Assertiveness
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

Some of us are too aggressive others are too submissive.
Getting the balance right is not easy.
To the passive, assertiveness feels like being aggressive.
You feel ashamed, guilty, flustered and upset.
To the aggressive, just being moderately assertive feels like someone is takiing advantage of them.

Enhancing your assertiveness

You may think you're assertive just because you rant and rave at times.
But maybe you give in a lot, kidding yourself that you're just being reasonable.
So how can you say "no" to your boss or others without incurring their wrath?
Say "Yes, but"... and find a way to help others get what they want without you doing it!
Or...you negotiate priorities. Which crisis do they want handled first?
A flat "no" is always confrontational even if not expressed aggressively
Try saying ''Let me see how I can help you.'' Then advise them how to do it instead of taking it on yourself. Or suggest someone else.

Being assertive just means speaking firmly about how you feel about a situation.
It's less confrontational to refer to YOUR feelings rather than the other's behaviour.
Arguing may be be experienced by the other party as an attack even if you speak gently.
You can be assertive by asking questions - statements are more confrontational.
To make a point, ask questions to lead the other party to your conclusions
Emphasize areas of agreement before disussing differences to defuse conflict.
Assertiveness...getting the words and the balance just right takes a lot of practice.
Practice works best with frequent feedback from someone you trust.
Be assertive to keep yourself from sliding into burnout due to excessive stress.
The benefit for you is control over your priorities rather than being driven by demands you feel unable to manage.

Understanding Your Emotions
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

Are you an emotional person?
Do you take this question to mean: Do you get upset easily?
Why do you assume that emotions are negative?
What positive emotions do you express? Excitement? Or enthusiasm?
What's the difference between a mood and an emotion?
Emotions are outbursts. Moods are longer lasting - like feeling up or down.
It's not healthy to suppress negative emotions.
Better to avoid them, such as angry outbursts by reducing stress levels, taking yourself less seriously or changing your attitude towards upsetting things.
How aware are you of how your moods affect your decisions?
We like to think we are so rational, but we can make quite different decisions if we are in a good mood than if in a bad mood.
What rash decisions have you made lately, either when you were feeling particularly bad or especially good?
How often do you take steps to counter the effect of your moods on your actions?
When angry, do you postpone acting until you cool down, for instance?
How aware are you of the impact of your moods and emotions on others?
Are they strongly affected but successful in hiding it from you?
How do your moods and emotions boost or undermine the morale of those around you?

If you don't know the answers to these questions, then, like most of us, your emotional intelligence might benefit from a little developmental fine-tuning.

Anger
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

How can you manage your anger?
Losing your cool at the drop of a hat these days?
Urge to kill?

Anger management is a hot topic today. Everyone is in a hurry thanks to the pressure to get more done in less time. No one is immune. The best we can do is damage limitation.

Only a few people naturally get angry very easily
Most people get angry because their anger threshold is too low.
It's because so much frustration has built up that you have a short fuse.
Instead of looking inside for the cause of negative feelings, we blame something external to us.
Raise your threshold for getting angry.
Examine what has led you to carry around so much frustration.
Putting the causes down on paper make. them less nebulous.
Break the causes of your frustration down into bite size pieces.

What else can you try to better manage your anger?
Ask yourself how you could react differently to these issues.
Make an action plan to change what you can change.
What is easiest to change is how you view situations that are upsetting you.
Some causes of frustration will be work related, some personal.
Knowing that we all face such issues means youíre not necessarily odd.
Catch yourself when you feel your anger boiling up.
Write down why this event is provoking you.
What is it about your attitude that makes it possible for you to feel anger in this situation?
If you can't change it, how can you view it differently?
Ask yourself if there isn't some other way you could react to it.
Convince yourself that there are no objective causes of anger - you could react differently if you really wanted to.
No one can force you to feel anything.
Force yourself to look for positives in every situation.
Try to find a funny side to upsetting situations.

Happiness
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

What is happiness?
People with low self esteem are unhappy with themselves.
You can have OK self esteem and still be unhappy.
This means that you like yourself but are unhappy with some of the circumstances of your life.
You could be unhappy with your relationships, career, finances, how you look, a recent setback, boredom, being criticized or any number of other factors.

But if you are unhappy your self esteem could be low as well - this is because we often blame ourselves when we are unhappy.

How to be happy
Unhappiness may be due to a specific circumstance in your life, but the feeling infects you completely.
It is hard to feel happy about some things and unhappy about others at the same time.
Small things can tip the scales to make us feel happy or unhappy.
We all have happy and unhappy moods - feelings that do not last long.
Often we shift from unhappy to happy just with the passage of time.
Or something happens to tip the balance towards a happy mood.
Something as simple as warm sunshine on a cool day or a refreshing breeze on a hot day.
But what if you are unhappy most of the time?
What can you do to shift yourself to a happier mood?
Unhappy people may have real problems with relationships, career, finances, etc.
Changing your circumstances might make you happier but this may not be very easy.

What else can you do?
Try to avoid dwelling on what makes you unhappy - but thinking alone won't get you far.
It helps to be active - doing what makes you happy and taking more pleasure in them.
Even physical exercise can shift your brain chemistry towards a happier state. It's all about getting out of yourself.
Try to take a different perspective on your life as a whole.
Imagine that you just arrived at your dream holiday destination.
Would you let the fact that your holiday has to end spoil your holiday?
What about mishaps and setbacks --- short of being killed, seriously injured or mugged?
Would you not strive to enjoy your dream holiday in spite of minor mishaps?
Or would you waste your whole holiday feeling sorry for yourself?
If you thought of your life as a dream holiday, would you not seek to make more of it?
Why should you regard your life as the holiday of a lifetime?
But can you imagine the great things you would have missed if you had never been born?
Just being born is like winning the holiday of a lifetime.
You can view your life however you want. It's your choice.
But if you have an negative attitude towards your life or circumstances, ask yourself if it isn't your self esteem that's a problem rather than your external circumstances.
It is easy to be defensive by dumping bad feelings on convenient external scapegoats.
Constantly criticizing everything around us helps us feel better about ourselves.
But this way of eliminating unhappy feelings is no better than abusing substances.
So, becoming happier requires being active, changing what we can change, accepting what we cannot change, trying not to blame others or circumstances for our misfortunes, valuing what we have and developing a more positive attitude to our lives.

Stress at Work
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

Stressed? How does it feel?
Constantly in a hurry?
Keyed up to the point of disorientation?
Can't unwind even at home?
Shorter fuse than usual?
Forgetting...even more often?
Snapping at family and friends?
Making hastier decisions, more mistakes?
Too much last minute rush

What stresses you out?
Make a list of typical external factors that cause you stress.
Prioritize them in terms of worst to least impact on you.
How many of the most impactful ones can you change?
What internal, personal factors contribute to your stress?
Being generally anxious.
A worrying type.
Trying to do too much, not saying ''no'' often enough.
Not prioritizing, trying to do everything at the last minute.
Sensitivity to criticism - being too quick to react to flack.
Excessively high standards, perfectionistic, never feeling I'm good enough.
Too many personal concerns, hence low tolerance for anything extra.
Never taking time to relax, unwind or get exercise, eating, drinking too much.
The first point here is that stress is never caused JUST by external factors.
The second point is that we cannot often control external events but we can work on how we react to them. A first step is to convince yourself that no person or external event can MAKE you feel anything if you refuse to let it.

Stress Management Tips
Here are three steps for dealing with stress more effectively:
Address whatever external factors you can influence - change jobs if necessary.
Become better fit to cope with stress - physical fitness supports mental fitness.
Change how your react to things - laugh more, distance yourself from them, convince yourself that it's not a matter of life and death, be less serious, lighten up, ensure that you have a good work-life balance, when you see negatives in a situation, discipline yourself to note as many positives as you can.
Convince yourself and your boss that you can add more value by actually doing less - by switching from mere hard work to working smarter.

Managing Your Time
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

Running faster and falling further behind?
Pushed to do more with less?
Your options are few: go elsewhere, burn out or manage time better.
Poor time management contributes to increased anxiety, reduced anger threshold, fuzzy thinking, hasty decisions, poor judgement, bad health. Isn't that enough
There is no question that many of us have more to do than we have time for.
It can be pretty overwhelming.
Keeping it all in our heads (and to ourselves) can make it worse.
Two things that can help: write down what you have to do in a list. This makes everything less nebulous, less overwhelming. Then prioritize. This means making some hard decisions about what to delay, not do at all or get someone else to do.
Next, talk to others about what is bothering you, somone you can trust.
You might object that overwork is the culprit not poor time management.
Yes, but you might have more control over how you manage your time.
Can you prove to your boss how smarter working will add more value than hard work?
Demonstrate how focus can mean greater payoff to the company.
Ensure that you are delegating as effectively as you should.
Under time pressure it is too easy to say "I can do it myself faster."
Take time out from firefighting to put some fire prevention in place.
Are you too reluctant to say "no," hence taking on too much?
Negotiate priorities with all key stakeholders.
Sell jobs to others as development opportunities!
By handling all the detail yourself, you may not be adding real value.
Are you taking time to liaise with others? To examine the big picture?
If you let yourself be buried, how much flexibility do you have?
Do you genuinely question why something needs to be done?
Focus on key priorities and accept that some things will not get done.
You are not really managing if you are letting events drive you.
Set aside regular time to prioritize. Management is like investment - just as you need to review your investments periodically to get the best return, review regularly how you are investing all personal and organizational resources at your disposal. Otherwise you are drifting, not managing.
Find things to laugh at, try not to take yourself too seriously.


Effective Delegation
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

Delegation is not just telling someone what to do.
The team members you delegate to must be able to act fully in your absence.
This means letting them think and decide for themselves.
Fully empower people to act independently.
Delegation is not abdication if you get regular feedback on results.
Managers are slow to delegate because they fear no one will do the job properly.
What's the difference between delegation and empowerment?
Empowerment relates to larger scale culture change - it involves instituting a whole new way of working.
Delegation refers to specific, one-off, decisions.
It means letting someone else make decisions you normally make.
Just giving someone tasks to do is not really delegation.
For a specific project, decision or period, someone is your delegate.
The challenge is to give clear direction but not too much.
Focus on the outcome expected, the deliverable and time frame.
Be clear on the authority and limits you are delegating.
Is your delegate to decide only how to do a task or is there latitude on what and when?
What support does your delegate require?
What recourse should be taken if there are problems and under what conditions?
What feedback do you require and how often?
Ask open questions to verify understanding - not closed questions like 'Do you understand?'
How would you define a satisfactory outcome?
Are you betraying your reluctance to let go by asking for too much re-assurance?
Don't delegate apologetically by saying '' I know you're busy, but would you mind just doing.... This makes the task sound like a burden. Try, instead to present the task as a learning opportunity for the person.

