How to Get Ahead Without Murdering Your Boss

by Helen Burton

  How to Get Ahead Without Murdering Your Boss

  First published in Australia in 2010 by A&A Book Publishing Pty Ltd.

  ISBN 978-0-9807399-0-9

  This EPUB edition:

  ISBN 978-0-9872367-2-2

  Copyright © Helen Burton, Vicki Webster and Alison Lees 2011

  The contents of this book are solely the views and expressions of the author and others that have expressed their personal view to him. This book is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 and subsequent amendments, no part may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means or process whatsoever without the prior written permission of the publishers.

  Cover design, illustrations and e-book format by David Andor / Wave Source Design

  www.wavesourcedesign.com

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of Australia

  A&A Book Publishing Pty Ltd

  Leichhardt, NSW 2040

  Email: admin@aampersanda.com

  Website: www. aampersanda.com

  Table of Contents

  Dedication

  Introduction

  Part One

  Walking Close to the Edge A Corporate Murder Mystery

  Meet the characters and their career issues. Five work colleagues are stuck at a corporate retreat in a cyclone. The CEO disappears—he's had influence on each employee's career. Is he dead, and if so, who killed him?

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Part Two

  SEEFAR Career Management Workbook

  Use this section to apply the SEEFAR career management methodology to your personal situation. Complete all or some of the exercises that form part of the SEEFAR career management methodology. Learn how to review and develop your career to maintain or improve job satisfaction and employability.

  Using SEEFAR

  Career Management Strategy One: Self-understanding and Identity

  Career Management Strategy Two: External Image

  Career Management Strategy Three: Environment

  Career Management Strategy Four: Financial Objectives

  Career Management Strategy Five: Action and Reflection

  Career Management Strategy Six: Results

  Part Three

  SEEFAR in Action

  The SEEFAR career management methodology in action. The characters in Walking Close to the Edge use the SEEFAR career management methodology to make decisions about their own careers. Read all or some of the stories.

  Character Analysis

  Paul Handy

  Kylie Humann

  Louise Able

  Ed Senior

  Nathan Clearview

  Yasmin Perfect

  Clara Cooke

  Career Management Resources

  Appendix and Resources

  Theory and Practice for Career Coaches

  About the Authors

  This book is dedicated to our patient families, who supported us over the long, long life of this project, and to all the individuals we have career coached who got us started by asking for a career book that was contemporary, user friendly, practical and fun.

  Introduction

  Most of us can think of a time when we experienced strong feelings of dissatisfaction with our role or work environment, resenting work's influence over our life. Fortunately, we don't need to resort to murder to attempt to solve the problem! On the other hand, many people can feel powerless or unmotivated to manage their career and life.

  It's our experience that up to ninety percent of people indicate feeling a lack of control over their careers, yet only five percent feel able or motivated to do something about it. This begs the question: why?

  It could be that it's a lot easier to stay in our comfort zone and not think about it too much. Maybe we're scared that if we do something, we might fail, or we're not even sure what the first step is. After all, it's a lot more fun, and a whole lot less confronting, to watch the latest reality or crime show on TV, enjoy sport, surf the net or even clean out the kitchen cupboards, rather than explore other work options.

  Like anything in life, effectively managing our own career takes some time — but not as much as you might think — effort and continuous learning to explore options, identify opportunities, make decisions and ultimately achieve our desired outcomes.

  Personally, we believe in the power of taking responsibility for our own careers, whether that means keeping a job that we love, making a career change or simply learning new skills to increase our employability. This is equally important in buoyant markets or in harsh economic times with large scale job losses. We also believe that career management can be fun!

  With this philosophy in mind, read on to learn how easy it is to develop and implement your own actionable career strategy.

  SEEFAR: A quick overview of best practice career management

  SEEFAR is a practical and results-driven process that merges the best features of the traditional plan-and-implement approach to career development with a new focus on having our own narrative and using action learning to gain clarity on what the best career opportunities are for us in order to feel successful and fulfilled.

  S = Self-understanding and identity

  The first step in an effective career management process is to ensure you have a clear understanding of yourself and the things that make you who you are — the things that drive you and your motivations and values. Once you understand what makes you happy and satisfied at work — the things that come naturally to you — you can build these factors into your career decision making. For this part of the process, we will ask you to assess your skills, major competencies, interests, values, personality traits, style and family career history through assessment instruments and exercises. The assessment activities are amalgamated to develop a 'self-portrait', or identity, that links to possible career options.

