MEMBER EXCHANGE – Building career satisfaction

If we were to ask you to list all the words that describe how you feel about your career, or how you view it, do you think there would be more positive words than negative?

Often, we get caught in the trap of thinking we have little or no control over our career, that we’re hostage to the current economic climate, employment opportunities and others’ decisions. To a certain degree these elements have an impact, but they don’t need to have complete control over our career satisfaction.

If we understand some of the reasons why we don’t feel satisfied in our career, this can provide the first step to addressing some of the simple issues that have arisen over time that fester into seeds of discontent. The quadrant below can be a useful tool in identifying the specific elements of your current role/or career which give you satisfaction; areas in which you’d like to be developed; those skills that you’re good at but really don’t find interesting or rewarding; and the danger zone of being out of your depth. Once you’ve worked through this you’ll have some specific details on which to focus your energies.

It’s certainly worth considering factors such as:

  • Your own and your employer’s expectations
  • Your relationships with your colleagues
  • Your cultural and values fit within the organisation
  • Your growth and advancement opportunities
  • How you spend the bulk of your day and if you are interested in this aspect of the work and skilled to complete it
  • Whether you have an opportunity to be innovative and actively contribute to the overall outcomes of the organisation
  • How long you’ve been in this role or at this company
  • Whether you can showcase your skills and abilities

You’ll see from this list much of our sense of career satisfaction is subjective and based on our perceptions of the situation.

One of the fundamental challenges of achieving career satisfaction has to do with how long you’ve been in a role. If you’ve worked for the same organisation for several years, earned a promotion, developed new skills and knowledge and are recognised for your contribution; it’s easy to maintain career satisfaction. The difficulty arises when, regardless of how long you’ve been at a company, there are limited opportunities for growth and development, or advancement and reward. Often when we perceive a lack of opportunity, we become complacent and resentful. Our interest in the role is reduced and we become bored and dissatisfied.

However, rather than giving all the power to whatever is happening ‘out there’ we do have control over our actions, behaviours, attitudes, beliefs and choices. This control is no small thing! If our career satisfaction is based on our perceptions of aspects in our careers, we can work at adjusting those perceptions and be proactive in creating opportunities.

Using Kolb’s Action Learning Model as a framework, we’d recommend you work through the following stages in order to have some proactive input into building your career satisfaction.

Step 1: reflect

Reflect upon yourself and ask yourself some focus questions, such as:

  • What are my best skills, and why?
  • What are my worst skills, and why?
  • Personal values?
  • Short term and long term goals?
  • What do I seek and what do I try to avoid? Why?
  • What’s my preferred work style?
  • What’s my preferred management style?
  • What’s my preferred communication style?
  • How do I view teams and my contribution to them?
  • Am I a leader and what type am I or do I want to be?
  • What excites and motivates me?
  • What are my strengths and how can I best use these?

Step 2: explore and interpret

This stage is all about how we perceive and feel our situation. Much of our motivation comes from what drives us to engage in the world the way we do. These motivations include beliefs and values, culture, family, view of others and the world. Much of this relates to the ‘why’ of our lives and interactions. When reflecting, delve a little deeper into why that may be important to you or why you would try to avoid it.

For example:

  • Does your current role in your organisation fit with how you view the world in terms of corporate social responsibility?
  • Do your values around work-life balance and being highly engaged and committed when at match your current role and organisation?
  • What is your company’s environmental footprint and is that important or relevant to you?
  • Do they stand for diversity and how do they live it? Is this something you are conscious of or care about?

These are the type of questions that need to explore at this point. Much of your satisfaction or dissatisfaction may arise based on these subjective elements of your career.

Step 3: create possibilities

View the big picture or blue sky of possibilities and how you might achieve or use them to build your career satisfaction. Your skills might need to be showcased or developed to move to the next stage of your career, but opportunities to develop or exhibit your skills also keeps you engaged and boredom at bay.

Looking for or even requesting to be part of projects, secondments, pilot new initiatives (especially if they are your initiatives) are ways to indicate that you want advancement or growth in your role. Your proactive approach is often seen very positively as many managers believe their staff need to take responsibility for their own development. What courses might you study, what training could you undertake, again from your own initiative, rather than expecting your employer to pay for it? Is there someone at work who you can shadow or who can coach you? Mentees and mentors alike need others who they can learn from.

Step 4: plan

Once you’ve done some blue sky thinking it’s time to focus on one or two possibilities to get things moving. The possibilities need to align with your self-reflection, your perceptions and values that you’ve identified in stage 2. You might also find some synergies between this process and your career goal setting as discussed in a previous article. Now would be a good time to revisit that process too.

The plan based on your possibilities needs to incorporate specifics of long and short term benefits, needs, resources and challenges. It’s best if you document or chart these specifics to help formulate a logical sequence of steps to achieve your plan. You’ll also be able to gauge if your plan and its options are realistic within your current organisation. There can also be some benefit of linking this plan to your performance goals for the year. But most importantly the plan needs to be flexible enough to adapt to new information, new circumstances but sound enough that is has a time frame, is measurable and is progressive.

Step 5: act

Although there is enormous value in the first four stages of this model, if you don’t step out of your current comfort or complacency zone nothing will change. It is up to you to act upon your plan to achieve the career satisfaction you deserve. Do the easiest actions first and build upon these giving yourself time to adjust and reflect upon what difference has occurred and how you feel about your career as a result.

