Developing Your Career in the Crunch
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Jared Diamond, author of the contemporarily-titled book Collapse reported that people often asked him, "Jared, are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future?" He would answer, "I'm a cautious optimist!"
Given career insecurity and colleagues losing jobs brought on by the credit crunch, we all have a choice as to how we view the situation. While we should acknowledge the seriousness of the problems facing us, realistically, we are not beset by insoluble problems. Markets are cyclical and where there are busts there are always simultaneous booms.
Below are tips to give you a different point of view for managing your career in turbulent times.
What We Focus on Appreciates
One of the main ways to stay positive is to focus on what is working, perhaps even working well, in our jobs. Reality is always kinder than the story we tell about it. It’s said that if we receive 10 compliments and one criticism, we forget the compliments and spend all day moping about the criticism.
In the same way, with any change at work, we focus our attention on to what is different - what has changed for the worse - whereas the majority of our working lives might be exactly the same, and perhaps no different at all.
What we focus on appreciates - the negative as well as positive.
Ask yourself: what is there to appreciate about my job right now? Even the fact that you still have a job (that allows you to things in life) is a good starting point.
Changes are Opportunities
When I was making a decision to join a business department, I thought twice as they were going through many changes at the top. One of my colleagues reframed the situation for me. "Joining a group going through changes presents opportunities". Often with fixed organisations, power lines and pecking orders are clear, cliques are developed and limitations are embedded. When a company is going through change, if you are able to perform - and form new connections - it puts you in a position to shine on the up-turn.
Ask yourself: what new work connections am I developing as a result of the changes? What opportunities are opening up that did not exist before and how might I leverage these?
From Slave to the Clock to Time Lord
Often we put off our aspirations, not because of money, but the age old reason ‘I don’t have enough time’. Down-cycles are a good opportunity to up-skill, since the opportunity cost is low. So if you have lost your job, or have more time on your hands, now is a good time to revisit that MBA, the part-time language evening class, or like one of my former colleagues - a solo cycle trip from London to South Africa!
Ask yourself: What can you do now that you did not have the time to do before?
Below are tips to give you a different point of view for managing your career in turbulent times.
What We Focus on Appreciates
One of the main ways to stay positive is to focus on what is working, perhaps even working well, in our jobs. Reality is always kinder than the story we tell about it. It’s said that if we receive 10 compliments and one criticism, we forget the compliments and spend all day moping about the criticism.
In the same way, with any change at work, we focus our attention on to what is different - what has changed for the worse - whereas the majority of our working lives might be exactly the same, and perhaps no different at all.
What we focus on appreciates - the negative as well as positive.
Ask yourself: what is there to appreciate about my job right now? Even the fact that you still have a job (that allows you to things in life) is a good starting point.
Changes are Opportunities
When I was making a decision to join a business department, I thought twice as they were going through many changes at the top. One of my colleagues reframed the situation for me. "Joining a group going through changes presents opportunities". Often with fixed organisations, power lines and pecking orders are clear, cliques are developed and limitations are embedded. When a company is going through change, if you are able to perform - and form new connections - it puts you in a position to shine on the up-turn.
Ask yourself: what new work connections am I developing as a result of the changes? What opportunities are opening up that did not exist before and how might I leverage these?
From Slave to the Clock to Time Lord
Often we put off our aspirations, not because of money, but the age old reason ‘I don’t have enough time’. Down-cycles are a good opportunity to up-skill, since the opportunity cost is low. So if you have lost your job, or have more time on your hands, now is a good time to revisit that MBA, the part-time language evening class, or like one of my former colleagues - a solo cycle trip from London to South Africa!
Ask yourself: What can you do now that you did not have the time to do before?
Here Is The Writer : Steven D'Souza
Steven D'Souza is the bestselling author of Brilliant Networking, which was featured in the Independent's "Success at Work" series, and recommend by the Times and The Telegraph. He has spoken at conferences and events throughout the world on subjects
as wide as diversity, networking and organisational effectiveness.
view more articles by Steven D'Souza
