Business Skills In High Demand: Effective Communication
Business Skills in Demand: Collaboration
Why Can’t I Get Started? Why Is Taking Action So Hard?
Online groups can be seriously enlightening. In one private online group I’m part of, members routinely share posts describing their roadblocks and/or inability to get started on projects or initiatives.
These people who post don’t understand why they can’t get started on a desired initiative so they frequently give up on the system they bought into and blame the system for not working.
It isn’t the system that doesn’t work, it is the user of the system that is lacking Activatorⓒ, a specific CliftonStrength™ that approximately 11% of people possess in their top potential strengths.
Activatorⓒ is a built in “GO BUTTON” for those who possess it. Activatorⓒ gives it’s owner the ability to quickly process decisions and to get moving while most people are unable to take action or to move as quickly.
No one potential CliftonStrength™ operates entirely by itself. It is important to know what other potential strengths one has and then to develop one’s strengths into polished, focused, powerful assets.
Developing one’s strengths can be done individually but remember that only 11% of people possess the required Activatorⓒ “GO BUTTON” required to take action. Odds of developing one’s strengths are much greater when engaging the guidance of a coach who possesses a successful track record of helping others to develop their strengths.
Jeff Snyder Coaching, Performance Coaching, 719.686.8810
He Left His Comfort Zone...The Payoff Was, WOW!
Nine months ago, Tim came to me seeking career clarity and help to develop greater self-confidence. On his own, he had risen to the level of Senior Director but he couldn’t quite figure out how to crack into the “C” Suite.
Tim didn’t know for sure that he belonged in any company’s “C” Suite. After reviewing his unique personal Strengths and his Emotional Intelligence scores, there was no doubt in my mind that he belonged in some company’s “C” Suite.
Tim’s Resume and LinkedIn Profile needed work when we first met, but the bigger challenge was his mindset. By reviewing his Strengths report and his Emotional Intelligence scores, I instantly knew that he had what it takes to not just get to the “C” Suite but he had what it takes to perform at a high-level in the “C” Suite.
Tim possessed Strengths that many technology leaders do not possess and his Emotional Intelligence scores placed him in the realm of a benchmark I work from that represents 250 successful “C” Suite executives.
We worked together in a coaching relationship for 9 months to develop his unique Strengths and to fine-tune and polish his Emotional Intelligence. Tim’s new Resume and LinkedIn strategies generated many “C” Suite interviews with companies that didn’t know precisely what it was that they were seeking.
He interviewed with a company that had fired a previous technology leader who had poor business and people skills. Because Tim knew how to articulate his skills and accomplishments, but more importantly, he knew how to speak from a position of confidence about his unique personal Strengths and his higher than normal Emotional Intelligence, it didn’t take long for a healthy job offer to surface. The offer was significantly higher than his most recent compensation and Tim was convinced that he was being paid for bringing exceptional people skills, soft skills and business skills to the table.
What did Tim do that most people don’t do in order to achieve a result that most people don’t achieve? He stepped out of his own way, out of his comfort zone, in order to get help from someone who specializes in helping high-performing human beings to create their best performance and to excel.
He invested in himself and he took action that most people don’t take. He’s no longer a Senior Director. He’s now a well-compensated, self-confident “C” Suite executive.
Jeff Snyder Coaching for High Performers, 719.686.8810
Why I Became A Certified Emotional Intelligence Coach in 2013
For the entire year of 2012, I mentored under someone I consider to be an expert in CliftonStrengths™ Coaching. The year I invested under my mentor working with technology-gifted coaching clients was priceless to my development as a Career Coach who leverages the CliftonStrengths assessment in his coaching practice.
I’ve been privileged to work with some of the smartest people on the planet as my coaching clients. Strengths Coaching provides a rock-solid foundation for building authentic, Self-Awareness.
One of my entrepreneur real estate investor clients shared her thoughts after we completed her Strengths Development Coaching.
“Without having you by my side, I wouldn’t have left my comfort zone or confronted my fears. Thank you for helping me to develop authentic self-confidence.”
Even with sound Strengths Coaching training and experience under my belt, I knew there was something more I could be delivering to my clients to guide them to their future success.
It was late in 2013 when I ran across an opportunity to work with instructors in Denver who both possessed Ph.D. education in psychology. It was through this mentoring that I was trained and certified as an Emotional Intelligence coach.
When my clients learn their potential Strengths, they discover that when their Strengths are intentional, fine-tuned, and polished, the output from their Strengths is unstoppable.
On the flip-side, when a potential Strength is operating in its infancy stage and it is still an unpolished Trait, the output an unpolished Trait can produce can often result in more harm than good.
