#90: Managing Personal Change
How to Embrace Change and Work towards short and long term goals
Welcome to Issue #90 of Work In Progress. Thank you to all the new subscribers. If you are new here, drop me a note and say hello
Here is what we got this week:
Managing Personal Change
What We’re Watching
Workplace and Leadership Advice
✔️Managing Personal Change✔️
This was a big week. I started off the week with the launch of my first article being published in Fast Company. Then, came the announcement of being accepted into the Linkedin Creator program, and I ended the week in Denver at a conference both speaking on a Keynote presentation with my Father and then an additional breakout session talking about managing your career in a world of uncertainty and change.
I’m still riding high off of an incredible week, and it serves as another reminder to me of how privileged and lucky I feel to be able to get to do the work that I do. While some of this certainty comes from privilege and opportunity, all of these things happening at once is both a result of serendipity and an intentional effort to increase my surface area of opportunity through a long term belief in my goal and plans and a short-term ability to sense and respond to emergent opportunities that arise when things go off track or life throws you lemons.
The actual article draft was written over 6 months ago and took 3 submissions before I heard back. The first time I applied to the LinkedIn creator program I wasn’t accepted, and my speaking journey started way back as a 12 year old when I attended conferences my Dad used to take me to and he put on himself.
Along the way, I spoke at community events, student government forums, graduate and undergraduate universities, and internal and external company events. And when my speaking tour for my book got canceled due to COVID-19, I went direct and started a podcast and produced 170 episodes over 2 years to get my message out there.
We tend to look at progress as a nice chart that goes up and to the right. The reality of it is that is not always the case, and change often comes in fits and starts. When thinking of projects or initiatives in the context of change, progress, or success I’m often reminded by the Ernest Hemmingway quote: “How did you go bankrupt?" Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.”
Speaking on stage this week with my Dad I was reminded that we are all in the business of managing change - The conference we spoke at was put on by the Construction Specifications Institute, a professional association dedicated to advancing the interests and looking out for the architects, specificers and construction specialists.
Like many industries and professions, they are not immune to trends like technology transformation, talent and labor shortages, and demographic shifts that are causing both short and long-term disruption to the profession. While many of these trends were on a “slow simmer” prior to COVID-19, the past 2.5 years lit a match and turned a slow burn to a wildfire. In a given moment, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed - with all this disruption and all these trends, what do I do? How do I make sense of this? Why can’t I just stick to what I am doing? Even if I want to change, how do I know I will get there?
Change can be one of those things that is generally fine except when it happens to us.
I know this first hand - I’ve changed my career 3 times in 15 years, and have probably had thousands of conversations about career changes with professionals of all different walks of life and have heard all of the consternations and pains of navigating change. But as my friend and fellow podcaster Jenny Blake says, “if change is the only constant, let’s get good at it.”
The good news is that humans are pretty adaptable, and even more open to change when we have the agency and autonomy to opt into it. Based on 15 years of watching individuals and leaders navigate and manage change, I’ve observed that managing change for yourself requires:
An awareness and openness to scan the market and sense signals of what’s going on
The ability to self-reflect and pause, internalize your thoughts, and come up with an idea of how you’d like to respond
The confidence to take the best next 1-2 steps, and the openness to learn from each step that can help you identify the next one
The humility to ask for help, and use your relationships to learn, grow, and work toward the change you want to see
An acceptance that change will always be here, and the goal is to operate continuously within the space, not achieve an end state.
These habits, when practiced well, can help any individual regardless of their industry or profession, manage personal transformation in a constantly changing world, and give them the confidence to make progress in the short term while keeping an eye on their end goal.
Going back to this week - I’m someone who often is ready to look at the next thing before celebrating what’s in front of me. The end goal in my case, is to speak on bigger stages and inspire more people to use their leadership skills to create opportunities for others to thrive in the workplace. But while I hope that I get toward that goal, being able to share the stage with my Father this week is a milestone I’ll be forever grateful for.