  E = External image

  Once you have a clear understanding of yourself, the next step is to understand how others perceive you. This is important to ensure the career options you consider are realistic and inline with your reputation. By examining your external image, you recognise that others often determine your access to opportunities and your selection for new positions or projects, so it is essential that you understand what impression you make on other people as this is how you create your reputation.

  E = Environment

  Career management needs to be practical to provide meaningful outcomes. Understanding the marketplace is a vital part of career decision making. Activities in this part of the process assist you to explore opportunities and build business relationships to access them.

  F = Financial objectives

  The best career plans can fall apart if they are not aligned to your financial goals. For example, taking time off work to complete full-time study or taking a reduction in salary to move to a new department/unit will not be sustainable i
f it doesn't meet your financial needs. This part of the process focuses on identifying your financial goals and ensuring compatibility with your career goals.

  A = Action and reflection

  The chaotic nature of careers means that opportunities can arise unexpectedly. Without a robust career management process to assess the viability of each option, you run the risk of choosing a direction that you may regret. Additionally, the best way to determine whether something is right of you is to try it out first, especially where you are considering a significant career transition. This phase facilitates a detailed exploration of options through crafted experiments, for example secondments and special projects. This action-and-reflection model is linked to the need to take responsibility for your career direction.

  R = Results

  "It is a new day." The rules of work have changed, and you are more accountable for your own career management. All the analysis, reflection and planning will amount to nothing if you don't take action. A well developed, specific action plan with measurable short-term goals, mid-term direction and long-term aspirations will enable you to take control of your career, without having to murder your boss!

  The SEEFAR Model

  How to apply the SEEFAR model in your career is explained in Parts 2 and 3 of this book. Now sit back, relax and take some time to enjoy seeing the model in action in the story in Part 1.

  1

  The cushions in the lounge shifted slightly and Paul opened one eye. He glanced at the person creating the disturbance and grunted.

  "Sorry about that," said the young man who was even now pushing his back into the well-padded lounge and joylessly re-arranging a briefcase and papers around him.

  Paul nodded and pretended to resume his nap but kept one eye open, watching the performance unfolding in front of them. His neighbour was a magician the way a series of briefcases and folders just seemed to multiply and empty into each other until the lounge, footstool and coffee table in front of them were layered in sheets of impressive looking documents. Some of them even had flowcharts and graphs. Unable to contain his fascination any longer Paul sat up slowly, uncrossing his arms and stretching his legs out so that the tops of his boots could barely be seen under the hem of his heavily worn jeans. He ran his hands through his curls, shook his head and glanced up at the arrivals and departures information. "Bugger."

  His new companion glanced at him, took one look at the leather bomber jacket and rucksack and deliberately turned away. Paul ignored this slight. "My flight's another couple of hours away. How about you mate? Where you off to?"

  "Sydney."

  The reply was crisp and polite and had "do not disturb" written all over it, but Paul wasn't so easily put off.

  "You coming from New York?"

  "Yes." The head was permitted a bob and there was a slight, superficial smile, but the young man's focus was quickly back to the pages in front of him.

  Paul leaned back and put his hands behind his head, staring up at the fluoro lights that were unrelenting in their starkness. "Yeah, the wife and I are just coming back from the States too. Interesting place to visit. Wouldn't want to live there. Too many weirdos running around. And some yanks don't seem to have much of a sense of humour."

  "Hmmmmm."

  Paul looked around the transit lounge at the other stranded passengers, contorted into various reclining positions on their seats, struggling to try and get comfortable, like some purgatorial karma sutra.

  He bent forward and took a moment or two to make sure he caught the eye of his neighbour, who was rapidly regretting his choice of seat. "I thought you business guys did everything on a computer the size of a matchbox. You know, paperless world and all that." Leaning even further forward, Paul was making himself impossible to ignore. "Don't get me wrong, I don't know much about business — that's the missus' department. I'm a sparky myself. She's the one who's written the business book and been on Oprah."

  Finally a spark of interest. The well-gelled hair turned towards him. "Your wife has written a business book?"

  Paul nodded. "Yep, that's why we were in the States. A few of those big publishers were fighting over it — and the sequel. Like a pack of buzzards on a carcass they were. Crazy what money you can get."

