Blog: Ginny Kravitz

It’s easy to go into auto-drive when listing your skills on performance reports and resumes.  But if you were to stop and think about which skill in your repertoire is numero uno, it’s probably something that is so obvious you’re overlooking it. 
 
Here’s an enlightening exercise you can do over the next couple of weeks.  It’s a simple list of skills that you give to 5-7 people you know through various circumstances.  Choose one or two people close to you personally, and some with whom you have worked, including a senior manager or boss, as well as a colleague or peer.  You may also want to include someone you know through a volunteer or network organization.  Ask them to circle what they view as your top five skills and remind them that they can also add things that aren’t on the list.

Some responses may be what you expected and others may surprise you.  When I did this for myself several years ago, the top skill that people highlighted was “having fun”.  My response to that?  At first I rolled my eyes and thought, “That’s not a skill.  How on earth am I supposed to translate that into something marketable?”  But shortly after, I was thrust into an assignment where this newly acknowledged skill of mine really made a difference.  Over the years I’ve come to value that this is part of what I bring to any job: an ability to make work more fun, which in turn encourages creativity, enhances morale, and strengthens the team.

So, have a go with this exercise: Taking Stock of Your Skills.  When you collect the responses, at first you might roll your eyes like I did or think, “Oh, that again, so what.”  Just step back and consider what’s being reflected to you.  Why is it important?  What difference does it make when you bring that skill to the table?  Really think about it and begin to own this in a way you haven’t before.

What do you think?  I invite your comments. --Ginny

© 2009, Virginia M. Kravitz

VIRGINIA KRAVITZ, Career and Life Coach, founded In the Current® to serve accomplished professionals who want to move boldy in new directions and start living with a greater sense of joy and abandon.  Ginny’s e-zine, published every other Tuesday, is entitled Current of Life.  Visit at: www.inthecurrent.com

 

 What a Turn of Phrase Can Do  
Nine years ago I was sitting in a conference room with my colleague, Joan.  We were girding up to tackle the task of creating a brand new graphic exhibit for the company’s corporate briefing center of which I was the director.  This job, one of many within a larger project, felt particularly daunting.  Even though we had traversed this territory successfully before, this time was different.  We felt the pressure of wanting to make it bigger and better and were concerned about communicating the exact right message.  And once again, the deadline loomed.  We had allowed our creativity to be squelched and were procrastinating with the best of them. 

Sensing the need for a dose of confidence, I looked at Joan and said, “You know… they brought us in for this.”  It was meant to be humorous, as if the scope of what we were doing were critically important and we were the only ones who could do it!  The funny thing is the effect this one phrase had on us:  They brought us in.  The result was an instant shift.  We lightened up and stepped into the roles of experts who were “brought in” for a job only we could do.  Silly, I know, but it worked. From there we were able to make creative decisions and get the ball rolling. 

They Brought Me In  
Joan reports that she still uses this technique whenever she needs a jolt of confidence.  Keep in mind that it’s not important whether the declaration, “They brought me in,” is based in reality.  Two things happen when you allow yourself to get into the spirit of this phrase:  1) It helps you lighten up which makes it easier for you to deliver your best work, and 2) It invites you to step into the role of expert.  What if you really were “called in” for your expertise and it was just a matter of doing what you do naturally and easily? 

Especially in an environment where you can feel replaceable, sometimes it pays to believe that only you can do the job the way it needs to be done.  What if you knew that you were right where you were supposed to be, doing exactly what you were capable of doing, and that you were going to do a spectacular job?  Imagine the impact that donning this attitude could have when interviewing for a job, making a presentation, or asking for the sale.  How might you behave differently?  It’s very likely that your confidence and self-assurance would shine through to stunning results. 
  
Be the Expert 
 
Picture someone who you’d have to “bring in” to do a particular job.  Who comes to mind?  Bill Murray in Ghost Busters?  Underdog?  Stacy and Clinton from What Not To Wear?   Donald Trump?  Your computer guy?  I stand by my conviction that silly unleashes great things!

The next time you feel intimidated by the job on your desk or the scope of something you’re attempting to accomplish, be willing to see yourself as the expert and say out loud, “They brought me in.”

