by Solange Lopes | Jan 11, 2016 | Career
Let me ask you a simple question (and no, it doesn’t involve chocolate or coffee, people).
Given the opportunity to reach your ultimate career destination, the one that was really meant for you, vs. following the path most traveled, which would you pick?
The exhausting, hamster-wheel-like, depressing, albeit more vertical, hustle and bustle of traditional corporate ladder climbing? Or the not so straight, not so vertical, path through career experimentation that may take you through professional back roads but ultimately gets you where you were always supposed to be? Or you could just win the Powerball, but since you didn’t, please keep reading…
You may not know this about me, but I have a terrible sense of orientation. I mean, it took me two months to get home straight from work after we moved into our new home without stopping by some totally random stranger’s house that kinda looked like mine. And forget about trying shortcuts and back roads…Then I would really end up in Timbuktu somewhere.
As a result, I’ve taken as a habit to experiment with destinations. And yes, it is the excuse I use to justify the Chronic Lateness Syndrome affecting me. But what it also has helped me with over time, is to let my orientation-challenged brain ease into the path it would end up being the most comfortable recognizing and following. Which would allow for free-flow experimentation (and more Chronic Lateness Syndrome), but ultimately would get me to where I’m going the best and most comfortable way I could muster.
Let’s face it.
This whole climbing the corporate ladder, making professional allies along the way while kicking potential career enemies on our way up, is no walk in the park either. Especially considering how slippery the ladder can be for women at work, and we all know how slippery and a fresh manicure do not go well together…
How much of this career ladder is subject to rules set in stone by institutions and people entirely different from the rest of us? And how much of it is dedicated to letting future leaders experiment and try their own hands at their definition of success?
How many times did you hear that you should get this certificate, go into this field, or stick with this career, when you knew deep inside it wasn’t for you? And how many times did you really question if it were the only way to move forward?
Instead of struggling to climb the proverbial corporate ladder, which for many women (and men) has turned into an exercise in self-afflicted disappointment, why not instead look into more of a multi-dimensional career lattice. One that would allow advancement through experimenting with new skills, a new network, or a new intellectual challenge.
While there is nothing wrong with vertical movements upward if you wish to remain with your current company and gain more responsibility, there are significant advantages to gaining more exposure, skills and an expanded network through career lattice moves.
Consider my girl Emma. We started in Big Accounting together, yet Emma was always more passionate about marketing. She had some contacts in the Marketing department, and decided to take a lower-level marketing position. Her move was considered like a step-down by most. Yet after only 6 months in the role, she showed such impressive leadership skills, that she made up for her move by gaining broader exposure and greater recognition. She is now the VP of Marketing in her division.
Like Emma, you may want to consider getting off that “slippery” career ladder before you fall off entirely, and instead hop onto more of a career lattice, especially if:
- You know that you don’t want to hit the ceiling in your profession. In many field, you can only go so high. And that is especially true of highly specialized areas. Why not start networking and looking around for opportunities to combine your current knowledge with other professional interests you may have?
- You want a role that promotes better work-life integration. If you know your current role is only going to evolve into work that will leave you less time to have a life outside of work, then maybe slipping into a lateral role is the answer.
- You’re interested in leadership, not subject-matter expertise. You like your job, but you’re more interested in becoming a well-rounder leader who knows about the entire company/industry. Start setting yourself for lateral, lattice-style moves that allow you to learn as much as possible while honing your current skills.
What do you think? Are you more in favor of the career ladder or the career lattice?
Which ones of the three reasons above would push you towards more of a lattice-style career?
Chime in in the comments.
To Your Success,
The Corporate Sis.
by Solange Lopes | Jan 7, 2016 | Career |
Here you are, emerging from the holiday fog, needing a vacation from a vacation, and ready to ask Santa to replenish your bank account, like, pronto. It’s the New Year, and you’re just about sick of hearing everyone talk about resolutions they never keep, or vow that this is THE year. Wasn’t last year THE year too?
Ok, ok, you may be a tad bit more optimistic than that….but really, can we start the New Year with less pressure? Especially at work… Especially when you turn on your computer to the warning that your mailbox is full (translation: you need to drop everything and clean it up like now), not to mention a heap of emails with projects and deliverables all due like, yesterday.
