Using the Wheel
The answers we need might be right under our noses.
Are you translating your business accomplishments into personal success?
The product development team is meeting at a restaurant to celebrate the successful launch of a new product. The product exceed its objectives for first time use and is exceeding repeat purchases objectives. This a great moment for the team.
As the evening progresses, Josh and Mary, 2 members of the team, initiate a discussion of their careers. Josh and Mary joined the company’s product development organization after they graduated from MBA programs 7 years ago. This was the 3rd successful new product launch in which they had participated. Mary has advanced to senior manager. Josh is a team leader. He feels that his career is moving in slow motion.
Josh asks Mary if they could move to a quiet place in the restaurant to have a career discussion. Mary agrees.
Josh: Mary, I am really impressed with your advancement in our organization.
Mary: Thank you. This means a lot coming from someone who started in the organization with me.
Josh: I want to be more than a team leader. I want to advance to senior manager and someday be an executive in the organization. What have you done or are doing to advance?
Mary: Josh, sometimes what we need is right under our noses and we do not recognize it. We try to reinvent a wheel instead of using the one that works.
Josh: Okay. What’s under my nose?
Mary: Would you agree that our organization is great at developing products?
Josh: Our record speaks for itself. We have had 3 highly successful product launches since we joined the organization.
Mary: Josh, have you ever thought of yourself as a product?
Josh: No, I haven’t.
Mary: You have great skills and capabilities. Your skills and capabilities make up the Josh Product that you provide to the company in exchange for a salary, benefits, and bonuses. Does this sound like a product to you?
Josh: Offering something that somebody wants for monetary considerations sounds like a product to me.
Mary: Exactly.
Josh: Where is this conversation going?
Mary: Think about the product development process our company uses to develop and launch products. (Mary pulls up a diagram on her phone and proceeds to explain it.)
Josh: How does this process relate to me?
Mary: Let’s take a look at this. (Mary pulls up another diagram and proceeds to explain it.)
Josh: I never thought of my personal development this way.
Mary: Our company offers information, tools, and other resources to help us develop ourselves. It is our responsibility to use the assistance. Applying the product development process will help us organize or structure the use of the resources to meet our personal development needs.
Josh: Wow!
Mary: Do you think our company would have had successful product launches if we did not leverage our strengths and capabilities to develop products?
Josh: We would have been “throwing darts in the wind”.
Mary: Supposed we ignored our market research.
Josh: That would have been a bad move.
Mary: How far would we have gotten if we just talked about product possibilities and not developed product concepts?
Josh: We would have endless meetings and discussions.
Mary: What would Manufacturing say if there were no prototypes?
Josh: George Johnson, Vice President of Manufacturing, would say that Product Development had lost its mind.
Mary: And, would we have had successful launches without plans to introduce our products into the marketplace?
Josh: No way. It would have been disasters.
Mary: Let’s talk about Josh.
Josh: Okay!
Mary: What have you done with the results of your strengths and other personal assessments?
Josh: I wrote action plans at the end of the training sessions.
Mary: What did you do with the action plans?
Josh: I did very little.
Mary: Have you thought about applying the results to positions on our company’s career lattices?
Josh: Not exactly. I have listed positions I would like to have in the future, but did not consider the results of my assessments.
Mary: Do you have a pro forma résumé?
Josh: I was meaning to ask you about that. I have an up-to-date résumé.
Mary: Do you have a pro forma résumé?
Josh: What exactly is a pro forma résumé?
Mary: A pro forma résumé is the résumé you want to have at some point in your future. It provides a model for determining what you need to do to accomplish your personal development goals.
Josh: Is it like a prototype?
Mary: Yes.
Josh: Let me take it from here. I will use the gaps between my current and pro forma résumés to determine the actions or tasks I need to accomplish to be where I want to be in my career.
Mary: You got it!
Josh: I gather that you applied the product development process to your personal development.
Mary: That enabled me to advance to senior manager. I will continue to do this to help me reach my goal of becoming Vice President, Product Development.
Josh: I am going to use the process, too. Watch out! The Josh Product will be on your heels.
Josh and Mary share a hearty laugh.
Are you “reinventing the wheel” when it comes to your personal development?
Are you taking full advantage of the personal development resources your company offers?
Do your choices of positions on your company’s career lattices match the results of your strengths and other assessments?
Do you have a pro forma resume?
I invite you to share your comments, experiences, and suggestions. This helps me provide information that may help you address your career opportunities and challenges.
Linwood Bailey is a career coach and the author of The Business of Me: Your Job … Your Career … Your Value. The Business of Me provides a career management process that applies business processes to career management. Linwood, the been there coach, enables business professionals to increase their effectiveness by leveraging his 34 years of experience managing functions in multiple industries, regions, and corporate cultures.
Fields of Success offers complimentary coaching sessions. Visit the Contact page on the Fields of Success website to schedule a session.
Founder, Fields of Success, LLC
Enabling professionals to convert career opportunities and challenges into career success stories.
