“It is more important to know where you are going than to get there quickly. Do not mistake activity for achievement.” —Isocrates

Have you ever treaded water? Maybe when you were learning to swim or when they made you try water polo in High School? It’s HARD. I mean you are in the water vigorously moving your arms and legs trying to stay afloat. Lots of movement and activity but you’re not actually getting anywhere. You’re more or less in the one spot, burning energy.

This is all well and good if you are waiting for the ball to come to you but it’s more likely you have to chase the ball. For you to get the ball, you’ll need a different strategy.

First decide where you need to be and then start swimming towards that place. It’s a coordinated movement with a goal in mind. This will eventually get you to the location you decided upon before you started swimming.

It’s the same in a work environment. We’re all so busy these days. Busy with this thing and that thing and checking the emails and moving in this direction and that direction.
So much activity and so little achievement. If a water polo player kept swimming in one direction for a bit and then in another direction and then changed again, they would look like they are very active but wouldn’t really get anywhere.

The best way to achieve something big or small is to stop for second, decide where you want to go (or what you want to achieve) and only then start swimming / working towards that goal. Sure you may have to dodge left or swerve right, maybe do a duck dive, but if the goal is always front of mind then the reaching the destination is almost always assured.

Too many times you see people who are busy busy and stressed all the time. Choose the most important thing you need to do right now, only do that until it’s done and then choose the next most important thing to do. This strategy will bring a certain sense of peace and achievement to your working life. It certainly has to mine.

Bart.

Start the conversation with the best IT recruitment consultants in Melbourne, Canberra, Adelaide and Brisbane by emailing office@redwolfrosch.com.au or calling 1300 544 652.

This TED talk was important enough to share on our blog page as it effects everyone we work with and ourselves as well.

Margaret Heffernan points out how and why teams succeed and how we can encourage success in our companies. If you are going to spend 15 mins watching online video today, this should be at the top of your list.

Start the conversation with the best IT recruitment consultants in Melbourne, Canberra, Adelaide and Brisbane by emailing office@redwolfrosch.com.au or calling 1300 544 652.

Holacracy is an organisational structure that encourages employees to ignore ‘traditional’ job descriptions and instead work to their strengths to collaboratively achieve company outcomes.

Embraced by tech and innovation led companies Medium and Valve, it recently rose to public attention after WIRED and Fast Company reported online retailer Zappos, known for their customer centric decision making, were embracing the system to improve their productivity and deliver better outcomes.

Holocracy essentially is an organisational model that lies somewhere between bureaucracy and a flat structure. Could companies here in Australia embracing tech do with some of the cold hard truths gleamed from Holocracy principals?

#1 Are job descriptions limiting what your team thinks they could deliver?

In the Holacracy model, job roles are defined around the deliverables, not the individual. Employees can fill several different roles, depending on their strengths.

There is always scope for an individual to deliver value to other parts of the business, given the opportunity, and it’s this premise Holacracy embraces.

As an employer, you have a responsibility to encourage your team to ‘think bigger’. This is not only for your teams’ professional development, but also to safeguard your investment.

People are complex. Everyone has, regardless of whether they’ve articulated it before, professional and personal goals that motivate them to turn up to work every day.

Not all employees know what it takes to achieve their goals. Consider for example, some of comments we hear from job seekers.

• ‘If I get one years experience in this role, I’ll be able to get a promotion.’
• ‘If I can deliver five projects to add to my portfolio, I’ll be in a good position to get a better job in two years.’
• ‘I really don’t like my workplace. It’s not the right fit. I want to move on, but it won’t look good on my CV moving on so soon.’

Limiting? Yes. But true? Absolutely.

Mentors and leaders need to take the role of coaches, helping their team members identify and then action their professional goals. Help them articulate their internal view towards one that benefits both parties.

It’s as easy as asking a few simple questions and offering your support. Ask your team what drives them to continually learn and grow. Offer to support them in achieving their professional goals. Perhaps your Ruby on Rails Engineer may have a hidden a talent for bringing in new business. Your Digital Producer may also be adept at mentoring junior staff.