Be mindful of how these actions impact others. If the actions have risks attached, then make sure you’ve considered these risks. Have conversations, ask lots of questions, use your networks to get a range of perspectives, but the key is that you can proactively influence your own career satisfaction. A word of caution, keep the plan flexible, keep your eyes and ears open to change going on around you so you can adapt. Although it’s good to keep your overall goal in mind, do be conscious of others and circumstances.

Remember, focus your energies on what you can control and build opportunities for yourself. Be mindful of what you can influence and create your own career satisfaction.

MEMBER EXCHANGE – Steps to successful networking

After building your personal brand, networking is an excellent opportunity to promote it to others. Your reputation will well and truly be on display and yes, you will be assessed by those you meet. Don’t worry, you’ll be doing the same to them. Networking can come more naturally for some than others, but it is an important ingredient in career development.

We live in an age of connectedness and being an effective networker assist you in remaining engaged with your peers and mentoring is often viewed as a proactive and positive means of networking. Mentees –ask your mentor to suggest useful networking events, or even accompany them. Mentors – this can be a great opportunity for you to role-model effective networking strategies, but we would also suggest that you make sure they stand on their own two feet and you take the role of observer to provide them with some constructive feedback.

Our focus here is on the ‘in-person’ networking. However, it is also helpful to think about how you will maintain your connection with these new contacts online. You may also consider using special groups for networking. Once you’ve connected in person, think about sending an online connection request. A word of caution – be careful who you connect with given that they will also have access to your contacts. Be conscious of your personal band, bearing in mind your connections will also reflect your brand. Simply put – use online networking to support your in-person networking.

Effective networking can have profound benefits for both mentor and mentee.

Here are some key steps to assist you in your networking (and a few tips on what to avoid!).

Step 1: have a purposeful networking plan

Networking in order to grow your career needs to be purposeful. One of the subtle traps that both mentees and mentors can fall into is thinking that “I’ll be at XYZ event and get a chance to network.” However, when they get there, they bump into someone they know who they haven’t seen for some time and get chatting and before they know it the opportunity to network outside of their current network has passed. Some simple steps to keep in mind are:

  1. Know the why. Decide why you are attending this networking function – have a clear expectation of what the benefits are going to be of you giving your time, energy, effort and (potentially) money to attend.
  2. Set a target. Specify how many new contacts you wish to make at this event. Be realistic. You might want to limit it to three or four.
  3. Be purposeful. It’s easy to meet many new people at an event, but before arriving, hone in on the types of people you want to connect with. Be clear on what benefit you will be to them and them to you. We’ll come back to this point later.

Step 2: be productive

Networking often takes us out of our comfort zone. After all, no one likes to be rejected. So it’s important to be in charge personally of your strategy and. Being proactive means you ask for what you want and need.

This requires energy and effort. Being proactive can be tiring but it always pays off. Being a fringe dweller isn’t a proactive position at a networking event. It may be more comfortable for you, but it certainly won’t get you noticed or get you right into a conversation. Be prepared to be persistent as you may need to approach certain individuals several times.

What about when it comes to breaking into a closed conversation circle? A top tip from a senior diplomat is to take the direct approach. This doesn’t mean pushing in and taking over the conversation – this is never OK. Instead, approach the group by moving directly to the person who is speaking and gain eye contact with them. They will naturally then include you in the conversation and you will find members of the group shuffle around to fit you in. Then you have the opportunity to contribute to the conversation. Remember, don’t linger along the sidelines, don’t be a fringe dweller.

Step 3: think win-win

Thinking in terms of ‘What’s in it for me’ doesn’t focus on relationship building. This isn’t to contradict Step 1 – this is to reinforce the need to be purposeful in who we want to meet. In the purposeful plan that we develop, a key element is to identify what you might have to offer in return. It’s about keeping the balance in the networking situation and the resulting professional relationship.

So, what are you going to give in return? How are you going to maintain appropriate contact? A simple way of giving back is to be mindful of them and what you know about them. For example, you may have read a journal article that relates to something you spoke about. Take the initiative to send it through to them acknowledging that it may be of interest to them. It doesn’t matter if they’ve already seen it. What matters is you’ve demonstrated that you were genuinely listening to their input and that you are mindful of the connection. You may like to invite them to an event you’re attending and take them as your guest. Mentees, it’s easy to take on the mindset that your mentor doesn’t need anything from you – this is not true. These networking step also relate to your mentoring relationship.

Step 4: build rapport

Your mentoring resource guide refers to the need to build rapport as a foundation for building an effective mentoring relationship. The same can be said of networking connections. It’s too easy to go to an event and be caught in the business card shuffle. This isn’t networking! This is scattergun marketing, a completely different style and purpose.

If you accept the premise that networking is about creating purposeful professional relationships that are mutually beneficial then it is natural that you will take the time and effort to build rapport. This may not happen at a first meeting. You may, indeed, exchange business cards but the follow-up request to catch up for 30 minutes over coffee is when you can build rapport (this meeting also needs to have a purposeful plan). Therefore, a purposeful plan and gathering only a few contacts per event is important.

