2. As many people know, the world of work has changed. This pack
provides practical tools you can use to do satisfying work and
shape your career.
Anybody can do work they love, the art is getting somebody to
pay you for doing it. How to make this happen? One approach is
to learn from creative people and great service givers who have
made a living doing work they love. Such people do satisfying
work by focusing on their:
Strengths: they build on their strengths.
Sponsors: they find sponsors – employers or customers - who
will hire them for what they do best.
Success: they help those sponsors to achieve success.
Introduction
3. You can build on your strengths, find sponsors who
hire you and help those sponsors to achieve success.
Strengths
SponsorsSuccess
Satisfying Work That Earns A Salary
4. Great service givers also recognise that people buy success, not
the theory of success. So when working with a customer it is
vital:
* To clarify their Picture of Success.
* To clarify the road map towards achieving the Picture
of Success.
* To clarify and do whatever is required to achieve
the Picture of Success.
This pack provides many exercises you can use to follow these
steps in your own way and shape your future career.
5. The Exercises
The following page provides an overview of the topics we
will be covering in the pack
Please excuse the crammed format. But we have put them
on one page so you can get the overview.
It is important, of course, for you to take the best and leave
the rest. Please use and apply the ideas in the best way for
you.
So here are the topics we will be covering.
6. * Strengths.
- You can build on your strengths.
- You can follow your successful style.
- You can clarify your specific contribution – this includes clarifying
your perfect customer and how you can help them to succeed.
* Sponsors.
- You can clarify each sponsor‟s agenda – their challenges and goals -
and how you can help them to achieve success.
- You reach out to sponsors in a way that fits your values system –
you can give to people and help them to succeed.
- You can, when appropriate, make clear contracts for working
together to achieve their picture of success.
* Success.
- You can perform superb work, proactively keep your sponsors
informed and deliver great service.
- You can find creative solutions to challenges.
- You can deliver success and produce success stories.
8. Everybody is different and has different pictures of success.
What is your picture? Looking back on your life when you are 80,
what for you will mean you have had a successful life? This is a
particularly challenging exercise, so only do it if you feel okay
about it.
The exercise invites you to „start from your destination‟ and
define your overall life-goals. People often cover three themes
when doing this exercise.
* Positive Relationships.
They focus on how they want to be remembered as a
parent, partner, friend or whatever.
Introduction
9. * Positive Contribution.
They focus on how they want to follow their vocation, do
good work or make a positive contribution to the world.
* Positive Memories.
They focus on how they want to enjoy life, pursue
experiences and have no regrets.
You may prefer to clarify your life goals in another way.
Whatever approach you take, clarifying these goals can act as a
long-term compass. You can bear in mind these aims when
making key decisions. When given the opportunity to take a new
job, for example, you can ask yourself:
“Will taking this step help me to achieve my longer-term picture
of success?
10. Looking back in later years, I will feel my life has
been successful if I have done the following things:
1) I have
For example:
*
*
*
My Picture of Success - My Life Goals
11. 2) I have
For example:
*
*
*
3) I have
For example:
*
*
*
13. Everybody has strengths. They have specific activities in which
they deliver As, rather than Bs or Cs. The key is to build on
your strengths and manage the consequences of your
weaknesses. The following pages invite you to focus on:
* Your strengths.
* Your successful style of working.
* Your specific contribution towards helping a sponsor
– an employer or customer – to achieve success.
This section starts with some initial questions. You are then
invited to tackle exercises on these themes.
Introduction
15. 1) What are the deeply satisfying activities in
which you deliver As, rather than Bs or Cs?
2) When do you feel in your element – at ease and
yet able to excel?
3) Where do you have a natural feeling for an
activity? Where do you feel at home and say:
“This is where I was meant to be?”
4) When do you flow, focus and finish? Where do
then, as a by-product, get a sense of fulfilment?
5) What are the activities that give you positive
energy – even when you just think about them?
16. 6) When do you follow your passion, translate this
into a clear purpose and achieve peak
performance?
7) What are the specific activities in which you do
things you find stimulating, set stretch goals
and achieve your picture of success?
8) Where do you have the equivalent of a
photographic memory?
