Way back in my college days, as part of my BA in Communications, there was a required class that we all found a bit silly at first. This class was called IPCO 305 or Interpersonal Communications. Basically, this was a class on how people talked to one another. Surely, we all knew how to talk to each other. We had been doing it for years. Still, we did as we were asked and engaged in “dyadic encounters” which were basically conversations — usually over food or beer — and then studied these conversations in a somewhat scientific way. It all seemed a bit silly at the time, but I find this experience and education more useful every day.
The fact is, we often communicate poorly, if at all. Whether talking or listening, the ideas, thoughts, or tasks we are trying to communicate get lost in the surrounding noise, are misunderstood or simply go unheard. We spend a great deal of time “talking at” people without ever really communicating. Is it any wonder that so little gets accomplished for all the talking that goes on?
One of the most insidious communication problems, in your work and professional life, is assuming that others will just understand. Instead of asking a person to do something, we merely act as if we want something done and they are supposed to pick up on these, often, non-verbal clues and do what we want them to do. We see this in families all the time. If I pick up a broom and start sweeping the floor, I might assume that you will also figure out it is time to clean and join me in the task. This is flawed thinking for a variety of reasons. First, we might not have the same understanding of what is an appropriate time for a particular task. You might think it is time to clean, but I know I have a column due on deadline and must complete that first. You might think that since I am already doing the task, you don’t have to do it and can continue doing whatever you are doing. You may even find my cleaning activities to be annoying as you are trying to finish a different project or simply get some rest. It’s odd how something as simple as picking up a broom can mean so many things to different people.
As you can see, left to our non-verbal, non-communicating devices, it is no wonder why we get frustrated with others and they with us. In many cases, we have competing desires, but we never communicate that to others. We simply grow more and more frustrated and even angry that the other person doesn’t understand us, or worse still, is ignoring us or acting out of spite. Yet, we still avoid communicating clearly when we should see how much it facilitates our lives and our work. Perhaps we do this in a wrong-headed attempt to avoid conflict or confrontation. Maybe we don’t understand how to effectively communicate our wants, needs and desires. Perhaps we are shy, quiet or simply scared of causing a stir. Whichever it is, though, we all need to break away from our uncommunicative ways and forge a new path for our careers.
Great careers grow out of great communications. We might label it drive, leadership, being a people person or a good talker, but it is a simple fact that nearly every great leader is first a great communicator and you can be, too. You simply need to start communicating. Look back in the recent past and re-imagine an opportunity you had to communicate an idea, but failed to do so. How would things be different today had you taken that opportunity to speak up? How much trouble would have been saved? How much money? How many jobs? How much better would you feel about yourself and your work? I believe that you will easily find many situations that would have been improved, or avoided altogether, had you only communicated more clearly.
Your task for the coming weeks is to look for opportunities to communicate, both good and bad news, solutions and problems, wild ideas and concrete thoughts. Look to head problems off “at the pass” by communicating more frequently, more clearly and with more people. Free up time in your busy career by communicating so clearly that extra meetings, teleconferences and follow-up emails simply aren’t necessary. Never again assume that people know what you want simply by looking at your actions. Explain to them, in both large and small ways, exactly what you want, need and desire from them. Clear communication has the ability to make everyone’s life a bit easier and a bit more productive.
Update (6/24/09, 7:15 pm) - I forgot to include the fact that you can see the entire presentation from LaidffCampLA (where they recorded these clips) on this blog under Video: Visibility and Your Career from LaidOffCampLA.
During LaidOffCampLA back on May 1, 2009, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer sent a crew to record the sights and sounds for an upcoming report. I just found out that that story has now appeared.
Jobless Find a Creative Voice in Southern California is an overview of the issues with layoffs and downsizing and LaidOffCampLA plays a small part. I have 2 nice quotes in the video, so I wanted to pass it along to you. You will see me briefly starting around 6:50 in the video.
With the continuing growth of services like Facebook, Twitter and others, questions often gets asked, “Why do we share all this information? Who does it benefit? Is it too much? Is it simply a fad…or troubling…or even dangerous?” The fact is, sharing is a deep part of our basic human nature. As humans, we constantly gather together for safety, for productivity and yes, socialization. The fact that we embrace services like Facebook and Twitter should be a surprise to no one. For me, it is simply an online extension of tribe members gathering around the fire to share stories of adventures real and imagined. We have an immense need to share our lives, our knowledge, our sadness, our joys with others. The Internet simply gives us a way to share more easily and more widely. If we take sharing as a common part of human nature, though, then it pays to ask, “Why do we share? How does it complete us? What purpose, beyond basic social interaction, does it serve?”
