Blog: Paul Venderley

I spent last weekend in Washington D.C. at an ASTD Leader's Conference.  It's an inspiring place, and a great city to hold a conference for leaders. 

The opening keynote was Dr. Beverly Kaye, author of Love 'Em Or Lose 'Em, and Love It, Don't Leave It.  In this session, she asked the room of workplace learning and performance professionals (i.e., trainers), "We spend so much time developing others, what are we doing to develop ourselves?"

Dr. Kaye looked toward Generation Y, or the Millenials, for the wisdom of the emerging workforce.  More often we find these people saying: "I won't stay if there are no opportunities for me to grow here."  Dr. Kaye calls them self-powered careerists.

In this evolving workforce, Dr. Kaye sees a business world in which Enrichment is the most important aspect of a job in the coming years.  She sees that job satisfaction will come from a triumvirate of characteristics that address the employee:

Skills, which strengthen one's competence,
Values, which bolster one's commitment, and
Interests, which enhance one's enjoyment of the job. 

Dr. Kaye isn't the only one seeing the value of the self-powered careerist.  Petti Van Rekom and Ann Coil, guest speakers of ASTD-OC's Career Management Special Interest Group, ascribe to the idea that we are all "Self" employed.  That is, we are each the leaders of our lives. We are consistently representing our selves, and analyzing how we fit within an organization to which we belong.

Dr. Coil, this month's Career Management SIG guest speaker, recognizes that even as we adapt to the changing job market, we seek a constant to guide us in our career navigation. She has identified something that can serve as this guide, something that helps you maintain control of your career. Your own personal MasterWork©.

Dr. Coil developed the MasterWork© concept from 20 years of experience guiding people to change, re-direct, and manage their careers. According to Dr. Coil, we all have a MasterWork, our own personal fingerprint for attacking projects and solving problems. Defining our MasterWork© – what we do best and most enjoy doing – gives us a powerful tool for responding to changes in the workplace so we don’t get derailed, no matter who initiates the change.
 
It’s a foundation that anchors our career decisions and a beacon that points us in the right direction in all kinds of market conditions, so we can craft a satisfying and rewarding career and land on our feet when we need to.

P.S.: You can learn more about this month's Career Management Special Interest Group here.

Time Magazine's May 14, 2009 issue covered "The Future Of Work."  In it, articles addressed such topics as: "The Way We'll Work," "The Search for the Next Perk," and "The Last Days of Cubicle Life."  Four months later, Time Magazine had "Out Of Work In America" emblazoned upon its cover.

This isn't a reflection of suddenly changing times, nor an acknowledgement of economic realities.  The Future Of Work acknowledged that unemployment was at a 25 year high.  Part of the May 14 message was that corporations will begin focusing on finding essential people and outsourcing the rest. The September issue showed the various faces of unemployed people, each seeking an employer who would find them essential.

Petti Van Rekom, guest speaker at ASTD-OC's Career Management Special Interest Group meeting this October, sees this as evidence of a cultural shift in the workplace. The last cultural shift happened in the 1970s, as employees started viewing work less as a means to an end and more of an opportunity to performing something meaningful.  The current shift isn't well defined yet, but Petti believes that the new work model should be something the employee addresses while corporations are figuring things out.

We often make plans for our career. These career plans tend to be linear outlines of where we see ourselves this year, next year, five years down the line.  The proposal in October's SIG Meeting was that each person should develop a Self Employment plan.  This is not to say that each person needs to become self employed, but that each Self is in charge of his (or her) employment.

A Self Employment plan is a holistic approach to one's career.  It addresses both the internal and external needs of the employee.  An analogy used by Petti:  a Career Plan is akin to MapQuest directions; a Self Employment Plan is akin to a Travel Guide.

Here in Southern California a tourist has all sorts of options: amusement parks, museums, the beach.  As a tourist, well armed with a book filled with options, would you go where someone tells you to go? 

Probably not. You would evaluate where you want to go based upon your like and dislikes, and plan accordingly. Even should you follow a tour guide, you would have chosen the specific tour that you wanted.

There is a chance that the answer to that question might be "yes."  For example, you may end up in an amusement park even though you wanted to go to the beach, because you travelled with family.  Even so, you PLAN to go to Laguna Beach during your travel, meander through the art shops in the late afternoon, dine in a restaurant overlooking the ocean at sunset.

