Slide 1:1 Career/Life Management Skills for IEEE Members Bala Prasanna Senior Member, IEEE Region 1 New Jersey Coast Section Chair Delivery Manager – IBM bprasanna@ieee.org For Career Development Session/Membership Track 14-17 October 2005 Tampa, Florida Section Congress 2005


Slide 2:2 Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together. Vincent Van Gogh Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well. Josh Billings This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it. Ralph Waldo Emerson


Life Management Skills For Success :3 Life Management Skills For Success Career Planning: Balance between work & personal- leveling the scale Interpersonal Skills Networking Leadership Volunteer


Failing to Plan is Simply Planning to Fail :4 Failing to Plan is Simply Planning to Fail Health, Family, Vacation, Hobbies/Stress Relief Deadlines, Workload, Overtime, Training To ignore or deny this balance is setting yourself for disappointment and dis-ease Work Career Plan - Technical, Management You must always be training for the next level up if you wish to advance


Life is like a game of tables, the chances are not in our power, but the playing is Communicating Skills :5 Life is like a game of tables, the chances are not in our power, but the playing is Communicating Skills Listening to understand - accept, clarify, ask, summarize Conveying Ideas - state purpose & intent, convey meaning & feeling clearly, check for understanding, focus discussion, summarize Different communication styles Negotiated problem solving - focus on situation, not on personalities, specific examples to substantiate, rely on behavioral language, be patient, summarize & check for understanding frequently


Dig Your well before you are thirstyNETWORKING :6 Dig Your well before you are thirstyNETWORKING Why, with whom, what will I be able to contribute, gain?, when/where if you help others, they will be more likely to help you follow up with leads, acknowledge sources thank contacts do what you promised to do keep your antenna up


Leadership is not about position; it’s about doing :7 Leadership is not about position; it’s about doing Live & work with paradoxes push the frontiers rather than follow promote innovation influence and guide act as catalysts champion causes have that invisible something that attracts followers articulate a vision and make it happen focus on customers Anticipate the future stick your neck out focus on the real work, not the mundane deal with ambiguities - can you rationalize fuzzy data


Conflict Holds Creative Potential :8 Conflict Holds Creative Potential Win/Win - Conflict can be healthy when it brings out new ideas & relationships Win/Lose - distrust, anger, withdrawal Conflict is Unavoidable & Common Negotiation is primary key to resolve Conflict & Negotiation are central parts of Organizational Life


Conflict - in everyday Life :9 Conflict - in everyday Life Intrapersonal interpersonal intragroup intergroup intraorganization interorganization


Handling Conflict :10 Handling Conflict Competing-assert your position w/o opposing view points Avoiding-stall, ignore, sense of timing Collaborating-fully satisfying both sides (relationship is important) Accommodating-forgoing (your) concerns (selfless) Compromising-negotiating, finding middle ground Do Not Over Use Anyone


Slide 11:11 Office Politics You have to play politics always. Remember, there is good politics & there is bad politics. managing your boss managing your peers-relations w/ coworkers trickier than managers who are your angels? Nobody wins unless everybody wins Don’t just ask for opinions, change them Everyone expects to be paid back Success can create opposition Don’t ignore the aftermath of success


Slide 12:12 What is your brand? - When you have Joe’s word, you can take it to the bank - No matter when I go and what question I have, Mary has given me satisfactory answer almost all the time on this project - When you see my name on a technical document, it comes with 100% guarantee - no equivocation! - When you assign testing to Kumar, good as gold. - Russ’s thought process, judgement & communication at right time has never let me down - When in doubt, I always count on Dawn for my answers - Wow, you make a great teacher/mentor/debugger .. ! You cannot be all things to everybody. Understand your strengths & create a positive branding of you


Slide 13:13 Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff Avoid Weatherproofing Choose your battles wisely Praise & blame are all the same Do one thing at a time Just for fun, agree with criticism directed towards you (& watch it go away) Surrender to the fact that Life isn’t fair Look for the extraordinary in the ordinary Give up on the idea that More is Better …. And it is all small stuff …..


Slide 14:14 Now, the Big Stuff Differentiate & understand Headlines vs Trendlines Don’t Burn Your Bridges Learn to Prioritize “And then more” – Overachieve on expectations Milk a cow, Don’t milk a duck Time Management - front loading, & multi-tasking Time Management, Relationship Management, Career Management, Anger Management Money, Money, Money -Power of Compounding - Save $$$$ .. Did you know ..? - good credit(student loan, buying a house) & bad credit (car, furniture, ..) Member of a Professional Society Quality of Life for You and people around You Disillusionment at Work- too much idealism gets in the way of progress; be philosophical in approach …… if you screw up, go back & ask: What can I do REGAIN your confidence in me? …. And it is Big stuff …..


Slide 15:15 … and some more personality amplifiers (bring back that smile on the face) managing “self” Time, Relationship, Career, Anger wide angle view of the profession read your boss’s mind Have your elevator speech ever ready (not more than 45 seconds) monkey on the back (mine vs. your’s) presentation skills - breath from your diaphragm, not your throat slow down when speaking, use shorter sentences, pause in between allow the voice to inflect naturally & think visually when telling a story don’t wear tight clothing


Slide 16:16 … and some more deadline-passionate maintenance-free employee! e-mail etiquette not a private communication between sender/receiver reply-only-sender vs. reply-all - What court are you playing? writing/expressive skills promptness in response


Slide 17:17 … and some more 1. Speak up! Make sure the Boss hears your ideas at meetings, in emails, in memos -- establish yourself as a constant "source" of bright thinking and good ideas within your team. 2. Work Hard. Be seen as the person on the team that always does their homework. Never come to a meeting unprepared. Think through what the agenda is, and add your insights and ideas, in front of everyone. You'll get recognized. 3. Push yourself to the front. That doesn't mean you have to be "in- their-face", but it does mean that you should seek out opportunities where you can show your abilities to best advantage. (eg. trade shows, trade publications, special committees)


Slide 18:18 All About Choices Choosing friends Choosing how you think/feel interpretation of criticism/feedback (watch out for recreational critics !) spending time equipping yourself with occupational armour - training, network, nurture peer & boss relationships choosing assignments Make the Right Choices


Responsible Students :19 Responsible Students Set goals, stay focussed on future Plan their time - use a calendar to keep all events, due dates, .. in plain sight study everyday - do it steadily Take notes - teachers almost always highlight what is important keep their commitments to themselves and others Get Ready Ahead of Time - being late or early is not something that simply happens, It is a choice you make!


The query: “At Auschwitz, tell me, where was God?”And the answer: “Where was man?” :20 The query: “At Auschwitz, tell me, where was God?”And the answer: “Where was man?” You have a role to play in this world-a reason for being here. But it is up to you to find your part and direct your future. You alone determine your destiny through your own efforts. Accept this responsibility-not just for yourself, but for us all. You have the power to change your life and the lives of others as well. Don’t back away from the exercise of this power or wait for some one else to act. Of course you can get what you want, but part of what you want should be to help others along the way. The good life is not a passive existence where you live and let live. It is one of involvement where you live and help live.


Credits :21 Credits Success in the New Millennium - IEEE-USA Professional Development Conference, ISBN 0-87942-331-5 You Can Negotiate Anything , Any place - Herb Cohen, ISBN 0-8065-0846-9 http://www.fastcompany.com/online/14/politics.html Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff (and it’s all small stuff)- Richard Carlson http://www.theinstitute.ieee.org/portal/index.jsp?pageID=institute_level1&TheCat=1002 http://www.officepolitics.com http://www.fortune.com/fortune/annie and other everyday sources