Step 5: prioritise

Effective networking takes time, effort and energy. You need to step out of your comfort zone and be consistently engaged. Making purposeful networking a priority is so important for moving forward in your career.

IML ANZ’s mentoring program is a great start for this kind of networking. Whether you are a mentee or mentor there will be opportunities to network with and through each other. We understand that you are all extremely busy people. Life is full and yet, we do suggest you prioritise the time and energy on effective networking.

We would encourage you to participate in purposeful networking events, be proactive in how you engage with others and the way you contribute to them. The benefits of making this a priority – putting time, energy and effort into building rapport far outweigh the challenges. This is another way of building your reputation and growing the career you truly want.

MEMBER EXCHANGE – Building personal brand

This question is something we all need to ask ourselves regardless of where we are in our careers. But what is actually being asked? Do you have a clear understanding of the elements that creates brand “you”? Brand is more than a name, it encapsulates the qualities and values attached to you. It includes the vision you have of yourself and your career while others will have an expectation of what to expect from you given your brand. Your brand is not your company. Your brand doesn’t only get turned on when you walk through the door for work. Your brand needs to always been on – it needs to be authentic and consistent if it’s going to provide value to you and your career aspirations. Your brand is your reputation and it needs to be guarded carefully and built purposefully.

So, how do you build your personal brand? How are you going to set yourself apart from others within your organisation or within your industry? Career opportunities are highly competitive even within your current company. Your qualifications, your experience, your extra-curricular activities all contribute to your brand, but there’s so much more to be considered to set you apart from the rest. Before we move into the ‘how’ of building a personal brand, please note that we are assuming you already have an online profile on a reputable professional networking site such as LinkedIn, so when discussing building a brand, that brand in person needs to also be accurately reflected online. We encourage you to modify your online profile according to the learning you have regarding personal brand.

The Venn diagram below identifies the four key elements to your personal brand. These elements are the broad categories to focus on when building your brand.

For each of these elements the following strategies are useful in assisting you to build your brand.

Reflect – you will need to ask yourself some, at times, challenging questions and provide honest answers to gain an accurate appraisal of the brand element.

  1. From your reflection, create a short list of descriptive words to describe yourself. This is your starting point. Include the ‘gaps’ or areas that need attention or development.
  2. Allocate these descriptions into lists of positive or ‘challenging’ attributes. These challenging attributes can be weaknesses if not addressed.
  3. Look for connections between career attributes, personal attributes and contribution attributes. By this, contribution relates to the non-work contributions you make in life, with teams, groups, even family and friends. The fuller the picture, the more accurate the starting point.

Research – how do others perceive you, your contribution and skills, and the way you relate to others?

  • Do you notice any repetition or themes with your list? Are there any surprises at this point? Have you asked people to be honest and genuine in their responses?
  • What aspects of the feedback will you build on in your brand and which ones will you try to minimise?

Modify – once you’ve identified aspects of your brand which need attention you will need to develop appropriate strategies to modify them to include them in your brand.

  • Develop a strategy to enable you to effectively modify your approach, interactions, language, skills, knowledge to highlight your strengths. We’d recommend focussing on those elements that can be easily modified just by being more conscious or purposeful about them.
  • Don’t try to modify or adapt all the ideas at once. Work through logically and assess for yourself how important each element is for you and your brand.

Apply – the modified elements are applied to improve personal brand.

  • Make it real. Authenticity is vital at every stage. Be practical in your application too, for example, through your online profile and through feedback from your colleagues and clients.
  • Identify and be involved in activities, projects, conversations and groups which reflect the positives of you and your brand.

Repeat – use this process periodically to ensure that your brand accurately

The four elements of personal brand are discussed below. We’d recommend you apply the above strategies to each.

Strengths

It seems natural to identify and highlight strengths when building your personal brand, after all, this is your reputation which is being built and reflected. We would certainly recommend you focus on strengths, but don’t lose sight of the growth and learning potential that can arise from understanding your weaknesses. They are an excellent impetus to make changes in your life.

Strong self-awareness = strong brand.

One of the interesting aspects of examining your strengths and weaknesses relates to the perception of others. This photo of the woman rock climbing, for example, can be used to represent strengths such as courage, willpower, determination, agility, flexibility and skill. However, another person may perceive this image and view her as reckless, irresponsible, unable to measure risk, ego driven or even a little crazy! As you work through the element of strengths, you will need to be mindful of identifying descriptions that are meaningful, knowing that what you perceive as a strength may not be so to others. Your strength of being flexible and adaptable in an environment of change could be seen as a weakness of lack of consistency in a more regulated or structured work environment. Qualifying your strengths with quantitative and qualitative examples can be helpful.

Values

Do you know what’s important to you? If you do, it’s probably related to the values you hold – those core aspects of how you engage with the world (self, others, and the environment) that you pride yourself in. Those aspects of being a person who seeks to demonstrate what’s important to them, what they put value in. We talk a lot about a company’s values, usually, they’re referenced on websites or in their marketing material. The standards of conduct they expect from every single employee. Company brands reflect and build upon these values, and essentially, we need to do the same. There are values audit tools you can download from the internet if you want to go down that path. But you can simply ask yourself – what’s important to me, and why? We would recommend that you identify approximately 5-7 values and these need to be included as part of your profile. You need to build a reputation for living these values consistently. Ideally, you want people to say that you “walk the talk”. These are the essential elements of how you want to be known and how you choose to conduct yourself.