Common Barriers to Delegation
Fear is the main reason managers are poor delegators
They are afraid that they won't succeed unless they control everything very closely.
They are afraid they won't be seen as contributing unless they do the most important things themselves.
They fear the unknown, people being on top of things that they don't know anything about.
They are afraid that others will let them down and that they will then disappoint their boss.
They fear losing what made them successful, being great solution generators. Just being a facilitator, catalyst, coordinator and coach doesn't feel like real work to them.
To conquer the fear of delegation, managers need to reframe their role and identity from one of solution generator to one of catalyst or facilitator. They need to get their heads around what it means to contribute in a different way.

Why Can't You Delegate?
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D. | 10 May 2010

We are told that delegation is the key management tool for getting work done through people. With all the pressure to do more with less, managers should be good at delegation. But this is unfortunately not true.

Here are some of the "good reasons" managers use not to delegate:
We can't afford to get it wrong.
It takes too much time; I can do it quicker myself.
My team members are too busy already.
I don't trust my team members to take full responsibility.
No one else knows how to do this but me.
This issue needs the attention of someone at my level.

Barriers to Delegation

Excessive ownership: The responsibility of a managerial role makes people feel a great deal of ownership. When this become excessive, managers have trouble letting go.

Fear of failure: Managers are acutely aware of being measured. They feel intense pressure to produce short term results.

Role confusion: Managers like getting their hands dirty, doing "real work" rather than facilitating, developing or coordinating the efforts of others. They don't understand the managerial role or don't want to stop what they did in the past.

Needing answers: Constant requests from stakeholders for answers drives managers to stay on top of details. As a result, they don't feel confident unless they know everything.

Here's how to address each of these barriers in turn:

Excessive ownership: The truth is that you can achieve more through shared ownership. Too much ownership on your shoulders can burn you out while disempowering everyone else. Why should your team members care if you are doing all the worrying for the entire team? Saying you don't trust your team members to take responsibility is a self-fulfilling prophecy. It's because you hog all the ownership that your team members don't care.

Fear of failure: You are more likely to fail by trying to do it all yourself, so this outlook is self-defeating. Stress undermines concentration leading to mistakes. By involving others, you not only spread the task load, you spread ownership. Let others worry about their part. Help them feel the same level of responsibility you feel.

Role confusion: Increased responsibility can lead to greater anxiety to perform which in turn could drive you to do it all. To succeed as a manager, you need to shift the basis of your confidence from doing tasks to facilitative skills. This means facing up to possible loss of functional skills, but it is better to make a clear choice than sit on the fence thus confusing both yourself and your team.

Needing answers: This is about managing expectations. If you position yourself as a facilitator, catalyst, coach and developer of others, someone who genuinely relies on others to perform, it is important to make that clear to stakeholders. Make them understand that if you had all the answers you wouldn't need a team. Train them to expect you to get back to them as soon as you have consulted your team members on their question.

Effective Delegation

Do you have an all-or-nothing approach to delegation? You feel that you must do it yourself or totally turn it over to a team member. But the latter amounts to abdication, not delegation or management.
So, how can you delegate without losing control?

To reassure yourself that team members are on the right track, ask them to tell you how they plan to carry out the task. Get them to talk you through the steps, possible obstacles and how they would address them. Ask questions rather than telling them what to do as they won't listen to all the details anyway. By listening to their approach, you can assess their plan and likelihood of success. More importantly, you can guide them before they start.

The second step is to agree regular follow-up. How often, what means and how long depends on the importance of the task, the risk of getting it wrong and the competence of the team member. During each review session, get the employee to first state what has gone well, then what hasn't and finally what needs to be done about the latter. Asking them to state what went well first is a great way to celebrate success.

The more you are in listening mode the more you are allowing the employee to take ownership. Conversely, the more you tell the employee what to do, the more you retain ownership on your shoulders. This is self-defeating.

Delegate Positively

When delegating, don't say: "I know you are busy, but could you do this for me?" By apologizing, you convey the impression that you are dumping a burden on the employee, not a very motivating tactic. Find out what team members are good at, want to learn or do more of so that you can present delegated tasks as opportunities instead of burdens.
Rather than just delegating menial tasks, try to give them things to do that will develop them, jobs that will stimulate and stretch them without going beyond their limits. To develop successors, delegate significant projects so team members can learn your role.
By delegating more, you can achieve great things. But it doesn't mean that you will be doing less because, as you shift the basis of your role, you will be investing more time in coaching and developing team members to accomplish even more through them.

Managing Anxiety
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

What is anxiety? Fear? Of what?
The unknown, change, uncertainty.
Your boss, other colleagues.
Work and time pressures.
Failing, being found incompetent.
Being rejected.
Not achieving what you want.
Financial problems.
Relationship problems.
Deteriorating health.
Status anxiety.
Consumption - not getting your share.

Where do you hide when you feel anxious?
Anxiety can paralyze us. We think that everyone else is OK because everyone tries to hide their anxiety. But this only increases our anxiety. It is a constant battle that everyone has to work at to keep anxiety at bay.

How can you manage your anxiety?
We all feel anxious some of the time about some things - it's only human.
If others don't seem to, it's only because we have learned to hide it.
That makes us more anxious - seeing others appearing to be OK.
If you think only you can't cope, this will increase your anxiety.
It may help to write down the negative things you say to yourself.
When you catch yourself at it, write down the opposite point of view.
The positive slant is just a different way of looking at the same facts.
Anxiety causes a distorted view of things---leading to more anxiety.
Distortion is best eliminated by checking your view with others.
Talking about anxiety is made easier by starting with small hints.
Often, we find the other person has the same feelings.
This then makes it easier to open up more fully.
This is doing a reality check.
Break down your anxiety into specifics that you can knock off one at at time.
Keeping it all in your head makes it seem overwhelming.
Change tbe external factors leading to your anxiety that you can change.
Then, for the rest, work at changing how you think about and react to pressure.
Also, improve your self esteem, strive to think more highly of yourself.
Try to think of positives along with negatives - not just the latter.
When criticizing yourself list all the good things you can say about yourself.
Practice relaxation techniques such as meditation.

Defensiveness
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

When criticized, do you ever...
repackage your blunders so you won't look so bad?
blame circumstances, luck or others when things don't work out?
position the "facts" to create a positive impression?
create excuses for not having done something?
argue back forcefully?
feel hurt and withdraw?
get angry and vow to get even?
How receptive are YOU to feedback?

How to be less defensive
These moves, and many more less obvious ones, are all defensive.
A little defensiveness is healthy self-protection...like your immune system.
Excessive defensiveness will prevent you from learning from your mistakes.
After all, why do anything different, if all your mistakes are someone else's fault?
Feeling angry because of changes imposed from above?
Attack the stupidity of your bosses and you feel better!
But this move can be self-defeating if it stops you from understanding their rationale and coming to terms with your own resistance to change.
If you have healthy slef esteem you should be able to admit your mistakes.
If you have low self esteem you will either be too hard on yourself for even small mistakes OR you will go to the other extreme and defensively never admit them!
When you anticipate failure of a project do you start telling people why it will fail?
You're setting up defenses in advance so you won't have to create them after the fact.
Advance defensiveness can increase the likelihood of failure.
Some people will even sabotage their own projects, when they start to think they will fail, if they can do so in a way that ensures their getting off the hook.
Recognizing and avoiding your own excessive defensiveness is not easy if you have developed a pattern of protecting a fragile self esteem in this way.
But you will not keep up with the demand in today's organizations to learn faster if you don't confront this issue for yourself.

Work Life Balance
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

Under pressure to do more with less?
Need to get a life?
Forgot what your family looks like?
How long can you keep it up?
Are you in charge or is someone else driving you?
Zero work life balance?
Friends calling you a workaholic?
Short fuse with colleagues and family?

Burning the candle at both ends?

What can you do about it?
It often seems like we have no choice - if we won't do it they will find someone who will.
Maybe you're not aware of your full bargaining power.
It depends on how you package it.
If you complain, whine, cry, shout and stamp your feet, what do you expect?
You may not get much sympathy.
But how about selling what you can achieve and bargaining for a better deal?
Focus on the tangible things you have achieved and can do for the business in the future.
Make a case for being judged on your results, not the amount of time you put in.
This is the positive approach. Complaining will get you nowhere.
Stop feeling guilty for not being there all hours of every day.
Do your own performance appraisals - celebrate successful results, not hours worked.
Delegate and facilitate so others do more on your behalf.
Take time to think strategically about where you can add most value.
Avoid reactive, fire-fighting mode.
Say 'no' more often - but constructively - say ''Let me see how I can help you.'' and offer someone else's help or take an advisory approach, anything but doing it yourself.
It's your life after all!

What is Self Esteem?
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

Self esteem does not mean seeing yourself as the greatest person in the world. It's not the same as being conceited. Healthy self esteem means liking yourself, for the most part, as you are.
You can have OK self esteem and still have occasional bouts of self doubt. How you feel about yourself depends on who you compare yourself with. Healthy self esteem means thinking as highly of yourself as you think of your peers.

Excessive self esteem = being over confident or complacent. OK self esteem is compatible with humility. Humility is not the same as self-effacement. The right balance should place you mid-way between grandiosity and self-effacement.

To build and maintain healthy self esteem:
Forgive yourself for your mistakes. Celebrate your strengths and achievements by regularly reviewing what went well instead of thinking only about problems or setbacks. We are so used to negative feedback that we are more aware of our weaknesses. Set achievable targets and get regular feedback. Change the way you talk to yourself - stop putting yourself down. Be sure that you are not judging yourself against unreasonable standards. Beating yourself for your weaknesses is self-defeating

Self Esteem
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

Healthy self esteem is vital for happiness. To be happy, we need to feel good about ourselves, to feel worthy as persons. Low self esteem is very common and not much fun! The key to healthy self esteem is becoming aware of our personal strengths and accepting ourselves as worthy persons despite any real weaknesses we have. It is a matter of cultivating the right attitude, regardless of our personal circumstances. Not easy, but possible with constant effort.

This also means learning that low self esteem is partly self-imposed regardless of original causes - we maintain our own low self esteem by discounting our basic worth relative to others. This is because the more we criticize ourselves the worse we feel. Finding fault with everything around us is not helpful except in providing a bit of immediate relief.

The good news is that we can change how we view ourselves, our attitudes - without changing our basic personalities. A vital point to realize is that all people have a tendency to discount their strengths and good qualities because what they find easy to do, what comes natural to them, seems like nothing special. Yet, the reality is that what we like doing, what we find easy to do and what comes natural to us are personal strengths and admirable qualities. To build self esteem, it is essential to recognize our strengths and good traits.