This poor performance that comes from an unpolished Trait is often tied to behavior that can be measured by an Emotional Intelligence measurement tool I leverage called EQ-i 2.0. This is a tool that can only be purchased and evaluated by someone who has been trained and certified in the use of the tool.
Emotional Intelligence or EQ (Emotional Quotient) enables my coaching clients to truly discover, develop, polish and fine-tune the best versions of themselves. They know exactly and precisely who they are and who they are not. The deeply understand themselves, how and why they do what they do, and they gain strategies to generate their best performance.
My clients also gain an understanding of how they are coming across to other people. Once they know how they are being perceived, they are in a position to choose behaviors that will enhance their audience’s perception of them.
Combining Strengths Coaching with Emotional Intelligence Coaching is one of the strongest Strategic moves I’ve ever made on behalf of my clients. Not sold on this EQ idea yourself?
This is what Jack Welch had to say about Emotional Intelligence.
“No doubt emotional intelligence is rarer than book smarts, but my experience says it is actually more important in the making of a leader. You just can’t ignore it.”
This is what one of my “C Suite” Emotional Intelligence Coaching clients had to share about his journey towards developing healthy Emotional Intelligence.
“You’ve taught me that connecting with people on an emotional level is significantly more effective and more positive than my formerly, pure left-brain approach, of proving my point with charts, graphs, and data.”
Why should you want to discover and develop your unique potential Strengths?
- Once you take the CliftonStrengths™ Assessment, 33,000,000 more people will have to take the assessment before a match to your Top 5 potential Strengths is discovered. You really are this unique! You should discover exactly and precisely how unique you truly are and learn how to articulate what is unique about you in a confident manner.
- My coaching clients ace interviews. They know exactly who they are and who they are not. The result of Strengths Discovery is crystal-clear Self-Awareness. Psychological research suggests that only 10% of the population possesses accurate and authentic Self-Awareness. You could join this small percentage of the population.
- People who invest time and energy to do more than just read their Strengths report, people who actually invest in developing their Strengths, learn when to say Yes and when to say No. No more settling for what one CAN do. My clients hold out for what they SHOULD do in order to produce the best version of themselves.
- The list goes on…
What’s the benefit of discovering and developing one’s Emotional Intelligence?
- People who possess strong Emotional Intelligence know precisely who they are and who they are not.
- Emotionally Intelligent people understand what’s going on in their own minds.
- Emotionally Intelligent people understand how they come across to others.
- Emotionally Intelligent people learn to strategically adjust the way they come across to others in order to produce more desirable outcomes.
- Emotionally Intelligent people are equipped to build deep, meaningful, authentic, and trusting relationships.
- Emotionally Intelligent people can become the greatest bosses their employees have ever had.
- The list goes on…
One of my Emotional Intelligence Coaching clients said it this way.
“You didn’t just change my profession. You changed my life and my marriage. I wouldn’t be the person I am today without your help.”
Who Benefits From This Coaching?
The coaching I deliver to my clients isn’t just for executives. My coaching clients range from 24-years-old to 60-something years old. They’re high performing people who desire to take their personal and professional performance to the next level.
If you’d like to take your personal and professional performance to the next level, Schedule a call with me to discover how.
Jeff Snyder’s, CliftonStrengths Coaching, Emotional Intelligence Coaching, Coaching Blog, 719.686.8810
Why It’s So Hard to Take Action
Taking Action
Fitness advocates, healthcare professionals, your boss, perhaps even your spouse, challenge you to take action. Does this sound familiar?
Exercise more. Eat Less. Lower your stress. Get started on this project. Paint this room. Perhaps you know you need to do these things but you just can’t get going?
Sometimes, taking action or not taking action equates to inconvenience. Other times, taking action or not taking action can equate to life or death.
Do you personally find it difficult to take action? Care to know why? Keep reading.
Steve’s Challenge
Recently, I ran into a guy named Steve who described his challenge with taking action like this.
“I know the, I think I can, I think I can approach to taking action,
will never work without a goal and a plan.”
This quote comes from a deeply talented relationship building, communicator. He has so much potential to become more than he is today but he has trouble getting started. His inability to get started is keeping him in his current comfort zone.
Alternatively, taking action to step outside his comfort zone would propel Steve to a level of personal and professional growth he’s never experienced before.
Steve was mostly right in his quote. A goal and a plan to execute by themselves are useless until they are attached to taking action. Apply action to a goal and plan and you have forward momentum.
Activator®
The CliftonStrenghs™ Assessment measures action taking in a trait called Activator®. When the numbers were crunched numbers based on 15,000,000 assessments taken worldwide, .098% of people who took the CliftonStrengths™ Assessment possessed Activator® in their Top 5 potential Strengths.