We began work on our Self Employment Plan by assessing our purpose for working, an acknowledgement of our current search for meaningful work.  From there we addressed the expectations we had for work, both external and internal. We compared these expectations to what our workplace currently delivers.

Why consider all this if we're just looking for a job?  
Because you want to make sure that you work for an employer whose values match yours.  Once you identify that you don't like amusement park environments, you'll avoid positions in companies that seem like a bunch of clowns (I just HAD to work that into the analogy).

Why consider a Self Employment Plan if you're currently employed?
Because if your workplace doesn't match your internal and external expectations, why are you there?  The answer to that question seems as obvious as a magazine cover: you're lucky to land a job at all. And that's fine. However, assessing these expectations allows you to PLAN for your future should you find yourself in need of employment, or in a position to further your career elsewhere.  Because whether you are currently employed or no, you (not the person signing your paycheck) are in charge of your career.  As such, we all are Self Employed. 

Last year, when I was let go from my job, I was given the opportunity to work with a career transition coach so I could land a new job.  The coach spoke of career transition in steps -- research (both myself and prospective companies), crafting the resume, interviewing, negotiating, and, finally, landing.  It was the last stage that caught my ear -- what to do when one lands the job.  I mean, besides not Tweeting my displeasure about the commute, they spoke of maintaining an Accomplishments Log (the better to proclaim your achievements to your new boss), and of continually maintaining your network.

This sparked a discussion within ASTD-OC's Career Management Special Interest Group (SIG) leadership.  Often, when we think of Career Management, we think of dusting off that resume, activating the network, figuring out which tie to wear to the next interview.  My career transition coach convinced me that career management is an ongoing process. One's resume should never get that fine patina of dust associated with career complacency. One's network should always be active.

Petti van Rekom, Ed.D., CPT, thinks that career management should even be more than that.  "The workplace has changed. Your job expectations have also changed.  Therefore, the biggest mistake you can make is to believe that you work for someone else. You need to take control of your career and recognize that you are Self-Employed," she shares.
 
"Whether you work inside an organization or for yourself, you’re the leader of your life.  Finding financial security, job satisfaction, meaningful work, etc. – is an ongoing journey, not a destination.  As such, you need a travel (i.e. career) plan that allows for detours and unexpected situations."

With that spirit of career management, we've invited Petti to speak at our October Career Management SIG meeting.  This kick-off meeting, held in Santa Ana on October 6, is titled: "Launching  Your Business."  We'll discuss the components of a self-employment (i.e. career) plan, focusing on your personal work expectations. Resources you can use to put together your plan will be suggested.  You’ll have the opportunity to assess what you like and don’t like about your current workplace – and discover your work preferences.

Some of this sounds very similar to the career coaching I received at the end of my previous job.  It will be refreshing to have a similar discussion while employed, an eye-opener to taking the reins of our career.

 

Twitter continues to be a phenomenon that receives mixed reviews from those trying to "get it."  David Letterman got some buzz when he and Kevin Spacey discussed using Twitter on Late Night.  In impeccable Letterman form, David called it a "waste of time."  A Time magazine article described Twitter more poetically, as a "serendipity engine."  And from another blog that I follow, I read the following:  "I get on Twitter. ... I decide that I am going to officially give up 'marketing' in favor of hanging out. Which is kind of what I was leaning towards anyway."

Like many "Tweeps," I once signed up for Twitter, didn't "get it," so I didn't do much with it for a while.  I began using Twitter again this year, inspired by a keynote speech in which New York Times tech columnist David Pogue (@pogue on Twitter) discussed the power of Twitter.  During his speech, he demonstrated how he could get an answer for a question within 10 seconds of his asking.  Mind you, it wasn’t a complicated answer; he asked how he could get rid of his hiccups.  But literally, within 10 seconds, he had several responses.  You can read about his Twitter experiment here. 

I thought: “I want to be able to do that with eLearning.”

Separately, I had also StumbledUpon a list of eLearning specialists who use Twitter. Thinking about who I wanted to have as my network of experts, I started following the first few pages of people on that list.  Not all of them, mind you. I did make a point to check their bios, and see what they posted on Twitter.  If their posts weren’t related to eLearning, or training design in general, I didn’t follow.  If they were, I began following.