We can also spend more time doing useful things and less time sitting around thinking about ourselves. This builds self esteem. Talking to other people helps us see that we are not the only ones with problems. This means focusing on them, not dwelling on ourselves, a good diversion. We all have something we don't like about ourselves or feel bad about. The trick is to avoid over generalizing: - "I have some undesirable traits, therefore I am undesirable in general." Or: "I have some unattractive qualities, therefore I am unattractive."

The key is to stop letting our negative points overwhelm our good ones and poisoning our self-image. Helping others and being a good listener are good ways to develop a sense of being good at something and a greater sense of self worth. Listening and being nice to others is one of the easiest things to change about ourselves, something everyone can do and it is one of the best ways of starting to feel better about ourselves.

The key point is to do things that get in the way of dwelling on ourselves - being busy gets us out of ourselves, especially if what we are doing gives us a sense of achievement. Everyone wants to be liked, but we deceive ourselves by thinking we have to BE different in the way we look or behave in ourselves. The truth is that the most attractive trait is to show interest in, and be nice to, others. People will like you for this regardless of whatever other faults you may have.

Low Self Esteem
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

Two low self esteem responses:

1. Feeling down on yourself
People with low self esteem commonly feel overwhelmed by the pace of life, thus feeling like a failure relative to everyone else. They constantly doubt if they can achieve anything thus playing it safe, not trying anything new, behaving timidly, not asserting themselves, overly depending on others to look after them and avoiding unpleasant realities.
They also fail to put sufficient effort into things because they doubt that they can be successful, so why try? They put themselves down constantly and find fault excessively with their looks - too fat, too slim, too short, etc.

2. Feeling angry and getting even
The first self esteem response is passive while the second is more reactive and externally focused. These people tend to lose their temper at the drop of a hat. They are quick to pick a fight and to blame others or circumstances for setbacks. They are constantly finding fault with the world and being negative - nothing is good, everything is horrible. Such people take pleasure in stories about the troubles of others and are inclined to take things out on others. They are constantly arguing about petty issues.

Being both down and angry
We mistakenly compare how we feel with how others behave. Inevitably, most others will behave more happily than we feel. So we conclude that no one else could feel as bad as we do. This creates a vicious circle and our self esteem drops further. Dwelling on the negative is like cancer. It grows and gets worse. It's pretty hard to force yourself just to think differently when you feel so negative.

Causes of Low Self Esteem
Too much criticism hurts self esteem. Not enough positive feedback can cause low self esteem. Poor appreciation of strengths, taking strengths for granted because they come easy to you.
Not celebrating success at work; focusing on mistakes instead, constantly criticizing yourself. Too much introspection, soul searching, not enough interaction with the real world, hence withdrawal.

Suggestions
One solution, if we can't change our situation or ourselves, is to change our attitude towards such things. One way to do this is to list all of the good things we can find in any situation. This may be hard at first. Perhaps someone else can help you. Keep in mind that you are partly causing yourself to feel worse. When we feel bad, we try to make ourselves feel better by blaming anything and everything around us, but that can often just make us feel worse. The worse we feel the more we feel a need to attack something, anything just to unload these negative feelings.

The problem is, however, that this does not really offer a long term solution even if it provides immediate relief. You need, instead, to look at what you can do to change how you perceive things in the first place. This means finding a more positive way of viewing yourself and your situation.
Another tactic is to spend time doing and thinking about things that get in the way of our focus on the negative. Do things that are constructive and make us feel good. That means such things as helping others or achieving things that take effort rather than just getting drunk for instance or watching TV. We can't develop a sense of achievement with no effort. Achievement is one of the surest ways of building better self esteem.
Dwelling on ourselves is one of the surest ways of staying down. Arrange to get regular positive feedback. This can be done by conducting regular meetings at work where you begin by everyone saying what went well for them since the last meeting. Also, ask stakeholders or colleagues regularly what went well before asking what did not go so well.
I Don't Like Myself
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

This statement is an all-or-nothing, global judgement.
You're saying you dislike EVERYTHING about yourself, there is NOTHING to like about you.
In fact, you're unhappy about one or two of your traits and this is clouding your judgement about your many good qualities.
Have you tried making a list of all your likeable qualities?
Think of your strengths - all the things you find easy to do that others struggle to do.
Then there are the things you like doing - chances are you are good at them too.
Avoid discounting your strengths by saying ''That's nothing.'' or ''Anyone can do that.''
What about things you have done for others?
Ask your friends or family what they think you are better at than others.
Next, get out of yourself as much as you can - the more we dwell on ourselves and our problems the worse we feel about everything.
It can help to find a distraction - doing things we enjoy and are good at.
Recognize that there are really only one or two things you don't like about yourself.
Then ask yourself whether there aren't people worse off than you in these respects.
And think again about who you are comparing yourself with - do you really need to be the same as the people you most admire just to be likeable?
Most importantly , convince yourself that being likeable has nothing to do with WHAT or
WHO you ARE, but rather how you treat others. You cannot change yourself, but you can change how you behave towards others - this is the real secret of being likeable.
Suppose, for example, you don't like your looks. You defeat yourself if you moan and groan all the time about it, hence driving people away from you. If, instead, you focus on being nice to people, they will like you for that far more than they would even if you could wave a magic wand and change how you look.

Anyway, basing our confidence on looks is a losing strategy for happiness - it helps attract people in the first place, but for longer term happiness, it's what's inside us that counts.

Healthy Self Esteem
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

Healthy self esteem does not imply over confidence.

People who have an OK level of self esteem are:
confident without being overbearing
not devastated by criticism
not overly defensive when questioned
active and achievement oriented without being driven
mostly happy with themselves as they are
not easily defeated by setbacks and obstacles

They are also:
able to accept and learn from mistakes
unlikely to feel a need to put others down
open and assertive in communicating their needs
self reliant and resourceful without refusing help
not overly worried about failing or looking foolish
not harshly or destructively critical of themselves
not aggressively driven to prove themselves - people with normal self esteem are happy with themselves as they are
able to laugh at themselves, not taking themselves too seriously

People with normal self esteem might doubt themselves from time to time but their sense of self worth consistently reverts to a balanced state.

Having healthy self esteem does not mean feeling perfect. It is just not being continually plagued by self doubt.

Having normal self esteem means not being excessively high one minute and feeling completely worthless the next.

Achieving Success
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

You need to set yourself ambitious, challenging goals to achieve success. But, are you setting yourself up for a great fall like poor old Humpty perched on his wall? The wall I’m talking about is unrealistic expectations, hopes or dreams.

Everyone needs aspirations, goals to work toward and challenges to tackle. It is when we think we have unlimited power to achieve anything we put our minds to that we’re asking to share Humpty Dumpty’s fate.

We’re asking for trouble if we believe the success gurus who tell us we can have it all by just making up our minds. They’re really only right about themselves. Because they achieved great success easily, they think that everyone else should be able to repeat their achievements. The truth is that everyone can do some things that are difficult for others. Unfortunately, the things we’re good at we regard as easy, so much so that we can’t understand why others can’t do them.

If you think of all the work, sports or personal activities that you really enjoy doing and are good at, you probably don’t see the skills involved in doing them as real strengths because you see these things as simply too easy to do. They come naturally to you. Can’t think of anything you are good at that others can’t do? What about tying your shoes? Young children can’t do that. What about finding your way somewhere new without getting lost, using a computer or doing a crossword puzzle? There are countless such things that are so easy for you to do that you can’t understand why everyone can’t do them with equal ease.

A relevant pop-psychology book from the 1980’s is If I’m So Successful, Why Do I Feel Like A Fake, subtitled The Imposter Syndrome, by Judith Bardwick. The core message of this book is that some very successful people feel like fakes because they don’t think they deserve their success and they live in fear of being found out. The real problem for them is that they feel that their success came too easily. Instead of recognizing their strengths, they feel like imposters.

We all share an important trait with success gurus and people who feel like imposters: anything we are good at seems so easy to do that we think others should have no trouble following our example. This is a myth, a biased self-perception. The truth is that people differ enormously on countless traits and abilities such as motivation, confidence, resilience, anxiety, self-discipline, talent, skill, intelligence, energy, attitude and optimism, to name only a few.

So, how can you hang onto your aspirations without becoming a humpty dumpty, setting yourself up for a great fall by living in a fantasy world where you think you should be able to do anything you put your mind to? There is no doubt that you won’t achieve great things without pushing yourself and taking risks. But you should do a reality check from time to time. Ask your friends to help you make a list of the personal qualities and other conditions (i.e. finances) needed to achieve your dreams. Then ask them to rate you on a 10 point scale on each of the success criteria to see how realistic you’re being. Make sure to thank your friends for the feedback they give you or they won’t give you any more. If you think they’re wrong, get some expert advice or at least some other opinions.

Success gurus who make it sound easy to get whatever you want are not deliberately deceiving you. They’re simply making a mistake in thinking that what was easy for them should be easy for everyone. Their hype is seriously damaging to your chances for happiness because they’re encouraging you to feel dissatisfied with your present state and to feel that you can change it with relative ease. As a result you hate your present and, when you fall like poor old Humpty, you end up hating yourself too.

Try reminding yourself regularly to avoid living in the future so much that you fail to be happy in the present. If you let yourself feel that you can only be happy when you achieve whatever, then you risk never being happy. Happiness depends on finding satisfaction in the present, on feeling lucky to have what you have.

How to be Happy
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

Being born - like winning the lottery
Adopting this attitude may be the real key to happiness.

How would your happiness improve if you won the lottery? This fantasy is universal because so many people are unhappy, dissatisfied with their lot in life.

But why do you focus on what you haven’t got rather than on things you could feel happy about now? Why waste your life dreaming about winning a pile of money when you have already won an infinitely more valuable lottery prize: You were born. Can you imagine what you would have missed if you had never been born? No doubt some people say they would prefer not to have been born. But life can be viewed as a great opportunity to make whatever we can out of it, to find happiness in the here and now. No matter what the present is like, we can choose to dwell on how horrible it all is or we can choose to think about all the small things that have made us happy throughout our lives.

Try thinking of your life as a dream holiday. Suppose you won the most fantastic, luxurious 2 week holiday you can imagine. Would you let yourself enjoy only the first week of your holiday and then spend the second week feeling sorry for yourself because your holiday had to come to an end soon? This is what people in the second half of life do. They get increasingly grumpy because their time is running short but they spoil half their lives by letting themselves feel this way.

Every morning when you wake up, try telling yourself that your dream holiday has just been extended by another day. You have won the lottery all over again. Tell yourself how lucky you are to have whatever you have and make up your mind to enjoy your day. Try to make it a special day, have some fun and make someone close to you feel good.