Stated another way, out of 34 total traits, Activator® comes in at number 29 in overall frequency. That’s frequency of Activator® showing up in a person’s Top 5 potential Strengths.
There are 28 traits that show up more frequently in a person’s Top 5 potential Strengths before Activator® shows up for most people.
Go Button
People who are gifted with the Activator® trait have a built-in “Go Button”. These people who possess the courage, confidence and “Go Button” required to propel an effort or project into motion.
People who are not high in Activator® generally have trouble getting things started.
Solution
If you are low in Activator®, find someone who is high in Activator® to partner with to help you get going.
If you possess high Activator®, it is your job to discover, to develop, to mature and to polish your Activator® into a full-blown Strength.
When you take this decisive action to develop your Activator®, you’ll turn it into a game-changing Strength that very few people around you possess. Your Activator® will become a life and career differentiator that sets you apart.
Jeff Snyder Coaching, Career Coaching Blog, 719.686.8810
Three Candidates Interviewed…Two Went Home…One Received An Offer
6-Months of Interviewing…Still Not Satisfied
After six months of searching for the talent they wanted, the Chief Compliance Officer (Bob) still wasn’t satisfied. He and his team of eight interviewed one candidate after another over a six-month period. Nobody satisfied all 8 interviewers plus Bob.
When asked what was Bob was expecting in the right candidate, he could not articulate his thoughts. He just knew in his gut that he hadn't met the right person yet. This happens frequently. A hiring decision maker needs to fill a mission-critical position on their staff, and they are not able to articulate what it is they want in the ideal candidate.
The Solution
What was the solution? The solution came in the form of an external executive search professional who was gifted with the intuition and sales skills required to know what questions to ask Bob in order to unlock the previously masked thoughts in his head.
Until the gifted executive search professional came along, nobody in Bob’s company knew how to ask the right questions and nobody had the courage to ask questions that would challenge Bob’s thinking. Challenging Bob’s thinking is exactly what needed to happen.
An Offer Was Made
Bob did say that he had recently made an offer to someone just to get the search process over with, and the person turned the job down. When asked if the person he made an offer to was the ideal candidate, he said, No!
Hiring a Candidate Who Doesn’t Fit
Why would a company hire anyone who is not the ideal candidate? This particular company had a somewhat unique interview process. An interview consisted of eight company employees positioned around a conference table with the candidate positioned near the middle of the table.
When eight people are involved in an interview, there is a significant chance that there could be eight different agendas to satisfy when you’re the candidate being interviewed. Why? Because everyone is wired differently, everyone thinks differently and everyone could have different questions on his or her minds.
Time For a Paradigm Shift
Once the executive search consultant got involved, he re-wrote the job description based on the new information he’d been able to extract from Bob’s thinking. Instead of posting jobs on job boards to discover candidates who were actively looking for a new position, the executive search consultant directly recruited candidates whose skills, abilities, characteristics, and capabilities aligned with Bob’s picture of an ideal candidate.
Three Candidates Flown In
Three candidates were introduced to Bob’s company. All three candidates were granted telephone interviews. All three candidates were flown in for final interviews. All three candidates sat in front of Bob and his committee of eight interviewers.
Candidate Number 1
The first candidate arrived in a suit and tie. He spoke well, looked like a Vice President and made a great first impression. When the eight interviewers’ questions started to fly, the first candidate instantly answered each question by telling the interviewers exactly and precisely how he would build the new program. He thought he’d nailed the interview because he said everything he had planned to say. His confidence was high.
Candidate Number 2
The second candidate arrived. He also made a great first impression, spoke clearly and looked like a Vice President. All was good until the eight interviewers started asking questions.
The second candidate had a previous first career that was different from the job he was interviewing for and he was ten years removed from the first career. For some reason, every answer he provided to the interview committee came from the basis of what he’d done in his first career and he skipped over what he had professionally accomplished in the ten most recent years of his life. He too thought he had delivered a great interview.
Candidate Number 3
The third candidate arrived. Just like the first two candidates, he was articulate, he dressed well, he looked like a Vice President. After a time of meet and greet, everybody took their position at the conference table.
When the eight interviewers started asking questions, the third candidate paused for a moment and asked clarifying questions before he answered questions. He heard each interviewer’s original question and he had ideas that quickly popped into his mind, but he didn’t speak right away. He exercised impulse control.
Instead, he asked each interviewer for the deeper meaning behind their question so he could be precise in answering the interviewer’s question with an answer they wanted to hear rather than an answer he wanted to give. He adjusted his delivery to match each unique person in the eight-person interview audience and doing so made all the difference.
