Kazira

Last time when I thought about this topic of ‘knowing thyself’ (a long time ago, I must admit) – the first thought that ran through my head was – “Well, how the heck am I suppose to know myself?” All I know so far has been put into my head by my gurus, my teachers, parents, and preachers. They never told me who I am – They only told me who I should be – Characteristics, virtues, and traits that I should strive to possess – “Picture a person who really inspire you” they said “and then follow their footsteps” …. Well, that exercise really did not work out as planned – since who I am and whom I was striving to be – apparently were two different people. I’m not exactly a very deep thinker; so, after a while, I left pondering this question thinking that such abstract issues are better left for the “philosopher types”. And that was that … Until recently ….

Fairly recently, I got introduced to a phenomenon (outlined in a series of books) that is primarily based on improving your professional life based on exploitation of your dominant personality strengths ( I must thank my Friend Rajiv Roy for introducing me to this complex mess …) . The author of these (series of) books, Marcus Buckingham, is from Gallop organization and has published three books on the subject (a couple with other folks as co-authors).

The first one, published in 1999 was titled - ‘First, break all the rules’ which was a survey and a study of bunch of managers and their issues on finding the right people, retaining them, and keeping them satisfied with respect to the kind of work that they would love to do. The synopsis of that book came out to be – “don't try to put in what was left out; instead draw out what was left in”. You must hire for talent, and hone that talent into outstanding performance. Work your people’s strengths rather than forcing them to improve upon their weaknesses.

Then came his second book – “Now, Discover your strengths”. This was the book where Marcus introduced a concept of Strength Finder – An online tool (NOT FREE – but when you buy a book it lets you take the test once) that asks you a (whole) bunch of questions in rapid succession and records your answers based on your first instinct (it pushes you to answer promptly – the first thing that comes to your mind). The questions have a very short duration and so you don’t have much time to think before answering. These questions vary in terms of “what ifs scenario” and what would your reaction to a particular scenario be … etc. This tool then identifies your top 5 strengths (out of 34 outlined below - Each of these strengths is described in details in the book ).

1. Achiever

2. Activator

3. Adaptability

4. Analytical

5. Arranger

6. Belief

7. Command

8. Communication

9. Competition

10. Connectedness

11. Context

12. Deliberative

13. Developer

14. Discipline

15. Empathy

16. Fairness

17. Focus

18. Futuristic

19. Harmony

20. Ideation

21. Inclusiveness

22. Individualization

23. Input

24. Intellection

25. Learner

26. Maximizer

27. Positivity

28. Relator

29. Responsibility

30. Restorative

31. Self-assurance

32. Significance

33. Strategic

34. Woo

Once I finished taking this test, I was surprised who I really was or what my predominant strengths were – and these were completely different from what I had previously assumed. After this test, I really am looking at the world and my actions very differently.

Now, here comes the third one – Go Put Your Strengths To Work – This is probably the last in this a series of personal development books that, from book to book, have moved from being guidance for managers to guidance for any professional. This is the book that tries to trains you, the individual professionals, in terms of how to manage your strengths, how to manage your weaknesses, and how to put your strengths to work for a more fulfilling personal and professional life. And this book offers 6 steps to do this –

Step 1: Bust The Myths

Step 2: Get Clear

Step 3: Free Your Strengths

Step 4: Stop Your Weaknesses

Step 5: Speak Up

Step 6: Build Strong Habits

The book suggests adopting five regular habits in your life:

• Every day, look over your strength statements and your three weakness statements. This keeps them fresh in your mind.

• Every week, complete a “strong week” plan. Basically, identify two ways you’ll maximize your strengths in the coming week - at the same time, identify two ways to minimize your weaknesses in the coming week.

• Every quarter, close the book on your strengths. Schedule a meeting with your boss and go over ways you maximized your strengths in the previous three months.

• Every six months, go over your strengths in detail. Make sure you understand what they really mean and how you’re applying them.

• Every year, toss out your strengths and start over. You can use your old ones as a starting point, but there will likely be some clarifications as your understanding of your strengths and your weaknesses grow.

Authors also discusses the myths that holds us back and provides the truth as he sees it. The myths that he tries to bust are –

Myth 1: As you grow, your personality changes
Myth 2: You will grow the most in your areas of greatest weakness
Myth 3: A good team member does whatever it takes to help the team

I would definitely RECOMMEND this book to anyone who feels that their professional career has stagnated or is in desperate need of a kick start. The book gets a little preachy time to time and is repetitive at times.