9) When do you see the destination quickly? When
do you go „A, B ___ then leap to ___ Z‟? Where
do you have a track record of delivering Z?
10) What are the situations in which you quickly
see patterns?
17. 11) Where do you have good personal radar?
Where do you seem to know what will happen
before it happens? Where do you also have the
repertoire to deliver the right results?
12) Where do you make complicated things look
simple?
13) What are the situations in which you are calm?
14) When are you good at dealing with
„crowdedness‟ – many things happening at the
same time?
15) What are the activities in which you continually
do creative problem-solving by focusing on
clarity, creativity and concrete results?
18. 16) What are the activities where you naturally do
mental rehearsal?
17) What are the activities in which you have natural
self-discipline? Where do you score highly on
drive, detail and delivery?
18) What are the activities in which you enjoy the
journey as much as reaching the goal - the
process as much as the prize?
19) Where do you always do the basics and then
add the brilliance?
20) Where do you reach the goals by adding that
touch of class?
19. 21) What is your successful style of working?
Looking back at your positive history, what for
you have been the most satisfying „projects‟?
What was satisfying about them?
What were the principles you followed to be
successful? How can you follow these principles
again in the future?
22) What do you think may be your vocation?
How can you express this vocation through
various vehicles on the route to doing valuable
work?
20. 23) What for you would be the most stimulating
kind of Project, with stimulating People in a
stimulating Place?
24) Who are your perfect customers – the kinds of
people with whom you work best?
What would be the specific things you could
deliver to your perfect customer to help them
to achieve success?
25) How can you do satisfying work?
How can you build on your strengths, find
sponsors - people who will pay you - and help
them to achieve success?
22. * Describe the deeply satisfying activities in which you
deliver – or have the potential to deliver – As rather
than Bs or Cs.
These may be particular kinds of projects, tasks or
other activities. Try to be as specific as possible. Give
concrete examples. Please note. The emphasis is on the
word „Deliver‟.
* Describe the activities in which you deliver Bs or Cs.
The B activities are probably those that you can do
reasonably well. They are not your As, however, or
maybe they were once but now you get bored doing
them. The C activities are those where you have little
aptitude or desire to learn.
23. * Describe how you can build on your strengths.
Try to be as specific as possible about how you can
continue to develop in the activities that you do best.
* Describe how you can, if appropriate, manage the
consequences of your weaknesses.
* Describe the specific things that you could deliver for a
potential sponsor – an employer or customer.
The emphasis is on what you can „deliver‟, not what you
can „do‟. Lots of people can do lots of things, but
employers and customers buy what you can deliver.
We will do more work on this theme in a later exercise
called My Contribution To An Employer.
24. My A Strengths
As. The deeply satisfying activities,
projects or other tasks in which I deliver –
or have the potential to deliver - As are:
1)
For example:
*
*
*
32. Energy is life. This exercise invites you to list the
things that give you positive energy.
These may include doing certain activities, being with
certain people, following certain passions, doing
certain professional projects or whatever.
The activities that give you positive energy – even
when you simply think about them - can provide clues
to your strengths.
They can also help you to make decisions. When in
doubt, you can ask yourself: Which option gives me
the most positive energy?
So try completing the following exercise.
Introduction
35. Introduction
When do you feel in your element? What are the
specific situations in which you feel at ease and yet able
to excel? When do you feel at home and say:
“This is where I was meant to be?” When are you able
to flow, focus, finish and, as a by-product, gain a sense
of fulfilment?
Different people feel this way in different situations. So
you may feel it when writing, gardening, solving a
particular problem, teaching a class, giving a keynote
speech, leading a team, reading a balance sheet,
performing a play, playing top level sport, cooking
superb meals, solving a particular kind of crisis or
whatever.
36. Try tackling the exercise on this theme.
* Describe when you feel in your element – when you
feel at ease and yet able to excel.
* Describe the reasons you feel in your element in
these situations.
* Describe the specific things you can do to put
yourself into more situations where you are in your
element.
37. My Element
I feel in my element when:
1)
The reasons I feel in my element then are:
*
*
*
42. Introduction
Peak performers love to follow their passions, translate
these into a clear purpose and achieve peak
performance. This exercise invites you to do two things.