Job Offer
At the end of the day while the third candidate was still in the building, Bob, the Chief Compliance Officer, called the executive search consultant, expressing his satisfaction with the third candidate. An offer was made, by the executive search consultant, to the third candidate before he’d left the building. The hired candidate had been with Bob’s company for the past 10 years and is still prospering.
The Audience Matters Most When Interviewing
While an interview is about you, it is for the benefit of your audience. When you interview, you’ll likely meet multiple people. Each person in your interview audience will have unique thoughts, ideas, and agendas.
Invest time to find out what your audience cares most about and talk about their topics rather than the agenda you might be tempted to bring to the interview with you.
Jeff Snyder’s, Interview Coaching, Career Coaching Blog, 719.686.8810
Hey Introvert...Here's a People-Meeting Strategy For You
THOUGHTS FOR INTROVERTS
What’s the purpose of this article? To give you a people-meeting, networking strategy you can execute even if you’re the shyest person in the room.
REALLY EXCITING ENTREPRENEURS
Not long ago, an entrepreneur attended the most amazing conference he had ever attended. The audience included over 700 entrepreneurs from around the globe who came together to learn a game-changing methodology.
While waiting for the conference doors to open, the entrepreneur began to meet some of the most interesting and stimulating people he’d ever met in his life. Within minutes of the conference hall filling up, the energy created by this unique group of innovative, risk-taking, idea-generating, business-creating entrepreneurs was uniquely evident.
A PEOPLE-MEETING STRATEGY FOR MEETINGS
Having watched posts in a private Facebook group connected to this conference for the two weeks prior to the conference, the entrepreneur knew that many introverted entrepreneurs would be in attendance. The entrepreneur himself was not a social butterfly, but he wasn’t entirely shy either. He made it his intentional strategy to introduce himself to enough people to generate one new take-home relationship per day.
CRUSHED HIS PEOPLE-MEETING GOALS
He crushed his goal by meeting on average, ten new people per day. If you’re an introvert who is headed to a conference, do you make a point of tapping people on the shoulder and simply introducing yourself? This entrepreneur did this and he didn’t encounter a single person who was not willing to get to know him. Tapping a stranger on the shoulder might be the most difficult thing you’ve ever done, but you’re about to learn the rewards the entrepreneur received by initiating conversations.
A TAP ON THE SHOULDER
On the second day of the conference, activity ran from 9 AM to 9 PM. The entrepreneur ’s conference extended beyond the normal conference hours by way of an extended 2.5-hour meeting he shared with one of the most amazing conference attendees who is now quickly becoming a new friend and business partner.
SHAKING HANDS
The entrepreneur’s simple plan formed a connection with another conference goer. This meeting was a simple handshake between sessions. The meeting might have lasted for 3-4 minutes but that’s all. The entrepreneurs were from the US and Germany. These two shy conference goers are about to become business partners as well.
INTROVERTS, THIS IS FOR YOU!
These meetings happened because the entrepreneur took the initiative to tap people on the shoulder who were sitting in the row in front of him for three days in a row. This is exactly what he did and said.
- He tapped people on the shoulder during breaks
- Hi, I’m Tom…what’s your name? Where are you from and what do you do?
That’s it! He did nothing more difficult than what you just read. He discovered, by monitoring the Facebook group, that many people who were headed to the conference were anxious about being in a crowd of 700 and thinking that they might be the only shy person in the crowd.
EVERYTHING TO GAIN...NOTHING TO LOSE
If you’re an introvert yourself, there’s nothing to lose when you tap another introvert on the shoulder. They might even be more nervous about meeting new people than you are. Whether they’re nervous or not, forming the intention to meet people, setting goals for meeting new people, and then executing on your strategy is a no-lose proposition.
Not only did the entrepreneur intentionally tap people on the shoulder, he moved from one section to another in the conference venue over the three days of the conference so there would be a 100% chance that he’d be sitting next to and behind different people throughout each of the three days.
ONE MORE THOUGHT
If he’d never tapped shy people on the shoulder and executed a simple get to know new people strategy, the entrepreneur would have never met his new business partners.
It all began with an intention that was acted upon. You, Mr. or Ms. Introvert, can do this too!
Jeff Snyder’s, Self-Confidence Building Coaching Blog, 719.686.8810
You Have Potential to Be Great At Something. Don’t Waste Another Moment Operating Without Personal Clarity, Self-Awareness and Confidence.
Bert Was On A Mission
He was a personal friend. He came to my office for a visit. Sitting in one of the guest chairs positioned in front of my desk, Bert asked if I’d ever taken a CliftonStrengths™ Assessment?
Yes, Maybe, I think so, was my answer. Well, did you or did you not take the assessment Bert asked? I think I have the results hidden somewhere in a drawer of my desk. Get them out please, I’ll wait, Bert said. At this point I knew that Bert was on a mission. I just didn’t know why.