Passions

Passions can be easy to identify – ask any of your friends, even your colleagues and they’ll know exactly what you love! Be it a creative pursuit, community activity, sporting team or relationship – they know because you can’t help talking about it, you want to spend time with what you’re passionate about. If we’re fortunate, our career may include an element of a passion we might have. For example, you might be really passionate about everyone being treated fairly and in your work you’re the diversity officer, the advocate for the new team members, or part of the union. Similarly, in your personal life you volunteer for a community group or work on a helpline to support others who are less fortunate. Your passions often reflect your values and when they are aligned the synergy in your brand is easy to demonstrate and sustain.

One of the traps people can fall into is referring to their passions too often and at inappropriate times or through inappropriate forums. We’ve talked about having an online presence through a professional networking site. Most of us also use social media through Twitter, Facebook or Instagram – for example. It’s vital that you know the purpose of each, the audience of each and that your personal brand remain consistent. People will be “assessing” your brand online. This forum can be used to assist in building your brand or can be detrimental, so be wise in what you ‘put out there’. One of the interesting aspects of having an online presence is seeing what people are passionate about and often who or what they ‘follow’ can give you a good indication of what’s important to that person. Just as we do it to others – they will be doing it to us. Is your online presence aligned to your personal brand?

Purpose

The final element of your personal brand is to pull together your strengths, values and passions, (minimise your weaknesses) and fulfil your purpose. It’s actually a challenging question to ask yourself – “what is my purpose”? Your personal brand development enables you to live your purpose specifically in your career, but this can easily be translated into your life generally. This article has talked about the need to be authentic and a key reason for that authenticity is for you to live your purpose. This isn’t genuinely possible if you haven’t been honest with yourself in the process of building your brand. Your reputation is going to be evaluated, often sub-consciously by others based on the evidence you demonstrate around your purpose. The “why” you deal with others using integrity. The “why” you put time and energy into growing your team. The “why” you treat others with respect; provide solutions; follow your dreams; give back to the community; have a ‘can do’ attitude; provide excellent service, and so on. So many of these “why” questions are answered in subtle and overt ways through your personal brand.

We’d encourage you to take the time to go through the five stages and apply them to each of the four elements of personal brand “you” to create the reputation your desire and deserve.

MEMBER EXCHANGE – Successful careers through solid planning

Gone are the days when careers meant moving straight up a ladder. These days, career paths have become more like a lattice – you might take steps upwards, sideways or even downwards.

That’s what makes career planning a crucial step in managing your learning and development. Regardless of where you are in your career, it’s useful to explore the path that you’re on. By developing new knowledge and skills, you’ll be well equipped to move into that new opportunity, no matter where it is on your career lattice.

Think of career planning as a continuous process of:

  • Reflecting on your interests, values, skills and preferences
  • Exploring the life, work and learning options available to you
  • Ensuring that your work fits with your personal circumstances
  • Fine-tuning your work and learning plans to help you manage changes in life and work

You can revisit and use this process at any stage of your career.

Start at the step that is most relevant for you now.

Planning cycle

The career planning process has four fundamental steps:

Step 1: knowing yourself

Step 2: finding out

Step 3: making decisions

Step 4: taking action

Let’s take a look at each step.

Step 1: knowing yourself

Ask yourself:

  • Where am I at in knowledge and skills now?
  • What do I want out of a job or career?
  • What do I like to do?
  • What are my strengths?
  • What is important to me?
  • Where do I want to be?
  • How will I get there?

After this, you can work on getting to know your skills, interests and values.

At the end of this step, you will have a clearer idea of your work or learning goal and your individual preferences.

The SWOT analysis in Article 1 can also be of great use to you at this point. You can use this information about yourself like your personal ‘wish list’ against which you can compare all the information you gather in the next step: finding out. Your personal preferences are very useful for helping you choose your current best option, which you can do in Step 3: making decisions.

Step 2: finding out

This step is about exploring the roles and learning areas that interest you. Once you have some idea of your job preferences you can research the specific skills and qualifications required in those professions.

  • Explore. Ask people around you about their roles, how they achieved success in their career. This mentoring program is an excellent forum for learning about others’ stories how they built their career.
  • Identify. Pick out roles that interest you. Assess whether your skills and interests match up with the job’s requirements. Do you have skills that are transferrable for this particular role or profession?
  • Develop. Taking on projects in your current workplace is a great way to close any knowledge and skills gaps to further your career journey. Also, look at developing skills outside of work. Sporting, community and charity groups always need people with a vast range of skills.
  • Locate. Do research not just on careers but on companies who you think you’d like to work with and where your interests and values align. Find out where your preferred roles are on offer.

At the end of this step you will have a list of preferred roles, companies you’d like to work with and opportunities for further learning.

Step 3: making decisions

This step involves comparing your options, narrowing down your choices and thinking about what currently suits you best.

Ask yourself:

  • What are my best work or training options? How will these currently impact on my work and life situation? How long will it take to get appropriate knowledge or qualifications and how do I manage my career in the meantime?
  • How do they match with my skills, interests and values?
  • How do they fit with the current labour market? What’s happening in the economy and politically? Is there opportunity for career growth within my current organisation or region?
  • How do they fit with my current situation and responsibilities?
  • What are the advantages and disadvantages of each option?
  • What will help and what will hinder me?
  • What can I do about it?