You might object: ‘’My life is no dream. In fact, it’s crap!’’ Someone who feels this way is likely to add: ‘’If you look at life objectively, it’s no picnic. We struggle along for a few miserable years only to get sick, old and die. Where is the fun in that!’’ The truth is that it is not possible to look at life ‘’objectively.’’ How we view life is totally and utterly a matter of attitude. We can all think of people who are worse off than we are who are happy in spite of their limitations or setbacks.

The fascinating question here, therefore, is why do so many people choose to maintain such a negative attitude toward their lives? A tendency to be dissatisfied with the present and to take for granted the good progress we have made has evolutionary value. We wouldn’t keep striving to improve our lot otherwise.

But excessive dissatisfaction is self-defeating and a recipe for unhappiness. Here are a few reasons why this happens:

• Things we have gained or done well are easily taken for granted.
• We can readily see lots of ways that things could be better, how we could be happier.
• Seeing what we don’t have is painful and hence more visible.
• We are bombarded with role models on TV who look better off than we are.
• Feeling that others are better off than us induces envy, anger and resentment.
• To protect our self esteem, we blame others or circumstances for our fate.
• We tend to globalize – some things in life are crap, therefore life is crap.
• We get more negative than positive feedback because people react more strongly to things that
annoy them.

So, what can you do to change your attitude toward your life, to find more happiness? Here are a few suggestions:

• Tell yourself every morning that you have won the lottery all over again because you have won
another day to live and enjoy.
• Make up your mind to make every day special.
• At the end of every week, make a list of all the good things you did, the things you enjoyed and what
made you happy that week. Like managing your weight or changing any bad habit, regular,
consistent discipline is absolutely vital.
• Continuously monitor and catch yourself thinking negative thoughts, then force yourself to stand
back and focus on something positive if only to tell yourself that you are so lucky to be alive that
none of this annoying stuff really matters by comparison.
Whose Standards
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

Are excessively high standards hurting your self esteem? Low self esteem can be the result of trying to live up to unrealistic standards - usually ones we acquired early in life and which are no longer relevant.

Some questions to ponder:
What are you really trying to achieve?
Why is it so important?
What about your other values? How well balanced is your perspective?
Who are you trying to prove yourself to: your boss, father, mother, spouse?

Beware the Tyranny of The Shoulds - the enemy of self esteem.

I should...
be earning much more money
be the best provider for my family in the world
be at the very top of my profession
get all my work done on time always
never make any mistakes...ever
always make the right decisions
always know exactly what to do
always feel enthusiastic and energetic
always win all my arguments with everyone
always be on top of everything

What can you do about it?
You no doubt have other Shoulds to beat yourself with
But who says you have to be perfect? Or inhumanly invulnerable?
Can you live up to your Shoulds AND maintain perspective
Having excessively high standards is a no-win situation with you as the number one loser
Unachievable standards = low self esteem = pushing yourself even harder
Exerting even more effort and still failing = even lower self esteem
Hence you are caught in a self-defeating vicious circle

Self Talk
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

How do you talk to yourself?

It is well known that negative self-talk kills self esteem. Cognitive therapy focuses on helping people talk to themselves more positively, among other things.

What names do you call yourself?

When you make a mistake, do you say...
What an idiot! How can you be so stupid!
Can't you get anything right! What a loser!
There you go again! You're not really up to it, are you?!!

Why Do You Talk Like This to Yourself?
Who else has talked to you this way in the past?
Why are you still listening to them?

Changing Your Self Talk
You can't change your past, but you can change the way you talk to yourself today.
Start by making a LONG list of all the good things you have ever done.
Catch yourself saying nasty things to yourself.
Exclaim: Stop it!!
Say the opposite to yourself, that you have achieved a lot of good things.
Recite your list of achievements to yourself.
Regularly review your list of Shoulds and tell yourself it's OK to be less than perfect.
Be proud of what you have done and of what you are working on.

Celebrate Strengths
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

A sure recipe for low self esteem is to constantly beat yourself for your failings.
To raise your self-esteem, try to be more balanced by celebrating your strengths.

Why do you think you have so few strengths worth celebrating?
Because everyone has always pointed out your shortcomings - as you do yourself.
Because you rarely get any positive feedback for a job well done .
Because the things you do well are so familiar to you that you take them for granted .
Because you have learned to focus only on your mistakes .

Audit your strengths
This is not as easy as it seems because you will have discounted your strengths.
Find a good listener to help you review everything you have done.
Others may be more objective about what you can do than you can be.
Discuss work and non-work projects you have been involved in over the last 5 years.
Strive to avoid discounting the other person's attempts to name your strengths.

Regularly review your strengths
Make a list of your strengths and read it to yourself regularly, adding to it as you go.
Praise yourself for what you have achieved.
Compare yourself favourably with peers who have not done what you have done.
Review your strengths whenever you are feeling particularly defeated.

Get Feedback
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

To build self esteem
Without feedback, we think negatively and we lose touch with reality. We maintain low self esteem.
In a negative frame of mind, we exaggerate negative thoughts about ourselves and our self esteem falls further.
The thought of feedback is frightening as we expect confirmation of our worst fears.
Actual feedback is more objective and we are surprised at how positive it is.
The best way to get honest feedback is through an anonymous questionnaire.
Like businesses, you need accurate feedback from key customers.
You will get some negative feedback, as will everyone.
The key is to CELEBRATE the positive feedback and plan to improve in the other areas.
Use regular feedback as a way of maintaining perspective on yourself.
Your self esteem will rise as you see how little it takes to really please people.
Our self esteem suffers when we have no feedback because we expect the worst.
Even if you don't like some feedback, it is critical to thank the person giving it and to avoid arguing or defending yourself. Otherwise you won't get such feedback ever again.

Liking Your Looks
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

What can we change about how we look?
But we have to find ways of valuing ourselves other than our looks.
Everyone has good qualities, many of which can be learned or cultivated.
It is easy to overlook our good qualities because these are the things we do naturally, that we like doing or find easy to do, so we discount them, thinking everyone does them, but that is often not true.
For example, people like us because of how we treat them.
This is a more important quality for preserving long term relationships than how we look.
Even the so-called ''beautiful'' people get divorced and can be unhappy.
Often the best looking people are so wrapped up in their looks that they have no depth, no attractive qualities beyond their looks - this is a worse handicap than not having great looks.
If your sole basis for attracting the interest of others is how you look, what value is that?
How long do you think people's interest can be maintained merely by how someone looks?
Not very long. We need to have other qualities, ones that are not just skin deep if we want to hold someone's interest.
How interesting do you make yourself if, not liking your looks, you spend most of your time worrying about how you look, moaning about life in general and complaining about everything around you?
You can do little to change how you look, but you can change your attitude.
Instead of focusing on yourself, focus on others.
Help them feel good, be warm, amusing, a good listener, supportive and helpful.
Develop a range of interests to make you more interesting.
When the people you want to attract get beyond looks, you will need to have qualities like this to sustain a long term relationship.
What is more important?
The bottom line is to stop basing your self esteem on how you look and base it instead on how you relate to others, how you behave not what or who you are.

Finding Fault
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

We blame things outside ourselves to protect our self-esteem but it doesn't help much in the long term.

Some people do more than their share of finding fault with all kinds of things around them.
They do so only partly because things are not so great around them. But the main reason is that they are unhappy within themselves.

Research has shown that people who are bored with working in a factory, complain about poor working conditions, a noisy environment, a cold workplace, poor lighting and numerous other things that are bugging them about where they work.

These same people, however, don't mind getting dirty working on their cars or in their gardens or working in poor light or nasty weather on their pet projects. They might even work long hours or forget to take a break.

Why the difference? Because they feel such a strong sense of personal satisfaction when doing their hobbies that they overlook the negatives which are insignificant by comparison to the sense of achievement and personal worth they get from doing something that is meaningful to them.

By contrast, at work, they may be just getting paid to do work that doesn't interest them. But the odd thing is that we complain about the small stuff rather than say that we feel undervalued or uninterested in our work.

So, if you find yourself complaining a lot about small things, ask yourself what deeper reason is there that might explain why you are unhappy.

See what you can do about that. Can you change your focus so that you spend more time doing the things you like doing? Try to focus more on making other people happy. That is easy to do and it achieves two other things: it can give you a better sense of self-worth and, secondly, it can get your mind off yourself for a while.

Low Self Esteem and Suicide
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

If you are medically depressed, you may need professional help.
You can try to help yourself first, but you should get professional help. It doesn't hurt to talk
to an expert.

How can you help yourself?
Think about how we make decisions - when we feel like doing something, we look for MORE reasons to do it. We don't objectively seek reasons NOT to do what we want. This is self-serving but we do it for all sorts of decisions, like buying a new car or changing jobs.

So, if you feel like committing suicide, you may be backing yourself into a corner by not letting yourself see any good reasons to live.

Can you make a list of all the good reasons you can think of to go on living? Writing things down, forcing yourself to make a LONG list can help.

How can you help others feel better about themselves? Much of the world is unhappy for many of the same reasons.

Don't forget the best reason to go on. Being born at all rather than not is like winning the world's biggest lottery. You are one of the lucky ones.

If you don't agree with this, you should realize that there is no right and wrong answer here. It is a CHOICE we make how to look at the accident of our birth. You can convince yourself that you are incredibly lucky to be alive, but only if you make a list of all the great opportunities that life brings, little things like seeing birds sing or feeling the sun on your face, not to mention doing things for others or trying to make the world a better place in some small way.

You may have some objective aspects of your life that you don't like and can't change, like having a disability, but you can change how you view yourself and your life. You can find something to be happy about if you make up your mind to do it and look for something you can enjoy doing.

Realize that whenever you start thinking about how bad things are for you that this is your choice. It is not easy to simply talk yourself into feeling good. This is only the first step. The more important step is to get out of yourself and focus on doing good things in the world, like helping people, for instance. We acquire good feelings about ourselves by being busy doing things we like doing and seeing the gratitude in others when we help them.

Liking Your Looks
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

What can we change about how we look?
But we have to find ways of valuing ourselves other than our looks.
Everyone has good qualities, many of which can be learned or cultivated.
It is easy to overlook our good qualities because these are the things we do naturally, that we like doing or find easy to do, so we discount them, thinking everyone does them, but that is often not true.
For example, people like us because of how we treat them. This is a more important quality for preserving long term relationships than how we look.
Even the so-called ''beautiful'' people get divorced and can be unhappy.
Often the best looking people are so wrapped up in their looks that they have no depth, no attractive qualities beyond their looks - this is a worse handicap than not having great looks.
If your sole basis for attracting the interest of others is how you look, what value is that? How long do you think people's interest can be maintained merely by how someone looks? Not very long.
We need to have other qualities, ones that are not just skin deep if we want to hold someone's interest.
How interesting do you make yourself if, not liking your looks, you spend most of your time worrying about how you look, moaning about life in general and complaining about everything around you?
You can do little to change how you look, but you can change your attitude.
Instead of focusing on yourself, focus on others. Help them feel good, be warm, amusing, a good listener, supportive and helpful. Develop a range of interests to make you more interesting.
When the people you want to attract get beyond looks, you will need to have qualities like this to sustain a long term relationship. What is more important?

