Working within your zone

I've read several articles lately that talk about building on your strengths, including this description of a bunko breakfast put on by my alumni group http://briantayloronline.wordpress.com/2009/04/27/the-wgu-bunko-breakfast-in-salt-lake-city/. I believe it's a great idea to focus on your strengths, but I believe there is more to it. It's about finding your comfort zone. Figure out what you do best and do it better than anyone else. Persist at it, improve it, enjoy it, then expand it. Gradually expanding your comfort zone will help you stay the best. Don't be left behind. Keep growing so your comfort zone doesn't become a death trap.

Information Security must be balanced

Security in business is not an absolute. You can never be 100 percent secure and still be able to function as a business. For this reason Security needs to be balanced. It is about understanding your risks, mitigating those unacceptable risks and monitoring those risks that the business is willing to accept. The thing to remember is that if the business cannot operate security has failed. There is either too much or too little. Find the balance for your individual business. It is different everywhere.

IT and Business Alignment

A google search for alignment brings up many definitions. The two I like best are "place in a line or arrange so as to become parallel or straight" and "be or come into adjustment with", from Princeton's wordnet search.

These definitions best suit the need and the process of IT and business alignment, because often times cool toys take us in a direction that differs from the business and to get back on track requires adjustments. There is no quick overnight fix and the problem may not lie solely within IT.

See if you recognize this scenario:

The business is complaining about there being too much time between sales and product delivery. The executive team is demanding a company-wide ERP solution to help reduce that time. The IT department chooses an ERP system that fits into their current infrastructure and integrates with other critical systems.


Sound like success? Well, what if the problem wasn't a lack of system integration. What if the problem was process related. The problems compound from there. Now you have an ERP system that is not meeting the needs of the business. The time from sale to implementation is now increasing because of the introduction of a new complex system that now adds to the problem.

This is just one example of how IT and business can become unaligned. So how do you fix the problem?

First, proactive solutions. 1. Set realistic expectations. Make sure the business and the IT department understand that technology is not the solution to everything. Process must be fixed first. 2. Avoid shinny objects. In other words, avoid distractions. Stay focused on tools that will meet the business objective at the best possible cost to the business.

Then reactive solutions. 1. Gain a clear picture of the business strategy. Understand where IT fits into the strategy and tie IT investments to business strategy. 2. Eliminate waste. Evaluate IT processes and cut back where necessary. 3. Change attitudes. Add business skills to the IT training curriculum. Help everyone understand business need. Develop effective end user training to get the maximum benefit from IT investments. Build trust between IT and the business. 4. Change the business where it is needed. It's easy to assume all the responsibility for change in the IT department, but IT needs to take its seat at the business table and lead process improvement as well as sound decision making. Speak up when technology is not the right solution don't be afraid to say so.

So, be proactive when you can head problems off before they start and align IT investments with business strategy. Do it right the first time and all will be happy. If you have to react make sure you understand the problem, eliminate wastes, change attitudes, and change the business.

What a Leader Must Possess

Imagine this scenario.

You are in a camp with 100 men and women you are responsible for. You are doing your work when all of a sudden you hear BOOM BOOM BOOM. Five rockets just exploded outside and you they sounded close. You get a call that confirms what you heard. Your responsibility now is to confirm that everyone is safe and that it is safe to resume work. It's night and pitch black out, but you've got to send someone out to check for Unexploded Ordinance, bombs that haven't gone off, but may still explode. You look to one of your subordinates and ask him/her to go. They get up without hesitation, fully understanding the danger, and go do the task.

What would compel this response? Is it blind faith? No. Is it sense of duty and love for a your fellow man? Somewhat, but what makes them listen to you? Why did they not question whether you made the right decision? Why did they do the task without hesitation?

This actually happened and happens quite frequently. This specific time it happened to my unit in Iraq. I wasn't the one asking others to go into harms way, but I got to observe one of the greatest leaders I have ever worked with, Lieutenant Colonel Gammon, make such a request time and again, to myself and to others. To finish the story, this specific time there was an unexploded rocket no more than 50 yards away from our camp and the E.O.D. needed to explode it so it would not do more harm. This was a time when life and limb depended on making the right decisions and having those decisions followed without hesitation. There was not time for questioning what we should do. Col Gammon gave the orders, they were the right orders, and they were followed without hesitation because he had already established himself as a great leader.

Col. Gammon is one of many great leaders I have found both in and out of the military. These great leaders all had four main attributes in common. They are vision, strategy, trust, and ownership.

Vision Endgame. These leaders all knew where we were going, but most important they had and provided clarity. The end of the road was crystal clear for them and they made it crystal clear for everyone else. Their goals were not vague statements. They were specific and actionable. Everyone knew them, understood them, and believed in them.

Strategy Not only did they know and demonstrate what the end of the road would look like, but they could show what it would take to get there. Whether you would have to go down one road and turn at mile marker 99. They knew what that journey would be. Hard work, yes, but a journey that you would want to travel together. Strategy to make vision crystal clear. People will follow you when you can demonstrate that you know what it takes to get where you are going. Many leaders expect strategy to come from the bottom. Strategy cannot be delegated. It must start at the top of the organization and flow downward being refined, or purified like a stream, along the way.

