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Why it is good to have no clue what to do
When I led my first project team, it felt quite overwhelming. Assigning tasks to my team, talking to the client, keeping my internal stakeholders up to date, managing the scope, keeping track of the numbers … sometimes I didn‘t know what to do first. On top, the solution for the client didn‘t fall off the shelf but we needed to interview people, ask questions, define deliverables and agree on a way of working to getting to the results. Sometimes I really wished to know everything already. At that time, a lot of the solutioning was created in the evening when I went swimming. Under water I could think. I could…
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Doing a career is easy [2/2]
Recap from lasts week article: Promotion means that there are people who put you in new roles you cannot get on your own. These people talk in rooms to which you don’t have access. These people cannot be forced to promote you – but they can be won over so that they want to promote you. How do you win people over? Think of the reasons you found for promoting somebody: Please remember that a career is done in a context, which means: other people need to be convinced that you fit the promotion standards – not you. All you can do – and have to do – is, being…
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Doing a career is easy [1/2]
“How do I get the promotion?”, it’s THE question in the room – especially in the early stages of a career. Let me turn it around: whom would you promote? Think about it for a moment. What would you like to see to promote someone? Before we get to the answer, let’s explore the habitat of a career. A career is always done in a context. There are clients who need your service. There are bosses who need your integrity. There are middle managers who need your skills. There are your peers who need you as a trustful colleague. And there is you. You. What do you want? Being the…
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Why it’s a good sign when your job feels boring
Starting a new job is exciting. Meeting new people, getting to know the tools and processes, learning about the industry and diving into unknown challenges. Every meeting and task requires concentration. The brain is on fire and one is wondering whether this job can ever be mastered. Time flies – and way too soon the day is over. This sensation usually keeps up for a few weeks or months – until a certain routine settles in. The key people are met, the main meetings are known, the content can be handled. You are still on a learning curve but it is not as steep as in the first weeks. You…
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Don’t consult your people for leadership
„What a shitty weather“, he complains while his car is fighting through wind and rain out of the city heading to this place in the middle of nowhere. The navigation system points to a spot along the lonely road. His assisstant had sent him the coordinates with the information to take a warm jacket. His boss requested him to come. Something about leadership – if he remembers correctly. But why on a Saturday? and why at this place? Through the fog, a parking lot unfolds. He reduces the speed and turns right. His colleagues are already there. Nice. Now he needs to spend a weekend with the same people he…
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Contradictory leadership skills
„What are the most important leadership skills?“, I challenge my team. Amongst several valid skills ‚empathy‘ and ‚resilience‘ come up. As we discuss what each one means to us, we are realizing that these two skills can become quite contradictory. But before we look deeper into that matter, let’s understand what each skill means. Empathy – n. the ability to imagine and understand the thoughts, perspective, and emotions of another person. https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095750102;jsessionid=299D66408E0C979792F904B31354D677 We use empathy in client and staff meetings to understand the perspective of the other party. We comprehend or even feel the emotions of the other person. In consequence, we act according to the situation in the room.…
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You need to love the process over the result
„This project is hell“, my colleague concludes. Many months the whole team is working hard. Some meetings are okay, most of the meetings are hard – sarcasm raises to a peak to deal with the daily nonsense. A few years later, 50% of the team is still doing a career in consulting, and the other 50% went into a more regular job. If everybody was happy at this point, the decisions were fine. But unfortunately, the cap in learning curve and slower promotion cycles in a corporate position hit hard on the colleagues choosing this new path. As I have seen these pathways again and again, I was wondering what…
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Be aware: you are being copied!
„Bye bye“, my colleagues closes the meeting in a quite melodic way. I need to smile. He just copied tone and text from his boss. Probably unconscious. He just imitated what he had heard like a million times. Although we all want to be unique, it is quite human to mimic people with whom we interact often. This is how we are created. Children learn by mimicking their parents. Later they copy teachers, their peers or their sports mates. There is no offense in acting similar to the people around us. This is also true when it comes to leadership. As leaders we don’t need to tell our people how…
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Why you don’t have to be a boss lady to do a career
„I don’t like to turn into a stereotype boss lady“, my mentee sighs. „That is not me. And I feel, I have to become such a person to do a career.“ This conversation happened over 10 years ago – and it stuck with me. Why do people – and mostly women – believe that it is necessary to turn into something that they are not in order to achieve an undefined thing like ‚a career‘!? I guess, it has a lot to do with role models. Women who did their careers in the 90s and early 00s were often quite similar to one another – leading to a limited variety…
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How my mindset influences my skillset
“I am such a looser.” “Everyone else gets the tasks done – but I am again running detours.” “Of course, this bad luck happened to me. As always.” Do you know any of this negative self talk? If you ever say these sentences aloud, chances are high that your inner talk is filled with messages of self-doubt. Have you ever wondered why you think this way? Our brain is amazing: once we start thinking certain messages, our brain learns that we need this information and builds its network accordingly. It gives us quick access to certain thoughts until they become routines and we need less energy to access them. Unfortunately,…