Some of these people followed me in return for my following them.  Presumably, this is because they saw something interesting in what I tweet(Twitter-speak for a post on your Twitter feed).  In all probability, most of these people followed me just because I chose to follow them, an acknowledgement that perhaps there would be something mutually beneficial for the two of us to share information. 

The key to Twitter is relevance. 
     First, know who you are.  
     Second, know what’s important for you to know. 

We'll discuss this a bit more in the second of our Summer Social Series (facilitated next Monday for free to ASTD-OC members).  This will be a seminar that blends setting oneself up on Twitter, getting Tweeps, sending Tweets to those Tweeps, and discussing how to apply this social media resource to fit your needs. 

Perhaps the challenge in "getting" Twitter is that there’s no formulaic model that expresses the one thing Twitter is.  It’s not about being something;  it’s about what it can be.  And that’s what you make of it.

More information:

• Details on the Twitter seminar:  www.astdoc.org
• Yes, you can follow us @astdoc.
• Our Twitter co-facilitator, Mel, has a BusinessCasualBlog where he shares more insights on the matter.

It’s hard to debrief an event such as yesterday’s ASTD-Orange County Learning Event, as it was designed to be different experience for each attendee – like the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland.  Just as the ride provides "tracks" to follow -- Future Sight, Wealth, and Youth -- this MLE had two tracks: Training Resources and Training Tips. Each participant's experience -- dependent upon the collaborative experiences provided by the members at the table -- was unique.  Thus, the value of the event was dependent upon what each person had to offer, and what each person had to learn.

For each track, each table of 9 – 10 trainers had an opportunity to review a prepared document that lists some of the resources existing ASTD-Orange County members use for their job.  Then they discussed what they read or added to the list.  While I don’t know if things were planned this way, each table was a good mix of veteran trainers and those new to the field, so the discussions had the benefit of field expertise and innovative thinking.

Resources:

Those at my table started discussing sources for clip art, and how to obtain similar-looking clipart or photos to maintain a consistent look to one’s presentation (rather than the hodge-podge of images that often clutter a presentation because it makes sense for that slide).  We then shared our preferred assessment tools, books we’ve read, blogs we follow, and design documents we’ve used.  We used a tool the size of a business card designed to encourage follow-up with those people who’d shared something we found cool, and wanted to discuss further.  This tool created quite a bit of buzz, as it was simple and practical, and applicable right away!
 

Intermission:

We switched tables before discussion Training Tips.  Even this activity was designed to give us a new tool! We all are familiar with the practice of counting off our class participants into groups, but our facilitator had prepped each seat with (of all things) a sticker designed to disperse us to other tables. “If you’ve got the giraffe,” instructed our facilitator, “come to this table up front.  The star-shaped sticker, go to that table in the corner…” and so on.  We rose and shuffled through the Garden Room to our assigned table, meeting new people, experiencing different viewpoints, clutching the same glass of iced tea.  Some wrote down "stickers to assign class into new groups" on their notepads.

Training Tips:

What struck me was the simplicity of the tips shared by my table group. In a world where one can spend thousands of dollars on an impactful, tool-filled program, or hundreds of dollars for Trainer’s Warehouse stuff, the tips shared yesterday used plastic Easter Eggs, pennies, a ball of string, plain paper, etc.  We discussed different ways of determining comprehension, ways to illustrate different viewpoints using the mere twirl of a finger, and stories to illustrate an important point.  Nothing involving certification, nothing involving the outlay of much more than a few pennies or some office supplies.

I am being deliberately vague for two reasons.  First: we’re going to share most of these resources and tools in the ASTD-Orange County Community Toolbox, which will come laden with much better instructions of how to use them than I can provide in a blog.  Also, the ASTD-OC Community Toolbox will be available for members only, so I’m blatantly enticing non-members to join.  (We'll post when that link is up and running.)

Second: this was an event that you had to be there to get something out of.   A mere description of a tool is insufficient.  What made the event work with the collaborative nature of how all the trainers, senior and new, applied their unique skillsets and experiences to come up with different applications for similar tools.  Tables were filled with comments like: “I’ve used that, also, but this way,” or “for this purpose,” or “And if you use that with this, you can…”
 
After the Learning Event I spoke with Anthony, ASTD-Orange County Chapter President, who shared with me that yesterday's event was the future of Chapter events.  Sure, we would have speakers and seminars, networking activites and meals, but he looks to having more events that focus on the collaborative experiences provided by our members.  An ambitious plan to engage our members! Imagine the possibilities!