Trust Maybe it's just me, but I can't follow a leader I don't trust or one that doesn't trust me. The best leaders I've come across understood that. They believed that trust is a two way street and without it you can't succeed, especially when the bombs literally are flying. In the military you often don't get to choose who works for you. Unless you are a General Officer or on a general staff you don't get to choose your people. But you can count on the fact that everyone went through the same training. Your people have the skills to do their job. Trust that you have good talented people working for you and let them be good talented people. Trust them to help you refine your strategy and they will trust you to lead them to fulfilling your vision. But that's not where it stops. Trust must be earned and built upon. In the private sector, you can't expect to take on a new position and have any trust at all. No one knows you, you have to earn it. Once you've earned it you've got to fight to keep it. You must continually show your subordinates, your customers, and your leadership that they have not misplaced their trust.

Ownership Delegation is important. These leaders did not try to do everything themselves. They understood that to grow their subordinates into leaders they had to give them opportunities to learn, but that did not relinquish their responsibility. They still owned the work that needed to get done. They gave credit to those who accomplished the work, when credit was due, but they took ownership when the work didn't get done. A great teacher once told me, "As a manager/leader you are responsible for the work. It doesn't matter how much you delegate you cannot delegate responsibility."

So, why would someone go into harm's way when you as their leaders ask it? Because you have a vision they can believe in. You know what it will take to achieve it and everything you do works towards that. You've earned their trust and have shown that you trust them. You own the problem and you would not be asking them to do something you wouldn't do yourself. A leader with these attributes delegates work because it is best for the organization not because they don't want to do it. They care about their followers, because they trust that they add value to the organization. They work hard to earn the trust they have and would not violate that trust. They understand what responsibility means and that it falls on them.

That is what a leader must possess.

Step 4 - Developing your goals and putting your plan into action

This is the fifth and final post of a five part series on why career planning is important and how to go about doing it. The five sections are as follows

1. Introduction
2. Evaluating the competencies needed to perform successfully in the position you seek
3. Evaluating your competencies and performing a gap analysis
4. Developing a learning plan
5. Setting your goals and putting your plan into action.

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SETTING YOUR GOALS AND PUTTING YOUR PLAN INTO ACTION

Wrapping it all up and following through. That sums up this final step. This is the step that wraps it all up and wraps around. Here at the end of the process you've already defined what you want to achieve, what gap needs to be filled to get there, how you plan on filling those gaps, and now you'll set out to put dates to it.

For each gap you've identified set a date when you will earn the competency to fill that gap. Make sure you are pushing yourself. Set lofty goals and achieve them. The payoff in the end will be more than you could ever imagine.

Now, setting your goals and achieving them is not really the end. This is a circular process. All along the way you'll need to be fluid and changing. Life events may change your goals, the availability of learning resources or funds may accelerate or slow your goals. The key is to continuously reevaluate your progress and your end game, always for the best. Don't let setbacks throw you off your path, but do let opportunities accelerate your progress.

Hopefully you'll find this information helpful. Don't forget, if this has helped you use it to help someone else.

Step 3 - Developing A Learning Plan

This is the fourth post of a five part series on why career planning is important and how to go about doing it. The five sections are as follows

1. Introduction
2. Evaluating the competencies needed to perform successfully in the position you seek
3. Evaluating your competencies and performing a gap analysis
4. Developing a learning plan
5. Setting your goals and putting your plan into action.

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DEVELOPING A LEARNING PLAN

By now you should have a clear understanding of what you are lacking as well as what your strong points are. You've identified what you need to learn, now you need to identify how you are going to learn it. The options are numerous. You can get formal education, meaning get a degree not necessarily a brick-and-mortar school, you can take certification courses, you can get on-the-job experience, you may even teach yourself. The key is to identify how you are going to get what you need and WRITE IT DOWN.

The next and final post will address making an actual plan by setting goals and adding dates and times to achieving them.

Step 2 - Honesty

This is the third post of a five part series on why career planning is important and how to go about doing it. The five sections are as follows

1. Introduction
2. Evaluating the competencies needed to perform successfully in the position you seek
3. Evaluating your competencies and performing a gap analysis
4. Developing a learning plan
5. Setting your goals and putting your plan into action.

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EVALUATING YOUR COMPETENCIES AND PERFORMING A GAP ANALYSIS

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the results of 100 battles"
- Sun Tzu, The Art of War

The best quotes are those whose applicability goes far beyond the subject of discussion. This is one of those quotes. The first step  I presented was about knowing your enemy, or target career in our case. Now you must know your self and you must be brutally honest. This can be difficult and often requires feedback from others that can be hard to swallow. I would recommend reading the book "Career Distinctions" by William Arruda and Kirsten Dixon http://www.careerdistinction.com and taking advantage of their web based anonymous 360 feedback. This allows you to ask questions of people who know you and get honest anonymous feedback from them. The feedback is tallied to let you know what others see as your best attributes.

A couple things to avoid, depending on your personality, are being too negative and being too positive. Some of us tend to tip the scales a little too much in our own favor and others tend to be overly pessimistic. The key here is to be honest and objective, because once you know what your career aspirations are, what it takes to get there and perform the job successfully, and what you have to offer to the position, you can start building your plan.

This step should be one step you find the most value in, because even if you go no further you will have a clear understanding of who your are and what you have to offer regardless of the endeavor you undertake.

For those of you continuing on down the path of career planning  now is the time for a gap analysis. Basically, you need to take what you know about the competencies you need and subtract the competencies you have already obtained. What is left over are the competencies you need to build on, and that will be the next step in Career Planning. Developing a Learning Plan.