The bottom line is to stop basing your self esteem on how you look and base it instead on how you relate to others, how you behave not what or who you are.

Emotions
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

Emotional intelligence is the ability to manage our emotions and those of others.
The first step is to understand how our own emotions affect how we think and act.
Also vitial to understand how our emotions affect others.
Become more aware of other people's emotions, what impact they have on how they behave and on how we feel.
Don't manipulate or suppress feelings.
Understand, support and channel emotions as productively as possible.
We think we are aware of our feelings, personal traits, strengths and weaknesses, but we are actually more aware of our failings than our good points.
Why?
Because the good we do comes naturally for us so we take it for granted and discount it by saying it was nothing or by saying surely everyone does that.
You can't manage how you feel about things unless you are fully aware of both sides of yourself - good and not so good.
Some people over emphasize their bad points and others are so good at defending themselves, without realizing it that they are always in denial.

Career Success
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

We're told that it's up to us to manage our own careers. But many feel powerless to do so short of leaving for greener pastures. Yes, you can do your best in your present job and hope to get promoted. But can you take an entrepreneurial approach to managing your career and, if so, how would you go about it?

We tend to think that it is up to management to offer us a better job. Some career frustration may be based on not climbing the ladder fast enough, but it is also caused by having little say in the matter. Feeling powerless can drive people to leave out of resentment.

We find it easy to leave when our resentment reaches a stage we won't tolerate. At this stage, almost anything seems more attractive than where we are.

In building ourselves up to go elsewhere, we paint an overly rosy picture to ourselves of greener pastures while blinding ourselves to any redeeming features of our current employer. Such rationalization is not the most emotionally intelligent way of managing our careers.

What is the best way to decide what you want to do next? How can you decide whether to move on or not. Many people do a lot of soul searching to answer these questions, but because so much is unknown they either feel stuck or they take the first thing that comes along.

Career decisions can be better made by relying on a process of discovery. We often don't know what we are going to buy when we go shopping until we see things we like. We might buy something we had never expected to buy. So, a lot of decisions are made on the basis of seeing what we like, not by prior rational thinking.

How can you apply this process to making a career decision? Within your current company, you can take on new responsibilities and new projects to sample different kinds of work.

But if you want to change employers, try talking to people who are already working at likely companies. Ask them what they like and don't like about working there. Try to get to talk to someone who could hire you in a department in which you could work. Simply showing interest is a good way of selling yourself.

In short, an entrepreneurial approach to career management could mean being totally opportunistic, but this could amount to simply drifting and waiting. Otherwise, you need to actively search for opportunities and not just through advertised openings.

Goals at Work
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

How can you be more successful in achieving what you want in life and work? Personal effectiveness means making the most at all personal resources at our disposal - our talent, energy and time relative to what's most important to us.

It is like money management or investment - we want to get the best return on our resources. As with managing money, we can either drift through life making ad hoc decisions or we can set time aside periodically to review our investments.

It's not about sacrificing spontaneity or opportunism to be super organized if this is not your style. It's more a matter of taking whatever steps fit your style to help you are make the best use of your talents, energy and time. Being successful is in the eyes of the beholder - for some it means having a satisfying personal life, for others it is some form of career success that drives them. The only right answer is the one that makes you happy.

Can you define what success means to you? If not, how do you know what to strive for and how will you know whether you have achieved it? To achieve success, it helps to set goals. But you also need to be an opportunist, to take an exploratory approach so that you can discover what you really want.
Like one executive in career transition said: "I don't know what I want to do next, but I'll know it when I see it."

Your Goals and Values
What do you want to do with your life? What are your aspirations?

Here are some examples, but you could well have some different goals or values:

Goals
Learn more about X by...
Reach a certain level by...
Change jobs by...
Retire by age...
Save X amount by...
Do less of A, more of B by...
Get in better shape by...
Manage my time better by...
Get an international job by...
Be fluent in French by...
Other?
Values
Integrity
Autonomy
Achievement
Work-life balance
Job security
Service to community
Helping others
Doing meaningful work
Relationships
Happy family life
Personal growth, learning
Variety and excitement
Free time for personal interests
Financial success
Travel
Time with friends
Other?

Not clear about your values?
Try rank ordering them and see what that tells you.
No particular career or personal goals?
It's OK to be an opportunist if you push yourself to diversify by doing different things.

A drifter is someone who keeps busy with no thought of where he or she is going with no attempt to avoid getting into ruts. We get embarrassed when asked about our goals if we have none.
There is no need to feel this way. Try to strike a balance between having no direction at all and being 100% clear.

The easiest way to achieve this balance is to ensure that you are continually developing, learning new things. You might not have clear goals, but you have a process that keeps you growing.

This section is about personal effectiveness. What does that mean to you? It usually means something along the lines of ensuring that you get the best possible return on your investment of time and energy.

Your values might be such that this is just not important to you. If personal effectiveness is of value to you, it might help to think of yourself using investment terminology.

To make the best use of all you have to offer, it is essential to formally allocate certain times of each year to stocktaking - a formal review of what you have accomplished, where you have failed, what you have learned and what you might do differently.

This is a time to weigh up how your achievements of late measure up in relation to your goals and values. There is no right answer, only what matters to you.

Achieving your Potential
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

How coaching can help you determine and achieve your potential
Why is it that the best sports people all have coaches?
Because they are determined to reach their full potential.
It is difficult for managers to accept coaching from their peers.
When did you last take stock of where you are and where you are going?
How clear are you about your strengths and weaknesses?
If you are early in your career you can accept coaching from very senior colleagues or role models.
But as you get near the top yourself, you have only your peers to look to.
A professional golfer would only expect ad hoc tips from competitors, not serious coaching.
In business it is hard to accept feedback from colleagues anyway- we are too defensive.
And they may have an axe to grind.
Their perception may be biased - they are too close to you - like in your family.
The closer anyone is to you the more they will be caught up in the same issues.
Greater distance is necessary to achieve a reasonable degree of objectivity.
A good coach should be like a mirror - you won't really see yourself accurately otherwise.
Without a coach, how do you expect to achieve your full potential?

Promoting Yourself
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

Getting promoted is like getting elected - you need supporters
Your most important supporters will be superiors and peers
But don't forget customers and subordinates
Involve yourself in pet projects of powerful potential supporters
Treat potential supporters as customers - find out what turns them on.
Be creative - invent new businesses, services or products to run.
Start by seeing yourself as running your own business - it is up to you to develop and market your own services - to create your own niche.
Do an anonymous survey to find out how you are perceived.
Address identified weaknesses, but major on your strengths.
Ask an influential superior to be your mentor.
Publicize your achievements - with reasonable discretion.
Avoid waiting for specific openings - lobby to create new ones.
If there is no ladder to climb, build a business underneath yourself.
Network widely within and outside the business - broaden your options.
If you want a better job, think like a business person, brainstorm with customers to find new ways of offering them what you can do or create whole new services.
You need to be your own sales person and marketing department.'
But selling yourself does not mean boasting. It just means asking the right questions of your customers to better understand their needs.
Don't expect them to figure out how to use you. It is your business to think creatively about how you can better support their aims.

Moving to a New Employer
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

Stay within your industry - - - same or better job.
Stay within your function, but change industries.
Find a completely different job, one using some transferable skills.
Become a management consultant, employed or on your own.
Set up in business for yourself.
Acquire new skills and do something new.

How to decide
Most managers in the midst of a major career transition try to decide what to do next on the basis of soul searching alone.
This is like trying to decide which house to buy without even looking at any!Or trying to decide whether you like an exotic type of food without first tasting it!!
Solution? --- Networking:
Talk to people doing what you think you might like to do.
Ask them questions just as you would do if they had travelled to a foreign country which you were thinking of visiting.
Interview them to get the flavour of what they do and try to visualize yourself doing it.
They may suggest some options you had not thought of or other people to talk to.

Management consulting?
Becoming a self employed management consultant seems an obvious option. After all, you do have a great deal of unique and valuable experience to offer other companies.
The problem is you will lack credibility on the sales front if you have no track record as a consultant and few contacts.
Better to join an established consulting firm for a few years to build up a small network of satisfied clients, either on a full time or subcontract basis.
Only opt for the latter if you are assured of work.
This will give you the credibility to get consulting assignments on your own. Or, get a contract with your existing employer before you leave.

Career Transition Tips
What is an effective résumé?
How should you approach the formal job market and the informal job market?
Here are some interview tips and some for situational interviews.
What is you need to be assessed for a job? How can you succeed in an assessment centre?
What are reasoning tests?
How to network for career success.
What are some competencies for career success?
How to sell yourself to an employer.

Your Resume
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

A well prepared CV or Résumé is essential to market yourself to new jobs.
First, what it is not... Just a historical document, a record of what you did when and where.
What it is... A brochure to advertise your services.A marketing tool.

Structuring your CV / Resumé
What are you selling? Who is your buyer?
If you are looking for a better job within your industry and your main selling points are wrapped up in what you are doing now, then your current responsibilities and achievements should be among the first things to catch your reader's attention.
If you are changing industries or if your major selling points are scattered throughout your CV, then you should have a section before your Career History which lists your 4 to 6 strongest transferable skills or major career achievements. This section gives you more control over what your reader notices in your CV.
State your achievements in no more than two lines for each achievement and make them benefit statements, such as "Reduced the cost of purchasing by 40% by introducing an ABC system" or "Increased sales by X % by...".
Avoid abstractions such as "Good communication skills", for example. Instead, use two line anecdotes or examples showing how you communicated.
Keep responsibility statements to a minimum. Otherwise your CV sounds like a job description and says nothing about how you distinguished yourself in that role.
Length is not critical - 2 or 3 pages - so long as your major message is on page 1. So don't fill up your first page with personal details and education --- unless these are your major selling points.
Leave education to the end if it is no big deal.
Your career history should be documented in reverse chronological order and in decreasing detail.
Avoid unnecessary, distracting detail. Remember, this is not your autobiography. It is a marketing brochure. Its purpose is to get you an interview, not a job.

Formal Job Market
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

All advertised positions and all opportunities pursued through recruitment consultants or head hunters.

What makes it formal is that it is competitive and the selection process will be formally structured.