I’m about to share my top strengths. Why my strengths? Because it wouldn’t be right for me to openly share any of my client’s private information. If I choose to share my own, that’s different.
FUTURISTIC®
Bert was serious about my assessment results. I did not know back in 2012 what the big deal was surrounding my assessment results, but I sure do now. Bert began to explain what to me was simply black ink on white paper. He showed me that I was Futuristic. Futuristic® is a CliftonStrengths™ term that means Visionary.
STRATEGIC®
Wow, the Futuristic® piece of information alone helped me to understand a lifetime of seeing possibilities down the road that others didn’t see. Then Bert explained my Strategic® gift. He explained that this particular gift is one that a person either has or they don’t have. It cannot be taught. Bert explained how my Strategic enabled me to see the Big Picture as well as paths to get to a future destination that others can’t always see. I quickly began to understand why situations I’d encountered in the past worked out the way they did.
ACTIVATOR®
Bert got to my third Trait called Activator®. He explained how I had a built-in “GO BUTTON” that most people don’t have. To be specific, out of 34 possible Traits, Activator® comes in at number 29 in overall frequency. Only 11% of people out of more than 18 million people who have now taken the CliftonStrengths™ Assessment worldwide have Activator® in their top 5 traits.
MAXIMIZER®
Bert continued on to tell me about my Maximizer®. It was love at first sight when I began to understand that it was in my DNA to not just push good to great but to push for excellence. Once again, I quickly began to understand why I had operated they way I had up to the point when Bert sat in my office, but with no clarity of purpose.
RELATOR®
Next, Bert talked to me about my Relator®. This Trait as he explained is a very powerful relationship building trait. Most of my relationships are deep, authentic, and trusting. I’ve never been a social butterfly. Now I understood why.
COMMAND®
Bert couldn’t resist telling me about my next Trait. It’s called Command®. Out of 34 Traits, Command® comes in at number 34 in frequency. Very few people possess this leadership trait.
DEVELOPING STRENGTHS
We went on through my top 12 Traits as I recall. The further we went, the more I understood why Bert had chosen this particular assessment to drive his coaching practice. This wasn’t the last time Bert and I would meet to discuss my Traits. Bert wanted to see me develop my Traits into full-blown Strengths.
According to the late Don Clifton, the author of the CliftonStrengths™ Assessment, a true Strength is the ability to consistently provide a near-perfect performance in a specific task. When I wrapped my head around this definition, I have to admit that my Maximizer got excited.
Most people who take a CliftonStrengths™ Assessment only learn what their potential strengths could be. They never do what it takes to turn a raw Trait into a full-blown, polished, Strength.
For the next 12 months, I mentored under Bert because it quickly became clear to me that the CliftonStrengths™ Assessment had a strategic place in my own coaching practice. Adopting this tool in my coaching practice was one of the smartest decisions I’ve ever made.
GAME-CHANGING, LIFE-CHANGING, PARADIGM-SHIFTING, TRANSFORMATIONAL, CONFIDENCE-BUILDING
My Career Coaching clients have been achieving life-changing results as a result of the work I do with the CliftonStrenghts™ Assessment and the EQ-I 2.0 Emotional Intelligence Assessment.
If you’d like to learn how my clients are benefiting from the year I invested to mentor under Bert, and the 5+ years I’ve invested into developing my coaching services beyond Bert’s involvement, I invite you to visit my Career Coaching / Strengths Coaching page on the Jeff Snyder Coaching website.
My clients tell me that the work I’ve been doing with them is “Game-Changing, Life-Changing, Paradigm-Shifting, Transformational, and Confidence-Building”. I’ve never done work that is more important in my life!
Jeff Snyder’s, Self-Awareness, Self-Confidence, Coaching Blog, 719.686.8810
Self-Awareness Coaching + Emotional Intelligence Coaching + Trusted Advisor Coaching = >$1M in new Sales (Kelly Approved)
Kelly is on a Roll!
Kelly (name changed) is a Cybersecurity, IT Risk Management, GDPR Consultant. She introduced herself to me after I gave a presentation on a stage in front of a large audience of her colleagues several years ago.
Kelly came to me for Coaching
- To find the clarity that showed her what she was uniquely gifted to do professionally.
- To gain a strategy for getting in front of the right employers to interview for the best jobs.
- To gain a strategy for Resume Writing and LinkedIn profile optimization.
- To learn how to present herself with clarity and confidence when she interviewed.
- To build Self-Confidence and to escape opportunity-limiting comfort zones she’d created in her head.
- To close the deal with an offer when she found herself in front of the right employer.