At the end of this step you will have narrowed down your options and have more of an idea of what you need to do next to help you achieve your goals. We would recommend that you use the Kolb Action Learning model in your Mentoring Resource book. This will provide an excellent tool to assist you at this stage of planning.

Step 4: taking action

Here you plan the steps you need to take.

Use all you have learnt about your skills, interests and values together with the information you have gathered about the world of work to create your plan.

Begin by asking yourself:

  • What steps will help me achieve my work, training and career goals?
  • Where can I get help?
  • Who will support me? Who can give me a reality check about my choice at this stage? What might be some of the barriers moving forward and how will I overcome them?

At the end of this step you will have:

  • A plan to help you explore your options further (work experience, work shadowing or more research); or
  • A plan which sets out the steps to help you achieve your next learning or work goal
  • Decide which step is relevant for you right now and start from there.

In all of this you need to remember that your career doesn’t happen in isolation to other aspects of your life.

As you work your way through the model ensure that you’re taking your entire life circumstance into any decisions you make.

We are here for you

By David Pich CMgr FIML

IML ANZ Chief Executive

The global spread of COVID-19 has presented us with unprecedented challenges too numerous to list. The Institute recognises that this is an incredibly tough time for businesses, for managers and leaders and for employees around Australia and New Zealand as we all attempt to navigate the evolving impacts of the pandemic.

On behalf of IML ANZ, I want your Institute to offer you as much support as possible during this on-going crisis. It is during times like these that professional associations must step up and support their Members, many of whom have been loyal to us for many years. We want to ensure that our Members feel part of the ‘IML Tribe’ for however long the current social distancing, working from home and isolation measures persist. Last week I wrote about the fact that this is the time for managers and leaders to shine, but it’s also time for your Institute to shine. And shine we will.

It’s time for action from your Institute. It’s time for IML to be there for you.

Stepping up

On 13th March, I asked all IML staff to leave their offices and work from home. We were one of the very first businesses around Australia to do this. This decision was taken to protect the health of our staff and our Members. At the same time, we immediately instigated a detailed plan to convert almost our entire business to a virtual model. This plan – and the speed that we have managed to implement it – means that the Institute is now ready to step up and step in to assist our Membership through this period of adversity. Perhaps more than at any time in IML’s long and illustrious history, your leadership matters. So, your Institute is ready with additional resources and services to support you and your business. 

Here are just three of the offerings we have created for you as part of the IML Tribe:

  • Additional mentoring services with IML Member Exchange.
    In times of unprecedented change, it is essential to be supported by other professionals who can provide objective perspectives and guide you through upcoming challenges. Mentoring is key to intentional leadership and no more so than right now. As such, we’ve launched an additional four-month complimentary mentoring cohort starting in May to support managers and leaders in need of advice from other members of the community in this difficult period. 
Register here
  • Resources to stay informed and equipped – Webinars and more!
    With the crisis changing the way we work and lead globally, it’s important to stay up-to-date and abreast of new approaches to leading through the unfolding situation. Our experts have developed a series of on-demand Webinars and articles that are focused on equipping you to combat upcoming challenges. All of our Webinars are free to IML ANZ Members.
Browse our resources
  • Virtual Masterclasses on leadership, change, remote working and much more.
    With circumstances changing daily, leading people and businesses during the pandemic requires new and specific change management skillsets. In the absence of classroom learning, we’ve created a series of unique, informative and virtual Masterclasses that prepare you and your staff with the necessary professional skills to lead effectively through uncertain times.
Learn more about virtual Masterclasses

Stay connected

In addition, we understand that working in relative isolation is challenging. We know this because we’re all doing it! We want you to know that, as an IML ANZ Member, you might be working from home, but you are not alone. In times of crisis, our community grows stronger and more resilient when united. The Institute continues to foster spaces for you to connect with like-minded managers and leaders across Australia and New Zealand. Here’s where you can ‘meet’ and connect: 

  • Virtual Member Connects
    Whether you’re talking about your leadership experiences during the pandemic, or you’re seeking advice from others, staying connected to your professional network can be an avenue of support, not only for you but for others in similar circumstances. 
Join our virtual Member Connect
  • Online community
    We want to keep you updated and informed on the latest information and advice for professionals and businesses. One way that we’ll do that is through our social media channels. If you don’t already, please follow us in your preferred social media channel.

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Finally, despite the difficulty of the current situation, I hope you will find confidence in the fact that the IML ANZ community is a resilient one. As one of the oldest and most respected leadership Institutes in the world, we have been connecting managers and leaders with each other for almost 80-years. Over that time, we have always been united by our shared passion for sound management and leadership practice in our teams, organisations and communities. This passion remains. As your Institute, we are determined to support you as a Member – and as a manager and leader – through this extraordinary time.

Rest assured, your Institute is here for you.

MEMBER EXCHANGE – Personal SWOT analysis

A useful tool as a mentee is to work through a SWOT analysis with your mentor. The value of this tool is that it can provide a first stage in identifying those aspects which are particularly important to your career and the direction you want to take it. We would recommend that you do a first “run” at the SWOT on your own before discussing it with your mentor. It can be helpful to have some clear ideas before a mentoring conversation so that the mentor can ask targeted questions to help you analyse further.