Pros
Visibility, little effort is needed to locate them
There is a definite opening

Cons
Virtual lottery, too competitive
You must fit the job spec exactly...no changing industries here
Demotivating, because you will lose out most of the time no matter how much you have to offer

Applying for advertised jobs

Do your homework. Make them feel special, that you are genuinely interested in them.
That means emphasizing their attractive qualities not just your own. Otherwise your application is too impersonal. Just like junk mail!
Phone in advance or do other research to help you learn what the employer's goals are and to help you think about how to tailor what you have to offer them.
Ask questions of contacts who can tell you what's going on in the company. Phone for more information in advance of your interview.
Specifically, find out what are their current burning issues and how they affect the prospective position.
Don't rely on the job advertisement alone as it is usually no more than a condensed job description which tells you little about what is really going on in the company.
Try to speak to the manager to whom the position reports. This is before you even apply.
Don't spend more than 10 to 20% of your weekly job search efforts on formal job applications. You should be spending 80 to 90% of your time on direct approaches and networking.

The Informal Job Market
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

Unadvertised job opportunities which you must dig out through your own initiative. The informal job market is a needle in the haystack but the best way of managing your career and giving you the chance to have a choice between jobs. Applying for advertised positions leaves you at the mercy of someone else's timing.

Pros
Non-competitive - you are often the only candidate for the job.
Discussions with potential employers are more informal and relaxed.
Greater chance of changing industries.
Focus of interview is on what you can offer not on how you compare with other candidates.
An employer may fit you in somewhere if they like you, hence creating a job for you.
You are in control of your own momentum - waiting to be called for a formal interview is depressing.
Momentum is psychologically advantageous as it builds your confidence.
Some say that 80% of the total jobs available in any one year change hands informally.

Cons
Hard work obtaining informal interviews as they are obviously not advertised.
Intimidating at first having to dig out opportunities at your own initiative.

Where to start?
Networking with contacts to beat the competition.
Direct approaches to prospective employers.

Direct approaches
Identify likely target companies and who your boss would be.
Avoid the Personnel Department.
Write letters with your CV or Resume and follow up with a phone call, but don't ask for a job in the letter. Ask for a meeting for a no-obligation discussion.
When changing industries, emphasize your desire to learn about their industry as a reason for meeting.
If it is the same industry, emphasize a mutual exchange of views on how the industry is likely to develop and meeting for future reference, i.e. mutual networking benefits.
Position the purpose of the meeting as an exploratory chat to give the employer a chance to assess you on face saving basis without having to acknowledge that they have a definite need for your services at this time.
Be prepared to ask networking questions as well as to be interviewed, i.e. who else they can think of that you could talk to in similar companies.
Only ask networking questions if there appears to be no interest with the employer you are meeting.

Job Interviews
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

Research the company ahead of time, especially on your likely boss.
Be enthusiastic and specific about why you want to work for this company - don't treat them like a number - people want to think that you are genuinely attracted to them.
Find out before the interview (or during) what their key current issues are so you can offer potential solutions.
Ask what improvements they would like to see in this role.
Continually tailor your responses to their current and long term issues.
Find and discuss areas of common interest with the interviewer.
Avoid arguing - if you must disagree with a point, start by stating areas of agreement - but don't fail to take a firm stand.
The more you can find out about the interviewer's issues and views, the more you can avoid shooting in the dark.
Mirror the interviewer's style - formal versus informal.
Find out what the previous incumbent was like and how he or she was regarded - indirectly getting at what they are looking for.
Ask about the company culture to find out what type of person they might be looking for.
Write an immediate thank you letter, highlighting key points worth emphasizing after reviewing how the interview went .

Be prepared for competency based interviews where the interview questions will be structured under the employer's competency headings. Try to find these out in advance of the interview if you can.
Then there is situational interviewing. Here you are asked questions pertaining to hypothetical situations. You are told about a problem and asked how you would handle it.

Still, the most common interviews are biographical, where the interviewer asks you questions about why you did the things you did in your life and career to date. Provide examples of achievements.
Use point form in listing achievements, i.e. "In 2008, we saved the company $XXX by taking these actions." "In 2007, ...," etc.

If you detect that the interviewer is a story teller, then it is OK to position achievements within a short story, but if the interviewer is a no-nonense person in a hurry, you need to keep to the point and avoid story telling which can run the risk of being too long-winded. This is where talking in point-form helps a lot.

Situational Interviews
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

Sample question

Customer Focus - showing your customer focus
''One of our longest standing, medium sized customers wants a substantial discount on our service to renew their contract. Their business will not be profitable at this rate - especially compared to most of our new business which is highly profitable. You will be meeting this customer to discuss the situation. What would be your approach?''
Answer: negotiate to find a win-win outcome, beginning with a concerted effort to better understand the customer's needs. Stress partnership so you can both meet your needs. Less effective answers would be to drop the business without making this effort first or taking a hard line, win-lose stance.

How to approach situational questions
Think about how your answers reflect the competencies.
Try to balance several competencies in one answer. For example, results orientation could conflict with customer focus, so how can you demonstrate both?
Avoid reactive, hasty or ill-considered responses.
Think about wider implications of each issue.
Be decisive and to the point rather than rambling or uncertain.
Indicate one or two qualifications if necessary but don't prevaricate to the point where your answer is too vague.
Use point form rather than long-winded sentences.

Being Assessed for Jobs
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

General advice
The most important point is to be yourself. While you want to make a good impression, there is no point trying to fool the interviewer if that means getting a job where you are a poor fit. If you worry too much about assessment, you are likely to show your anxiety and not do well anyway. You can best increase your chances of doing your best by relaxing and reviewing your strengths regularly in your own mind. Your preparation time is better spent researching the company. Employers often discount assessment results for a knowledgeable, motivated and enthusiastic candidate, but brilliant assessment results will not usually compensate for deficits in these areas.

Types of assessment
Structured interviews
Situational interviews
Background interviews
Assessment Centers
Personality profiles
Ability tests

Structured interviews - interviews structured around the most important criteria or competencies for the job - listen carefully to gain an understanding of what competency is being explored with each question. You will be asked for an example of how you demonstrated each competency. Prepare your best two examples for each competency, keeping in mind that a single example could illustrate a number of competencies.Typical competencies for a range of managerial and non-managerial jobs.

Situational interviews - you are posed hypothetical situations and asked how you would handle them. If you are not allowed to ask for more detail, state any assumptions you make when replying and how your response would vary if other assumptions were made.

Background interviews - traditional recruitment interview - explores your career in chronological order. Worst mistake is to provide excessive detail - best to start with bottom line result and two or three key points, then ask where further detail is wanted. Where possible explain reasons for moves in terms of career progression. Avoid negative statements about ex employers.

Assessment Centrers - a series of job simulations - group exercises, presentations, role plays, written case studies. Don't worry if some of these terrify you. The point of so much variety is to give you a chance to do your best in at least some situations. If you do really well in one or two, a less effective performance in one or two is often overlooked. The worst thing to do is let one poor performance undermine how you approach the other exercises.

Personality profiles - easy to do questions about how you approach work and typical life situations. Be honest. Transparency is better than creating doubt and confusion in the mind of the interviewer. What weakness is worse than dishonesty?

Ability tests (also called Reasoning Tests) - variety of job related tests - anything from numerical and verbal reasoning to mechanical dexterity and clerical skills. In most of these tests, speed is imso you need to work as fast as you can while maintaining a high degree of accuracy. It is better to get finished and then check your answers if you have time left than to spend too much time checking as you go. Sample questions for graduate and managerial roles : Reasoning Tests

Competencies for Career Success
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

Most job interviews don't cover more than 10 or 12 competencies, but prepare examples for each of the typical competencies listed below. Questions will be of the form: ''Tell me about a time when you...''

Problem Solving
Analytical Ability - logical and practical solutions to problems
Decision Making - confident, timely, well judged decisions
Innovation - novel solutions, thinks outside box
Initiative - proactive, independent action

Operational Style
Results Focus - strong focus on bottom line deliverables
Tenacity - determination in the face of obstacles
Adaptability - changes/learns quickly in varying situations
Organization - well managed approach to projects
Customer Focus - driven by customer needs
Quality Focus - high output standards

Relationships
Communication - clear; listens well, informs others
Networking - proactive in building range of contacts
Team Work - cooperates, shares, supports others
Sensitivity - considerate of others

Leadership
Vision - paints clear and stimulating picture of way ahead
Influence - gains full commitment of others, varies approach
Empowering - delegates, coaches, supportive

Assessment Center Tips
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

Case study, written exercise (In Tray/In Basket)
Avoid narrow approach - just problem solving.
Use team work, show leadership, communicate, etc.
Think of all the ways you can demonstrate the full range of competencies in your responses.

Group discussion exercises
Again, avoid narrow approach - just contributing content to solve the problems.
Ask questions to involve others.
Probe input of others to assess implications, risks, benefits.
Help to structure the discussion, keep it on track.
Stress agreement to resolve conflict.
Summarize occasionally.

Presentations
Structure your presentation by stating your conclusions first and what you are going to cover.
Plan to illustrate several competencies.
Maintain eye contact, vary your voice, speak with enthusiasm and conviction. Move a bit to show physical energy.
Occasionally ask if what you are saying is clear, makes sense.
Summarize at the end.
Practice several times if presentations make you nervous.

Customer role play
Build a bit of rapport first.
Ask what the customer would like to achieve in this meeting and agree an agenda.
Ask questions - 2 types - 1. to understand the customer's needs, 2. to involve customer in solution - ''What would you like to see happen?''
Strive for win-win solution, actively create a partership climate.

Performance role play with subordinate
Use appropriate praise early, middle and end to maintain subordinate's self esteem.
Ask questions to fully understand subordinate's side of story
Ask how subordinate feels issues might be tackled.
Express confidence in subordinate's future and ability to turn performance around.
Offer support as appropriate, i.e. coaching, training.
Try to get commitment from subordinate rather than demanding it or imposing it.
Become more demanding if supportive approach fails.
Agree specific improvement targets, set dates and agree follow up meeting.

Reasoning Tests
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

Verbal reasoning - sample question
Questions are designed to test your ability to draw correct inferences from written material. Read the paragraph and decide whether the statements below are implied by the paragraph or not. You have 3 choices - true: follows from paragraph, false: contradicts paragraph, can't tell: not enough information to say.

Example
''The chief executive announced today that more emphasis will now be placed on innovation. Investment in product development is to be doubled and new product revenue targets will be set for the first time. A higher rate of new product introduction is needed to beat the competition and ensure profitability in the long term.''
The company failed to emphasize innovation in the past.
There were no targets for new product revenue before now.
The company is not currently making a profit.
The company is getting beaten by its competitors.

Answers
False - they are just increasing their emphasis.
True - see where it says ''targets will be set for first time''.
Can't tell - ''ensure profitability'' could mean either.
Can't tell - competitors could be catching up but still behind

Numerical reasoning - sample question
You are presented with a variety of business figures set out in tables and asked questions that require you to interpret the figures correctly and perform some elementary calculations. A calculator is usually allowed.