People are full of hidden surprises and as an employer it is your duty to develop them. You might even uncover a few who would rather be doing something completely different.

#2 Are your team delivering to their strengths – not just project outcomes?

It can be easy for both employers to put employees in a box, based on their immediate skill set and it’s this premise Holocracy challenges.

We see this a lot in recruitment. Digital specialists that come to us when they are looking for new opportunities say they’re bored, and that their current employer doesn’t challenge them.

As an employer, it can be easy to assume a tech employee is the sum of that one skill set listed on their resume. In fact, digital specialists are some of the most agile and adept at embracing new skill sets due to the speed at which technology develops.

Just like a good wine, our talents only improve with age. As we embrace new technologies, work on projects that stretch our thinking and surround ourselves with people who bring out the best in us, our capacity for learning and adapting grows.

Consider whether your team members have more capacity than immediately meets the eye. Do they have skills that are not being flexed in their current role? Could they be delivering value to others areas of the business outside of their immediate deliverables? Can they contribute to the wider growth of the company?

If they enjoy a skill set, more often than not, they are likely either pretty good at it, or, will have an inclination to learn more about it (to then get really good at it). But you have to give them the option first.

Put it this way. If your team have a proverbial carrot dangled in front of them that ties into achieving, with your support, their personal and professional goals, they’ll more likely be happier at work, be more productive, and most beneficially to you – be loyal to the company that encourages them to grow.

#3 Do you step aside to celebrate successes, or take the credit?

Holacracy advocates decisions made by an empowered individual, rather than bottle necked by managers. Forbes reported Medium embraced this ‘self organised’ style of management, where individuals are encouraged to make decisions around what ‘circle’ they work in.

It poses the question about the role a manager plays in the success of a project or outcome, who should take ‘credit’ and the role office politics plays in actually getting the work done.

Ask any tech employee what role their work plays in making their manager look good to their manager. More often than you’d like to hear, their job can play a larger role than you may think in making their manager’s manager look good. Tech specialists perhaps know this more than anyone, where their work can be used as a ‘proof point’ for managers who have sold in a tech solution to their internal stakeholders and need it to succeed.

Actor Kevin Spacey says this brilliantly. “If you’re lucky enough to do well, it’s your responsibility to send the elevator back down”. Consider whether your employees successes and concerns are being heard at a senior level, or whether you pocket those for yourself.

#4 As a leader, do you walk the talk, or just talk the talk?

Holocracy encourages all employees to be accountable to the same rules and regulations, regardless of status. This apparently removes any room for emotive office politics and instead, makes people accountable.

Sounds simple, right? Yet so many owners and senior decision makers think they’re exempt from this basic premise. While grand plans to ‘empower the team to achieve their goals’ sounds good; very few leaders, particularly those who are have founded a company based on their ability to develop or monetise a product, actually have the soft skills to coach and develop people.

It’s a little ‘left brain vs right brain’ type scenario. People who develop products have incredible insight around understanding how systems and technology work to create innovation. However, the same doesn’t always apply for ‘soft skills’ – e.g. developing humans, who have needs, emotions and are constantly evolving.

What leaders need to remember, particularly in tech or start up industries, is that leadership shouldn’t be a given – it is earned. And the higher up the pedestal you go, the more accountable you need to be to your team.

Julie Gerberding, M.D, speaking to Bloomberg Business, said it best when describing a piece of paper she had taped to her computer. “Leadership is a privilege”, it reads. Currently the Executive VP for strategic communications, global public policy and population health, and a leading infectious disease expert, she is in a highly influential position where her recommendations can affect outcomes. Leading with empathy, and recognising your privilege, rather than focusing purely on outcomes, is a skill some tech leaders have yet to finesse.

Redwolf is a Melbourne based recruitment agency, bringing you the latest digital, software development and design roles.

Start the conversation with the best IT recruitment consultants in Melbourne, Canberra, Adelaide and Brisbane by emailing office@redwolfrosch.com.au or calling 1300 544 652.