* Describe your passions.
You may be passionate about fixing certain types of
problems, gardening, working for justice, designing,
encouraging people, playing music or whatever.
* Describe the reasons you feel passionately about
each of these things.
Try to be as specific as possible. Certainly you may love
the actual activity. But there may also be other reasons
why you feel passionately about something. For
example, expressing values that you care deeply about.
46. Introduction
One clue to your talents is in the situations where you feel
calm, clear and deliver concrete results.
Looking at your life and work, what are the situations where
you experience these qualities? You may be tackling a
certain kind of problem, taking charge in a situation which
others find chaotic or making complicated things appear
simple.
* Describe a specific situation in which you feel calm,
clear and deliver concrete results.
* Describe the specific things you do in this situation to be
calm, clear and deliver concrete results.
47. Calmness
The situation where I feel calm,
clear and deliver concrete results are:
1)________________________________________
The specific things I do in this situation to
be calm, clear and deliver concrete results are:
*
*
*
49. Introduction
One clue to your talents is in where you go into
specific situations and see the destination quickly.
You gather information, look for patterns and see what
must be done to achieve success.
You go: „A, B ____ then leap to _____ Z‟.
You quickly see the end product or picture of success.
For example, a renovator may go into an old house
and quickly see how it can be restored beautifully; a
retailer goes into a shop and sees how it can boost
profits; a trouble-shooter goes into a situation and
sees what must be done to deliver success.
50. Try tackling the exercise on this theme.
* Describe the situations where you quickly get to „Z‟.
* Describe the specific things you do, or have done,
in those situations to do superb work – or enable
others to do superb work – and get to „Z‟
successfully.
51. Seeing The Destination Quickly
The specific situations where I go:
„A, B _____ then leap to ______ Z‟ are:
1)
The specific things I do – or have done
- to then successfully deliver „Z‟ are:
*
*
*
52. 2)
The specific things I then do – or have
done - to successfully deliver „Z‟ are:
*
*
*
54. Introduction
Pattern recognition is one of the keys to peak
performance. A person may have this ability when
working with people, playing a sport, tackling a particular
challenge or whatever.
Great workers go into a situation where they excel and
quickly read what is happening. They are able:
* To see patterns quickly.
* To see both the successful and self-defeating
patterns – then extrapolate these to predict what
may happen.
* To see what must be done and then use their
repertoire of skills to do whatever is necessary to
deliver success.
55. This is sometimes called „personal radar‟ – the ability to
see patterns quickly and predict what will happen before
it happens.
Great performers sometimes go beyond having such
radar. They also have the repertoire of skills necessary
to deliver the picture of success. This exercise invites
you to do two things.
* Describe where you have the ability to recognise
patterns.
* Describe what you do with this information.
For example, you may use it to tackle the challenge,
pass on the knowledge or do practical things to
deliver success.
56. Seeing Patterns
The specific situation I have the
ability to recognise patterns is:
1)
The specific things I then do
with this information are:
*
*
*
59. Introduction
Everybody has a positive history. “But I have not
achieved anything,” somebody may say. Looking back
on their life, however, they may have:
* overcome an illness as a child;
* performed in play;
* played sport at a high level;
* written an article;
* built a good relationship;
* designed a house;
* learned a language;
* led a team to success;
* built a successful prototype;
* helped a specific person;
* or whatever.
Try tackling the exercise on this theme.
60. * Describe your positive history.
List the things you have achieved in their life. Start from
the age of 0 and go to your present age. At first you may
want to look for „big‟ achievements. But start populating
the pages and you will find other achievements appear.
* Describe what you learned from one specific
achievement and clarify the principles you followed to
achieve success.
Pick one example. What actually happened? What did you
do right then? What were the principles you followed to
overcome the challenge or reach the goal? Describe these
in detail.
* Describe how you can follow these principles in the
future.
61. Some of the things I have achieved in the past between
the following ages (adjust according to age) have been:
0 _______________________________________________
10 _______________________________________________
15 _______________________________________________
20 _______________________________________________
My Positive History
64. My Positive History
– The Lessons
Looking at these achievements, here
is one that was particularly rewarding.
