This week we started Chapter 7 (team).
Formatting note: I’m trying to strike a balance of codifying the useful tips the book covers, but we as a group skip because we don’t have anything noteworthy. Sentences in italics are those where we spent time discussing; non-italics represents elements worth sharing but without discussion in the group.
Career Conversations
- “You’ll get the biggest bang for your buck spending time with the people who are doing the best work, but you still need to figure out how to manage everybody else.” This resonated with Jamie.
- “But of course it’s bosses who give a damn — companies can’t care personally any more than governments or any other institutions can.” Don’t attribute things to big machines…
- “You need to balance growth and stability.” Geoff imagines this ratio will be different based on how far along you are in your career and specific role/field.
- “The existing solutions that were offered were called ‘personal development plans,’ and they weren’t that useful. Some pretty much told everyone their careers were their own responsibilities; others focused minutely on steps one had to take to get a promotion. They were either a blank canvas or an uninspiring paint-by-numbers picture.”
- “He then wrote down each of her motivators (e.g., ‘financial independence,’ ‘environmentalism,’ ‘hard work,’ ‘leadership’) and explained how the stories she’d told him about her life had led him to choose these words.”
- “Next, he asked Sarah what skills she thought were most important to achieve each dream. Finally, he asked Sarah what skills she felt she had the most competence in.” Geoff liked this: Once you identify the gaps, you now have something tangible to work on together.
- Conversation One: Life Story
- “Remember, you’re not looking for definitive answers; you’re just trying to get to know people a little better and understand what they care about.”
- “One, most people are happy to have this conversation, as long as it takes place in an environment of trust and respect. … Two, there may be times when you touch on something that is too personal. If a person signals discomfort at a question, you have to respect that.”
- Conversation Two: Dreams
- “People who want a promotion never feel they’re getting one fast enough; people who don’t one feel lame for being insufficiently ambitious when you ask them about career aspirations.”
- “…come up with three to five different dreams for the future.”
- Conversation Three: Eighteen-month plan
- “…make a list of how the person’s role can change to help them learn the skills needed to achieve each dream; whom they can learn from; and classes they could take or books they could read. Then, next to each item, note who does what by when — and make sure you have some action items.”
- Jamie liked this because more than eight months is too long; you need a vision, (e.g., being more involved with decisions we make as a business) and you want to align your path to be in a better place.
- We had some discussion around goals, vision, and objectives. The terms take on different meanings depending on who you ask. For example, there are SMART goals. Cursory Google searches seem to show goals are more intention-oriented and objectives are a specific means of getting closer to goals. YMMV.
- Jameson brought up the example mentioned in the book where someone wanted to start a spirulina farm. How do you help someone do something that’s not even related to your company? Jamie suggested showing them how to develop skills like budgeting and learning what businesses do to be successful. Jameson countered by asking why the business would pay for training someone couldn’t use for their role in the company. One answer could be that the company buys a little more time before that person quits. If possible, try to find an angle that aligns with the business and the person’s goals.
- The remainder of our dialogue turned into an interesting conversation about trust versus loyalty, dancing around why someone would want to stay at a company and what would make them leave. Houston ideally wants a place that he can stay so that he doesn’t have to look for another job, maintaining more stability. As a different approach, Jamie wants to work for himself for that same reason. Jameson likes variety in the work and environments.