When I was in 5th grade, my Dad made me practice public speaking with him before I would go to school in the morning because my teachers told him that while I did a great job on a book report I used a lot of filler words when I spoke. I still use filler words, but I've come a long way!
My inspiration for speaking path comes from the years of watching him build his own conference and bringing amazing speakers on stage who inspired, taught and encouraged audience members to think and work differently, so to be able to have this opportunity is something that I’ll always remember and cherish, and makes me proud to see the work I’ve done and the transformation I’ve made since that quiet and filler word speaking 5th grader. I’m still working on the end goal, and I’ll change and evolve over time to achieve it, but will also be appreciative of the steps I’ve taken to get to where I am.
Whether you’re working on a small change to improve your personal life or thinking about a bigger transformation that is going to alter the trajectory of your life and career, know that change, disruption, and roadblocks will always be there regardless of any plan you make. But have the confidence to know that every successful change starts with one first step.
👀What I’m Watching 👀
Higher Ed Failing Students as They Navigate College and Career (Inside Higher Ed)
I’ve had the good fortune of working with some incredible career development and career educational professionals over the past decade, who will read this and feel frustrated and perhaps even vindicated. Many career centers are under-resourced and understaffed, and who care deeply about the potential and outcomes of their students. They can only do so much, and regularly go above and beyond the call of duty. That said, there are structural problems that will not go away without significant investments and reimagination of how colleges and universities should be supporting students to both explore and navigate careers. And while investing in more staff is a good start, it’s really a band aid when you need massive reconstructive surgery.
Google launches new, low-cost online programs for high-demand jobs (Fortune)
Lisa Gevelber, founded Grow With Google back in 2017, as a low-cost way to skill up professionals within in demand skills. This week, Grow with Google announced the launch of University partnerships to offer specialized certificates. These certificates will have an industry slant (ex: Data Analytics For Public Sector) and targeted towards working-professionals who can complete them in 2-5 months with a cost of $49/month, and completion enables access to a job board with over a consortium of 150 companies hiring for those specific skills.
Companies Hoarding Workers Could Be Good News For the Economy (NY Times)
I would be hesitant to call “labor hoarding” a trend just yet, but the article speaks to a potential emerging issue that businesses face in the coming months around labor shortages - is it better to have someone versus nobody?
📙Workplace and Leadership Advice📙
The New Rules For Getting Face Time (WSJ) - These articles are frustrating not because I disagree with them but because I accept them for what they are - face time, whether we like it or not, matters to leaders and if it matters to leaders it becomes the calculus for how decisions are made around resources, promotions, and opportunities.
What Do Managers of Small Teams Do (Radical Candor Podcast) - Being a people manager can be an amorphous job, but this podcast breaks down what that role looks like and how to focus on the most critical priorities of being an effective people manager on a small team.
Brene, Adam Grant & Simon Sinek (Dare to Lead Podcast) - Adam, Brene and Simon riff on all topics related to the workplace. Such an interesting back and forth of thinkers on ideas. I am a bit biased towards Adam’s work, but all of them contributed some wonderful food for thought. You should also check out their first episode if you haven’t
Connecting Early Career Talent With Education and Expertise (The Edge of Work Podcast) - Talent marketplaces and platforms are a great way to connect people to people and people to organizations. Early career talent needs access to career education and career readiness. Combine those two statements and you’ll understand what John Koellicker and the Leland team are doing with their talent and career education marketplace.
PS - At the end of the month, I’ll be heading down to the LinkedIn studio in Los Angeles to talk leadership with the LinkedIn Live team and the Best-Selling Author and Career and Workplace Expert Minda Harts. I’m super excited for this opportunity to talk about a topic that’s near and dear to my heart. Hit subscribe to join in live or watch the recording Creator Conversations: Learning to Lead (Thursday, October 27th, 9AM Pacific Time)
Have a great week!
Al