Meandering Mind - Eva Dillner [44]
What is fascinating with these kinds of exercises is how well they fit over time. Pagic is as valid today as it was then. It carries across all the functional designations. I think it is a more valuable tool for matching employees to jobs than our traditional descriptions.
To do the exercise for yourself, look at the ingredients that satisfy and excite you in a job. Once you have a list of words, narrow them down to a manageable number. See if you can make an acronym out of the first letter of each quality. Having an acronym simplifies remembering the list. In an interview, under pressure, it's to your advantage to be able to succinctly summarize what qualities you bring to the position.
Up the down staircase
Getting from here to there is not always a logical progression. I went to corporate headquarters to see about a job in marketing so I could network my way overseas. I didn't get a job in marketing. I was offered a job in France. One that didn't exist before. Because I had been showing an interest in moving on I was present in the decision makers minds when they searched around for suitable candidates.
I ended up where I was supposed to go albeit in a roundabout way. So many of the other people on this project had similar experiences. It felt as if we were a group of souls called together for this gathering.
One colleague worked at corporate headquarters. As he was going down the escalator at lunch time, he saw another manager coming up the escalator, who called out, “What are you working with these days?” “Not much,” was his reply. Next, he was asked, “how would you like to go to London?” to which he replied, “well maybe.” The other manager said, “why don't you come up to my office and we'll talk about it?” So he did. Three days later he was on his way to London. He had happened to pass by when the manager was stewing on his problem of finding a suitable candidate to send. I don't think it is coincidence. I think it is our Higher Selves directing us where we need to go.
Another guy was walking down the hallway when a group of managers were discussing where on earth they could find a French-speaking employee who understood manufacturing and paper machine construction. In unison, they yelled out “there he is!” The answer literally walked by their door. Talk about having the solution handed to you on your doorstep.
Empowerment
You know how irritating it is to get advice you haven't asked for. The underlying assumption is that the other person knows better than you. Or take the software, Microsoft Word. It automatically changes things you haven't asked it to do. Nowhere in the basic instruction manual do they tell you how to set up the basic formatting the way you want it and how to keep those settings. It is the number one complaint in my circle of friends, “how do you turn the bloody thing off?” The programmers at Microsoft are trying to do the thinking for us. It makes me feel disempowered, because the program goes in and dabbles in my paint pot without my permission.
Empowerment is key when working with me. Without empowerment you will remain stuck in the old world. In the new world, we are truly equals. What do I mean by equals? One example I like to use is teaching. If you you teach as a facilitator, you are part of the process. You too are allowed to fall apart, to be natural. When you teach as a facilitator, you don't have to shut off the natural flow of energy. On the other hand, in traditional teaching you are meant to be an authority, to have control of your class, to present material as if it is the truth with a capital T. You are not encouraged to show your emotions or share your own process. Mostly it's about showing how competent and clever you are. Ok, I know it, I'm on my soapbox. But the subject of authority versus empowerment is a very key concept in my view of the world.