Starting your professional New Year is like wearing 7-inch stilettos. They feel fantastic at first, but then slowly remind your calves to get it together fast.
After all the well-wishes, hugs, and newfound appreciation for the quiet refuge of your desk after spending way too much quality time with screaming toddlers and annoying family members, here are 7 no-nonsense, “move-out-of-the-way”, “I-can-do-this” ways to come back better, stronger, and more awake, to work for the New Year:
- Start a journal of positives: What? Who wants to start the year with journaling anything? Or thinking for that matter? We’re still trying to write the correct dates here. I know, I know.
If you’re going to start the New Year with any positive habits, start with this one. Recent psychological research suggests that the more you assess positives in any area, especially work, the more you achieve these. An example given as part of this reasoning is that of two traders keeping separate journals. One writes about various problems he encounters in trading. The other focuses on five areas of performance, including creativity and generating ideas, position management and entry execution, exit execution and risk management, and self-management, in which he delineates best practices and enforces continued improvement. Which one do you think is more empowering?
Start a journal of career positives to maximize your strengths, instead of just coping through problems, and not progressing. Now that’s a good foot into the New Year!
- Prioritize your priorities: Yes, everything is a priority and everything is due yesterday! And no, you can’t do everything! But you knew that already…Except the “Superwoman Syndrome” is not so easy to get rid of, as we try to fit it all in no matter what….Keep in mind your time, resources and energy are limited, so be strategic about where you invest your efforts, especially as you start the new year.
Ask yourself these three questions to help you put your tasks in perspective: 1) Which 3 tasks are you most skilled at and leave you the most fulfilled – focus on these first; 2) Which tasks will still be done well even if you didn’t invest 100% of your efforts – allocate these second; 3) Which tasks are non-significant and require minimal time and effort, like team emails? – allocate even less time to these, so you can move on to the first set of tasks you excel at.
Prioritize much?
- Re-open the communication lines: The New Year is a perfect opportunity, especially after the holidays, to start communicating again with your team.
Researchers describe relational leadership as “a model or perspective on leadership that focuses on the idea that leadership effectiveness has to do with the ability of the leader to create positive relationships withing the organization.”
Organize a team meeting to start the new year, refresh existing and new projects in the minds of everyone, and perhaps set new, more effective methods of communication. Talk to people. Listen to what they have to say. It will go a long way…
Now tell me, which of these will you be applying as you start the New Year at work? Will you starting a journal of positives, get on to prioritizing your priorities, and/or fostering positive communication with your team?
Let us know in the comments below…
To Your Success,
The Corporate Sis.
by Solange Lopes | Dec 31, 2015 | Career |
Last fashion pick of the year, people…2015 is on its last leg, and speaking of legs, I couldn’t think of a better way to go out in style into the New Year than this pair of hot metallic pumps that can easily go from the meeting room to the New Year’s party in a step…
Loving the festive and fierce look of this metallic D’orsay pump from J. Crew, which combines a classic, elegant silhouette with a flashy (bot not too flashy) color. Pair this with a power suit or dress to finish the year in style, and slip in and out of work looking like the professional diva you are.
Here’s to your success!
The Corporate Sis
by Solange Lopes | Dec 31, 2015 | Career |
Two women were chit-chatting over coffee one afternoon in late December. One couldn’t stop talking about her New Year’s career resolutions, while the other patiently nodded. She had all these plans of introducing a new program in her department, exceeding her milestones and nabbing a promotion early. The other woman also had plans for her career the upcoming year, but presented them as such: plans whose completion were pending proper execution.
At the end of the following year, the woman with all the career resolutions ended up meeting only a few of her goals. On the other hand, her friend with the more pragmatic plans achieved most of them. Surprised?
Every year comes the time of making resolutions…Resolutions to hit the gym, wash your (potty) mouth with soap, button those pants…And of course, when it comes to your career, THE mother of all resolutions: that to shine in all your professional awesomeness and slay all those goals (the same you missed last year) and more…
So you start the year all pumped up, get to work on time (the first day of the year), pull out all your positive mantras, and get to work…Except everything else catches right back up to you, from the inpromptu executive meetings to the kids’ doctors’ appointments…And you get disappointed, mentally off-track, and the rest is history…
Career resolutions, like diets or bad relationships, are made to be broken. As a veteran of failed resolutions of all kinds, including refraining from hitting the snooze button or not wearing heels everywhere, I should know…
- Career resolutions turn your career into your rigid, severe Aunt Martha. Or Kathy, or Gertrude. They create walls around your work, and condition the direction of your entire career journey for an entire year. Even if they happen to be the most ambitious, outstanding resolutions promising to jumpstart your career into Extreme Success Zone. Remember, your career is a journey. One you can’t, or shouldn’t necessarily restrict to a set of expectations, however positive these may be.