Now getting back to ‘Knowing Thyself’, there are yet another series of (personality or career) tests that you may take which, results in identification of your personality traits. These tests also suggests the most suitable career paths for you. Some of them are free and some will set you back $80 - $100 per person.

Some of the career evaluation tests evaluate you (based on the questions that you answer online) for the following 6 personality categories. Based on the predominance of one over the other, it offers careers that would most suit your personality.

• Realistic—the doers

• Investigative—the thinkers

• Artistic—the creators

• Social—the helpers

• Enterprising—the persuaders

• Conventional—the organizers

And then (last but not least) – there is ‘Myers Briggs personality test’ – You can take a free test at www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm. The result will classify you using four classifications.

• Extroverted ( E ) or Introverted (I)

• Sensing ( S ) or Intuitive (N)

• Thinking ( T ) or Feeling (F)

• Judging ( J ) or Perceiving (P)

So in the end you could be ENTJ or ISFP etc. These can then be used to indentify the most suitable career paths for you.

More details on these in Part II of ‘Knowing Thyself’.

Further Read - http://jobsearch.about.com/od/careertests/a/careertests.htm

I may get into deep poo-poo (pardon my language – I have a two year old son and he pretty much controls my vocabulary these days) if my boss ever found out about this writing. Also, I’ll be in deep you-know-what if I don’t put the following disclaimer (lest the wrath at home) – “THESE RECOMMENDATIONS ONLY APPLY To YOUR BOSS AT WORK AND NOT THE ONE AT HOME!!!” (Note for my wife – Honey, this is not about you!!!!).

Despite the repercussions that I may face for writing this article – you can’t wrap-up the orientation of the newbie (i.e. the latest addition to the American work-force) without telling them what to expect from their supervisor on the first day at work and how to benefit from their boss’s traits.

It must be my bad luck that I have “experienced” a vast variety of bosses in the past decade of work in the American corporate world. And from what I have gathered, they are all alike be it in the academia or any other kind of profession (Eg. medicine, law, construction, etc.). Anyway, no matter where you work, you would have to deal with a supervisor that would oversee your work and assign tasks on a regular basis. With a decade long experience, I think I’m competent enough to advice on what kind of boss to expect at work and how to deal with them. I hope my ideas and information would be useful, if not crucial. The key messages that I wish to hammer-in here are the traits of your supervisor (What to expect from them?) and how to deal with them in order to maximize your upward trajectory in the corporate world.

Just to set a bar – here is a definition of a good supervisor – This is the task definition of a good manager/supervisor – “The task of a manager/supervisor is to clear any impediment that does not let you perform your task efficiently. A good manager provides guidance and optimizes your work assignment appropriately so that you can do your job fruitfully”. Unfortunately, there are not too many of them out there who get this or truly understand this.

Ok – to start – you must understand where your supervisor is coming from – This a MUST DO assessment and is critical to identifying your path forward. From what I have seen so far – potential career path for the supervisor (that you will confront) do conform to the following – He or she is -

(a) Currently climbing up the ladder and is well connected.

(b) Stuck at the current position against his/her will - Worked up the ladder to come up to this point in their life but lack the fire power to move up – but don’t want to except that fact – Unhappy and cynical about everything

(c) Stuck in the current position willingly – Worked up the ladder to come up to this point in their life but lack the fire power to move up – Realizes their limitations and is happy to be here.

(d) Stuck in the current position waiting for the retirement – Worked up the ladder to come up to this point in their life – lost the steam and waiting for the retirement to arrive – Happy to be here

(e) Consultant to the company – Happy and Gung-ho!!! Sees opportunities in everything.

(f) Promoted to the current position only because of the people he/she knows. The most dangerous kind.

(g) Promoted to the current position but still longs to do the low level task to feel fulfilled – Another dangerous kind but not as bad as the previous.

(h) Placed in this position to reform/restructure or eliminate the group – so he or she is there for a specific purpose! Again a bad one to have as your supervisor.

And there are a few more kinds of supervisors that you could expect – those are rare and not worth mentioning here. The key is to figure out where your boss comes from and what are their plans for the future. If your boss is an extrovert, you may have this information during the interview – but if he/she is an introvert – you may have to prod it out of them.