* When I
65. The specific things I did right then – the
principles I followed – to achieve this were:
*
*
*
The specific things I can do to follow
these principles again in the future are:
*
*
*
67. Everybody has a successful style of working. Clarifying this
style is often the clue to finding their real strengths.
This is a long but important exercise. It invites you to
describe three satisfying „projects‟ you have done in your
life.
The word „project‟ can be used in its widest sense. For
example: writing an article, organising a fun run,
launching a web site, solving a particular problem, leading
a team or whatever.
Introduction
68. * Describe each of these projects in turn and the things
that were satisfying.
Try to be as specific as possible, especially about the
things that made them satisfying. Looking at these
projects, can you see any patterns? These often provide
clues to your preferred style.
* Describe your successful style – your preferred way of
working.
(Sometimes we have two successful styles: one when
working alone, one when working with other people. See
what the exercise reveals.)
* Describe the things you can do to follow these
principles in the future.
69. * When I
The things that made it satisfying were:
*
*
*
*
*
The first satisfying project was:
70. * When I
The things that made it satisfying were:
*
*
*
*
*
The second satisfying project was:
71. * When I
The things that made it satisfying were:
*
*
*
*
*
The third satisfying project was:
72. Looking at the patterns that have
emerged, I believe my successful style
– my preferred way of working – is:
* To
* To
* To
* To
* To
My Successful Style
73. The things I can do to follow
these principles in the future are:
* To
* To
* To
* To
* To
My Successful Style:
Following it in the future
75. Introduction
So far you have clarified your strengths and successful
style. These are „what‟ you do best and „how‟ you work
best. Combining these together can clarify your specific
contribution to an employer or customer. Before doing
this, however, it can be useful to do several things.
* To clarify your perfect customer. This is the kind of
customer or employer with whom you work best.
* To clarify your perfect role. This invites you to focus
on what for you would be the most stimulating kind of
project, people and place.
* To clarify your specific contribution. These are the
specific things you can deliver to help a sponsor to
achieve success.
77. Introduction
Who are your perfect customers? Who are the people with
whom you work best? Who are the customers who give you
positive energy?
We work best with kindred spirits - people who share
similar professional values. We can then start off at 7/10,
which provides a springboard for getting to 10/10.
You will, of course, continue to do a professional job with
all clients. The key to building a long-term business,
however, is to work with your perfect customers.
Sometimes these people work in a certain sector. They
may also be leaders, managers, front line workers or
whoever. More often they have certain personality
characteristics which make it rewarding to work with them.
78. Of course, people with certain characteristics may be
attracted to a particular sector. This means we may
spend a lot of time working in that field.
Bear in mind also that there will be people with whom
you have certain kinds of „clicks‟. There will be people
with whom:
* There is a personal and professional click.
You share similar values and have a similar view of the
world. Connection is easy, because you start from
common assumptions.
* There is a professional click.
You share similar professional values. Whilst having
differing personalities, you both strongly believe in
achieving a specific professional goal.
79. Working with people with whom
there are different kinds of clicks
Personal and
Professional Click
Professional Click
No Click
80. * There is a no click.
Sometimes you will be in work situations where there is
no connection with the other person. You will then aim to
be super professional and behave in a diligent way. But it
may be best to find other customers in the future.
* Describe the kinds of customers with whom you work
best and the characteristics of these customers.
* Describe the specific things you can do to help them
to achieve success.
* Describe the specific things you can do to keep
working with these customers – and maybe find
more customers like them – the future.
81. The kinds of customers
I work with best are:
*
*
*
87. Introduction
How can you do satisfying work that also pays a salary?
This exercise invites you to translate your passion into
your perfect role.
Start by describing the characteristics of the project,
people and place that you find most stimulating. Let‟s
explore these factors.
* Project.
Describe the characteristics of the kind of project you
find stimulating.
88. Perfect Role
A person can focus on what for them
would be the most stimulating kind of:
Project People Place
89. * People.
Describe the characteristics of the people - both
customers and colleagues - you find stimulating. Pay
attention to the characteristics of your „ideal manager.‟
* Place.
Describe the characteristics of the „place‟ - culture and
environment - you find stimulating.
* Making it happen.
Bearing your answers in mind, focus on how you can find
or create such a project.