- Career resolutions only provide the outcome, not the means. There’s something about a grand resolution that just makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside…at first. Then comes the inevitable time to execute. Turning the big, fancy words into action becomes a dragging, annoying task. Just like talking about the wedding and actually delving into the teeny-tiny details of the cutlery style and napkin color. Or declaring yourself debt-free and actually doing the work , skipping the daily latte and not splurging on new shoes for what seems like the rest of your life.
- Career resolutions create unnecessary pressure. So do resolutions of any kind. Which is exactly why they tend to fail, and why we tend to go back to the cream-filled canolis, the trashy reality shows and the bad boyfriends. And of course, the loftier the resolution, the more intense the pressure.
Instead of submitting to your year-end tradition of drawing yet again new career resolutions, how about going the less-traveled career route for once? Think bigger, wider and larger than just regular, restrictive, un-specific career resolutions:
- Go the alternative route: After a while, all resolutions start sounding the same. Whether it’s to get more organized, impress the boss, or be more productive, the clichés abound. And you know what they say about following the crowd…How about ditching what everyone else and their mama is doing, and instead tread on the less-traveled path. Instead of vowing to do more of the same, how about committing to change what you’re currently doing to get different results than the ones you’ve been getting. There’s a non-resolution to make…
- Start with YOU: They were right when they said “the work will always be there” (never mind who “they” were)….This year, just start with YOU! Taking care of YOU, taking all your vacation time (yes, all $52.4B of it), and putting yourself first. This is not a resolution, just the realization that you are not indispensable, that you’re not just a number. And it’s also the only way you will find your own path to the kind of fulfilling, life-nurturing work you’ve always dreamt of…
- Make peace with the whole work-life balance thing: Ok, there’s a non-resolution for you: do not resolve to be balanced in life or in business. Because it just doesn’t happen! Taking away from work doesn’t add to your life and vice-versa. What works on the other hand, is to let go and allow yourself to be fully alive. Enjoy new experiences, be open to new adventures, take some time to do nothing (what a revolutionary idea). And watch the simple fact of letting yourself be turn your career into an amazing success, for the sheer fact that for once, just for once, you’re actually bringing YOU, all of YOU, to work!
Here’s to a year filled with life…and not stale resolutions!
Are you ditching your career resolutions this year?
With Love,
The Corporate Sis.
by Solange Lopes | Dec 29, 2015 | Career |
Think leather is only to be worn after-hours, or off-duty? Or reserved for your favorite purses, shoes and satchels?
Well, think again…I’ve been smitten this winter with the combination of tough-looking leather with ladylike silhouettes for work, like this DVF leather pencil skirt from Nordstrom (which also happens to be on sale for an awesome $229.98).
Other alternatives I would gladly sport to my next work meeting include this faux-leather pleated skirt from Zara, this Rebecca Taylor vegan leather flounce number from Bloomingdale’s, or this budget-friendly leather wrap beauty from H&M.
Would you sport a leather skirt to work?
To Your Career Success,
The Corporate Sis.
by Solange Lopes | Dec 29, 2015 | Career
Imagine yourself sitting up at your work desk, Twix bar in one hand, coffee cup in the other, smiling at the prospect of writing your year-end review. Or wiggling in your seat out of sheer excitement to run into your year-end performance review meeting with your (not so) favorite manager…
Rewind…
Ok, let’s go back and press the real Start button on this scenario…
What really happens every year around this time is the real you ends up slouching in the chair, ready to slide under the desk at the mere thought of doing anything remotely related to year-end reviews. In your mind clouded by year-end holidays and spiked eggnog (you know it is), a root canal looks like heaven compared to suffering through assessing your own work and talking about it with the very person who may be holding your entire career’s future in their hands…
I used to dread year-end performance reviews more than wearing flats anywhere (to each her own). Why would anyone ask you to document your professional awesomeness (or lack thereof) after all? And then use it as a basis to either promote you, or leave you three feet under professional disappointment level? Really, people?
