Career Counseling

The following articles deal with career management and counseling, with perspectives from both employeer and employee. New articles will be posted frequently, so be sure to check back often!

Career Management: Whose Responsibility?

Career Management is no longer the province of the company. Nor is it solely the responsibility of the individual, as current pundits are, apt to tell us. The reality is employees are the greatest resource any company has and it's never wise to use your resources imprudently. Sometimes we worry about our resources only after there is a problem. For example, some of our concern over the environment is after the fact as we hear of global warming, salmon in danger of extinction, and gang wars among young bull elephants in Africa who have no male role models. It may be too late in many cases. Perhaps now is the time to take a thoughtful look at how we are dealing with our people resources.

Loyalty Is dead, the
parent/child relationship of
corporate America is a
thing of the past...
It's time for a wake-up call
As companies faced the 1980's economic crises, it didn't take them long to find the most obvious source of their financial drain: Personnel. Knee jerk reactions to cut lows and get rid of people made bankers happy, but often left customers hanging. The early 1990's started a positive trend in the economy, but the dye had been cast, and companies and employees were beginning to learn the advantages of the "Company of One," as book after book came out urging employees to take charge of their careers, to be independent, to take care of themselves first. Employers were told of the distinct advantages of hiring temporary and contract workers for specific tasks, and then being able to let them go, not having to pay benefits or deal with downtimes. Loyalty is dead, the parent/child relationship of corporate America is a thing of the past, and good riddance.

Well, my friends, its time for a wake-up call. Agreeing that much of the change has been positive… people are taking control of their lives, they’ve become aware of life balance, the economy is booming, and companies are moving into the next century with renewed energy… but, we’re beginning to realize something is missing.

The old implied contract between employee and employer was not always good for either one, but it did provide a sense of stability, of identity, of commitment, of caring for each other and for the greater whole. It provided continuity and historical knowledge that can't be provided by people who come and go. It gave people a sense of community that is sadly missing in our transitory world of the late 20th century

We tend to respond to crises like the movement of a pendulum, swinging to the extremes. Fortunately, as the crisis fades, and we begin to concentrate on what we are really about, we ease back to the middle and common sense again surfaces. My prediction for the new year is that we will become a wiser culture. We'll remember what we've always known deep inside. We are interdependent upon each other. The synergy we create together is far greater than the sum of the parts when we move as isolated entities.

Let's hope this becomes the year when once again, employers and employees are on the same team, not because they have to be, but because they choose to be. As people move from company to company, (and they surely will because the days of corporate ladders are rapidly disappearing), may their relationships be based on commitment, commitment to their own high standards of performance and of personal integrity. May they treat each other as though they really did expect to be together for the next 30 years... May they also each graciously recognize when they need to separate, and be able to do so with dignity and appreciation of each other as peer professionals.

Riding the Roller-Coaster

Remember the good old days of the "benevolent dictatorship? " Employees of all levels are having twinges of regret that empowerment, self-directed work teams, virtual environments, and contract employment have taken over the workplace.

Like most changes in life the transition process is rarely easy, and it is frequently subverted by four types of people. They can be identified as:

Communication becomes even more critical when companies move from top-down to flattened organization. It is much more difficult to achieve, not only because of these character types, but also because there is rarely a clearly developed communication channel to replace the simplicity of hierarchy.

Change creates uncertainty, turmoil, and a confusion of roles. People react differently because they have different personality styles and life experiences. Level makes a difference too: Senior managers typically deal well with change because they have the big picture context. For lower levels, change often seems to come out of the blue, with little relationship to previous experience or where it fits in the future.

The reality is that the whole relationship between employer and employee is undergoing major change. It begins with the realization that hiring can no longer be based on past experience: It must focus on future potential. What you know is not as important in a society where knowledge becomes obsolete within 10 years. Therefore, companies are turning to behavioral interviewing and psychological assessments that provide a sense of the person's flexibility, synthesizing of information, conceptualizing, and positive self concept. Self-direction and self-discipline are critical factors when contingent workforces replace permanent employment, when jobs are not clearly defined, or you are a contractor, work out of your home, or are part of a cross-functional team.

In the past, the implied contract between employer and employee exchanged loyalty and dutiful service for life time employment and a company pension for retirement. Responsibility for financial security in the future will be the individual's responsibility. Retirement was actually an artificial concept created by companies during the time of FDR to provide jobs for people returning from the war. As people live longer, healthier lives with higher lifestyle expectations, people are looking forward to working well into their later years.

Technology is here to stay. The worker who ignores or underestimates its importance can expect obsolescence in the marketplace.

Systems can be managed; people must be led. Management as a function can no longer rely on organizing, work and giving orders. The new focus is on professional teamwork and leadership that emphasizes vision, professional respect across all levels, coordination, personal growth, and frequent free communication.

William Bridges, author of Job Shift says, "As a way of organizing work, the job is a social artifact that has outlived its usefulness. Its demise confronts everyone with unfamiliar risks and rich opportunities." He urges us to enjoy the power we are being given to take charge of our lives, On the other hand, Henry David Thoreau once commented "Most people lead lives of quiet desperation." We will always have people in our organizations who subscribe to the latter philosophy and we must understand that they am not particularly enthralled with the roller-coaster changes that are happening all around us.

As leaders in the new learning organizations, we're going to have to help people through this transformational time. As we are reinventing our organizations, we need to reinvent how we relate to each other, demonstrating our belief in the future by our personal example and bringing others together with the power of dispersed information and a positive vision of the future.

Retirement: Myth or Reality?

Long, lazy days stretching one after another. Mornings on the deck reading the paper before heading for the golf course. Packing the mobile home for a long awaited trip from coast to coast. Time with the grandkids. Gardening or reading that shelf full of books you've been collecting. From the vantage point of full-time employment, retirement has all the characteristics of the ideal vacation. No more waiting for the weekend every day will be a holiday.

"Retirement is a weird
social experiment, a
historical blip. Its collapse
will be a triumph for
common sense. -- Stephen
M. Pollan & Mark Levine
Worth, Dec./Jan. 1995
But before you buy the rocking chair for your front porch, you might want to spend a few months trying it out. Today's retirees are some of the busiest people around. They no longer accept the traditional idea that life is divided into three stages:

Instead, they're combining the best aspects of each. They are getting degrees, traveling, working, volunteering, running marathons, writing music, starting new businesses, mentoring young entrepreneurs, taking up oil painting, and surfing the net. And, yes, they're even playing golf, but after the first few months, it's probably taking second place to their other interests.

Planning for retirement is one of life's great challenges. The opportunities are vast and the choices too many to fit into a normal work week. No one should assume they will want to be doing the same thing five years from now that they are today. Lifestyles and interests change and old patterns of behavior no longer seem appropriate.

A "successful retirement' begins with planning how you will use your time, finances, skills talents, ad interests. It includes:

No one retires alone whether or not they realize it. The lives of their spouses, friends and relatives will also be changed and new contracts for communication and privacy will need to be negotiated, "I married you for better or worse, but not for lunch." Being together full time is a whole new challenge, particularly if people do not have different interests, and there will be major adjustments to make.

Choosing retirement doesn't mean "stopping." It meens "choosing." When it comes to life's stages, it may be the best time of all....and certainly the most productive. The key is in preparation and planning, in not going into it with eyes closed.