Author: Mary Ila Ward

We’ve been following the career decision-making path of Graham by looking at his talents, passions and values to find appropriate job matches.   Much of what we’ve done so far requires matching personal characteristics with specific occupations.

This is a very helpful process, but it doesn’t negate the reality that life happens and sometimes you’ve got to jump start your career pathway with action that may or may not lead to the specific careers targeted in your career exploration activities.

John Krumboltz’s, (who with Ed Levine wrote, Luck is No Accident), career development theory is one of “planned happenstance”.   Basically, this view is that people in career development should help people learn to create more satisfying lives for themselves, and this doesn’t necessarily mean pointing someone towards a specific occupation.  It does mean helping people create action steps related to their career that will lead to life satisfaction.

How does planned happenstance work?

When Graham was about to graduate from college, the economy had just tanked.  He graduated at a time when 80% of college graduates moved back in with mom and dad because they didn’t have a job or didn’t have a job that paid enough to allow them to live on their own.

During Graham’s last semester of college, I talked with him about next steps after college without any career assessments or inventories.   He loved his entrepreneurship major and had done well academically, had worked as a Capstone Man (a highly coveted college ambassador spot that allowed him to rub noses frequently with high powered people in our state), had been the President of the Freshman Leadership group and had worked for Joseph A. Banks part-time.   He had taken action steps (towards a satisfying life) in college by engaging in activities that made him more marketable and more connected than most  students, but the economy was still terrible.

So what was his next action step?  He took several including talking to people in venture capital because he had developed an interest in the field through his major and considered briefly going into business with my dad and uncle.  His key action step related to his current career came when he saw an article in a southern magazine about Billy Reid moving their corporate office to Florence, Alabama from Dallas. The article focused the company’s entrepreneurial spirit and desire to re-invent men’s fashion with a focus on southern style.

Graham was intrigued and most people would have left it at that.  But he sent the company his resume and cover letter focusing on his interest in men’s fashion and desire to stay in Alabama.   He had no idea if they were hiring, but he took the action step anyway. They called him within two days and he accepted a summer internship with them.

He could have backed off because it wasn’t a full-time, permanent job offer, but after talking with them, he felt like it was the right step for him.   Because of his hard work (he did grunt work like paint the new store along with other business related tasks) he was offered the full-time role of Director of E-Commerce three months after starting and has been growing with the company in his career ever since.

4 Actions for Planned Happenstance

$1·      Take the step to get involved in things that allow you the opportunity to network and demonstrate leadership

$1·      Read and stay current on your interest areas and companies of interest and “apply” with them by demonstrating your passion for what they do even if they don’t have a posted opening.

$1·      Working hard in a less than ideal role in an industry and/or with a company you like can lead you to the right spot in your career

$1·      BOTTOM LINE:  ACT even if you don’t know where it is going to lead.   It may land you in the job of your dreams if you follow your intuition.

Next week, we’ll discuss how the job market encompasses this whole diagram, your talents, passions and values in determining career decisions.

In all the focus on women andpersonal leadership in our recent posts, I think what is so important in personal leadership is establishing leadership and decision making that is best for yourself and being able to take it a step further by respecting others approach to personal leadership that guides their decision making.

A few weeks ago while out to dinner with friends, one of my friends who was about 30 weeks pregnant shared with me her decision not to return to work after the baby was born.  I could tell, although we are close, that she was almost ashamed to tell me this.  As a working-outside-the-home-mom, it was almost as though she had her guard up that I might judge, and I hated myself for making her even begin to feel that way.  I wondered what I had demonstrated in my past behavior that indicated to her that I might judge, and I silently thought about how I might avoid this behavior in the future.

She expressed her concern over her husband’s demanding job and her excitement over taking some online classes that she had a real passion for the field in, but most of all her excitement about their soon-to-be son or daughter arriving and this being the best decision for her.  I applaud her for it.   And the great thing is, I know she applauds my decision to work outside the home, even though it is different path than hers.

What I thought had been a conversation down at the other end of the table about sports and beer with the husbands, I found out ended up being some of that but also some of the same soon-to-be parent concerns, as my husband shared with me what the boys discussed that night.  For example, the spouse of the 30 week pregnant friend, expressed to my husband his worry about his demanding job as well and his focus already on determining ways to spend more time at home now and especially once the baby arrived.

What does the decision to work or not to work or to come home early from work and discussing it casually amongst friends at dinner have to do with personal leadership?  Everything.

What strikes me the most though, is that many of us self-impose the decisions we have found to be right for us onto others, because what’s right for us, especially if we have done it through considering personal leadership principles, has to be right for everyone else, right?  Wrong.

True personal leadership is about the ability to, yes, determine the right course of action for yourself through examining your priorities, roles and focus, but is also about having the leadership capability to support others in what they discern is best for them.

I think we’d all admit that this may not come easy, but creating an environment around us where people know that you are there to offer personal support for decisions they make, whether they are congruent to yours or not, is truly establishing personal leadership for yourself.   Especially if you can celebrate their decisions, while remaining true to yours and welcoming them in celebrating what is best for you as well.

Are you lucky enough to be surrounded by friends and family who build an environment for support for the decisions you make?

5 TIPS FOR ESTABLISHING PERSONAL LEADERSHIP THROUGH DECISION MAKING

Have you ever been around someone that waffled on everything?  Whether big or small, with each decision they go back and forth and back and forth until the decision, oftentimes, becomes null and void.  Also, oftentimes, they only worry about what others are thinking in making a decision instead of moving forward based on what is right and best for them personally.

By and large, leaders are decision makers.  Establishing personal leadership requires sound personal decision making and being confident in those decisions.  This is necessary before you can make decisions that impact others and/or an organization.  It is difficult to see how people who have trouble making personal decisions will be able to step into leadership roles where decision making is constant.

 Keys to sound personal decision making: 

1. Decide based on your mission and values. If you have your mission and values always at the forefront, decision making is much easier.  I saw a twitter post this morning from Tim Elmore that stated, “Roy Disney once said, ‘It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.’”
2. Get the facts.  What are the pros and cons of the decision that are factual, not emotional?
3. Weigh in with others who matter.   In personal decisions, make sure you’ve talked with those people who are important in your personal life, in which the decision will impact, before making a decision.  Get their input. Having a colleague to bounce possible pros and cons of different business decisions is valuable.  There may be different people you go to based on different decisions at hand
4. Don’t worry about what those that don’t matter think.  These are your decisions, not someone else’s. Personal leadership starts with knowing what is right for you.
5. Step back, but not too long.  If you are faced with making a potentially life altering or organization altering decision and you’ve gathered the facts and talked with others, step back for a bit.   Take time to focus your thoughts on other things, because if the decision is life altering, it has probably consumed you.   Focusing on other things may help bring clarity to the right path.  But don’t delay too long, this may end up begin worse than making the wrong decision.

What have you found to be most helpful to do when faced difficult decisions?