- To deliver the best version of herself in the workplace.
- To learn how to leverage her unique strengths to become the best boss her team members have ever had.
- To learn how to fine-tune her emotional intelligence skills with the goal of building deep, meaningful, trusting relationships with superiors, colleagues, peers, subordinates, and customers.
- To learn to build the relationships that positioned her to earn the right to lead her consulting firm into what is becoming more than a $1M piece of the ongoing advisory services business. Sue isn’t a sales or business development titled professional.
How Kelly is Getting Things Accomplished
By carrying herself with authentic, honest, accurate self-confidence and by crushing fear-based limiting beliefs, Sue has catapulted her career to new heights. As her employer discovers that Sue is naturally gifted to lead, guide, mentor, grow and inspire others, they’ll give her more people to develop. She’ll be promoted soon, and she’ll undoubtedly be earning more money based on her recent breakthrough accomplishments.
Jeff Snyder’s, CliftonStrengths Coaching, Emotional Intelligence Coaching, Trusted Advisor Coaching, Career Coaching Blog, 719.686.8810
Why Military to Private Sector Career Transition Is So Difficult
Comments from Career Transitioning Professionals
“After 27 years serving in the Army, I have never found anything harder than transitioning from the Army to civilian life.”
“I understand what you are going through, I retired from the Navy in 1997 and the transition was so difficult.”
“The private sector is not anything like the military and takes a little to get used to, but again it just takes time and patience.”
“I’ve sent my resume out over 100 times and nobody is paying any attention to me.”
Why Career Transition Is Challenging
These are the comments that I either see on social media or comments that have come to me directly from people who are struggling to make career transitions. Here are a few steps that will address challenges that exist in career transitions.
CAN vs SHOULD
· In the military, you may have had some choices with regard to where your skills, training, education, and career were headed, but you likely did not have total freedom of choice.
In the private sector, you can do whatever you want to do. Most people never slow down in their lives to figure out the difference between what they “CAN” do and what they “SHOULD” do. When you enter the private sector, this is your opportunity to finally focus in on what you “SHOULD” do with your life based on your unique giftedness. People who make this investment find Clarity, Confidence, and Direction.
Translation
· The work you performed in the military was likely called something different than it is in the private sector. You need to translate your language.
A 25-year non-commissioned army officer came to me looking for help with his career transition. In the deserts of the Middle East, he drove and guided convoys of supply trucks across the desert. These trucks carried supplies, vehicles, weapons, etc. While a corporation involved in trucking in the private sector may not be transporting tanks, they are transporting goods that need to be delivered safely and on time. I taught this military officer how to translate his resume’s language. Doing so led to him receiving calls for interviews for supply chain and logistics positions.
Leadership Paradigm Shift
· In your military career, you likely led by command and control techniques. You might have possessed more stars and stripes than others. Therefore, when you laid down an order, there were people under your command who had no choice but to respond and take action.
In the private sector, 21st Century Leadership involves building deep, meaningful, authentic, trusting relationships. Trust must be earned. It is not mandated. In order to attract and to retain talent, 21st Century Leaders must learn to coach, inspire, grow, mentor, and develop employees. Private sector employees can leave and find another job at any time. A different leadership approach is required in the private sector.
A New Resume Strategy
· You may have been taught to write a government resume that stretches to 5-10+ pages. In the private sector, you have a matter of seconds for a gatekeeper to find a reason to slow down to read your resume. You need to execute a different strategy to achieve a different result.
A clean, clear, logical resume that is built with the resume owner’s new audience in mind, wins. Most resumes are built with the resume’s owner in mind. This approach requires a paradigm shift to implement a different strategy if one wishes to achieve a different result. If your current resume hasn’t generated desired results in 20 tries, you’ll likely get the same resume results when you try 50 times and even 100 times. You need a different strategy.
This is a very short list built to demonstrate just a few of the paradigm shift challenges that exist when one leaves a military career to enter the private sector.
Jeff Snyder’s, Career Transition Coaching, Career Coaching Blog, 719.686.8810
Outside In or Inside Out…Which Career Development Approach is Better?
Outside In or Inside Out?
Most people I’ve met over nearly three decades of recruiting seem to choose a profession and a career path to follow before they determine exactly who they are, how they’re built and how they are uniquely gifted. I’ll call this Self-Awareness. Self-Awareness leads to Clarity.
When a career path decision is made correctly, a person is positioned to deliver the best possible version of themselves to everyone around them.
When this decision is not made correctly, people are promoted to levels where the technical skills that got them to a certain level of engineering or architectural accomplishment are no longer enough to achieve the same level of success as they continue to rise in an organization.