Now, once you have that information – You should then evaluate yourself – Be critical in doing this now – If you are too biased about yourself; ask a close confidant to do this for you. You should truly know who you are and what you are looking for (in life and from this job) – look at the article that Uday wrote for you to figure out what defines you the best (Insert link here).

So, now that you know where your supervisor comes from, and you know who you are – The next thing to evaluate is your supervisor’s management style – This is also A KEY piece of information in evaluating your thrust area for success with this boss. Believe it or not, there are traits of managers that you could use very effectively once you come to know them – Following are the general traits of any supervisors – Expect varying degree of each in your boss – Some of these will be predominant in them than the rest.

1. One who always tells you what to do – a ball-buster who expects you to work long hours and produce things the way only he wants – He won’t let you go till he finds it his way. These guys (usually) have miserable family life and they worship work.

2. One who sells you the task – a people person who really advertises the task and asks that this will be in your best interest to perform the task.

3. One who consults you on your work – These are the best kind where they always ask for your feedback on the task that assigned to you.

4. One who joins you – These are the kind of folks who roll up their sleeves and join the workers themselves. It can be good sometimes but it can get suffocating most of the times.

So here goes, once you know what kind of boss you have and where is he/she coming from and going – and you know who you are and where are you going – Now you can use the characteristics above to succeed. For example, there are some kind of bosses; like Type (b), (e), (f), and (g), if you stumble upon them during your career path – just look for a different job – its just not worth fighting them. Among others, if the management traits are like Type (1) and (4) – you may find difficult to survive as well. Again, this is subjective and based upon who you are – I will write one more blog on this subject following this to take this point home.

This has turned out to be too long of a blog posting – but I must end this by an invaluable suggestion – “Never outshine your master!” – No matter how good your boss is, you have to be very careful in term of outshining the boss, especially when in public. If you have to correct him/her – you must do it in private and very delicately.

Further reading –

Dilbert comic strip by Scott Adams. The management style of the pointy haired boss is (unfortunately) very real in the real world.

Note - Photo Credit

Please allow me let you into a carefully guarded secret - Your attitude is probably going to be the single most important factor in determining how your career will shape up. Whether or not you will be successful in your professional endeavors depends a great deal upon your disposition to people, events, and things in your life. Dictionary.com defines attitude as "a state of mind or a feeling appropriate to or expressive of an action, emotion, etc.".

A lot of people are sadly misconceived that getting a break in one's profession is all about how much knowledge and skills they possess. Their resumes reek of pages and pages of certifications, experiences, and technical skills. This typically helps them get the job but then, a few years later, they wonder why they are still stuck in the same position or why their career is not progressing at a fast enough pace. They are usually the ones who have resolutions to the complex issues. They are great at putting together quality documents and deliverables. They are the ones who always get their work done on time. Despite all this, those step-up opportunities somehow seem to elude them! What could they be doing wrong?

Odds are that their lack-of or negative or wrong attitude has been the spoil-sport and the un-desired stumbling block in their path to professional glory. They have invested in all the rights things when it comes to acquiring job-related knowledge and skills, which will help them do their responsibilities in the most optimal manner. But where they have lacked is in building and demonstrating a set of character and behavioral traits that are much desired and sought out in step-up candidates and leaders. It's the combination of character and capabilities that defines an individual, but always remember, it's the former that gets more weightage in the equation of professional success.

Let's now take a few minutes to talk about what constitutes a desired, positive, right, and winning attitude. What is it that set's the winners apart from the losers? What is it that the other person is doing that is getting them all the right breaks even though he/she is not as capable as me? Like I said earlier, your attitude is about your outlook. How does your mind, body, and soul react to the variety of situations and scenarios your professional and personal life presents to you? For example, how do you behave in a situation of crisis? Do you step-up and take the lead in resolving the crisis? Or do you shun away from it? Are you a team player? Are you good at gauging the sense of urgency in any given situation? How passionate are you about your job? How persistent are you when it comes to driving closure on tasks, initiatives, and pursuits? And the list goes on and on.