If you liked this blog, you might like:

No Time Like a Recession!

Find out what other experiential events ASTD-Orange County has to offer.

It was the kind of morning news headline that made you wonder if you really did wake up when the clock radio turned on: Recession Babies.  The quote from the story, the one that made me pause in the middle of my shave, went something like this:  “I’m out of work, and don’t have any job prospects lined up, and we’ve always wanted another baby, so I figured, what better time?”

The quote was a teaser for a later news program, and what a teaser!  But it got me wondering as I sat in traffic on the morning commute: what if everyone treated their professional development with a similar attitude?  “Well, I’m out of work, and I’ve always wanted to do more than my previous job let me, so I figure, what better time to expand my skill set?”

It doesn’t take much to do this.  Fumbling about with all these new computer programs that people keep talking about at work?  There are plenty of extended education programs that address the big ones.  Recognizing that you could benefit from speaking Spanish at work? Community colleges can give you the basics.  Want to focus on developing your professional skills? Examine what your local professional organization has to offer.

For instance, ASTD National offers a CPLP (Certified Professional in Learning and Performance) Certification. 

The impact of such certification is that such a certification lets employers know that you have real-world, practical expertise that can be applied to any work environment.  The CPLP is rapidly becoming a baseline for workplace learning and development departments.  More than that, anyone with a CPLP has the tools to be the best in the field.  So not only does your extended network know you rock, so do you.

Now, ASTD National is not a local professional organization.  So while you will get your CPLP from them, it’ll be tough if you just work with them, because they don’t offer many practical, real-world tools to help you prepare for your certification.  There’s info on their website, of course.  And they offer study guides at a cost.  But if you’d want to work within a community of like-minded people to prepare for your CPLP, then my recommendation is that you find your local ASTD Chapter.  They will be the ones who have experienced workplace learning and performance professionals, able to provide the support network to help you get your CPLP.

I’ll give you a for instance that is blatantly marketing our own chapter.  ASTD-Orange County is re-starting its CPLP Special Interest Group (SIG), and invites all members who are interesting in furthering their professional development, and their career, to attend its inaugural meeting this coming June 25.  Details for the event are just beyond this link.  The CPLP SIG plans to meet monthly, and at each monthly meeting explore one topic that is tested on in the CPLP Certification Exam.  It’s been an invaluable study group for the people who joined the CPLP SIG last year, and we were proud to report that some members did pass the exam, while others opted to take the exam at a later date.

How does this help one’s professional development in a recession?  Well, ASTD-Orange County lends, library style, the same resources that the ASTD National would sell to you. ASTD-Orange County provides its members a community of like-minded individuals who will support and encourage you. The primary investment made by the recession-afflicted person is time, and that’s admittedly at a bit less of a premium than before.  Imagine working full-time, raising a family, and studying at the same time.  Some of you may have done that already, and found that you were stretched further than you really wanted to be.  Now imagine how less of a burden doing two out of three would be.

So: developing your skills during a recession maximizes the time you’d spend between networking and job interviews.  Connecting with a professional organization to help you achieve your goals will maximize your return on your investment. 

You’ve always wanted to expand your skill set.  What better time?

If you found this interesting, you may wish to check out:

   *  ASTD-Orange County Special Interest Groups

   *  CPLP SIG Introductory Meeting (This is free, by the way. No cost to check us out!)

  *  Does Your Resume Need New Acronyms? (CNN.com article)

"I was an accidental hire," Marshall shared.  "I was just sick of my old job, and had walked into the LA branch of this company to apply for a job, any job.  The Sales Director interviewed me that day, and asked what sales experience I had. I told her 'None.'
"'There's something about you, though,' she said to me. 'You're hired.'
"So I go into the office the next day, and she takes me to a cubicle, shakes my hand, tells me good luck, and walks out the door, box in hand.  That had been her plan: hire me, some kid off the street with no experience, and quit the next day.  And, she didn't tell anybody that she'd hired me."
Marshall sat in the cube for two days doing nothing. Called a few friends, told them about getting a job where everyone else thought he was a visitor or something. On the third day, the Branch President stopped by the cubicle and asked Marshall who he was. When he explained how the previous Director had hired him then disappeared, the President sighed: "oh, boy."

