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Live Long and Prosper: Make Your Employment Future More Secure

Elizabeth Smith BarnesFounder, HeartWork

Tel: 512 477 [email protected]

Nick Little

Assistant Director, Executive Development ProgramsMichigan State University

Tel: 517 432 [email protected]

89th Annual International Supply Management Conference, April 2004

Abstract

Pick up any business magazine or leading newspaper nowadays and you begin to wonder

what happened to the concept of secure employment. Not only are people being laid off indroves but the kind of folks who are being laid off are the ones everyone thought would have

nothing to worry about Harvard alumni, those with top-quality computer science degrees,plenty of tactical experience etc.

If we're living in the era of "The End of the Job" as we know it - what do YOU as a supply chainprofessional need to do and think about in order to ensure your employability? By which we

mean, having the confidence to know that you will have a job for life, even if it isn't with thesame company. The truly employable don't have to worry about layoffs - because they've set itup that they have a job to walk back into, pretty much straightaway. Some people do this -

others have no idea how it can be achieved. We uncover the secret skills of those in the formergroup.

This lively, interactive session will alert supply chain professionals to the interpersonal,networking and self-promotion skills they need to acquire in order to safely navigate their way

through the rest of their careers. No one doubts that continuously upgraded technical skills areimportant and we will touch upon that issue - but our main focus in this presentation will be

on how to take ownership of our employability by constantly demonstrating our worth andpotential as employees who have mastered the arts of persuasion, self-promotion, flexibilityand change.

We contend that what used to be called the "soft" (but we prefer to call "interpersonal") skills

are what will help today's employees boldly go into the uncharted territory that is today'semployment market.

What skills do you need and how can you use them to best effect? These are the twoquestions that our presentation will address - not just theoretically but with real-life case history

examples illustrating lessons that can be learned by anyone determined to remain anemployable employee in the 21st century.


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The Opportunity

The key success factors that mark those individuals who remain employable throughout their

careers are:

An understanding of managing up

An appreciation of lifelong learning

Well honed networking skills

What is Managing Up? Peter is under-effective, unhappy and has missed out on severalpromotions in his role as supply chain manager - complaining all the time that his boss nevergives him any positive feedback. Yet a co-worker who arranges monthly 'effectiveness

discussions' with the same manager has no such axe to grind - because he's learned the art of'managing up'.

Anyone who wants to be successful in today's career marketplace - at any level - needs tolearn how to manage and lead those around them. But how many of us remember that that

needs to include those positioned above us?

Managing your boss starts with recognizing that their style of communication may be very

different from yours. By adapting your responses to meet thespecific challenges your manager presents you with, you're not only helping them be more

effective, they'll also more likely to smooth your employment path and help you transition intomore responsible positions. Sadly, many managers are focused so much on the tactical sideof their work that they become insensitive to the fact that their boss looks good by focusing on

the strategic. And when they look good so do you!

In this lively, interactive session Eli zabeth Barnes and Nick Little - experts in the domain of'thought diversity' - will point out what we all know, that the boss-subordinate relationship isoften a challenging on because of each individual's differing goals, objectives, motivations and

communication styles. They will go on to explain what folks often don't consider - that it

behooves every 'subordinate' - particularly ambitious supply chain professionals - to look atwhat they could do to improve the relationship with their boss - rather than just assume it's theother person's sole responsibility. It will offer real-life examples of supply managers who areenlightened and self-confident enough to push aside their egos and modify their behavior so it

doesn't push their bosses' buttons - and the career & business benefits they have achieved asa result.

Our handouts will outline how several stereotypical managerial types require different care andfeeding (making the point, of course, that there are no pure archetypes, but that readers can

adapt the advice to suit their specific circumstances - the advice here, at the very least, will bea good place to start!).

Lifelong Learning: Theres an Accenture billboard featuring Tiger Woods which asks: When

faced with new questions, do you come up with old answers or new ones? One of the

dilemmas facing us all today is how to regularly produce the new answers needed tomaintain a competitive advantage and demonstrate our worth to our organization. But the

further you travel up the organizational food chain, the more levels of abstraction you have todeal with. Operational excellence will only take you so far in your career what todayssuccessful business leaders embrace is learning how to think. In this part of our session well


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discuss some of the latest research on adult learning styles and how ambitious supply chainprofessionals can enhance their critical thinking and problem-solving skills. In talking about the

concept of cognitive restructuring we offer some practical ways in which you can stimulatethe parts of your brain that will help you appreciate the complexity of a business situation,

come up with innovative solutions and learn from that process to generate new approaches tofuture business challenges.

What does is mean to be a lifelong learner today? We look beyond the typical training

programs offered by organizations and outline how we all need to take responsibility for thisissue so that we develop the cognitive skills that result in superior performance, competitiveadvantage and an enhanced reputation for flexibility and innovation.

Effective Networking: According to a recent study by HR consultancy, Drake Beam Morin, 60

per cent of respondents got their jobs through networking, compared with 7 per cent through

search firms and 6 per cent via the Internet. Effective networking is not only an essential partof job seeking in todays economy but its also an important skill to master for businessprofessionals throughout their careers. By this we mean the ability to:

Establish connections and develop rapport

Leave an impression Create opportunities to gain valuable information and make appropriate associations

Leverage serendipity

Expand your reach of knowledge and expertise

Be offered referrals and leads

Ask for advice

But the kind of networking most folks who dont know how to network effectively - engage incan lead to:

Boring the listener by only talking about you and what you want

A feeling that the listener is being monopolized

Distaste for being sold to

Pressure to put you forward for a piece of business or a job

A sense that there is no purpose to the discussion beyond idle chit chat.

In this part of our talk we offer practical suggestions for becoming subtly memorable to anyoneyou meet, how to ensure that people remember your name at first mention, how to know what

to say to attract immediate interest in who you are and what you do. Even when you have verylittle time to impress someone, speed networking ensures you have a three-line compellingsound bite with which to move networking onto the next levels of persuasion and rapport.

REFERENCES

Dobson, Michael & Deborah Singer, Managing Up: 59 Ways to Build a Career-Advancing

Relationship with Your Boss, AMACOM, 2000

Kotter, J. & Gabarro, John J., Managing Your Boss Harvard Business Review, Jan/Feb

1980


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Simpson, Liz, Why Managing Up Matters, Harvard Management Update Newsletter, Vol 7

No. 8, August 2002

Markus, Donalee Phd., Retrain Your Business Brain Outsmart the Corporate Competition,

Dearborn Books, 2003

Wall Street Journal article: Tests Show: Skill at Seeing Unlikely Parallels Yields Multiple

Career Choices:, August 22, 2000

Money magazine article: Are Your Wired for Wealth? October 2002

Baldoni, John, Great Communication Secrets of Great Leaders, McGraw Hill, 2003

Klaus, Peggy, Brag! The art of tooting your own horn without blowing it, Warner Books, 2003

Levine, Stewart, The Book of Agreement: 10 essential elements for getting the results you

want, Berrett-Koehler, 2002

Documents

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