Individuals with the right attitude possess, amongst other things, the following traits -

1. They are the "can-do" types

2. They are the "big-picture" types

3. They believe in sharing (Eg. knowledge they possess) and collaborating

4. They always put forth potential solutions for the issues they identify

5. If in a sticky situation, they always give it their best (i.e. 100%) before asking for help

6. They thrive on challenges and adversity

7. They are the "team-player" types

8. They never shun from responsibilities

9. They are humble and acknowledge when they are wrong or do not have an answer to a question

10. They are respectful of other people's opinions

Attitude comes across in your behavior, the way you speak, at those times when you choose not to speak, the way you dress, and in your body language. Let me give you another example, one that I believe will really drive this point home. The importance and significance of attitude is front and center when one looks at sports. Playing and winning in a sport, specially at the professional and world level, is all about attitude. Most of the players, no matter what sport you take, are at par when it comes to skills and capabilities. But what really determines who stays and who goes is the player's or team's attitude. I wrote, at length, about the lessons from the recently concluded Super Bowl. Eli Manning and the New York Giants brought an attitude to the finals such that the New England Patriots could not stop them. That is what set them apart from their competition and that is what it takes to be declared a champion.

To conclude this posting, I recall a banner that I read outside of a soccer club's training/coaching facility. It is something that I believe applies to a typical, Fortune 500 organization's hiring philosophy. The banner read -

We teach skills. We recruit attitude.

 

Note: Photo Credit

Learning, which ultimately leads to professional and personal growth, works in one of two ways –

1. The push mechanism where individuals are taught in a classroom or training setting (examples: schools, academies, corporate classes, etc.)

2. The pull mechanism where individuals take charge and seek to satisfy their quest for knowledge by reading, talking to SMEs (subject matter experts), initiating focused discussions, etc.

Though relying on the push mechanism is a reasonably effective way of learning through your school years (up until undergrad), you should start to identify ways of pulling knowledge once you choose a path of higher studies (i.e. graduate school) or take a plunge into the real world (i.e. professional career). Both the grad school and the professional workplace are environments where people who are smart, experienced, and proven surround you, and these types of settings present you with some unique learning and growth opportunities. But there is only so much that is going to come your way if you decide to sit and wait for things to happen. Further, there is only so much learning that can happen by means of osmosis (if you forget what this process is, look up high school biology). On the other hand, you could express your desire for acquiring new knowledge by inculcating a behavior that genuinely seeks to explore and learn.

Lets dive a little deeper into the two environments mentioned above. Graduate school, no matter what your field of study/research, is a place where you seek to gain a deeper knowledge of a particular subject matter. You end signing up for some core courses and some electives specific to your area of research. In parallel, you work on your research matter and thesis dissertation. Your thesis “advisor” guides you through this process and you are one amongst the 5 or more graduate students working. If you are the typical grad student, you will follow the instructions provided by your advisor, complete the program requirements, and along the way, demonstrate some curiosity and creativity. Now, if you are the “I own my growth” types, you will make the time to take those extra grad courses, seek to get on your advisor’s calendar more often, co-author that paper on a new (maybe disruptive) concept or idea, and get your first job already lined up with the agency/company funding your grad school.

Lets now take a look at the professional work environment. The average Joe (or Jane) will be excited at the thought of getting that first break in the real world because now he will start getting that much sought out paycheck. At work, he will do his typical workplace things like work on assignments, attend the meetings, participate in routine professional development seminars, complete the CBT trainings, etc. On the other hand, if are the “I own my growth” types, you will take the extra step of understanding how the assignments align/integrate with the company’s business, evaluating different ways of executing the assignment, understanding what some of the other groups do and how that impacts your group’s objectives, understanding how the company operates, signing up for optional but strategic trainings, etc. For starters, knowing how your employer runs their business, the company strategy, strengths, values, etc. are valuable pieces of knowledge. I am amazed at the number of young professionals I run into who do even know their publicly traded company’s stock ticker symbol or market capitalization!

I hope you have been able to spot the pattern by now. The typical, average person only does the tasks that are required of him/her. The last thing they want to do is to stretch themselves or their brains by giving people around them the notion that they are passionate about their growth or serious about learning. Majority of such people do lead happy and content lives but that’s all they get out of their laid-back, one-day-at-a-time, easy-come-easy-go attitude. If you really care about what you want to be and where you want to be, professionally and personally, over the years and decades to come, you will need to take charge and ownership of your own growth and make your intentions clear to everybody around you. You really have to believe that you can positively influence change in your attitude and your environment, and this type of mindset will serve you many folds in your life.