Perhaps it was to her credit that the Branch President didn't fire Marshall on that day. Instead, she handed him a phone book and said: "Let's see what you can do."  By the end of the month, Marshall had made 17 sales -- pretty good for a rookie with absolutely no experience, either in sales or in the industry. 

"You've got something, kid," the Branch President had told him, and handed him a proper leads list.
 
Eight years later, Marshall is a Director of Sales for his own branch.  He hires some of his staff based on similar gut feelings.  True, he admits, he was a payback hire, and the Branch Director really hadn't sensed much of anything.  However, he reasons, the Branch President must have seen something herself, since she hadn't fired Marshall right away. 
 
"Raylene?" Marshall looked at the dry-erase board where his sales reps document all their sales.  Raylene has 7 sales so far, with a goal of 10 for the month. "She served my coffee before she came here. She just had the right attitude, day in, day out. GREAT customer service.  Pleasant experience each time, even with all the chaos in the shop around him.  Chris sold appliances at KMart.  He didn't know much about sales, but he had great follow up.
 
"So I hired them.  Because I figured, they had something I can't teach. I can teach them how to sell something, you know?  I can teach them about the product. But I can't teach them customer service, or ethics."

Marshall appears to be hiring, either consciously or unconsciously, people who were like him when he was hired.  In doing so, he bucks the typical corporate thinking that one should only hire people with experience in the field.  Marshall was looking for a different kind of experience.  A life experience that had shaped these people to be potential salespeople who just happened to be stuck outside the place where they could shine.
 
"You're looking at me like I'm crazy," Marshall smiled.  For which I apologized, my face tends to adopt that inquisitive appearance naturally.
 
Because Marshall isn't crazy.  He hires experienced salespeople as well.  And he makes sure that his sales office is arranged in such a way that the sales neophytes are sitting next to an experienced rep, allowing the cross-pollination of ideas.  For while Chris is learning sales from Kim, an experienced rep, Kim is also being reminded of a few follow-up techniques that she may have known about, but hadn't been using since coming to this branch.  And Oscar, sitting next to Raylene, is observing how a softer approach could temper his aggressive sales technique that, frankly, turned a few people off.

Marshall's hiring methods speak towards the strength of diversity.  When one hears of diversity these days, one tends to think of racial or gender makeup of a team.  But diversity awareness should be so much more than that, moving even beyond personality styles to experience background.  A company that hires people with a particular resume may find itself challenged when seeking to grow. If all you've got are people who all know of the same thing, then you're only prepared to go in one direction.   Challenging people to stretch beyond their typical roles, both new and experienced, raises the bar for everyone on the team.

Last night's ASTD-Orange County Learning Event focused on social media and how to use the ever-expanding social network to manage your personal and business brands (which, in the world wide web, are practically becoming one and the same!) There were quite a few attendees, from neophytes setting up their first web page to seasoned Tweople, and the evening's discussion ensured everyone got some interesting tidbit from the meeting.

Jonathan Good, our presenter, shared a few key points on why being an active social networker is important.

The main one: you're already out there.

I liken this to being at a recurring meeting but not talking to anyone. If you continue to attend that meeting, residing in your own corner of the room, people will talk about you. Those who already know you might say that you're an OK person, just kind of introverted.  Those who don't know you may say less appealing things. And those who you may have rubbed the wrong way, well... what they say might travel through the room as fast as a scandalmonger's innuendo at an Embassy Ball.

Jonathan checks out how he appears on Google frequently.  He shared a few of his tools with us, indicating exactly how on top of your personal and business brand you can be -- or, differently put, how on top of what others will find out about you, should they Google you.  Jonathan works to manage the bad message and promote a good one.  How is a big topic, so Jonathan focused on the "Big Three:"

• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• Twitter

Each of these systems has a unique means of helping you get the word out about yourself. A straw poll at the meeting showed most everyone used LinkedIn, although to what degree we didn't discover. Not as many used Facebook -- fewer Tweet.