VIRGINIA KRAVITZ, Career and Life Coach, founded In the Current® to serve accomplished professionals who want to move boldy in new directions and start living with a greater sense of joy and abandon.  Ginny’s e-zine, published every other Tuesday, is entitled Current of Life.  Visit at: www.inthecurrent.com 

© 2009, Virginia M. Kravitz

Talk About Food  
I knew I would like Julie and Julia, the movie about blog author Julie Powell and adored chef Julia Child, because: a) it was about food, b) it was a glorious example of following your passion no matter how late you get started, c) it was about food…oh, I mentioned that already, and d) I got to see the movie with my friend since first grade, Luisa, who is herself an amazing cook, though she’d shy away from that title. As we watched Julia on screen, I made mental notes of the ingredients that when combined, resulted in Julia’s tremendous success and what you could call a delectable life.

Julia’s Recipe

Sometimes a glimpse is all you have to go on.  In her 30’s and looking for what might be “her thing”, Julia Child experimented. Appreciating a finely prepared meal spurred her interest in learning to cook and immersing herself in French culture, which eventually fueled her desire to teach others. While she never could have imagined the role that awaited, Julia opened the door to her future simply by deciding to pursue an interest.  Read more of Julia’s Recipe here.

Get Your Pot Ready!

When Julia Child stepped foot into Le Cordon Bleu, she could not foresee the 11 books and 8 TV series that she would later contribute to the world, the American Institute of Wine and Food that she would found, or that her kitchen would eventually be transported to the Smithsonian.

You may be cooking up something bigger than you can imagine, too, so get the big pot out, just in case. Learn one way to do this here.

Be willing to experiment. Be fearless in the kitchen of your imagination. Pick up the lamb when you drop it!  Laugh at yourself, do more of what delights you, and share it with people.

“Always start out with a larger pot than what you think you need.”
—Julia Child (1912-2004)

P.S. The post above is an excerpt from a recent article I wrote which you can read in its entirety here.  Whether you are job hunting, making a major career change, or building a business, having role models is essential.  I think Julia Child is a wonderful example of persistence, fearlessness, and what can happen when you follow your passion. Have a great week. –Ginny

© 2009, Virginia M. Kravitz

VIRGINIA KRAVITZ, Career and Life Coach, founded In the Current® to serve accomplished professionals who want to move boldy in new directions and start living with a greater sense of joy and abandon.  Ginny's e-zine, published every other Tuesday, is entitled Current of Life.  Visit at: www.inthecurrent.com 

Where's the Proof? When undertaking a job search or any endeavor for that matter, it’s natural to want some proof of progress. Noticing the results you're getting is critical to understanding what to do next and where to adjust your strategy.  When you really want something and it doesn't seem to be happening, what can you conclude? It's precisely how you interpret these results that will impact the ultimate outcome.

Three People, Three Interpretations
Three people —we'll call them Kathy, Conrad, and Martin— are searching for a job after being laid off. It's been four months and the number of interviews landed is lower than expected. Kathy interprets this as a signal that prospects are slim within her current industry and it's time to expand her search to areas she previously ruled out. Conrad concludes that he needs to call in the troops and ask for more specific help from his network of colleagues and friends. Martin, while discouraged, continues combing the classifieds and hopes something will work out eventually. Notice that in this example we have three people, getting the same initial result, interpreting that result three different ways, and responding with three different courses of action.

When you are not getting the results you want, here are some things you can do:

• Make sure you really want what you're aiming for. Be clear on why you want it and what the cost-benefit of receiving it will be for you and others. In Kathy's case, she had wanted to look outside her industry in the first place but had been timid about attempting to make such a big change. The low response rate on her initial round of inquiries helped her clarify what she really wanted.

• Change failure to information by asking yourself the question, "What can I learn from this? How does my strategy need to change?" Conrad realized that his strategy needed to encompass help from others in a more conscious way.

• Try a new approach. Check to see if you are holding on to a notion that no longer serves you. Martin was reluctant to shed his belief that finding a job would happen the same way it did for him 20 years ago. Persistence, when it means staying focused on your goal, is helpful. Stubbornness, when it's mainly complaining about how it "should" be happening, is a waste of time.

• Don't make your happiness contingent on getting everything you want. This may seem contrary to the spirit of "going for it" but it is not. It is about finding happiness on a deeper level and in the present. Another take on this is that one of the best ways to get what you want is to first find a way to be happy without it.

In essence, when you are not getting the results you want, you can change one or both of the following:

How you think about the situation
What you do about the situation.

Who Knows What's Waiting For You

When faced with having to accept that your plans are changing, keep Joseph Campbell's well-known quotation in mind:

"We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us."
— Joseph Campbell

This Week: Keep moving in the direction of your goal, adjusting course as needed. Who knows what's waiting for you!