As promotions occur, and as promotions are achieved, required skills change. These new roles require people skills, exceptional communication skills, soft skills, influencing, empathy, humility, negotiating, persuasion, collaboration, partnering skills, and more.
Outside In
For those who chose or stumbled into what is now Cybersecurity, early on, it was like stepping into the “Wild West”. Judging from the multitude of Cybersecurity job descriptions I see on a daily basis, the “Wild West” analogy fits quite well.
Employers rarely know what they're doing when hiring Cybersecurity talent. Cybersecurity professionals deliver communication to their audience that does not align with the way their audience communicates.
By jumping into the water and catching a fast-rising wave, many brilliant Cybersecurity technologists were promoted to Manager, Director, Vice President, and CISO titles. While this might appear to be a great accomplishment on the surface, it might not be such a great accomplishment after all.
The high-IQ driven, cognitive intelligence, analytical, linear thinking skills that cause a person to be great at addressing hardcore cyber technology issues are not the skills generally required for success at the Manager, Director, Vice President or CISO levels.
Inside Out
A better approach to choosing a career path begins with gaining a clear picture of who you are and what your unique giftedness translates into. Are you gifted to lead, guide, manage, mentor, and influence others? If you are, you may have what it takes to be someone’s outstanding boss. For most people, these skills don't come naturally but they can be developed.
On the other hand, if your unique giftedness is made of strategic thinking skills that reside in your head where nobody else can see them or experience them, you’re most likely gifted to be a great technologist or technology architect.
Finding out how you are uniquely wired is the key to knowing whether you should go straight, turn left or turn right at a various point in your career path.
Peter Principle
“The Peter Principle is a concept in management theory formulated by educator Laurence J. Peter and was published in 1969. It states that the selection of a candidate for a position is based on the candidate's performance in their current role, rather than on abilities relevant to the intended role. Thus, employees only stop being promoted once they can no longer perform effectively, and "managers rise to the level of their incompetence".
The Peter Principle runs wild in the “Wild West” of Cybersecurity. You owe it to yourself to discover what you are naturally built to be great at. You’ll appreciate what you can accomplish when you align your natural giftedness with your chosen work and so will those around you.
Change Your Life Today
Cybersecurity professionals come to me on a daily basis with questions. It seems that in many cases, they don’t know when to go straight, when to turn left or when to turn right.
Nothing is more satisfying to me than to help a person who sincerely wants to know, to determine how they are uniquely gifted so I can map their unique giftedness towards the right career path.
Choosing the right career path has potential to result in greater job satisfaction, higher earning potential, improved productivity, improved relationships, and lower stress.
Who wouldn’t want a better job fit, more income, a greater sense of accomplishment, more quality working relationships and all with less stress?
Use this link to schedule a strategy call with me so I can get you started on the road to Clarity and Discovery.
Jeff Snyder’s, Jeff Snyder Career Coaching Blog, 719.686.8810
Before you make your New Year’s resolutions, be sure that you are crystal clear about your “WHY”
What is your “WHY”?
Your “WHY” is your unique purpose that is connected to your unique giftedness that is driven by your personal values. If you don’t know what your unique giftedness specifically looks like, now is a great time to find out. The difference between finding out or not finding out is the difference between excelling at the work you do versus delivering an average performance.
Some people are built to lead. Others are built to follow. Some are built to function in-between leading and following in a managerial capacity.
You can find out exactly and precisely how you are uniquely wired and it takes just 30 minutes to discover.
Your “WHY” will give you the sticktuitiveness to follow through on decisions. You don’t need to make empty New Year’s resolutions that generally fizzle out in just a few months. Discover what you were built to be great at and then align your daily activities with your unique giftedness and you won’t need the resolution to keep you going.
You’ll be able to keep going because you’re doing what you were built to do in the first place. I call it the difference between settling for what you “CAN” do and holding out for what you “SHOULD” do. This is what happens when you take action to discover your unique giftedness.
“Just spent my first hour on the phone with Jeff Snyder Coaching - motivational, inspirational, eye-opening, validating, humbling, and completely NOT what I was anticipating for a first call! It was SO MUCH more! I came away with insights and pragmatic, practical tools I can put into action in my work/relationships starting as early as today!
IF you are willing to go there, Jeff will provide you with the “code” and he’ll help you crack open the door to possibilities and the journey that lies ahead of you. BUT, ultimately, it’s up to you to take that first step and then follow through with a commitment to taking action on the insights, resources, materials, and strategy that Jeff will place at your fingertips.
Jeff, Thanks for the investments you are making in people lives.”
Jeff Snyder Coaching’s, Jeff Snyder Coaching Blog, 719.686.8810
Direction Is More Important Than Speed...Something To Ponder
Here’s a thought for highly Strategic people to ponder. After assessing my coaching clients, I have discovered that many of my clients have Strategic™ in their Top 5 or Top 10 potential strengths.