For the individual — especially someone developing a career — sharing what you do and how well you do it is an important part of establishing your visibility in the world. As I have written and spoken about in the past, you must make your work, both personal and professional, visible to those around you. You do not build a great career by “hiding your light under a bushel.” Jesus may have been talking about faith, but I think the phrase equally applies to your gifts, your knowledge, your skills. Of course, I am not talking about arrogance, inflating your accomplishments or otherwise presenting a false picture of yourself. You share to give people a better understanding of your work and, you as a person.
Which leads us to the next reason for sharing — giving others a better, fuller, understanding of who you are as a person. If you follow me on twitter (@douglaswelch), you will see that I have many more interests than just technology or just careers. I often say, “a geek in one thing, a geek in all things.” This certainly applies to me. I geek out on coffee, wine, architecture, performing music, technology, the outdoors, gardening and a host of other things. If you only monitor one aspect of my sharing, you might think of me as only one thing or another. Those who follow me on Twitter see, what I hope, is a more complete whole.
I believe that the more information others have about you, the better chance that you will find a deeper bond, a deeper synergy, a deeper relationship, whether that relationship is personal or professional. In hiring, for example, I would be much more secure in my choice to fill a particular job if I knew more about a person than what can be discovered in a resume and through a short interview. I was asked during my talk to Tuesdays with Transitioners a few weeks ago, whether it would be useful to include links to Twitter or Facebook in a resume or cover letter. My answer was that, yes, if those sites gave a clear, positive picture of who you are, I would definitely include them. I think that doing so could help to cement a job offer that might be wavering in the middle. I also think it would make the hiring person much more secure in their choice and lead to a better work relationship the moment you walk in the door. It is like giving a jump start to your relationship.
Finally, we often share in hopes that it will improve the lives of those around us. If I can save someone hours of troubleshooting by blogging a solution I discovered, I have made the world a better place. If I can share my favorite restaurants, stores, parks — and most importantly, people — I may make someone’s life better, or at least a little easier. I may help to keep one of those family businesses viable. If I share my life with others, they may share their life with me and expose me to new ideas, new thoughts and new challenges. When we share everyone wins. When we “hide our light under a bushel” we deny ourselves and others the opportunity to connect and understand.
If you are like me, one day can seem much like another. If we allow it, our daily rut can become so deep that we can’t even see a way out. We wander from bed to shower to coffee to work to dinner to home to bed without so much as a single thought that there might be a better, or at least different, way. You don’t have to live in that rut, of course, but if you want to get out, you will have to expend some energy. You will have to look for some new alternatives to the same old, same old. You just might have to do something crazy.
Now, when I say crazy, I don’t necessarily mean anything life threatening. Sure, some of my friends have found excitement in skydiving, white water rafting and jungle treks, but I think there are much simpler ways of putting some energy back into your life. In my case, one walked right into my life. A friend recently called with an interesting request. Over the last several years, he has been producing a horror musical he had adapted from a film. He had put on this show in his down of Bakersfield, California and elsewhere in the state. This time, though, he was bringing it to the big city of LA and was asking me personally to take on a small role.
For those who might not know, my degree is actually in theater and I quite enjoy working there. That said, I don’t find much opportunity here in LA due the professional nature of even the smallest productions. I haven’t acted in nearly 25 years, although I have performed music in public every so often. Still, I had to think long and hard about deciding to accept a role again. It seemed so far outside my normal daily life, but that is exactly what made me decide to do it. I saw this as life offering me an opportunity to get a little crazy, to get out of my rut. I think I would have been a fool to ignore it. It is rare when such opportunities come looking for you.
What has this bit of craziness done for me? First, if has introduced me to a score of young, talented people who have not lost that youthful optimism and energy for life and their work. Life can be tough and we all get beaten down a little over the years, but surrounding yourself with young people can be a great way to break out of your older mindset and perhaps find a new interest to pursue or new energy for your existing career. This is the same reason I recommend that you attend BarCamp events and other un-conferences. You gain the energy of youth and also, in many cases, the young want to know what you have to say. Finding an audience for your knowledge and experience can be one of the most rewarding aspects of these events.
Second, acting is a new challenge that is entirely different than my daily work. Putting myself into a different character and a different mindset is not only fun, but it gives me new insight to my daily work. I often find myself thinking new thoughts, having new ideas, applying theater experiences to my presentations and generally being more aware of what I am doing and how I am doing it. This is the power of rut-busting activities. They break not only the rut of our daily schedule but also the rut of our daily thinking. When you are faced with new opportunities and new activities you can’t help but think new thoughts. You mind has to deal with new inputs and, in many cases, creates new outputs to make use of them.
For your own sake, go out today and do something crazy,. Again, you don’t have to jump out of a plane, but something as simple as visiting a new restaurant or a new part of town, signing up for piano lessons, performing for your child’s school or even being in a play like me can open new doors in your mind, your life and your career.