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holacracy.org

What are you worth?

Five ways to demonstrate your value at work

Struggling to land that promotion? Negotiating a pay rise? If you can’t articulate your value, it’ll make it challenging to land the job or pay rise of your dreams.

1. Know what ‘bucket’ you sit in

The value of all tasks can be put into one of four buckets: commercial (it either makes or saves money), service (it provides a service or product to your customers or clients and thereby creates commercial or reputational value), growth (opportunities which can lead to new business) or reputational (it supports the positioning of the company).

Identify what ‘bucket’ your skills fit in. For example:

1. Commercial: do you save or make money for the company / agency?
2. Growth: do you create opportunities for the company to grow?
3. Reputational: do your skills add value to the perception of the company or its clients?

Use your ‘bucket’ to understand how to articulate your value and thereby measure it.

2. Measure your unique value

Once you are clear on the value you bring the company, measure it. As author Cal Newport relays to FastCompany, “Once you find activities that are clearly valuable, ‘measure them constantly and pursue them deliberately in the same way a professional chess player would pursue raising his or her tournament rank score.’”

If you sit in the commercial bucket, measure how much you are making, or saving the firm. If you are responsible for the growth of the company, how much value are your opportunities delivering? If you work in the reputational bucket, has the sentiment of clients or customers evolved over time? What would the reputational risk to the company be if you weren’t in the role?

The data you gather by measuring the impact of your skills will be the most important element you use to illustrate your worth.

3. Create a forwardable portfolio

A summary presentation is a reminder why you’re a great return on investment. Demonstrate value by showcasing tangible outcomes as a direct result of your talents.

At the completion of any major milestone or project, create a summary of the successful project, your role in it, in a visually engaging way and forward this to your manager and team.

Consider this your forwardable portfolio. Over time, your manager will likely forward these reports to their bosses, making it much easier to illustrate the value of your skills come pay negotiation.

Any project that goes well is a case study for you, your boss, their manager and future clients of the company. Use this to your advantage.

4. Ace the three-sentence pitch

It’s also important to be able to demonstrate your value at work informally. If you’re unable to articulate your strengths in three sentences it will be challenging for colleagues to grasp the value of what you do.

Make sure you can confidently articulate what you do, how this benefits the company and (most importantly), a ‘proof point’ which illustrates this, in a few sentences. Here’s an example:

“I am a front end developer. I was responsible for bringing the X project to life, which resulted in the business saving X% on internal programmes. I also implemented the X programme, which has saved the company 30% in resource costs.”

If your work mates understand the value you bring, they are more likely to sing your praises to colleagues and the wider team, leading to wider opportunities over time.

As writer and web designer Paul Jarvis brilliantly articulates: ‘Don’t expect people to see your talent … you’ve got to show them why you’re an expert by teaching or showing them what goes into making what you make and why it would benefit someone like them.”

5. Think outside the KPI

Innovative employees routinely step into the shoes of their employer to understand the challenges the business faces.

Make a real impact by adding value outside of your immediate role. Are there opportunities to add value outside of your KPI’s? Do you have skills you’ve yet to flex in your current role?

If your company is growing quickly, are there opportunities to implement new systems to save everyone time? Do new technologies exist which may benefit the organisation and assist with streamlining processes?

Have industry changes impacted the way the organisation needs to be competitive? Could you suggest or create internal learning programmes to upskill and help the firm remain competitive?

Use your own informed insights to propose new initiatives that may benefit the company. Here you are showcasing initiative, creative thinking and leadership abilities – and that is hugely valuable to any employer.

Redwolf is a Melbourne based recruitment agency, bringing you the latest digital, development and design roles. Join us on LinkedIn for updates and job opportunities.

Start the conversation with the best IT recruitment consultants in Melbourne, Canberra, Adelaide and Brisbane by emailing office@redwolfrosch.com.au or calling 1300 544 652.

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This is an inspiring article for those of us who want to have a rich and fulfilling life.

credit for this article: @davekerpen

You’d like to be successful in everything you do, of course. Here’s how to make it happen.