Your career doesn’t happen in a vacuum but within the context of other aspects of your life. There may be non-work-related experience, knowledge and interests that will have a direct bearing on the transferable skills and knowledge you can bring into your career. So, when using a SWOT analysis it’s vital that you look at the four categories of the SWOT across a range of life aspects such as those listed below:

  • personality
  • beliefs and values
  • personal situation including relationships, children, finances and age etc…
  • education and training – career and personal
  • experience and skills – career and personal
  • interests – career and personal
  • drive and desire in relation to career
  • others’ perceptions
  • special interest groups

Each of these points listed above need to be related to each element of the SWOT in order to get a very accurate and comprehensive picture of you within your career.

S = Strengths. Simply – what are you good at? What strengths do others believe you have? What motivates you and drives you – these will be natural strengths because you will put time and energy into developing them. What inspires you? What gives you satisfaction?

W = Weaknesses. What are your gaps or areas for development? What do you find challenging? What are the things that don’t interest you and you don’t want to incorporate into your career? What are those aspects that you have a great desire to improve but are currently limitations for you?

O = Opportunities. A reality check – what is within the realm of possibility for you at this time in your life? What opportunities are available to you within your current situation? What opportunities are available to you based on developing some skills/expertise or maybe getting a further qualification? What’s realistic?

T = Threats. What limitations are there on you achieving your goals? Who may be blocking your path? What gaps in experience/knowledge will be limiting or challenging to the point of blocking your progress? What external ‘forces’ are threats to you achieving your goal eg: political; economic; geographical etc?

Some things to be aware of are:

  • The more thorough the SWOT analysis the more useful and valuable it will be.
  • A comprehensive SWOT analysis takes time and should be done over a number of goes so that you can keep building on it. It’s like writing a first draft – go back and review and add to it before deciding you want to share it with your mentor.
  • Be utterly honest with yourself. The true value of this tool is that you can have a good look and reflect upon your current situation and needs and areas that need attention.
  • Once you have explored SWOT in relation to the life aspects listed previously it’s time to get some additional perspective from your mentor. Remember to be very open to their questions and perspective. Their role is to help grow you.

Take Two: A mentoring pair on the same page

By Lisa Calautti

When marketing manager Emma Tune MIML decided to seek a mentor, IML ANZ teamed her up with business advisor Sarah Hunter FIML. It turned out to be the perfect match.

 

Why did you decide to join the Member Exchange program?

Sarah Hunter: Mentoring is something I do quite a bit anyway. It is definitely a giving back exercise. I enjoy helping people who are at an earlier career stage to jump ahead – you think of all the things you know now, that you wish you had known 10 or 20 years ago.

Emma Tune: I have always been fortunate in having managers and colleagues who have been generous in sharing their time, knowledge and skills with me. But I didn’t have anyone within the business who had a marketing background. Things have changed so much in marketing in the time I have been in my role, so I sought the opportunity to learn from someone with that background and experience.

 

How would you describe the experience of being part of Member Exchange?

SH: Very good. In fact, at our first meeting we were quite overcome by how well matched we had been. We just clicked right from the beginning and it was clear that what Emma needed, and what I had, were extremely well aligned.

ET: We were so well matched. There were so many similarities in my role and Sarah’s experience. We talked the same language.

 

What did you gain from the program?

SH: A bit of clarity of thought. I had to put myself in some circumstances and try not to see things from my perspective or through my own lens. That wasn’t too hard because I was not making decisions, setting direction or giving instructions; just listening and offering reading material or an avenue to follow, then letting Emma do it herself. I had the satisfaction of seeing someone grow and develop, knowing some of the things I had put in front of her were helping her do that.

ET: Sarah was great at recommending resources and frameworks for the different situations and challenges that I had. We talked about many aspects of my role and having an outside perspective helped me to reframe the issues in many cases. Sarah was great at challenging my thinking in a constructive way. Overall I learned that in almost all cases it comes down to people and process. Having recommended resources to use also gave me something tangible I could work with.

One of the key areas that kept coming up was the importance of people management. In my head I already knew this but, through our discussions, I realised there is so much more to it than just managing a team of people. In business it is important to manage relationships at all levels across the business. Another key learning was that seeing the business from an outside perspective makes you look at the bigger picture, which is so important, but hard when you get caught up in the busy day to day.

 

What motivated you to be involved in Member Exchange?

SH: Definitely giving back, and being someone who can help build confidence. Emma taught me that really everything is all about people. No matter what business, industry or stage of life, it all goes back to being about people.

ET: I enjoy learning from people and seeing different perspectives. It had been many years since I had taken part in a formal mentoring program and thought it was the right time for the stage I was at in my career.

 

Would you recommend the program to others?

SH: Yes, I recommend people get involved in mentoring as it is an opportunity to look at things in different ways. This program is a valuable part of the membership for IML ANZ. It has a really good point of difference in bringing together a huge cohort of diversity, experience and insight. Working with younger managers I can see through their eyes the challenges they are facing today, which are not always the same challenges I was facing at that career stage.

ET: Yes, just getting that outside perspective is invaluable. People who are mentors go into it because they want to share their knowledge and coach and help you. By being matched with someone who has experience in areas you identify with, you are set up to succeed straight away.

