Month: June 2016

Who needs to know about you?

Wendy Terwelp 1 Comment

Checklist

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with,” Jim Rohn

As the author of “Rock Your Network®,” I’m often asked  about how to network, how to network while working (aka no time to network), and who should be in your network.

Where do you begin? Begin with your career goals. 

Are you looking for a promotion? New business? More clients? Colleagues and peers to brainstorm ideas?

Knowing  your goals will help you determine who needs to be in your network. And who you may need to prune. There are now five generations in the workplace with the arrival of Generation Z. Therefore, it’s good to diversify your network across generations for lasting career management.

When one of my clients was in the market for a new gig, he tapped his college alumni – those who graduated 10 years ahead of him and those who graduated 10 years after him. This led to several opportunities. And, after he landed his new gig, he maintained those connections throughout his career, rising to his current role: vice president of business development.

Your networking criteria will help you save time because you’ll focus on only those areas relevant to your goals. And you can use your networking criteria online or off. For example, I list my personal criteria for connecting on LinkedIn in my profile under “Advice for contacting Wendy.” In my case, I accept invitations from people I know, met personally or know through another connection I respect.

As your career evolves over time,. your networking criteria evolves with it.

Be sure to nurture your network by regularly communicating with people, providing resources and assistance when they need it. Networking is a two-way street. You’ve got to fuel your network to fire it up!

Coaching Challenge: Write down your own criteria for adding people to your online and offline networks based on your career goals.

Need help with your networking efforts? Check out my networking programs here, including LinkedIn networking.

© 1998 – 2016 Wendy Terwelp | All rights reserved.

Reputation = Currency

Wendy Terwelp Leave a comment

Rep = Currency

Enhancing your visibility and personal brand the right way can advance your career. Your personal brand is either by default or by design. A default brand is one that others assign to you. A default brand sounds like: Gertrude is always late. Herman doesn’t follow through on projects.

A well designed personal brand is one you choose for yourself; you control and manage your personal brand through your actions. How do you take control?

First, you’ve got to know where your brand currently stands. Google yourself. Are the search results you? Or someone with too similar a name? For those results that are you, do they reflect how you wish to be perceived today for your current career goals? If not, check out these tips.

To find out how you’re coming across at work, take a personal brand survey. Ask three people whose opinion you respect what three words come to mind when they think of you? What do they feel is one of your greatest strengths? Were the results what you expected? Do these results reflect how you wish to be perceived at work? If there were pleasant surprises, what can you capitalize on? (Check out Bob’s story.) If feedback was not what you’d hoped, what can you do to stand out and be a rock star at work?

Next, take action. What’s one thing you can do to enhance your brand this week?

Results: When I conducted my Stand Out be a Rock Star at Work! program at a young professionals organization, I got a call a few months later from the executive director.

“Wendy, I’ve got something to share with you,” she said and shared the following:

While visiting a client company’s site and a dynamic, polished woman walked up to her. She realized it was K*, a member of the young professionals organization.

“What’s with the new look?,” the executive director asked K.

K said, “It was Wendy’s personal branding workshop. When we did the branding exercise in Wendy’s class, people thought I was shy and quiet. That’s not me! I thought I had to be boring to fit in with my new corporate job.”

“This is me,” K said, grinning with confidence and pointing to her new haircut and sharp attire. “By being more ME, I’m on track for a promotion.”

A promotion also equates to higher visibility in the workplace along with a salary increase.

I love it when I hear success stories from an organizer about someone who attended my workshop. Had K not assessed how she was coming across, she wouldn’t have known to make the change. And she took action to transform her career by design, not default. You can too.

Coaching Challenge: Which of these actions will you complete in the next week?

Want to kick your brand up a notch? Let’s talk. 

*Name pseudonym.

© 1998 – 2016 Wendy Terwelp | All rights reserved.

 

What Career Success Really Looks Like

Wendy Terwelp 2 Comments

In today’s world of work, the only guarantee is CHANGE.

The old days of staying with one company for decades, working hard, and waiting to get recognized and promoted are gone. Senior leaders have more and more responsibilities – and more and more people reporting to them. They can’t possibly track all the fantastic things you do.

Now more than ever, it’s important to take control of your career in order to reach your goals.

Don’t wait for someone to promote you, give you assignments or choose you. Promote yourself through your work ethic, visibility, project contributions, follow through, internal and external networks, and continuing training. Set meetings with your boss to keep them abreast of your contributions and value to the organization.

According to data from a survey by CEB, a management research firm, 6% of Fortune 500 companies have stopped using annual performance reviews and forced rankings in favor of ongoing feedback. In 2015, Deloitte and Accenture also dropped performance reviews in favor of ongoing feedback. This is a trend going forward. Business researcher Josh Bersin estimates that about 70% of multinational companies are moving toward this model, even if they haven’t arrived quite yet.

The Bureau of Labor and Statistics shows the average person changes jobs 12.4 times during his/her lifetime via 2021 report. Career changes ranged from 3 to 7 depending on the survey.

Now more than ever it is mission critical to take an active role in managing your career and personal brand.

Coaching Challenge: Track your hits. Set a meeting with your boss. Communicate your value. You got this!

© 2016 – 2021 Wendy Terwelp | All rights reserved.