I know, I know what you may be thinking…That even though there have been attempts at getting rid of the whole performance review thing, it’s still widely done in most companies. And that after all, there is some value to this exchange of professional assessments padded with politically correct dialogue and flying sparks of positivity everywhere…
Sure, but under the thick layer of work performance and inter-personal relationships all mired in a cloud of inevitable human subjectivity, there are also these subtle but oh so significant factors most won’t tell you about the Real Game of Performance Reviews. Except some of us who just can’t keep secrets, or watercolor gossip, or office goodies (stop looking at me…)
- Your manager probably hates them as much as you do: Sitting across from anyone’s ego filled with the expectation of positive news would make the most fearless leader quiver a bit under her desk. It’s never easy to deliver that kind of message, even if it’s a good one. You’re basically in charge of someone’s professional future, if only for a year, a quarter or however long they’ve been reporting to you. And that responsibility, in addition to turning in your own performance review when you all want to do is eat eat cake and celebrate the holidays, is no walk in the
park office…
- It’s a musical chairs game: At the end of the day, the whole thing is pretty close to playing musical chairs. There are only a certain number of chairs (read promotions, positions, and most importantly money), and only a certain number of candidates that can lay claim to the goodies. Translation: if you didn’t make it past that extra millisecond of professional and personal awesomeness based on a few people’s subjective evaluation, you’re out of a chair.
- The standards are biased: Of course, they are. As objectively as the performance parameters may be described, they are still assessed by…humans. So whether we like to admit it or not, there’s still a measure of subjectivity and humanity that goes into any performance review (and I mean, any).
- You’re being coddled: More and more companies are urging managers and performance reviewers in general to highlight the positives, and dress the negatives as “areas of improvement”. Just as the next generation is being groomed as “everyone wins a trophy, the point is to participate”, at work also, the next generation of professionals is being pushed to emphasize the positive, beautify the negative, and bury our heads in the sand in the name of maintaining employee morale. Noble? Maybe. Misleading? Certainly. Just as some employees should be legitimately praised, promoted and patted on the back, others should be told they need to step on the gas. Point blank.
- It really boils down to how skilled your manager is: Ever heard the phrase “There are no bad employees, there are only bad managers”? In many cases, your performance, and the assessment of it, really depends on how skilled your manager is. A skilled manager will be able to offer appropriate coaching to her/his team members, and spot their strengths and weaknesses. However, unskilled and un-committed managers will tend to over-rely on their team members without seeking to develop them.
Next time you feel like throwing up a bit in your mouth at the prospect of receiving (or giving) your year-end performance assessment, think about the above as you painfully wobble towards the fateful meeting room…
Now do yourself a favor and think back about all the performance reviews you may have already received. Which ones of these 5 things that no one may have told you about before really were at play? And after your heart jumps back in your chest, please let us know what you think in the comments section.
To Your Career Success,
The Corporate Sis.
by Solange Lopes | Dec 24, 2015 | Career |
Only 8 days to the end of this year, and you’re looking at your vacation calendar, wondering if you should request those meager 2 days you have left, or if you should just forget about it all and push through those last year-end reports.
Would taking your remaining vacation time during the holidays make you look bad, or should you do yourself a favor and actually use your days off?
My $0.05: I’ve learnt that your time off is just that, your time off. Despite all the work pressure, the unfinished year-end projects and the oppressive deadlines, not taking some time to enjoy the holidays is a disservice to yourself and your team/company.
The best way to go about it is to discuss with your manager your plans for taking time off. If need be, you could put in a few hours from home, of carry over some time until the next year. However, whatever the case is, taking at least some time off for the holidays should be a non-negotiable.
While you may be at liberty to take some time off around the holidays, some companies actually require their employees to do so. In this case, you will only get paid if you are an exempt employee. Some organizations even require their employees to work on holidays, in which case you may ask to use a different day as holiday. In any case, your best bet is always to approach your manager or Human Resources with any question you may have…
Besides, who wants to start the New Year frazzled, exhausted and frankly mad at he very concept of work?
What do you think? Did you take all your vacation time this year? Are taking some time away from work for the holidays?
Chime in the comments.
With Love,
The Corporate Sis.
