The Getting Unstuck career development program at Stanford GSB started with our speakers sharing tools for making better career decisions. Executive coach Lili Pratt-King, shared a tool for determining if you have stayed too long in a job or company. Generally, when people are ready to make changes or a company decides change for them, they often forget the value they provide. To overcome this, Jennifer Winn advocated keeping a Success File documenting your achievements and skills throughout your career. Susan Bernstein suggested a technique to listen to what your body is telling you about decisions. And finally, Deb Colden presented a tool for visualizing a future state to break down barriers to change.
Are You Stuck?
Lili Pratt-King introduced a tool to determine how stuck you are and provide motivation to make a change. As she commented, “Most of us stay too long as resistance to change is an adaptation of humans. John Gardner, founder of Common Cause and former professor at Stanford, used to say people should ‘repot’ themselves at least nine times during their careers.” Lili continued, “He would say that you should jump while you were still energized. He was a model for understanding your gifts, finding a place to utilize them, following through to a logical conclusion and then moving on.”
To reinvent yourself, you must decide it is the right time to change. The tool provided an objective assessment and reality check of the situation. What are the signs of being stuck and needing a change?
· Your enthusiasm and sense of identify begins to erode
· You lose the sense of what you like to do
· Close observers and family members notice you are no longer excited
These are signs that you need to change the complexion, pace, function, level or environment of your job. The change may be within your current company or a new one, or in a similar or completely new function.
Identifying Your Successes
Jennifer Winn introduced her Success File tool and concept. “When you are in a place of feeling stuck, it’s difficult to remember your value and successes. Many people enter a spiral of negativity.” A success file provides an ongoing tool to assure you remember your successes. It provides you fodder for building your resume, answering interview questions and building your confidence during difficult days.
The success form provides a way to document your results in detail. It focuses on the three main successes: Did you save money, increase revenue or save time? It documents what you did, when you did it, what processes you created, and what skills and competencies you developed. Your success file is an ongoing archive of your success stories that can boost your attitude, pull you along the process of getting unstuck and help you find the next step in your career by reminding you of your contributions. An important lesson is to not wait until an event happens to push you into needing to review your successes, so start a file today.
From the Inside Out
Susan Bernstein introduced another technique to get energy to make changes. She pointed out, “When you feel stuck, it’s hard to change your thinking and your emotions. However, one area that can be shifted is the sensations you feel in your own body.” In her exercise, audience members thought of a time they had been successful and remembered their body language: posture, breathing, expressions, what they saw, felt, smelled and heard. Susan explained, “We all know that body language conveys people’s attitudes. During the times of success, thinking, emotions and sensations are all in alignment with positive thinking, emotional excitement, and ‘feel good’ sensations. Your head goes up, your shoulders go back, and you stand straighter and taller.” To contrast this, the audience thought of a time they felt stuck. “Immediately, thoughts and emotions become negative and the body tightens up with knots in the gut, limited breathing, tiredness, or slouching,” explained Susan.
By being aware of these reactions, you can change sensations in your body. In this simple exercise, she showed how concentrating on your body sensations can free up energy when you need to make a shift. Shifting sensations from the inside out—deeper breathing, relaxing, assuming a straighter posture—allow you to get energized for change.
From The Future
Deb Holden introduced a ten minute approach for creating breakthroughs in your career with the Dream-Act-Encourage ™ technique. Deb explained that, “‘Dream’ is figuring out what you want and making it so compelling you can’t wait to go after it. ‘Act’ is figuring out how to get there and ‘Encourage’ is having the confidence to take action.”
Deb explained how a ‘toleration,’ something that annoys you or drains your energy, can be a launching point for getting unstuck in the Dream or goal setting stage. Deb asks, “What are you putting up with?” and then takes a person into the future with, “Assume that it is three months from now and you have completely reversed this bad situation. What does it look like now?” After identifying what a good situation might look like, she then moves to Act with a method of working from the future backwards. “Now that you have this great situation, think back: What did you think would get in your way? What was the first baby step you took to overcome or minimize that barrier? Who did you talk to first?” By working from the future backwards, and focusing on the first, small, concrete action steps, not the whole plan, people are put more at ease. By working as if the goal is already accomplished, “People can more objectively identify the steps that have to be taken without being overwhelmed.”
Deb also outlined the importance of having a circle of advisors—people you trust who will be there to encourage you. “Getting unstuck is hard and scary and time-consuming. Having a group of supporters to cheer you on is an important part of the process.”
Current Searches
Kathryn Ullrich Associates, Inc. is completing searches for VP Sales, Corporate Controller, and consulting roles for software and biotech companies. The firm is currently working on product marketing and consulting searches as follows:
- VP Product Marketing – Leading enterprise software company (Manufacturing Systems, RFID, Process Industries, Service Oriented Architecture)
- VP and Managers, Internal Consulting – Fortune 500 diversified financial services company
- Director and Managers, Life Sciences – Big four consulting firm
- Senior Managers and Managers, Supply Chain – Leading boutique operations consulting firm
For more information, visit the new clients and searches pages of our web site, www.ullrichassociates.com. Kathryn Ullrich Associates, Inc. focuses on C-level, VP, Director, and Manager level hires across the functions of Product Marketing/Management, Marketing, Sales, Engineering, and Consulting for technology and professional services companies.
News
To help individuals acquire professional skills needed to reach higher job levels within marketing and sales professions, Kathryn Ullrich Associates, Inc., together with Alumni Career Services at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Highland Team, a marketing strategy consulting firm, presents Getting to the Top. This series explores the skills and knowledge successful sales and marketing leaders leverage in their careers to get to the top. Kathy Ullrich will be moderating the June 6 panel of Public Relations and Corporate Communications executives.
Upcoming Events
The remainder of the Getting to the Top series will be offered evenings in Palo Alto on the following dates:
- June 6 Getting to the Top in PR and Corporate Communications
- September 7 Getting to the Top in Strategic Alliances and Channel Mgmt
- November 9 Getting to the Top - CEOs