We have discussed various ways of identifying and building on your
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term can become weaknesses in the long term when taken too far and can result in career derailment. This happens more often than you might think.
Career derailment has been studied for many years by psychol- ogists and doctors Robert and Joyce Hogan. Look through the areas below for strengths that you might have; then think about and guard against the associated weaknesses – they can be career killers:
Excitability – People strong on excitability have lots of energy and enthusiasm, but, under pressure, they can be moody, unpre- dictable, and easily annoyed. It can be hard to work with them because you never know what to expect.
Skepticism – Skeptical people are often smart and politically astute, but they can look too hard for deceit or betrayal, and they can become mistrustful and argumentative when under stress.
Others can find them difficult and can be afraid of retaliation if they say something “wrong.”
Cautiousness– These people can be a “safe pair of hands,” but they can also be resistant to change and risk, and others may see them as unassertive, slow, and pessimistic. They can slow an organization down and cause it to miss opportunities.
Reservedness– People who are reserved can often be tough and determined under pressure, but they are often poor listeners and they can become uncommunicative as stress develops. People who work with them can see them as uncaring, inconsiderate, and self-centered.
Leisureliness– Leisurely people are easy to get along with, and they seem to work cooperatively and productively. However, they can be stubborn, they can procrastinate, and they can be resent- ful toward others. People who work with them may find them passive-aggressive and mean.
Boldness– These people are full of self-confidence. However, they often focus on the positives and ignore the negatives, and they may blame others for their own failings. People who work with them can see such people as opinionated and demanding when it comes to decision making.
k k Mischievousness – These people can be bright, charming risk
takers, but they can be dishonest, ignore rules, exploit others, and focus on short-term gains despite long-term pain. All of this can cause huge damage.
Colorfulness – People who score high on this dimension are entertaining, engaging, and well-liked. However, they can be eas- ily distracted, and their work is often disorganized. All of this can make them difficult to work with.
Imaginativeness– Imaginative people think creatively and can adopt unique perspectives on issues and problems. Some of their ideas are brilliant, but others are fanciful. Such people often lack common sense and make poor decisions.
Diligence– Conscientiousness, reliability, and attention to detail are key characteristics of diligent people. However, they expect others to be as hardworking as they are. They often struggle with delegation, and people who work with them can feel disen- chanted because their work is always being redone.
Dutifulness – These people are considerate, easy to deal with, and great team players. However, they can also be “people pleasers” who work for approval and hold back on expressing contrary opinions. You can’t depend on them for critical thinking because they may just accept and go along with bad ideas.
Hogan and Hogan have compiled a test – sometimes known as the “dark side test” – that helps you spot these problems and neu- tralize them before they run amok. You can find out more about this using the URL below.
Find out more about the Hogan development survey: http://mnd.tools/25 Source:Adapted from Hogan, Hogan, and Kaiser 2011. Reproduced with permission of the American Psychological Association.
Other Techniques for Managing Your Career
The tools covered in this chapter and recommended in our survey are good, classic approaches to career development. It’s also worth exploring the ideas of Marcus Buckingham and Marshall Goldsmith.
Learn more at http://mnd.tools/c4c.
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Part II
Manage Tasks, and Get Things Done
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Chapter 5
Get Work Done in an Efficient and Focused Way
Perhaps your biggest responsibility as a manager, in terms of day-to-day priorities, is making sure work is done in an efficient and focused way. Of course, good managers are highly attuned to the “people” side of their job, as we discuss in later chapters, but the focus here is primarily on the efficient coordination and alignment of tasks. Think of the firm as a well-oiled machine, where everything links together in beautiful alignment – that is what you should be aiming for.
Unfortunately, most large firms are nothing like well-oiled machines, for two reasons. First, they are often so large and complex that people are oblivious to what is happening elsewhere, and senior executives – even with the best will in the world – struggle to provide a coherent message to everyone. Second, the bigger the firm, the further removed individual employees are from the fruits of their labor, and the harder it is to keep them motivated to continuously improve on their performance.
This chapter provides a set of tools and techniques you can use to improve efficiency and focus in day-to-day work. The first two are high-level techniques that you will partly be on the receiving end of, specifically translating the firm’s mission into goals that people understand (#26) and aligning people’s objectives with corporate goals (#27). The others are techniques that you should use with members of your teams to help achieve your objectives. Two are focused on efficiency – systematically analyzing and optimizing the
k k work people do (#28) and using structured, continuous improve-
ment methods (#29). Two are more concerned with effectiveness, i.e. doing the right things – identifying the “gaps” that need filling to achieve objectives (#30) and conducting post-project reviews to make sure you are prioritizing the right activities (#31). Finally, we provide an overview of agile methodologies for managing projects (#32) – agile is one of the hottest current trends in the business world, so it is important to be up to speed on how it works.
There is a long history of management research on the issues described in this chapter – for example, the original scientific man- agement and time-and-motion studies of Fredrick Taylor, as well as the quality revolution inspired by Edwards Deming and first imple- mented by Toyota. Recent management innovations, including Six Sigma and agile development, build on these traditions. But though the terminology changes over time, the underlying need to create alignment and efficiency at work is timeless.