2. Career Development Notes 1:  How to Train Your Team For FR*EE

You can waste thousands of pounds on sending teams of employees to outdoor challenge courses and all they do come is come back and tell you stories about how people got drunk in the bar. Here is a half-hour activity that you can use to train your team for fr*e.

The objective of the exercise is to help your people better coordinate their goal-setting, decision-making, feedback-giving and team-support skills. (and it's a great ice-breaker for any gathering too)

Fr*e For All Shootout

Divide your group into teams of four to six people to compete.  Each team will need a waste paper basket and about 100 sheets of scrap paper.

Designate a separate shooting area for each team by putting it's basket against a wall and placing a 10" piece of masking tape on the floor, 10 - 12 feet away.

tell each team to designate a shooter who will toss paper wads into their basket. (or try to) Shooters will not be allowed to face the basket, so they will have to rely on their team members for directions and feedback.

Give each team ten minutes to select a shooter and an establish objective in terms of how many goals they are going to score in the two-minute shootout period.

The winning team will be the one with the most points.  Points will be awarded this way.  Two points for each basket matching the team's objective. One point for each basket over the team's objective.  Three points subtracted for each basket under the team's objective.

All paper wads must be made during the two-minute shootout.

Team members may not physically assist the shooter (e.g. move the basket or tip shots in) They may only give feedback and prepare paper wads for the shooter.  After the ten-minute preparation and two-minute shootout, tally the group's scores and ask them to discuss among themselves (then as a large group)

• What factors helped your team's performance?
• What factors hindered your team's performance?
• How does this exercise relate to your job?

Source: Philip Faris 50 Activities for Trainers.

3. Success Stories: Networking Mistakes and How You Can Avoid Them

'Fear of rejection' is the major reason why individuals looking for a career change hesitate to use networking as the most powerful weapon in their job search armoury.  This is even the case with senior people who you would have thought anybody would be delighted to receive a call from.  In 99.9% of cases this fear is unfounded - most professional people are pleased to receive calls from like-minded people and are a pleasure and delight to talk to. 

(In all my years of networking and listening to people who are conducting networking campaigns, I have only experienced rude rejection once and that was from Bernard Matthews, the factory farm turkey man.  My advice is not to ring him.)

Only yesterday, four of my coaching clients came to see me to tell me about the job and project offers that they were currently negotiating and it got me thinking about how they had each successfully overcome their initial reluctance to network effectively. The 'courage' and 'character' they had shown had made a huge difference not just in their jobs but in their lives.  

Many people make the mistake of thinking that the more people they have in their database the more effective their self-marketing is likely to be.  I recently saw it described as "He who has the most heads, wins." This is a fundamental error that can lead to so much disappointment and wasted opportunity, because it is not the number of networking relationships you have that is important but the quality of those meetings of minds.

On the home page of our web site at careersnet.com we say (before you can begin networking) "You need to be able to clearly describe what you want, so that when you research your marketplace and identify the people you want to talk to you, you can speak their language and sell your future."    

I sincerely believe that this should be posted on a stick note in mirror writing on the forehead of every job hunter - so that when they look in the mirror they are reminded to focus on what they are doing, figure out what they want to achieve, talk to people who have problems they can solve and help them structure a way forward. Once you know who you need to talk to it is very easy for someone like myself to introduce you to a networking contact who can kick-start building your virtuous circle of networking contacts.

John Price has always had a personal mission to make a difference in people's lives so it was only a question of giving him some mentoring on his networking to bring out and focus his natural talents for bringing people together.  Any initial reluctance to network quickly faded after the first few 'advice meetings' with carefully targeted contacts of mine and he is now an advanced player with a growing network of star performers of his own. 

One of the amazing projects he has become involved in is as General Manager of Remploy Automotive growing them as a Tier 1 and Tier 2 component supplier to major car companies. Remploy is the UK's leading supplier of employment opportunities for disabled people.  It provides jobs and training in all parts of the economy - as well as its own factories.  It assists over 2000 people with a range of physical and mental disabilities to find work every year.  In addition, it supports 4,500 people in the employment of other organisations and 6,000 people on it's 80 Remploy factory sites. 

As you know we have been involved in major initiatives for years helping disadvantaged and disabled people into work - so this is a major league result for us.  Don't hesitate to call us if you'd like to link with John. (0845 130 4344 - UK Lo-call)

Nigel has provided 'Lean Solutions' in the automotive industry for some of the world's most sophisticated car manufacturers and their suppliers.  One of the key strengths he has until now undervalued is his ability to mediate with conflicting sides - as one of his networking contacts put recently - "You just come in - pour oil on troubled waters and they are all best friends again, how do you do that?" 