Getting what you want in your career and in life isn’t as difficult as it may seem. I mean it.

Listen First and Never Stop Listening
Listening is the single-most important skill in professional and personal relationships. Ernest Hemingway said, “When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.” It’s sad, but true: Most people have their own agenda and are too busy talking (or waiting to talk) to listen to you. So here’s the paradox: If you, unlike most people, can truly listen with empathy, then people will like you–and eventually help you get what you want.

Help Others
It’s perhaps another paradox, but it works: When you want something from someone, instead of asking for it, help that person get what he or she wants. If you don’t know what he or she wants, then simply ask, “How can I help you?” Since so many people are out to only help themselves, when you genuinely seek to help others succeed in their goals and dreams, you’ll stand out. And those people you genuinely help will in turn fight to help you succeed and give you everything you want. Help others first, without expecting anything–and the returns will be enormous.

Be Yourself: Authentic, Transparent, and Vulnerable
Oprah Winfrey stated, “I had no idea that being your authentic self could make me as rich as I’ve become. If I had, I’d have done it a lot earlier.” Professionals, especially of an older generation, tend to have a tough time with authenticity and transparency in the workplace. People, especially men, tend to have a tough time being vulnerable, especially with people they don’t know well. Many also aren’t sure how much to reveal online, or at work, or to people they’ve just met. But, hard as these choices may be, authenticity, transparency, and vulnerability all breed trust. And when people trust you, they’ll do anything for you. Open up to people, and take a chance, and you’ll be rewarded.

Tell, Don’t Sell
As important as it is to listen and help others, in order to get what you want, eventually you’ve got to tell people what that is. But nobody wants to be sold to. So whether it’s a product, service, idea, or yourself that you’re trying to sell–give up on “selling.” Instead, focus on telling a great story–captivating your audience, bringing to life what the future will bring, and painting a great picture of what will happen if you get what you want. When you get good at storytelling, people want to be part of that story–and they want to help others become part of that story too.

Inject Passion Into Every Interaction
Passion is contagious, but so is lack of passion. If you’re not passionate about what you’re talking about, why should someone else care? If you want something, you must be more excited and dedicated to it than anyone else. If you’re not passionate about it, maybe it’s not really that important to you. Not everyone is super high-energy and extraverted, though these qualities can help convey passion in many cases. Passion and energy alone put me through college with my first job. But ultimately, you don’t need to be bouncing off the walls to convince someone of something. You just need to reveal your true passion, in the way that’s genuine for you.

Surprise and Delight Others
You know how when you walk into a casino, there’s always a slot machine going off somewhere in the background, telling the world that another person just hit a jackpot? This is what social psychologists call variable rewards. You don’t know when you’re going to win; you just have enough positive experiences that you feel excited, even when you’re not winning. When you surprise and delight others, not only do you make them happy–you remind them that you’re the type of person who might surprise and delight them soon again. Some classic examples: bringing home flowers to your wife for “no reason”; telling a customer his order will arrive next week but then overnighting it; and now, tweeting to a random prospect that she’s won a free prize. If you go out of your way to make an experience with you special, especially when people least expect it, you will get huge results over time.

Use The Four Most Important Words in Business and Life
Say “I’m sorry” when you make a mistake and “thank you” as much as you can. These words are so simple, yet so often people overlook the importance of saying them. Everyone makes mistakes, and everyone knows that. It’s not when you make a mistake that’s a problem; it’s when you make a mistake and are too proud or embarrassed to be vulnerable, fess up, and apologize. Just say “I’m sorry” and let another person forgive you, so you can move on, and eventually get what you want. Conversely, sincere gratitude to people is a powerful emotion to convey, and opens up many doors. I send three hand-written thank you cards every morning. I send them to staff, customers, vendors, the media, and friends, and not only do I find people love receiving cards, but writing “thank you” puts me in an incredible mindset to start my day. This is not just about sending cards, though. It’s about having a deep appreciation for and wonder about the people and world around you.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I’d love to know what you think of these seven ideas. Let me know using our CONTACT form… we’d love to hear from you!