Find out more about Member Exchange

Australia: managersandleaders.com.au/mentoring-program

New Zealand: managersandleaders.co.nz/mentoring-program

This article originally appeared in the December 2019 print edition of Leadership Matters, IML ANZ’s exclusive Member’s magazine. For editorial suggestions and enquiries, please contact karyl.estrella@managersandleaders.com.au.

Six ways leaders can inspire 21st century employees

By Sam Bell FIML

 

Many leaders struggle to inspire others. Yet, according to a survey conducted by Bain Research, employees are more than twice as productive if they are ‘satisfied’ employees. This suggests leaders who can inspire might provide a powerful competitive edge for their organisations.

In a similar vein, Harvard Business School gathered data from the assessments of more than 50,000 leaders, and the ability to inspire stood out as one of the most important competencies. It was the single trait that created the highest levels of staff engagement, and it separated the best leaders from everyone else. Crucially, it was what most employees wanted to see in their leaders.

Underscoring the importance of inspirational leadership inside workplaces, Gallup identified in their State of the Global Workplace report that 51% of employees are unengaged in their work and 17% are actively disengaged. This means that, on average, only 32% of employees are actively engaged in the workplace. Ultimately, organisations cannot survive or perform well with statistics like these.

 

TWO TYPES OF INSPIRATIONAL LEADER

I believe inspirational leaders can be placed in two distinct categories. Firstly, there are leaders who inspire a diverse population of people whom they have never physically met. These are usually leaders in their field – sport, politics, military and business – whom people admire because of their vision, their struggle, their achievements or their failures. Perhaps the most highly acclaimed inspirational figure of recent times who falls into this category is Nelson Mandela. People admire his lifetime of struggle and leadership for his nation on becoming President. Whilst most of us never met the man, we felt inspired by his journey.

In the second category are the people you know and see every day who give you the inspiration to do better in your daily life. This category of inspiration is by far the most important in my opinion. These people might be your family, friends, colleagues and yes, your workplace managers and leaders. It’s these ‘everyday people’ who give you a vision to be better, to improve, and who provide a purpose in life. These leaders understand the shadow they cast over others and ensure that, within their shadow, people know where they are going and the role they are playing to get there.

Today’s workplace leaders in this second category often lack the playbook to inspire today’s workforce, which is increasingly made up of employees who expect more meaning and value from their workplace. Where today’s leaders have typically cut their teeth in the workplace of the 20th century, today’s employees are increasingly products of the 21st century! The critical question when solving this leadership dilemma is: how do today’s ‘everyday leaders’ inspire the people they lead?

 

SIX WAYS LEADERS CAN INSPIRE OTHERS

  1. Be passionate about the vision and mission. Sharing a vision and mission in a way that enables others to feel passionate is a useful starting point when inspiring staff. The vision and the mission provide essential anchors for empowering others to feel that their work has a purpose and meaning beyond everyday tasks. When a leader communicates the big picture regularly it can assist in reinforcing why the organisation exists.
  2. Listen to your employees. People need to see their ideas being incorporated into the team and into the organisation and/or they need to understand the reasons they weren’t adopted. The ability to inspire others is not only about doing; it’s about listening and explaining.
  3. Make people feel included. Feeling inspired is about feeling connected to the actions and processes that lead to the achievement of the organisation’s goals or to the decisions made. When a leader includes people in the decision-making process they feel a sense of ownership of that decision.
  4. Demonstrate integrity. While vision and passion are important, employees must also trust a leader. Trust stems from seeing that a leader’s behaviour is aligned to what they say. They speak and live by their values and behave ethically. Leaders set the pace through expectations and example.
  5. Establish an environment of continuous improvement. This includes providing opportunities for employees to grow and develop, both personally and professionally, and can be achieved by setting goals and targets, allowing for secondments to other parts of the business, establishing special projects or encouraging further study.
  6. Recognise achievement. While financial reward is undoubtedly a significant motivator, recognition plays a vital role in making employees feel important and appreciated. Indeed, research has shown that a key source of inspiration for employees is speaking directly to them about the value of their work to the organisation.

 

It’s vital for workplace leaders to remember the influence they have over others. Take action to become an inspirational leader. Someone is always watching.

Leading Well book
This is an edited extract from IML ANZ’s latest book, Leading Well: 7 attributes of very successful leaders (Major Street Publishing, A$34.95).

The book highlights seven attributes that ignite inspiring leadership. It focuses squarely on the personal attributes that can transform managers into leaders and good leaders into great leaders.

Order your copy here.

 

This article originally appeared in the September 2019 print edition of Leadership Matters, IML ANZ’s quarterly magazine. For editorial suggestions and enquiries, please contact karyl.estrella@managersandleaders.com.au.

Five things Shakespeare can teach you about leadership

By Andy McLean MIML | Photo by Prudence Upton

 

Modern-day managers and leaders can learn a huge amount from the epic plays of William Shakespeare.

Here are just five lessons:

 

1. Bring your people with you

Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar is a military and political leader who has begun to believe his own publicity. He claims he is ‘constant as the northern star’ and his success to date makes him think his decision-making is infallible. Caesar’s failure to listen (to his Senate peers, his wife, a Soothsayer and others) proves fatal.