This article is #5 in a series called "Can You Make It Happen?".  Read the entire series here.

VIRGINIA KRAVITZ, Career and Life Coach, founded In the Current® to serve accomplished professionals who want to move boldy in new directions and start living with a greater sense of joy and abandon.  Her e-zine, published every other Tuesday, is entitled Current of Life.  Visit at: www.inthecurrent.com

Take it from Tony 
 
My father, Tony, now 86, was an IBM salesman during the 1950’s-1980’s.  In the early days of his career, he’d cart an IBM Selectric typewriter all over Manhattan.  A tip he learned from cold calling and would later share with rookie salesmen was: “Don’t psychoanalyze the door.”  Even when approaching small or obscure companies, there might be more opportunity behind the door than expected. 
 
This advice is relevant today whether you are cold calling to a prospective customer, presenting a proposal to senior management, asking for help from your network, or following up on an application for a job.  When facing a door, you have two choices.  You can imagine all the reasons it might not work out and conclude, “Why bother?” or you can focus on what is possible and knock.
  
Do You Follow Through?  
Renee, an IT professional who is working with me to explore her next career move, hadn’t heard a word in the two weeks since applying for a job on-line.  She decided to track down the name of a real person she could call to check the status of her application.  The result of making this call was that Renee learned her application had not been processed due to an apparent technology glitch.  Good thing she made the call, you might be thinking.  But there’s more.  The person she called was an HR manager responsible for screening candidates.   After speaking with him and expressing her interest in the job, she landed a phone interview for that following Monday.  She is now one of two candidates being recommended for the next round of interviews.

I was so impressed with Renee’s willingness to follow up and follow through.  When presented with situations where you have to “put yourself out there” it can be tempting to settle into the mentality of: “Well, if they’re interested, they’ll call.”  Often, it is the act of following up that makes the difference because it demonstrates your interest, your confidence, and your willingness to do what it takes.
 
What keeps you from following up?  Not wanting to feel like a pest?  Fear of rejection?  Get over it and make the call anyway!
  
What’s Behind Door #1?  
A new car!  Pardon my Let’s Make A Deal flashback.  It’s true you don’t know whether it will be a clunker or a Cadillac behind the door, but you must follow up anyway.  When you follow up and follow through you are saying: 

I’m serious about going for it. 
I’m willing to do what it takes to get it. 
I’m confident about what I have to offer.
 If I meet rejection, I’ll just knock on the next door.

This Week:  Follow up with someone.  Make the call.  Extend the invitation.  Follow through on a bold move.

 “Don’t psychoanalyze the door.”
¯Tony Mangano

VIRGINIA KRAVITZ, Career and Life Coach, founded In the Current® to serve accomplished professionals who want to move boldy in new directions and start living with a greater sense of joy and abandon.  Her e-zine, published every other Tuesday, is entitled Current of Life.  Visit at: www.inthecurrent.com 

Yesterday I shared an approach that I developed for myself out of necessity some years ago: looking at your current environment as a laboratory.  This means consciously deciding that there is something else to be gained from your current situation and posing the question: What can I test, try out, or develop within this familiar environment?   Here are some ideas for creating your own laboratory.

Set Up Your Own Lab -- 5 Steps You Can Take Now  

1.     Adopt a lab attitude.  Become a scientist.  Decide to have an air of expectation. “Put Yourself in Opportunity’s Way” is what we call it in the Now What? ®Program (1).  Laura Berman Fortgang describes this as being attentive to what is around you and noticing opportunities that were there but you were missing.                                                                       

2.     Assemble your lab partners.  Invite a few confidantes to take on the lab approach with you.  Involving others lightens things up and adds accountability.  

3.     Get to work experimenting.  Ask yourself:

What program, class, or other resource available to me here can I take advantage of?  For example: Pam, an IT professional working at a consulting firm, decided to acquire an advanced professional certification funded by her firm while continuing to explore her next career move.

What would I like to do more of?  Less of?  Gravitate toward assignments that allow you to do more of what you enjoy.  Barbara, a senior project manager, envisions a future where her passion for charitable fundraising combined with her political interests take center stage.  For now, she accepted a volunteer opportunity through her current job to lead initiatives for the company’s charitable foundation. 

4.     Engage all your senses.  A chemist observes how lab concoctions look, smell, feel, and react.  Likewise, as you effect change in your career and life, use all your senses, including your own intuition.

5.     Keep your lab notebook.  Record your observations on paper and see where your conclusions lead you. 

 “You cause opportunity by expecting it.”