I say potential strengths because possessing the Strategic™ trait does not mean that you’ve polished and matured your Strategic™ into a well-oiled machine. That’s what the process of coaching is all about.
I guide my clients to discover how they are uniquely gifted. How a person is uniquely gifted determined how they can produce the best version of themselves. Once my clients discover exactly and precisely what makes them tick, we move on to developing strengths.
Strengths start out as traits before intentional development, maturing, and polishing occur. Once a trait becomes a strength, there is nothing that can hold a polished strength back from creating excellence.
, 719.686.8810
How to Identify the Right Job
Connecting With People at an Emotional Level Produces Results
The Value of Connecting at an Emotional Level
Transformational Personal Breakthrough
When through emotional intelligence coaching, a brilliant technologist experiences this kind of transformational personal breakthrough, his career is on the verge of escalating to the next level.
“Connecting with people on an emotional level is significantly more effective and more positive than my formerly, pure left-brain approach, of proving my point with charts, graphs, and data.”
Jeff Snyder's, Jeff Snyder Coaching Blog, 719.686.8810
Who Should You Hire For Strategic Resume Writing?
There is no shortage of opinions with regards to how to write a resume. A Google search will produce tens of thousands of resume writing opinions.
Would you rather hire a resume writer based on their opinions or based on their resume writing results?
Hire a resume writer who is a gifted Strategic® thinker. The Strategic® I'm referring to here is defined by the CliftonStrengths™ assessment as someone who is gifted to spot relevant patterns and issues. This person can see from A to Z in one blink. They see the big picture and the see multiple paths to get from here to there.
This type of thinking is a gift that someone either has or they don't have. The Strategic® thinking mentioned in the Clifton StrengthsFinder™ cannot be taught.
You might also want to hire a resume writer who does a significant amount of writing as part of their daily activities. The measurable and quantifiable evidence is always helpful. Here's my evidence of my daily writing activity and how it stacks up to others who happen to use the Grammarly tool.
Look for a resume writing professional who has a sufficient enough vocabulary to keep up with the complexity of the vocabulary that might be used in your profession.
Look for a resume writing specialist who understands how to blend technical writing, business writing, and creative writing just right. How will you know if their blend is just right? They'll be able to show you how their past clients have achieved resume writing results like this.
“I have an interview next Tuesday based on the resume you just finished for me. I am amazed at your expertise and your understanding of how the industry works. You are amazing.”
Jeff Snyder's, Jeff Snyder Coaching Blog, 719.686.8810
What You Should Do When You’re Interviewing For The Wrong Job
7 Total Interviews
The company just called Sue back for her 7th interview. Yes, you read that correctly. Seven total interviews. Nobody at the company is qualified to understand Sue’s uniqueness. She’s now being asked to take on an individual contributor job.
She’s a deeply skilled, talented, polished and bright candidate. It’s as if the hiring manager is doing everything possible to tactically fill his round hole with a square peg and Sue is the current candidate on the stage.
Who Is Sue?
First, she’s Strategic®. She has an ability to not only see the big picture but she also has the giftedness to know how to move from point A to point B with great precision. Sue doesn’t need to be in a position that pushes her down in the weeds. She needs to be in a position where she can guide others through the big picture.
She possesses a strength called Individualization®. She’s gifted with an ability to understand the uniqueness of each person she encounters. She instinctively knows how different people can work together to produce the best possible output. She is gifted to manage people.
Sue is an Arranger®. Arrangers are gifted to arrange people in the most optimized manner in order to get things done. Combined with her Strategic abilities, Sue has her eye on the entire plan and she instinctively knows how to put the right people in front of the right tasks to maximize their productivity.
Throw in Sue’s Achiever® and she’s virtually guaranteed to guide teams to results. She is built to take people and project results to the finish line.
Placing Sue in a down in the weeds, in an individual contributor role, where she has no ability to guide other people to produce results is a recipe for total frustration, lack of engagement, and guaranteed turnover on Sue’s part.
Self-Awareness Is Powerful
Sue knows that she needs to be hired into a role where she gets to leverage her people skills, her organizational skills, and her executing skills in a highly strategic role.
When Sue takes on a role like this, she’ll likely deliver the best productivity of her entire career and she’ll fall in love with the work she’s doing. She’ll be engaged, empowered, and her results will be powerful!
She picked up her heightened and accurate Self-Awareness through Strengths Coaching with Jeff Snyder.
What Should Sue Do In This Case?
Turn around and run!
Jeff Snyder’s, Jeff Snyder Coaching Blog, 719.686.8810