Over the last several decades, the age at which someone needs to have cemented their career has been steadily dropping. Where, in the past, it would not have been surprising to see workers in the 50’s and 60’s, now many of these people have been “aged out” of the work place. In fact, in the course of my own career, I have come to see that 40 is the new career danger zone. If you haven’t moved into management, or into your own company, the chances are very high that you will be fired or laid off in the coming 5 years. In some cases, if you can make it through this danger zone, you might continue with your current company in your current position, but for many of us, 40 is a career milestone that we will have to face head on.
I normally don’t like to use hard, age-related, milestones when discussing life and career, but my own experience has shown that many people are more than willing to use age as a deciding factor in job decisions. We all learn and grow at different rates and we all have different goals at different times, but much like the now mostly abandoned concept of “middle age,” those around us will apply certain stereotypes to us once we reach a certain age. Once we reach the age of 40, people will start to look at us differently — treat us differently. This is especially true in work environments where management can be younger than those they manage.
I have seen this in direct action over the last 20 years as my wife worked in television. The entertainment industry thrives on youth and has always been quick to abandon those “of a certain age.” My observations about television and movies are what opened my eyes to this same trend as it began to make stronger inroads into business as a whole. This century-long youth obsession has started to effect even the most staid of companies as younger people have been indoctrinated into it much more than the youth of the past. In the worst cases, younger managers can see 40 year olds as being at the end of the line in their careers, regardless of what these workers might have achieved or currently be producing.
It might seem hopeless at first glance. Obviously, we can’t change our physical age. We might get away with shaving a year off here and there, but time eventually catches up with all of us. That said, we can all seek to improve our careers by pursuing 2 avenues that can help to protect us from this youth bias by essentially making it irrelevant. You can never be sure of your job, but you can take actions that improve your position.
In my mind, today there are 2 possible paths for any worker as they age. First, you need to insure that by age 40 your position in your company or industry is strongly cemented. This typically means that you must be in management and not out on the “shop floor”, whether that be in a manufacturing company, a financial institution or on a movie set. People over 40 who are still working “in the trenches” will soon find themselves facing questions about why they are still there. Is it fair? Of course, not. Sometimes this is the most effective place for a person to be working, but those around them will come to see it as a sign of failure. They will wonder, both silently and out loud, what is holding you back. If you find yourself in that position today, you need to start thinking seriously about your career options. Regardless of your skill, you could be on the next layoff list.
Second, do everything in your power to start your own company. This might be a small consultancy like my own, a small business or even something larger, but whatever the form, you must do it. Placing yourself in the position of power is one of the few ways to insure that your career won’t be interrupted by age bias. As my wife is fond of saying, “when you work for yourself, there will never be a day when someone comes to tell you you no longer have a job.” Sure, businesses can falter and fail, but placing yourself in your own business is one way of protecting your career as you grow older.
Whether you are approaching the age of 40, are already well beyond, or are young enough to find it difficult to imagine, you need to start planning and working for the day when you face this critical career milestone. Today, the age of 40 is taking on the stigma once reserved for 65. While you aren’t expected to retire, you will be expected to have achieved some stability in your career. Otherwise, those in power may decide that you need to look elsewhere for the next step in your career.
In good times or bad, opportunities that come knocking should never be ignored. Certainly, every opportunity will not be right for you, but too often we reject, or simply ignore opportunities. There are many reasons why this might happen — inattention, lack of confidence and even fear — but if you want to keep your career moving forward, you must tackle each opportunity as it is presented. You never know which one will be the next, important step in your career.
Opportunities can be found anywhere and sometimes present themselves at the oddest moments. Perhaps you are having a discussion with the owner of your local coffee shop, who mentions off-hand that their computer is crashing or that they know another customer with a similar problem. You might find opportunities at a friend’s party, picking up your dry cleaning or hanging out with friends at the local pub. The ubiquitous nature of opportunity means that you must constantly be on the watch for it as it appears. This almost guarantees that you will find more opportunities, but then you need to work on the next step — taking advantage of them when and where they appear.
It may seem odd, but I regularly see situations where people have opportunities practically walk up and kiss them on the mouth and then they do nothing about them. They simply walk away as if nothing has happened. There is no exchange of phone numbers, no promise to call later, no attempt to continue the connection. Nothing. To be fair, I think we can all look back on moments when we did the same thing, but that doesn’t excuse the problem. I am sure you do much the same as I do and firmly plant your palm to your forehead when you realize what you have done. Unfortunately, opportunity is fleeting and, when missed, is often gone forever. While you can’t beat yourself up over every missed connection, hopefully you can learn from your mistakes and be more aware in the future.