--Laura Berman Fortgang 

How can you create a lab where you are right now?

(1) Now What?® is a registered trademark of InterCoach, Inc. and is based on the book Now What? 90 Days to a New Life Direction by Laura Berman Fortgang.  Ginny Kravitz, Debra Exner, and Maria Busch are the Phoenix-area Authorized Now What?® Program Facilitators.

The  Laboratory                                                             
Nearly twelve years ago, I was at that point in my corporate career of contemplating what was next.  I applied for a different internal job which appealed to me somewhat, though not completely. I didn’t get the job.  I concluded my next step would likely be outside the company, however I let it be known to senior management that I was eager for something new to do. (That’s code for not quite flipping out yet but getting there.)  Along came a high exposure, though somewhat risky project that had no guarantees of obtaining funding or support.  Perfect, I’ll take it!    

I pictured my new role as an opportunity to experiment in my very own laboratory.  My work ethic ensured that I would continue to contribute to the company and now my “new attitude” (cue Patti LaBelle) was to raise my awareness of what I could receive from the company as long as I was there.  What could I test, try out, or develop within a familiar environment?  I had new eyes, new ears, and a new boldness.  A few confidantes knew about the lab and they became my lab partners. “Hey, thought of an idea for the lab!”

Ironically, that position was the most rewarding of my entire corporate career and resulted in my staying another four years.  I rediscovered my creativity, came to value my talent for developing others, and realized that motivating and communicating needed to be part of whatever I did.  My confidence was back in full force.  The experience of running a small “company” within a large organization prepared me to found my own coaching company.  Soon it would be time to leave the lab.  It had served me well. 

The Beaker

I have since shared the lab idea with many others.  One client actually went out and bought a chemist’s beaker to put on her desk at work to remind her that all the elements are there -- all she has to do is create new concoctions.  As Francis Bacon said, “A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.”
                                                                                                                             
The Opportunity
If you are doing all you can to effect a change and it’s not happening as quickly as you’d like, look again at your surroundings.  There may be more to unearth.  Ask yourself: What is the opportunity right here?  Sometimes opportunity can be found -- or made -- in the strangest places…including exactly where you are.

“Your big opportunity may be right where you are now.”
--Napoleon Hill 

(Part 2 Tomorrow:  5 Steps To Set Up Your Own Lab)

Lunch Conversations
 
Last week I had lunch with someone I met recently at a business event.  We had made plans to meet socially and also learn more about each other’s business.  As we conversed over our salads, my new acquaintance generously gave me some ideas for local connections to make here in Phoenix, knowing that I am relatively new to the valley.  Wanting to reciprocate, I asked, “How can I help you?”  She paused and thanked me for asking the question.  After thinking for a moment, she mentioned a project she was working on and I was able to provide a resource for her right away.  “What a great question,” she commented.  Then I suggested that whenever we meet, we remember to ask each other that question, as our answers might be different at any given point in time.
 
When To Use This Question
 
The short answer is: all the time.  Sometimes by default and with good intentions, we offer advice to our friends, families, and co-workers, yet that is not always exactly what is needed.  Before proposing a solution, it is best to ask the question: How can I help you?  (What can I do for you?  What would support you right now?)  Just by asking the question, you are doing a service because you are getting the other person to think about what he or she needs and to be specific.  
A common situation where this question can be used effectively is during a business networking event.  It is important to ask it sincerely, listen, and be willing to follow up when the opportunity to help arises.
 
You can also look for opportunities throughout your work day to ask this question of your boss, your staff, peers, and clients.  Understanding the needs of the people you serve will help you determine your own priorities and enhance the value of your contributions.
  
Another good time to pose this question is when someone has just done you a favor.  By asking, listening, and following through, you will have truly expressed your gratitude.
 
Bring the question home as well, and ask it of the adults and the children in your life.  The impact will be notable as your loved ones will feel heard and supported.  
 
Answer It For Yourself
 
In addition to asking of others “How can I help you?” answer it for yourself so that when others offer their support, you are able to articulate your own needs.  Before having lunch with a colleague or attending a professional event, for example, think about what kind of assistance would be beneficial to you.  How can someone support you in taking the next step toward your goal?   It might be as simple as asking someone to make an introduction or share a resource.  Break it down and be specific. Make it easy for people to help you.

This Week: 1) Experiment with asking, “How can I help you?” at work, social settings, and home.  Notice the impact. 2) Think about how others can help you and be bold enough to ask for it.

How can I help you?   --Ginny

Visit: In the Current™