Start the conversation with the best IT recruitment consultants in Melbourne, Canberra, Adelaide and Brisbane by emailing office@redwolfrosch.com.au or calling 1300 544 652.

Lindsey Pollak, March 19, 2013

You’ve probably heard the saying that it’s easier to get a job when you have a job. Well, what if you don’t currently have a job? What if you haven’t had a job for a long period of time?

Don’t despair. It may take some extra effort to land a job after a long period of unemployment, but it is absolutely possible. Here are five Es to guide you:

 1. Explanation

First and foremost, it is a mistake to hope that employers won’t notice that you are currently out of work. A gap in your LinkedIn profile or your resume is certain to raise a red flag. You need to address it directly.

Depending on the reason for your time away and your personal comfort level, you can either explain the gap at the beginning of your LinkedIn profile Summary or in your InMail correspondence or cover letters to recruiters when you apply for positions. In whichever place you choose to give your explanation, do it quickly, honestly and positively.

Here’s an example if you stopped working because of a layoff:

I am a creative, client-focused public relations professional with deep experience in the financial services industry. Since ABC Public Relations closed its financial services practice in June 2012, I am currently seeking a new opportunity to join a large agency.

Here’s an example if you stopped working for personal reasons, such as childcare:

I am a corporate generalist attorney with substantial in-house legal experience. For the past three years, I have focused on raising my family and I am now eager to commit my substantial energy to a full-time position as an in-house counsel for a small- to medium-sized company.

2. Experience

Next, describe any professional endeavors you have pursued during your time away. This might include volunteer work, part-time work, freelancing, temping or helping out in a family business. When possible, demonstrate how this work is related to your desired career path.

Here’s an example of what the laid-off PR professional might say:

I am currently providing pro bono communications support to three nonprofits, one of which specializes in financial education. In these roles, I have further sharpened my skills in social media strategy and event promotion.

3. Education

One of the fears an employer might have about a candidate who is not currently working is that his or her skills are outdated. You can counter this fear by showing that you have maintained — or, ideally, increased — your knowledge during your time away.

Be sure to completely fill out the Education, Courses, Skills & Expertise and Certifications sections of your LinkedIn profile. If you are currently enrolled in a class or recently updated a skill or certification, then it’s worth mentioning that directly in your Summary.

For example, in the case of the lawyer returning to work after time off with her family, she might highlight the fact that she recently completed her mandatory continuing legal education (MCLE) requirement. The PR executive might include some of his most cutting-edge skills — perhaps some that he developed recently in his volunteer work — in his Skills & Expertise list and invite his connections to endorse them.

If you know that your skills are rusty or that a mandatory professional certification has expired, don’t wait for a recruiter to notice. Do your best to get up to speed now, and include your current training or skill building in your LinkedIn profile to show that you are being proactive.

4. Endorsement 

It is one thing to promote yourself as a safe bet despite your time away; it is another thing for someone else to say it for you. You can use LinkedIn recommendations and endorsements as strategic tools to address any concerns you believe an employer might have about your particular situation.

In the case of the PR executive, he might worry that an employer thinks he was laid off because he failed in his previous job. To counter this impression, he can request a recommendation from a previous boss, client or colleague to praise his successful results or mention that he survived three previous rounds of layoffs during the depths of the recession.

In the case of the attorney, she might fear that recruiters will assume her skills are rusty, so she can list her most cutting-edge skills in her profile’s Skills & Expertise section, which her contacts can then endorse.

5. Engagement

Finally, it is crucial for unemployed job seekers to network extensively. Your best-case scenario occurs when a recruiter or hiring manager meets you or learns about you through a trusted contact before knowing that you have been away from the workforce for an extended period. The more impressed they are by you in real life, the less important the details and length of your unemployment will be.

Start the conversation with the best IT recruitment consultants in Melbourne, Canberra, Adelaide and Brisbane by emailing office@redwolfrosch.com.au or calling 1300 544 652.