Nigel has used his networking learning curve to develop his offering as a consultant to companies who are having trouble with their suppliers and who want to make the best of them.  He already has three major projects lined up and a queue forming.  If you'd like Nigel to take a look at your suppliers and take advantage of his expertise give us a call on 0845 130 4344 and we'll try and get him to fit you into his demanding schedule.

After three years of working ad hoc consultancy roles, going beyond networking has catapulted Paul into a new full-time role with his previous company's major rivals who sell capital equipment into sports and leisure environments  Starts Tuesday. Now Paul is looking to use his new job (our coaching support) and his twenty year expertise in the business to improve access to sports facilities for disabled individuals.  Anyone who would like to help, please call us and we'll network you on - 0845 130 4344

Andrew is using his team-building and management consultancy experience to network with like-minded individuals who are interested in developing a sporting centre of excellence for kids.  From tentative conversations wiith his local football club to meetings with Sports England, Andrew's networking has taken off big-time and we are now preparing for a conference at the beginning of June on 'Healthy Living and Fitness' (for young people) where many of the people on his Dream 100 Target Networking list will be gathering to discuss the modern problems of stay-at-home/fast food/no school playing fields kids. 

On the same page in the Independent newspaper last week there was one report on the government's mission to 'do something about obesity' in kids and another article that reported that 800 planning applications had been submitted in the last year for the redevelopment of school playing fields. (National Playing Fields Association)  If you too feel that there has been enough talk and something should be done about it then please give us a call and we'll link you with Andrew (0845 130 4344)    

4. Career Development Notes 2:  HR News: Make Downsizing a Learning Experience

Consultants Dalmar Fisher and William Torbert observed two different approaches to downsizing when working with the World Bank, and each led to a different outcome.

The first approach was launched by the then-president of the World Bank, former US Rep. Conable, R-N.Y. He killed and resurrected the organisation by redrawing the organisational chart with far fewer positions and inviting everyone to become a candidate for any position.

Conable himself hired fewer deputies than previously and they in their turn followed suit, hiring a reduced number of subordinates.

Thus he abolished the old structure and shook up the staff's complacency.  However anxiety and politicing rocketed.  In the end with few exceptions, former bosses simply hired back most of the former subordinates for similar positions and continued operating essentially as before.

A Different Approach

One deputy, a Swedish executive, took a very different approach.  She had to reduce her roster of subordinates from six to four.

She began by telling the group that personnel evaluation was a major problem in the Bank's third world development projects.  She would thus regard as a primary criterion for rehiring a person's ability to solve the department's own downsizing challenge in a way that could be applicable to those projects.  Only one of her foemer subordinates submitted useful suggestions.  So she rehired this person and let the rest of the goup know why.

In the second phase of her rehiring, she implemented one of those suggestions.

She told the five remaining candidates that if they wanted to be considered for any of the three positions left, they must recommend the most qualified person outside the group for the particular position, documenting the process they had used to reach that determination.

Three of the five refused to participate, evidently regarding it as contrary to their own career interest.  They were not reappointed.

The Swedish executive rehired the two who did respond positively, but invited them to take the position in the new unit for which they were least qualified - as a challenge to increase their attention to teamwork and to learning from others.  Both accepted.

The final position was offered to one of the outside candidates recommended by the three rehired subordinates.

"At the end of the following three years," report Fisher and Tobert, "this group had one of the best performing bank loan portfolios among all the area groups within the bank."

Source: Delmar Fisher & William Torbert, Personal & Organisational Transformations The True Challenge of Continuous Quality Improvement. 

5. Just for a Laugh!:  Retirement Calculator! (see attachment .xls)

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About Margaret

Margaret Stead at Careersnet helps individuals, executives and business owners market themselves online into new jobs, careers - building customer-employer relationships and increasing their job satisfaction. 

She offers personal coaching, workshops, tutorials, classes and reports on the telephone and in one to one meetings that help people just like you do job hunting that gets results.  You can learn more about these terrific resources at www.careersnet.com 

She’s appeared on many radio programmes and been interviewed by the Financial Times, Daily Telegraph, been featured in dozens of online and print publications including CNN Global and Yahoo review of Top Careers Sites. 

Margaret’s articles on career coaching, job hunting, outplacement and personal development are regularly published in hundreds of marketing sites on the Web. 

Originally from York, Margaret now enjoys the sunshine in the Heart of England and doesn’t miss the tourists at all.