Simply put, the first step to managing your brand online is to make sure those who know your name also know who you are and what you stand for.  The easiest way to do this is to incorporate your Elevator Speech -- a succinct message about what employers or clients can expect from you -- wherever a system asks for your bio or summary.  LinkedIn asks for a Professional Experience and Goals Summary, and gives you plenty of space in which to do this.  Use your 90 second Elevator Speech there, if you can.  When you set up your Facebook page or a Twitter account, create a bio that introduces you to others when they either search for you or visit your profile.  This can be more important that you realize -- I've searched for people in Twitter whose bios include the key word eLearning, and found loads of people from whom I can learn something.  Anyone else doing the same thing has found my Twitter profile, and may follow me as a result.

If you want to be considered a credible expert in a field, then the first step is making sure the social universe knows which field you represent.

The meeting ended late, yet with way too many 'how-to' questions, 'why' questions, and 'I'd like to learn more' comments. So a few members of the ASTD-OC Board colluded, and decided that it would be beneficial to continue this discussion with a couple of workshops this summer.  These will be how-to workshops, free to members, each focusing on a social networking tool -- how to get you established within that tool and using it to your best advantage.  I'm thinking of calling them the Social Summer Series.

Keep an eye out for more info as things develop!

 

By the way, ASTD-OC is on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, and also has its own web site.  Feel free to connect we're open to all who want to learn more about managing a career in the workplace learning and performance field.

The May Career Management Special Interest Group (SIG) meeting was an intimate one that included participants from what seemed to be diametrically opposed job histories.  One was truly a Jill-of-all-trades, having worked at most any job in most any industry in several countries around the world! The other was a steady Eddie, staying in the same company for many years, and the same industry for even longer.  Both wanted to figure out how to market themselves and begin the next leg of their career.

While the Career Management and Transition SIG generally boasts an unstructured format, allowing participants to share and get feedback on their most immediate concerns, facilitator Karen Moraski did approach the evening with a plan to discuss resume building. Her plan fortuitously provided the opportunity to help the SIG participants.

An initial step of building a resume is to identify the positive and negative aspects of previous jobs in order to identify one's ideal job.  Karen broached this subject, and encountered resistance.  From the Jill-of-all-trades came a struggle to complete something where she acknowledged that she enjoyed doing most everything.  From the steady-Eddie, the concern that in this economy, the "ideal" job is something that shouldn't necessarily be pursued.  However, this activity would be important for both participants in different ways. 

For the Jill-of-all-trades, we discussed what it was that she did NOT like in a job.  She shared that she detested sales: the cold-calling, the asking for money.  She really preferred helping others, serving in a support function.  We reviewed the myriad of other positive job characteristics that she had listed, and recognized a prime thread through all of them -- support.  We shared that perhaps she would find a perfect fit in an HRIS position, or, if she needed to compromise to get the job, even a Training Coordinator position that had some LMS management aspects to it. 

For steady-Eddie, we discussed the many hats that he had worn during his lengthy tenures at his previous jobs.  It turned out that although he stayed in one industry, there was a lot of different things he did, skills that could cross over into other industries when removed from the facade that appeared to lock him into place. We didn't identify his "ideal" job, but we did discuss the key components of the jobs that he liked, and how he would be able to market himself towards those job characteristics that existed in the positions he was applying for.

This introductory activity led into a discussion of the Elevator Speech -- that 30 second opportunity to share what's important for other people to know about yourself.  It's kind of misleading, see, this pursuit of the ideal job.  The activity shows us what we like, to be sure, but it also guides us in marketing ourselves to others.  We can illustrate the passions that we have, that we evinced during our successes in previous jobs, and we can parlay them into marketing ourselves for a future job. Once our future employer sees that our passions match theirs, how can they not hire us?

The Career Management and Transition Special Interest Group meets on the second Thursday of each month.  You can learn more about us at the ASTD-Orange County website.

ASTD-Orange County's Career Management and Transition Special Interest Group provides professional career coaching for workplace learning and performance professionals who are in career transition or who want to enhance their career development skills.

The group is meeting this Thursday, April 9, from 7:00 - 8:30 pm. Agenda topics are determined by participants at the beginning of the meeting and usually include effective networking, resumes, interviewing and entrepreneurship.

Where: Whole Foods (in the dining area), The District, Barranca & Jamboree, Tustin