do Instead – A Baby Boomer Manifesto”

Marc Miller Career Design Specialist

Filed Under: Career Insanity Tagged With:

Do you want to change jobs in 2013?

December 2, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Change jobsChange jobs in 2013?

If you will be looking to change jobs in 2013, you will not be alone.

The are many articles like this one in Forbes from this year - New Survey: Majority of Employees Dissatisfied

or last year Employee Job Satisfaction Is Low, Motivation to Leave Is Lower

With the economy improving a lot of you will be thinking of looking to change jobs in 2013.

Why do you want to leave?

You need to get real clear on why you want to leave your current position. Is it one of the following:

  • Boss – What is the real problem with the current boss?
  • Team – Are you co-workers rubbing you the wrong way? What are the behaviors that are irritating you?
  • Rewards – Do you not feel valued?
  • Structure – Is the current environment to unruly or is it too rigid?
  • Variety – Are you being asked to do too many things or has the job become boring?
  • Activity – Are you sitting behind a desk all day or are you up on your feet? Is either too much for you?
  • Emotional Environment – Is the emotionless environment too stale for you OR is there way too much drama in the work place?

I want you to take inventory of what is wrong in the current work place.

Can you change anything?

I am currently working with a client who really does not like getting interrupted. One small solution was to turn off Microsoft Outlook’s automatic downloading of e-mail. She can decide when to download e-mail.

We sometimes call this the bright shiny object syndrome. She would be working on something and Outlook would download e-mail every 15 minutes. She would spot something that she thinks she should read and stops working on the current task. 15 minutes later the same thing happened….

I had another client who made three small changes in his work habits:

  1. He took his ear buds out. He is a programmer and would listen to music all day. He frequentally engaged more with regular office conversations.
  2. He stopped deflecting compliments. He always thought they were insincere. When he stopped deflecting them, more came. He found they were actually sincere.
  3. He always ate lunch at his desk. He made a point to go out at lunch with a co-worker one a week.

Those three changes made a huge difference at work.

Right before I was getting ready to write this post one of my Facebook Friends posted the following Zig Ziglar video:

Take a few minutes to view this video.

Cure for Career Insanity

What I have just covered with you is Step #1 of the Cure for Career Insanity! I piloted this program twice in 2012 and I am ready to launch the program in the first quarter of 2013. Take a moment to review the Cure for Career Insanity page and register to receive updates!

Are you looking to change jobs in 2013? Are you ready to do this differently?

My next post is What job do you want in 2013?

___________________________

Like what you read? Click here to subscribe to this blog! Better yet share it with your friends using the buttons below.

Check out details of my upcoming book - Repurpose Your Career – A Practical Guide for Baby Boomers

You can also download my whitepaper “Don’t Retire Even If you Can and What to do Instead – A Baby Boomer Manifesto”

Marc Miller Career Design Specialist

Filed Under: Career Insanity Tagged With:
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