Water's Edge Coaching

In this slap a bandage on the problem and get back in the game society of ours, career changers and job seekers are setting themselves up for disappointment.  We skip right to the final destination (a new job, something other than what I have now) while ignoring what we really want.  While ignoring what would really make us happy.  There are a lot of reasons we won’t focus on ourselves.  It might be we are uncomfortable doing so, or that we’re not used to taking the time to plan.  Maybe it is the pressure to find work immediately, or at least the perception there will be a price to pay if we don’t do so immediately.  In my coaching of others, it is the focus on self that seems to be the most challenging for people.  In my opinion, it is also the most important thing to do.

I sometimes sound like a broken record when delivering training programs to managers.  “Delegate!  Delegate!  Delegate!” I say.  Delegating work to others is a solution that frees up time for other activities, preferably of the proactive variety managers never seem to have enough time for.  Delegating is a great way to develop talent on your team, enrich their jobs, and consequently increase employee satisfaction with their work.  So if delegating is such a powerful solution, what stands in the way of managers doing more of it?  Two reasons are usually given: time and talent.  The time issue is the easier of the two to address.  What gets planned for gets done.  Delegation requires a commitment on the managers part and a confidence that by investing time in developing my employees today, I will gain time down the road through their ability to handle additional work.  Confidence in team members is often the “deal breaker” when it comes to delegating.  It is that lack of confidence that frequently causes managers to say “What’s the point, I’ll just have to be looking over his shoulder anyhow so I might as well handle it myself.”  So… my advice to you Mr./Ms. Manager is to take a good long look in the mirror.  Ask yourself, “What is causing me to lack confidence in this person?” and then coach to that issue.  Make that individual someone you have confidence to delegate to.  Managing is all about achieving results through others.  Delagating needs to be one of your management tools.

Yesterday I received a reminder of why I love being a coach so much.  One of my career coaching clients was describing to me her “A-Ha moment” where seemingly from out of nowhere she discovered the type of work she wants to be doing.   She eloquently described how this type of work made so much sense for her because of its connection to her values, interests and skills.  I was genuinely happy for her.  Because of her hard work, her willingness to listen to herself, and to stand up for who she is as a person I believe she was much more prepared to be ready for that “A-Ha moment.”  I haven’t gone so far as to create an elaborate “A-Ha theory” but I do believe that sometimes these ideas come to us unsolicited, while other times we need to put ourselves in a position to look at things in a different light.  That is where coaching is a big help because you’re doing a lot of introspection and with your coach exploring new possibilities.  You never really know when or where that “a-ha” is going to show itself to you, but when it does, are you ready to listen?

Growing up I idolized Ernie Banks.  By the time I was old enough to start caring about whether the Chicago Cubs won that day (an affliction I still suffer from) Ernie had moved from playing shortstop to playing first base.  But he was still Ernie!  Still Mr. Cub!  He brought a boyish enthusiasm to the game, best captured in his quote “Let’s play two.” Reflecting a message any boy could understand, on a day as beautiful as today, let’s play two games of baseball.  I don’t recall ever seeing Ernie Banks not smiling, except maybe when he was about to put a ball out on Waveland Avenue.  I’m in my 40s now, still obsessed with the Cubs, and I still idolize Ernie Banks.  I keep an Ernie Banks autographed baseball on my desk in my office.  It reminds me of the enthusiasm, hope and sheer joy that Ernie brought to the ballpark every day, and through his actions, lifting the spirits of legions of adoring Cub fans.  That autographed baseball reminds me of my sincere desire that we all could feel the same way about our work.  That as leaders we create that environment for our teams that energizes them.  As employees we must be vigilant about giving our all to the team.  As job hunters we should seek out work that engages our head, hands and heart.  Thank you Ernie Banks!  Let’s play two!

In the past couple of weeks it seems I am running into a lot of people looking to shift their career focus without paying attention to what type of work best suits them.  Don’t get me wrong, they have a final destination in mind (a job) and a path they plan to follow (work they feel qualified to do) but they are ignoring the most important part of their search, themselves.  I am a huge fan of doing what you love, but how many of us take the time to think about what that is?  How many of us are willing to even listen to ourselves think about that without letting all kinds of “mental chatter” take over the conversation.  You know the kind of “chatter” I am talking about.  The voices that tell us we’re not good enough or we wouldn’t get paid enough, or it would be foolish to go back to school.  They chase us away from our ideal job before we even get a chance to recognize it as a dream job.  The temptation for many people is to just skip to a solution “the job” in the manner that seems most efficient to us “work we are qualified to do.”  My advice is make some space to listen to yourself.  Get a glass of your favorite drink to relax with, whether it is a cup of warm tea, your favorite merlot or a glass of something stronger.  Put on some music that will help you free your mind.  Then just listen to yourself.  Be playful.  Suspend critical evaluation and just hang out with your thoughts…… with yourself.  Then you can start on the plan to get there.

I have spoken to two people in the past week who were unhappy enough with their current employer to choose to quit their job.  One acted to save their sanity, the other acted to get out of a really bad situation.  Both people knew that in this economy, their decision was a risky one.  Yet both felt so aggravated about the situation they were in that leaving seemed the best option.   I know both of these people well enough to know their decision was not made without careful consideration.   These were not impulsive overreactions to a bad situation.  Every month more than 500 people click on an ad I run on-line that simply says “Feeling Stuck.”  It is designed to reach out to potential career coaching clients.  500 people and that number is increasing each month.  That’s just the number that choose to click on my ad and my ad only appears when people are searching for career coaching.  How many people might be feeling stuck in their job in your company right now?

I understand that not everyone is a good fit in your organization and for some leaving is the best option for all parties involved.    That’s not true of everyone though.  You know it, I know it.  How productive is an employee that is feeling stuck likely to be?  How many employees being half as productive as they could be can your business tolerate?  What are you willing to do about it?  We both know if you had equipment that was being half as productive as it could be you would invest the time and money to get it running at maximum speed.  Why treat employees with less attention than our equipment then?

I am not taking a stand for either side (employee or employer) in this blog as much as I am taking a stand for talking with each other.  For creating a workplace in which your employees can flourish.  They win and you win when you get to that point.  Act now, before the really good ones become fed up enough to leave.

I have spoken to two people in the past week who were unhappy enough with their current employer to choose to quit their job.  One acted to save their sanity, the other acted to get out of a really bad situation.  I admire them both, as I admire anyone willing to act on the courage of their convictions.  Both people knew that in this economy, their decision was a risky one.  Yet both acted with a self confidence that assures them they will get through this and enough awareness of their personal values to know that for them not taking action was their least preferred option.   Both understand that they want their work to be important to them.  They want to put forth their best efforts on work that has meaning for them.  A lot of people would look at them and say they are crazy.  I think they are heroes.  Heroes that will soon be looking back on that day when they made a stand for themselves and wishing they had done it years ago.

According to a new Conference Board study, only 45% of workers are satisfied with their job.  It would be easy to write this fact off as yet another casualty of the recession and assume it will turn around when things get better.  I think however that dismissing the fact is symptomatic of the broader issue.  Employee dissatisfaction has been increasing for the last two decades.  Dissatisfied workers are less productive, less innovative and less likely to offer any contribution to their employer above and beyond what is required.  Raise your hand if you are writing reduce productivity and innovation into your people management strategy.  The Conference Board report is a macro trend, but you would be wise to think about it on a micro level.  What is morale like in your organization right now?  What are your plans to fix it?    As is so often said to our “barely meeting requirements” employees… “You are either part of the problem or part of the solution.”