  Paul had his neighbour's full attention now.

  "So it's been published in the U.S?"

  "Yeah, and first run has already nearly sold out." Paul sat back, confident he now had someone to chat to. "Fancy a beer?"

  "What?" The young man fumbled. "No… Well yes, maybe a soft drink."

  "Not if I'm buying mate." Paul signaled to the attendant hovering nearby. "We should get something for our business lounge membership, shouldn't we?"

  The young man nodded assent, looked down at his paperwork, weighed up the next couple of hours, and shut the lid of his laptop.

  Paul noticed. "Good man. Now, what'll you have?"

  By the time they were on their second round, Paul had discovered that the young man, David Young, was a sales executive for a telecommunications company that covered the globe and that he last had a holiday five years ago. David had finally loosened his tie a little and was leaning back into the leather cushions like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. Paul guessed he was only in his early thirties, but he looked closer to forty. He waited until David had sipped his way down the third bottle before piecing the facts together.

  "So you're a very little fish in a very big pond?"

  David opened his mouth to protest and then decided he didn't have the energy to deny the truth. He stared down the mouth of his bottle. "A very big pond. A global pond. And in New York they make polite noises about taking Sydney into consideration when they make their decisions, but it's all…, "

  He took another gulp. "So the reality is if I want to get ahead I'm going to have to either move to the US or one of the other overseas offices, or work even more hours in Sydney to get noticed and, well" he glanced at Paul, "I'm already on tablets for stress and not sleeping and my girlfriend is complaining that she never sees me. Well, did complain. I think she dumped me last night." He took another gulp. "By text."

  Paul let out a low whistle. "Christ mate you are in a bad way. Sounds like you're better off without her anyway. Text, eh?" Paul smiled and shook his head. "Hazards of working in telecommunications."

  David started to laugh a bit too loudly. Paul threw him a cautious look. Having a drink was one thing but he hadn't meant to open a can of worms. He looked around and checked that no one was staring. "Hey mate, listen. I have a story to tell you that might make you feel better."

  David didn't respond. "No, really mate, it's what my wife's book is about." Paul kept talking. "She's written this self-help book for people just like you."

  "What? People who don't have any say in their career decisions and don't have the guts to do anything about it?" His voice was full of bitterness.

  Paul paused and was on the cusp of agreeing and then reconsidered. "No, mate. Just people who need a push in the right direction, to show them how to take control back."

  "What's it called?"

  "How to Get Ahead Without Murdering Your Boss." Paul deadpanned.

  David rubbed his face before sitting back and taking a long gulp of his beer. He stared at Paul for a moment. "I think we need another round then." He signaled to the waiter. "With a whiskey chaser."

  Paul thought for a fraction of an instant how much trouble he was already likely to be in, calculated the risks, and was just about to say no to a drink for the first time in his life when he glanced up at the departures screen.

  He nodded to David. "Right then. You're on."

  2

  He settled back into the chair and scratched his chin. "Well, it's probably worth starting with me," he explained. "The book's got an acronym, you know, a word where every letter represents a word…"

  "Yeah, I do know what an acronym is…"

  "Oh, right. So the theme of the book is SEEFAR. Clever, isn't it?
"

  David looked unconvinced.

  "My wife's point is that after you've read the book you will 'see far', as in you'll be clearer on where you're heading. Anyway," he hurried on, "S stands for Self understanding and Identity. It's about how you see yourself. See, I'm the kind of person who's pretty happy with their lot in life. I'll never be the sharpest tool in the shed, or the richest man I know, but that's just fine with me. I'm pretty contented, which apparently makes me almost unique.

  There's a lot of people out there who don't really know who they are — their strengths, weaknesses, and how to use them to get what they want in life. I wonder about that. How can you be true to yourself, if you don't know what's important to you in life?"

  "Tell me about it!"

  Paul shook his head. "Me, I've got my own little handyman business. Do a few odd jobs, can turn my hand to most things but I know my limits. It's a pretty good little business and I enjoy what I do. You got me?"

  David nodded. He was staring over Paul's shoulder at the wall. "Sorry, I was just thinking of something my boss said to me a couple of weeks ago. About how he didn't feel as if he could recommend me for certain projects because he wasn't sure what I could do. I didn't," David was finding this difficult to say, "stand out enough. I faded into the background."