Example


Paris Amsterdam 510km
Paris London 399km
London Amsterdam 480km
Paris Frankfurt 591km
Frankfurt Amsterdam 441km
London Frankfurt 693km

How far is your journey if you travel from London to Amsterdam via Paris and Frankfurt before returning to London via Paris?
a) 2862, b) 1911, c) 2340, d) 2163
Answer: 2340

Career Networking
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

Networking is an excellent tool for making a smooth career transition. It is a technique for meeting people, finding new career opportunities and discovering what you would really like to do next. The key to success in networking is to ask questions, to show interest in other people, what they are doing, how they have succeeded thus far and what it takes to succeed in their jobs. Showing interest in others makes them warm to you and helps you gain more information and new contacts.

Asking people questions about working in their industry, what companies are growing, how people with your background contribute, who they know who can answer more of your questions.

Who has moved recently?
Where?
It's not asking if they know of a job.

Why will anyone agree to talk to you?
Disarm them: you are looking for information at this stage, not a job
A lot of employers are window shoppers and will meet you just to have a look.
They may prefer to keep you in the dark at first, so they will appreciate not being put on the spot about a possible job until they have had a chance to get to know you first.
Two purposes served by networking
Helping you to decide what you might like to do and what skills are required.
Enabling you to locate possible jobs before they are advertised.

The real meaning of networking
When you network, you are on an exploratory journey where you don't fully know the outcome. It is very much like house hunting. When you decide to move to a new house, you can state a few criteria regarding what you want in a new house but once you start looking at houses you may significantly revise your criteria. People often say that, after looking at several houses, that they didn't like any of them but they now have a much better idea of what they are really looking for. This shows the power of discovery and the impotence of rational thought independent of exploratory, trial and error learning. Apply this thinking to your career planning. Don't expect to know what you want to do next until you have explored a range of options in your network.

First purpose: deciding what to do next
Use networking as a market research tool.
Tell contacts that you are researching different markets to identify industries where there might be a match between your interests and their needs. Always, always and repeatedly use the disclaimer: "I do not expect you or your contacts to have or know of a job for me at this stage. I want to keep my options open until I have completed my research."

Second purpose: Finding that elusive job-in-the-haystack
Networking meetings set up for the purpose of gathering information often turn into interviews. You may be hired simply because you seem to fit and there is no competition because the job has not been advertised yet.

Keeping it going by always asking any contact for further names.
Start with contacts you feel comfortable speaking to on this basis.
Set weekly targets: at least one meeting a week and up to three.
Write, rather than phone, contacts you have never met.
Ensure that you get at least 2 names from every contact.
Make a list of specific questions that each contact can answer.
Keep key contacts advised of your progress. They may think of further leads.

Competencies for Career Success
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

Most job interviews don't cover more than 10 or 12 competencies, but prepare examples for each of the typical competencies listed below. Questions will be of the form: ''Tell me about a time when you...''
Problem Solving
Analytical Ability - logical and practical solutions to problems
Decision Making - confident, timely, well judged decisions
Innovation - novel solutions, thinks outside box
Initiative - proactive, independent action
Operational Style
Results Focus - strong focus on bottom line deliverables
Tenacity - determination in the face of obstacles
Adaptability - changes/learns quickly in varying situations
Organization - well managed approach to projects
Customer Focus - driven by customer needs
Quality Focus - high output standards
Relationships
Communication - clear; listens well, informs others
Networking - proactive in building range of contacts
Team Work - cooperates, shares, supports others
Sensitivity - considerate of others
Leadership
Vision - paints clear and stimulating picture of way ahead
Influence - gains full commitment of others, varies approach
Empowering - delegates, coaches, supportive

Career Management
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D

Careers are in chaos! Progress is no longer up so employees are moving on!
How can careers be managed if the traditional ladder has been kicked to one side?
How can you retain your stars, if they cannot advance?
Flexibility is the key to career success, so become a chameleon!
All work is becoming nothing but short term projects for knowledge workers.
The concept of the fixed "job" is obsolete, never mind lifetime employment.
These visions of tomorrow apply well to the most media-hyped industries.
High tech industries where fast innovation drives continuous change.
Not all industries change fast - oil, airlines, restaurants, construction, public sector.
Some compete on cost, quality and service
Managerial careers will be available where complex tasks need efficient execution.
Organizations need a cafeteria approach to careers to accommodate differing strategies and varying needs of people.
Employees will continue to want career development whether it be increased professional status, greater responsibility, personal development, power or more money.
Career planning matches organizational needs with those of employees.
The first step is to take stock of your own industry patterns.
Effective career management is a sound talent management strategy.
Talent management depends on effective career management. Otherwise, highly qualified knowledge workers will go elsewhere.
Managing careers is a strategic initiative to position an organization for competitive advantage.
But, employees need to be entrepreneurial about their careers and take equal ownership for advancing themselves, regarding the organization as an internal market.

CAREER ANCHORS
Edgar Schein developed the idea of career anchors - what people most want out of a career

He came up with 8 career anchors ---

Autonomy/independence - wanting to be self reliant - useful with today's contracting out.
Security/stability - wanting to remain with one employer for life - not so likely any more.
Technical/functional competence - to identify with a professional discipline.
General management - having a broad, overview, facilitating role, not a specialist.
Entrepreneurial creativity - a premium wherever innovation drives competitiveness.
Service - dedication to worthwhile causes ranging from the environment to poverty.
Pure challenge - just solving difficult problems - no pattern necessary.
Life style - disinclination to sacrifice life style solely for career advancement.
You may combine a few of these career anchors, but there should be one at the top of your list.
By analyzing employee needs, career planners can channel them appropriately instead of assuming that they all want to move up the managerial hierarchy.
If innovation is essential in your business, forcing your stars up the ladder could be self defeating.

Managing Career Transitions
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

One to one advice for departing managers.
Group career counselling and job search advice.
Training for HR staff to conduct in-house coaching.
Tailored programmes to suit your company's needs.
Service provided by experienced business psychologist.
Assistance to re-focus a stalled career.

Career planning and job search advice for departing managers to...
explore new career options, to make a fresh start when you have lost your job.
provide a confidential sounding board to discuss where to go next in your career.
assess personal strengths and weaknesses.
re-orientation to the job market.
develop a job search strategy.
prepare for job interviews.
maintain confidence and momentum throughout our job search.
Group workshops for redundant employees.
Career planning and job search courses tailored to specific client needs.
May combine group sessions with some one to one coaching as needed.
Specially designed programmes targetted to different employee populations.
Training in redundancy counselling for HR staff.
In-house courses for HR or other managerial staff in the skills of redundancy counselling.
A cost-effective alternative where large numbers of employees need support in a short time period.

Career Transition Coaching
Changing jobs is hard unless you are in a very high demand field.
It's harder if you do not have quite the right qualifications.
Perhaps you feel you are too old or have some other drawback.
Or maybe you just don't have any relevant experience.
Then there is the uncertainty of not knowing what else you could do, other than precisely what you have done in the past.
If you have been out of the job market for a long time, moving on can be scary.
If you've been with one employer a long time, your confidence to face the outside world may not be as high as you'd like it to be.
If this familiar, job search or career coaching may help.
Business people at all organizational levels often need support in managing difficult transitions
Perhaps you are confident enough of your market value, but just want to be sure that you make the best career move possible.
It's easy to feel positive at first, then get increasingly down and immobilized as time passes without success.
Better to get professional assistance earlier rather than later.

Letting Go
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

If you see yourself as indispensible, you might have trouble letting go Such as when you...
can't bring yourself to retire.
can't stop doing the job you were promoted out of.
can't stop doing your subordinates' jobs for them.
can't leave comfortable habits behind you.
don't delegate without hovering over people.
delegate extensively but only menial, safe tasks.
fail to empower people, insisting that they get your approval for everything.

What are you trying to prove? And to whom?
Letting go is hardest if you have only a vacuum to move into.
So, get involved in the new before letting go of the old.
If someone's taking your place, does it matter if they don't do things as you would?
You want people to carry on your work as you would have done.
Just like you want your children to do as well as you did.
But you have to let them go their own way too.
Too much of your identity wrapped up in what you have been doing?
People can benefit from diversification just as much as companies do.
Are you trapped in a vicious circle? You don't give anyone real authority, so they don't feel responsible which just confirms your opinion that no one else cares but you.
Ironically, your attitude is the cause of their lack of interest.
If you feel trapped, maybe you have trapped yourself?
How can you extricate yourself? This means taking risks and living with mistakes in the short term while others shift up a gear.
How badly do you want to move your nose away from the grindstone?

Executive Assessment
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

Use a professional assessment process for: -
Selection or promotion to critical roles; succession planning.
Identifying development needs and planning to meet them.
Pinpointing suitable moves for plateaued managers.
Diagnosing reasons for a performance problem.
Re-organization.
Assessing receptivity to organizational changes.
Launching a coaching programme to improve executive performance.

What is executive assessment?
Professional assessment is simply a systematic process based on selected questionnaires, exercises and an interview, such as:-
Personality and work style inventories
Reasoning tests
Situational exercises to simulate the target role
Assessment Centres
360 degree feedback from work colleagues and/or customers
Structured interviews

Doing professional assessments
The results of a personality questionnaire need to be interpreted carefully and cross checked in an interview.
Personality profiles can be inaccurate if candidates have poor self insight or try to create a good impression.
Other exercises should be used, oral and written, to supplement personality questionnaires.
An effective assessment depends on experienced judgement based on data from a number of sources.
All assessment data should be discussed with candidates before any reports are written.
Openness on the part of the assessor encourages more openness from candidates.
Discussion of results allows the assessor to check initial findings in more depth by asking for examples.
It is important to learn the meaning of specific indicators to candidates - their interpretation provides extra insight.
A professional assessment report should be structured around the competency profile for the target job.

Green, Less Expensive Option
Using video conferencing technology over the internet such as Skype or Facetime on Apple devices, travel costs are eliminated and candidates can be interviewed anywhere in the world at lower cost than face-to-face interviews.

360 Degree Feedback
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

Who do you see when you look in the mirror?
Not yourself, but your preferred image of yourself.
Is that really how others see you?
How can you improve if you think you are OK already?

