Tag: start

Reactive or intentional

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At work, you can be reactive or intentional.

When you are reactive, you drop everything you are doing every time a new urgency comes in. You are stuck in a spiral of novelty and unfinished work. You feel powerless and you often end your days with the overwhelming impression of not having accomplished anything important.

When you are intentional, you respond to a new urgency with a deep breath. You finish the work you are doing, or at the very least make sure that you have a solid plan to finish it or to delegate it to someone else. You take out your plan and you check how the urgency can fit. You say no. You feel in control and you often end your days with the priceless recognition of being done.

The reactive mode is fascinating, because it gives us (and others) the illusion of being relevant, important, busy. It’s what most people call “good job!”. Of course, in reactive mode nothing ever changes, and in the long term you are simply drained.

The intentional mode is a choice. It might go unnoticed for a while, because you are not waving your arms in the face of everyone. And of course, in intentional mode you can affect real change.

To understand your default mode, take note of what happens next time your boss calls with a new thing to do.

Then, make the choice.

Inexperienced

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Would you rather.

Learn how to cook from someone who is cooking every day or from someone who has read a book about cooking?

Hearing how to establish healthy habits from someone who has done that consistently over a long period of time or from someone who knows all the theory behind establishing healthy habits?

Take marketing lessons from someone who has successfully established marketing functions at growing companies for years or from someone who has been working at an agency for the past ten months?

Read from a start-up who has just raised €500M or from a start-up who is celebrating their 1,000 followers on Twitter?

There are two lessons here.

First, be mindful about who is advising you.

And second, the safer choice between adding some more knowledge and starting to do the work is the latter.

Pumpkins

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Which do you prefer?

Having two perfectly carved Halloween pumpkins on your doorstep – you have commissioned a master carver to create the pumpkins, you have paid dearly for them, and that allowed your dear ones to keep busy doing their own stuff.

Or having two so-and-so carved Halloween pumpkins on your doorstep – you and your dear ones have carved them together, you had a good time, you made fun of each others carving skills, and you all cherish the memory when you pass by them now.

It’s the camel dilemma all over again, isn’t it?

And the way you choose one way or the other will tell much of the type of leader you might be.

An interview is two-way

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Your next boss is going to be disproportionately more important than your next role, your next company, your next sector. So, when the time comes for you to ask questions, be ready to interview them. A few ideas.

Tell me about the last time you changed your mind.

What would you do if a colleague and I disagree on how to move a project forward?

What were you doing at my age / at my level of seniority?

Tell me about the last organizational change you managed and what did you do?

What of my background do you find most interesting?

What is the number 1 problem you are trying to fix these days?

How would you react if I’d told you that I want to invest part of my working time for personal development?

I understand, it is challenging to get yourself to ask those questions. That’s because we have been told that during an interview, we ought to do anything to land the job. And that includes being nice and pleasant. And that does not include asking questions that might make the hiring manager uncomfortable.

But if they are uncomfortable with that, isn’t that a sign already? Does it not tell us they will be hiding when the time comes for them to support us? Or to tell us we are not doing a good job? Or to find a better role for ourselves, so that we could thrive in the company?

Interviews are always two-way. You can get better at extracting the information you need out of them.

Worth following

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Three people that are worth following.