Leadership lesson: It can be lonely at the top – but it doesn’t have to be. By definition, a leader is someone who brings people with them. In business, that means taking time to consult with stakeholders and explain the reasons for decisions.

 

2. Take time to recognise people’s achievements

The Percy family literally risks life and limb to support Henry Bolingbroke’s battle to become King Henry IV. But, once in power, Henry is distracted by new priorities. He neglects his former allies and disregards their contribution to his success. This oversight almost costs Henry IV the crown when the embittered Percys later raise an army against him.

Leadership Lesson: In today’s market, where change is constant and time is short, it’s tempting for leaders to focus solely on the challenges ahead. But it’s essential to pause occasionally and recognise the achievements of individuals and teams. Rewarding the right behaviour helps to role-model the organisation’s values, foster loyalty and propel people to even greater heights in the future.

 

3. Give your people purpose beyond profit

In The Merchant Of Venice, everyone is consumed by the pursuit of wealth. There’s Shylock lending money, Antonio wheeling and dealing, Bassanio hustling to raise funds – and Lorenzo even wooing Jessica with one eye on the till. All of Venice’s most influential people are clamouring for cash and a toxic culture infects the city. Bell Shakespeare’s James Evans, who facilitated a Leadership In Action workshop, points out: “In one of the best opening lines of a play ever written, Antonio says: ‘In sooth, I know not why I am so sad’. He’s got everything that money can buy, but he’s still not content.”

Leadership lesson: When it comes to work, money is not the be all and end all – and your workforce knows that. As a leader, people will only follow you if you can articulate a purpose beyond profit.

 

4. Show empathy to inspire your people

On the eve of the Battle of Agincourt, King Henry V and his army know they are outmanned and outgunned by their enemy. Henry spends the night in disguise, listening to his soldiers’ hopes and fears. The next morning, before the fighting starts, Henry delivers a motivational speech that unites and emboldens his people, including the immortal lines: ‘We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he today that sheds his blood with me/Shall be my brother’.

Leadership lesson: If you know what makes your people tick, then you can help them achieve extraordinary things. Use surveys, forums and informal feedback to gauge the mood of your staff. Incorporate what you’ve learned when you communicate with your people. And never underestimate the power of public speaking!

 

5. Plan your succession carefully

Shakespeare wrote that, ‘All the world’s a stage, and all men and women merely players, They have their exits and their entrances’. Time and again, his plays remind us that – no matter how great the leader – their tenure is only temporary. Yet too often, those leaders fail to ensure a smooth handover of power. Rome is plunged into civil war because there is no prearranged Plan B after Julius Caesar falls, and King Lear pays a bloody price for leaving his kingdom in the hands of his two devious daughters.

Leadership lesson: Ultimately, it must be a leader’s mission to leave their organisation in a better position than when they found it. That means always keeping an eye on the long term and identifying the right talent to lead in the future.

On stage near you

Bell Shakespeare’s national tour of Much Ado About Nothing continues across Australia until 24 November. Their production Titus Andronicus will be staged in Sydney in August and September.

About the author

Andy McLean MIML is the Editorial Director of Leadership Matters magazine.

Other Life: Volunteering as a willing sounding board

By Lisa Calautti

 

Volunteering for less fortunate people is important to Barbara Brown, the general manager of people and culture at St.Lukes Health Insurance.

An IML ANZ Corporate Member, Brown has dedicated much of her life to volunteering, offering a helping hand to various organisations including menopause clinics, cancer support services and youth mentoring programs. As a result of her husband’s encouragement and his belief that her compassionate nature would benefit clients at Missiondale Recovery Centre, Brown has most recently pushed herself out of her comfort zone to come alongside drug and alcohol rehabilitation patients.

“I knew from volunteering in the past that most people just want someone to listen to them, and in that environment, people are there because they have already made the decision to change and are quite happy to talk about where they are and where they want to get to,” she explains. “The basis of anything I put my hand up for is looking beyond myself and my circumstances and seeing what I can do to help someone else.

“It’s always about what word of encouragement can I share, what cup of tea can I get? What hug can I give to make a person feel better about what they are going through? The motivation is never about me and I say to my family it’s about what you can do for others.”

Helping those less fortunate has given Brown an innate ability as a manager to relate to people and be more tolerant of their circumstances. Most of all, it has taught her not to take people at face value. “You realise there is a story behind every person. I absolutely believe that everyone has some sort of shadow. It is different for every single person,” she explains.

Helping people from all walks of life has helped Brown read and understand people’s behaviour. It has given her the ability to step back and have a ‘helicopter view’ of a situation rather than jump right into the problem. “It can just be having the wisdom to direct people in the right way, influencing them or helping them to be confident,” she says.

Trust is something inherent to Brown’s volunteering work and this has translated through to her role as a manager by building trust with staff through listening and allowing them to be free to explore their own ideas and express themselves. “Everyone wants to be heard, that’s what I have found. Everyone wants to have a voice,” she says. For Brown, the person she is as a leader and volunteer are consistent. “Whatever I am in my outside life, I am exactly that at work. I think it’s just about being real and not pretending to be something that you are not,” she reflects.

This article originally appeared in the June 2019 edition of Leadership Matters, IML ANZ’s quarterly magazine. For editorial suggestions and enquiries, please contact karyl.estrella@managersandleaders.com.au.