The value of 360 degree feedback
Only feedback from others can reveal the true impact you make on people.
The thought of feedback can be scary, but is it better to remain in the dark?
Most managers are surprised by the amount of positive feedback they get.
This shows how many managers have low self esteem.
Your negative feedback can often be distilled down to a few manageable themes.
Negative feedback will show you what to focus on to develop yourself.
Avoid feedback and you cannot learn - you might as well stick your head in the sand.
A well designed 360 degree feedback process will help you to get realistic feedback.
Feedback questionnaires must be filled in anonymously by various colleagues, subordinates & other stakeholders.
A good questionnaire should include questions that are relevant to your culture and goals rather than off-the-shelf.
Allowing space for comments is more important than numerical ratings.
Feedback is essential to improve confidence and self esteem.
Your management effectiveness will be enhanced by knowing what you are doing well, not so well and how you might improve.
Being able to handle negative feedback is itself an important management skill - one that depends on your emotional intelligence, listening skills and willingness to learn.
360 feedback is too often conducted as a one-off exercise. It is often done to managers when they should manage it themselves, just like a business seeking regular feedback from customers.

Two Employee Roles
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

Organizations tend to want all employees to fit one competency profile. Even though there is recognition that people have different strengths. And that teams are best composed of complementary strengths. In addition, it is important to recognize that all organizations need, broadly speaking, two types of people for two quite different types of role. This corresponds to the two broad tasks facing all organizations.
To discover and initiate new directions through innovation and leadership.
To execute existing directions as efficiently or profitably as possible.
This is contrary to the popular view that organizations are moving inexorably from a managerial to a leadership culture, as if the former were no longer needed. But, we need both - leaders to create the new and managers to achieve today's results. Leaders need to be entrepreneurial, willing to challenge the status quo, cast aside the familiar, take risks and constantly re-invent ''how things are done around here.'' By contrast, managers need to maximize efficiency, consistency and predictability. HR professionals need to enable organizations to develop and live with this split personality, ensuring that people are in the right role - leadership or managerial. If you like to get things done efficiently, in a timely manner with a minimum of waste, the task of execution might best suite you. Conversely, if you prefer to start new things, think creatively, promote new ways of doing things, then you may be best suited to the role of inventing the future.

Organizational Renewal
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

All businesses have two tasks: 1. deliver today's profits and 2. create tomorrow's offerings - renewal.
Delivery means efficient execution, renewal requires innovation.
Competing on cost, quality and service = majoring on delivery.
Fast changing markets require constant renewal through innovation.

How Modern Is Your Business?
Process innovation leads to better delivery, not renewal.
Product or service innovation gives birth to future product generations - this is renewal.
Increasing the efficiency of delivery is like an older person getting in better shape.
Genuine renewal replaces an older generation of products with a younger generation.
Business process re-engineering improves efficiency but delays the harder task of genuine renewal.
This buys time in the short term and makes executives feel that they are doing something.
High volume, low cost businesses are locked in an efficiency race.
Renewal through new products is the only way off this treadmill.
But high efficiency cultures with their "right first time' slogans are not conducive to risk taking.
Organizations that excel in renewing themselves are much more entrepreneurial.

Competency Profiling
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

Competency profiling identifies the skills required for effectiveness in a job role.
An essential step before assessing candidates to fill a position.
Useful for fairly static roles or environments that are not changing rapidly.
It is not enough to look at past effectiveness in rapidly changing markets.
Rapid change often means starting with a blank sheet of paper.
New strategies require new skills for future success
Role overlap and ambiguity require less directly role related competency profiles.
As organizations strive to be more entrepreneurial, uncritical application of competency profiling should be questioned.
Entrepreneurial organizations may want staff to create their own form of contribution.
An new trend may be to see competency profiling as overly controlling and static - best limited to less dynamic roles.
The result may be less certainty about how to predict what type of person will be effective in a role.
Still, the assessment of candidates presupposes having some idea about what is required for success in the target role.
And businesses expect so much of managers now that they can ill afford to take a chance on choosing the wrong person.
Competencies like the ability to cope with ambiguity, to take initiative in uncertain situations and to cope with stress are becoming more important.
These competencies relate to emotional intelligence - the ability to retain control of yourself under pressures of various sorts - whether time pressure, excess workload, fast shifting expectations, angry colleagues, or the stress of ambiguity.

Performance Appraisal
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

Old fashioned performance appraisals clash with empowerment.
Employees need to manage themselves like independent contractors.
Suppliers monitor their own performance by surveying customer satisfaction.

How can you build in more self management and self assessment?
Less top down appraisal and more feedback from a wider range of internal and external customers.
Performance needs to be discussed at least once a quarter with the subordinate reporting progress.
The subordinate leads the meeting, reviewing what went well/not so well and what will be done to improve.
The manager operates as a coach, less as sole judge.
This puts less pressure on both sides as power is more equal - hence less defensiveness.

When bad news needs to be conveyed, more frequent discussions make it less feared.
Annual appraisals put too much emphasis on a one-time discussion, hence aversion to it on both sides.
Effective performance appraisals combine good news with a prompt to improve.
Preserving self esteem is an essential feature of a well conducted appraisal meeting.

Developing People
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

People learn best on the job with constructive feedback and coaching.
Help people learn to accept feedback constructively.
Encourage them to set up a process to develop themselves.
Strive to develop skills in others that you think are important while also helping them to find themselves.

Who to develop
Everyone who asks for it or strategically?
What are your main criteria - immediate performance improvement, to meet key strategic goals - these should be the main ones.
Also, development can be used as a reward for excellent performance.
Or as a retention tool.
A career or succession planning aide.

How to develop people
Put people into a range of stretching projects, ones outside their comfort zone.
A good developmental process should include some form of log book for them to record what went well and what they want to improve for every aspect of a project.
You, or a mentor, should review their progress regularly.
Regular reviews help to consolidate learning and plan next steps.
from others on key developmental areas is also critical.
Anonymous feedback through questionnaires might be more honest.
A training course is only a one-off event; developement is an ongoing process.
Developing personal skills amounts to changing bad habits - not as easy as learning technical skills.
Bad habits will re-surface unless a concerted effort is made over a sufficient time period for new habits to become ingrained.

360 Degree Feedback
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

Who do you see when you look in the mirror?
Not yourself, but your preferred image of yourself.
Is that really how others see you?
How can you improve if you think you are OK already?

The value of 360 degree feedback
Only feedback from others can reveal the true impact you make on people.
The thought of feedback can be scary, but is it better to remain in the dark?
Most managers are surprised by the amount of positive feedback they get.
This shows how many managers have low self esteem.
Your negative feedback can often be distilled down to a few manageable themes.
Negative feedback will show you what to focus on to develop yourself.
Avoid feedback and you cannot learn - you might as well stick your head in the sand.
A well designed 360 degree feedback process will help you to get realistic feedback.
Feedback questionnaires must be filled in anonymously by various colleagues, subordinates & other stakeholders.
A good questionnaire should include questions that are relevant to your culture and goals rather than off-the-shelf.
Allowing space for comments is more important than numerical ratings.
Feedback is essential to improve confidence and self esteem.
Your management effectiveness will be enhanced by knowing what you are doing well, not so well and how you might improve.
Being able to handle negative feedback is itself an important management skill - one that depends on your emotional intelligence, listening skills and willingness to learn.
360 feedback is too often conducted as a one-off exercise. It is often done to managers when they should manage it themselves, just like a business seeking regular feedback from customers.

Executive Mentoring
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

Why bother?
Executives are increasingly surrounded by forces they cannot control.
Professional sports people in golf and tennis use coaches & psychologists to further their success.
They recognize the value of honest, objective feedback.
Everyone has room to improve.
The demands are greater, so is the stress - a major challenge to be at our best under pressure.
Executives often cannot discuss personal issues openly with colleagues.
They are expected to know it all and not need mentoring / coaching.
This old fashioned hero worship puts unrealistic pressure on today's executives.
Too many subordinates will agree rather than risk disapproval.
An outsider can provide an objective sounding board and reality check.
Rapidly growing complexity will make the executive's decisions harder not easier.
The pressure to achieve more from fewer people faster will mean more stress for all.
A psychologist may be able to help you get the best out of yourself and others.
It won't get any easier to balance out-of-work values and work pressures.

A few of the issues:
Managing through informal influence, relying less on authority.
Adjusting to the pressure of knowledge leadership arising from below.
Coping with the fear of personal obsolescence.
Managing role ambiguity generated by growing complexity and rapid change.
Decision making under increasing uncertainty.
Getting the best out of others.
Resolving conflict.
Balancing life and work priorities.
Letting go, winding down and exiting gracefully.
Improving emotional intelligence.
Managing time.
Fostering leadership in others, changing your role to a more facilitative one.

Succeeding in a Top Job
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

Your peers feel they lost? Win them over.
Use a "we" attitude...avoid gloating!
Don't let it go to your head...you'll need support.
Let "losers" for the job know what you value them for...not as minions, obviously, but as partners.
Listen and try to understand their needs and how you can form alliances with them for mutual success.
Balance learning from your new peers with showing them what you can do.
Identify your key internal customers...other than your new boss.
Show more interest in issues important to your higher level peers.
Manage your anxiety so that you avoid excessively short term actions.
Think about how you can help your boss look good.
Develop any change agendas in conjunction with key stakeholders.
Don't present fully developed ideas simply to prove yourself.

Effective Onboarding
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

The New Broom
Executives coming into a company in a senior position feel vulnerable and are anxious to prove themselves quickly.
By acting precipitatively, they alienate the people they most need to help them achieve anything. Hesitant team members are than seen as resistant to change.
Sweeping aside inherited subordinates is sometimes necessary, but is often a defensive reaction to eliminate perceived enemies.
The desire to bring in colleagues from your former company is also an emotional response to the loss of your support group.
Under pressure to deliver quickly, you may welcome scapegoats as a way of buying time.
Firing people helps you to assert your authority, but may simply be your need to act aggressivly out of a feeling of being cornered.
Putting forward your ideas for change too quickly will almost certainly cause resistance, which will "justify" getting rid of people.
But maybe your need to make your mark quickly caused the resistance in the first place rather than your ideas themselves.

Developing Entrepreneurial Managers
Written by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.

More organizations need to innovate faster in order to compete effectively.
Innovation is a bottom up process - entrepreneurial types need space.
No use selecting entrepreneurial managers and putting them into a bureaucratic culture.
Begin by defining the specific entrepreneurial competencies you most want to select people for: innovativeness, risk taking, opportunism, commercial astuteness, etc.
Do you want your entrepreneurial managers to be personally innovative, or rather to be able to foster entrepreneurship in others?
Or both?
Can you afford to have a few entrepreneurs at the top who don't create an entrepreneurial culture throughout the organization?
What is the right balance for you of entrepreneurship and efficiency?
Bear in mind that both requirements must be met if you are to achieve today's profits and tomorrow's growth. It's just a question of what is the best balance for you.
Develop an assessment process based on simulations of entrepreneurial activities and suitable personality inventories.
Assess candidates.
Provide full induction into your particular entrepreneurial culture.
Developing entrepreneurial managers involves creating the right culture and a coaching process to stimulate entrepreneurial behaviour.