People at all stages of their careers have been asking the same basic questions for decades:“How do I get promoted?”
“How do I find jobs that are available?
“How do I manage my career?”
To help answer those questions, there are plenty of career development talks at work, networking events, and HR courses which give people advice and examples. These can be helpful and sometimes inspiring. They just don’t equip people to make any meaningful change in how they manage their careers.
Now, we have something better.
A different kind of career event
Last month, I was asked to give a talk on personal branding so I could answer some of those career questions for a particular organization. Instead, I offered to talk about working out loud and help people form working out loud circles. We put together a 60-minute, interactive session for over 80 people which ended with Q&A and a call for volunteers to join circles.
25% of the audience volunteered.
The reason so many people joined wasn’t because of me or my slides, it was because they were hungry for something they could do to invest in themselves. Although most had never heard of working out loud, the ideas seemed like common sense and the circles gave them a way to apply that common sense towards a personal goal they cared about. A few weeks later, five circles formed and started meeting.
Results you can replicate
Speaking at this event gave me an idea. I had seen how, even if you want to work out loud, convincing friends who’ve never heard of it to form a circle could be hard. So a career event is a natural trigger to taking some positive action. With dozens of people all attending at the same time, hearing the same information, and with a convenient sign-up sheet at the end, it was simple.
So what if we made it easy for anyone to have such an event?
Towards that end, here are a set of slides and commentary you can make your own. The next time you hear about a career or networking event at your firm, maybe you can offer to give this talk instead. Maybe your organization can go beyond offering advice and examples to truly empowering people, helping them to take control of their careers and their lives.
Slides and commentary you can make your own
My own style for slides is to use large photos and minimal text wherever I can. It means the slides are readable in almost any environment but it also means they don’t stand on their own. So I’ve included images here along with the main points I make. I’ve also included the actual slides as .key and .ppt files and as a PDF.
Feel free to use them in any way you like to help people form working out loud circles. This is just one way to accelerate a positive movement. I welcome and appreciate all questions, suggestions for improvements, and comments about what worked and didn’t work.
Career planning has changed from just 5 years ago.For decades, it was a lottery. Who recruited on your campus? Which company picked you? Who was your boss?Now, you have more control than ever.
A description of what working out loud is.
You can do better than a lottery
A lot rides on which company you join, which part you fall into, and which boss you get assigned.You can increase the odds of landing in a good spot.A bigger, diverse network with deeper relationship provides you access to a wider range of possibilities.
A short exercise
Ask people to take out their smartphones and Google themselves.Who are they? Do they have to rely on a broker to help them describe themselves? Or a 2-page resume? From the animated conversations, people found this both funny and embarrassing.
We all need help
Many of us don’t even do the simple things we all know we should do, like photos on a profile.It’s not that we’re bad at it, we 're just not good at it yet. We need help.
Making change easier
Research on changing habits shows how we can make change easier and sustainable.It includes chunking the change into small, fear-free steps and getting feedback along the way. (Albert Bandura called it guided mastery and cured snakes phobias in an hour this way.)It also includes getting help from friends while practicing, practicing, practicing.
WOL Circles
Explain how circles work generally and ground rules for inside the firm, especially how they are confidential, with no need to have a certain rating or corporate title.Available resources include the book, circle guides, and a range of material coming to workingoutloud.com. I provide drafts of the material to all circle members.
Call to action
Point them to the sign-up sheet or whiteboard and open for Q&A.
No comments:
Post a Comment