There are times when you need to be even more sensitive to opportunities — when they are presented by friends, co-workers or clients. Failing to follow up on an opportunity presented by this group reflects badly not only on you, but also on the person who is connecting you with the opportunity. While I don’t have the world’s largest network, I regularly try to share opportunities with my friends.
I hope that they can find some good in each opportunity, but also understand that only a handful of connections will ever work out entirely. I typically present the opportunity to my friend first to see if they are interested before passing off their name to the potential client. In this way, they can decide whether the project or job is interesting to them before taking the next step. You don’t have to accept every opportunity, but being open to the opportunities is very important.
One frustrating aspect of opportunities, though, is when I offer an opportunity only to be met with indifference and inaction. Sometimes it seems that I see more in people than they can see in themselves. I can understand the reluctance to pursue an opportunity in some ways. I know I have faced these same fears myself. You start to “futuretrip” and the “What ifs?” begin to pile up until to you are too afraid to do anything. Still, I am sure you have felt this same frustration when your friends fail to grab onto the opportunities you present. This doesn’t mean you stop trying, of course, but it can make you less inclined to share future opportunities. Remember this, too, when you are on the receiving end of an opportunity. Ignore them enough times and they might stop appearing.
Sharing your opportunities with those around you, and accepting them when they are presented, is one important way the career world turns. Whether you decide to accept an opportunity or not is much less important than simply being open to them when they arrive. Ignoring the equation on either side can limit your career opportunities and leave you wondering why the next step in your career is so hard to find.
Sometimes, despite our best efforts, we can lose track of our goals in the midst of the chaos of daily life. We work and work on our projects without ever getting them done. No matter how much work you do, if you don’t complete your projects, what have you really accomplished? Your career depends on providing solutions. Don’t build a career that saddles you with never-ending project after never-ending project. Get on with it. Get over it. Get it done!
A Good Experience
The importance of being able to complete a project was brought home to me again this week, when I was working on a project with my podcasting group, Friends in Tech (http://friendsintech.com). We were producing a special production for only the second time in our short history and yet it was a great experience. Despite being scattered across the country, we wrote, edited, recorded and audio edited a 40 minute show, using all our voices and those of our family and yet still completed it 2 days before our scheduled deadline. This was a major feat, but even with all the work, we still followed our #1 Charter Guideline, “Have Fun!”
Why was this such a good experience? As you may have discovered in past or present jobs, completing projects makes everyone happy. The client is happy. Your company is happy and you are happy. Just when you start to get tired of the project, it’s over. Compare this to one of your previous projects that seemed to go on and on until everyone involved was sick of it. Never-ending projects make everyone unhappy and usually end with someone being fired.
One of the biggest assets of our group, and any good project group, is the ability to complete projects and complete them on time. If you can do that, you can do almost anything. But how do you find or build a group that can make it happen? There are a couple of key elements that can show you whether your project group is on the right track.
Get It Done Checklist
First, and most importantly, do you and your fellow team members have clear goals and deadlines? Are you all in agreement on what needs to be done and when? If not, prepare for a long, long project. You can’t possibly know when a project is over, if you don’t have a clear and concise picture of the end result. Lack of goals, or poorly defined goals, lead you astray from the very start. Plans change, features change, jobs change and even the entire project can change. A perfect scenario for a never-ending story. In a project like this, you are destined for months of “just one more feature” or “just one more change.”
Next, does everyone on the project team have multiple skills? Can they take on whatever role is required of them, even if it isn’t their primary talent? This is one of the great strengths of our group. Sure, we all have our specialties, but each of us can “jump in” when needed, to move the project forward. Even more, everyone is ready to jump in whenever they see an issue or need. No one waits for someone to cry for help. They are usually aware of the problem from the start and are already helping out even before their co-workers reach a breaking point.
Finally, any issue that isn’t directly related to the project at hand is ignored. Bureaucracy, paper-shuffling, unnecessary meetings are forgotten, and, if everyone is thinking clearly, no one cares. Great projects take on their own momentum and can, for a time, shunt aside the typical office politics and constraints. Build the momentum of your project and fewer people can distract you from its completion. Any project that slows too much begins to be picked apart by turf wars, bureaucracy and critics who never wanted it to happen in the first place.
You only need to experience one bad project before you see the wisdom of focusing on completion. Bad projects are like chains around your ankles. Everything is more difficult than it should be and you find yourself moving slower and slower with each passing day. In the worst cases, you might find yourself trapped within the project forever, toiling away on something that no one finds interesting or even useful, but which no one can seem to stop.
Great careers are built on great projects, so do everything in your power to find or make projects that improve your high-tech career instead of trapping it in a never-ending cycle of going nowhere.
Question of the Week: In what ways can you keep your projects on track and moving towards completion?
Communication