90. Describe the following things.
- The perfect project.
- The specific results you could deliver to a potential
sponsor – an employer or customer - by doing this
project.
- The specific benefits to the employer or customer.
- The steps you can take to find or create such a project.
This is an exercise you can do at various stages of life to
keep finding or creating your perfect role.
100. Introduction
We each work best for a certain kind of manager. This
exercise invites you to focus on:
The specific kinds of qualities you want in a manager.
The specific things you can do to find such a manager.
The specific things you can do to make clear working
contracts with your manager and achieve the agreed
goals.
104. My Ideal Manager
The specific things I can to find the kind of
manager with whom I work best in the future are:
*
*
*
105. My Ideal Manager – Doing My
Best To Work Well With Them
The specific things I can do to clarify the goals they
want me to achieve, make clear working contracts,
keep them informed and deliver the goods are:
*
*
*
107. Introduction
So far we have explored your strengths and successful
style. We have also looked at your perfect customers
and perfect role.
The following exercise invites you to describe the three
specific things you can deliver for a sponsor. It also
invites you to describe the benefits to that customer or
employer.
The operative word is „deliver‟, not „do. People buy
success. They buy what they know you can deliver to
help them to achieve their goals.
Bearing in mind the answers you have given so far, try
completing the following exercise.
108. The specific things I can deliver for a sponsor
– a potential customer or employer - are:
1)
For example:
2)
For example:
3)
For example:
111. Introduction
This exercise invites you to clarify the possible routes you
can take in your future career. You can complete the
Power Point illustration on the next page or alternatively
use the following pages that allow room to expand on all
of the options. The exercise invites you to take the
following steps.
* Describe the possible routes you can travel.
You may be able, for example, to stay in your present
role; to move to another role inside your organisation; to
move to another organisation; to go freelance; to
completely change your life-style or whatever.
112. * Describe the pluses and minuses of each option.
Describe what you see as the upsides and downsides of
each option. Also describe the attractive of each route. Do
this on a scale 0 – 10.
When people first do this exercise they list the obvious
options. After a while, however, they start exploring other
possibilities. For example, is it possible to combine the
best parts of each road into a new option? Take time out
to reflect on the possible ways forward to shape your
future career.
* Describe your preferred route.
Finally, if appropriate, describe the route you want to
travel.
113. My Future Work
Pluses:
Minuses:
___ / 10
The attractiveness rating of each of these options is:
My Possible Options are:
Pluses:
Minuses:
___ / 10
Pluses:
Minuses:
___ / 10
C
* To _______
A
* To ______
B
* To ______
114. a) To
The pluses will be:
*
*
*
The potential minuses may be:
*
*
The Attractiveness Rating is: _________ / 10
115. b) To
The pluses will be:
*
*
*
The potential minuses may be:
*
*
The Attractiveness Rating is: _________ / 10
116. c) To
The pluses will be:
*
*
*
The potential minuses may be:
*
*
The Attractiveness Rating is: _________ / 10
117. The Route I Want To Take Is:
* To
The pluses will be:
*
*
*
My Preferred Route
118. The potential minuses may be:
*
*
*
The specific things I can do to build on
the pluses and minimise the minuses are:
*
*
*
120. Introduction
So for we have clarified your strengths, successful style
and specific contribution. We are now going to do even
more work on sponsors. Some of this may sound
repetitious, but it is vital to be super specific. The
following section focuses on how:
* You can clarify each sponsor‟s agenda – their
challenges and goals - and how you can help them to
succeed.
* You can reach out to sponsors in a way that fits your
values. For example, you can give to people and help
them to succeed.
* You can, when appropriate, make clear contracts for
working together to achieve their picture of success.
122. This exercise again invites you to focus on your potential
sponsors.
If you feel you have already done enough work on this topic,
move on to the next stage. But sometimes it can be useful to
go into greater detail.
This exercise invites you to:
* Write the name of one specific potential sponsor.
* Describe the specific challenges they face and the
specific goals they want to achieve in their work.
Most sponsors want to improve the 3 Ps: their profits, product
quality – including service quality – and people. They may
want to focus on these or other challenges.
Introduction
123. Looking at the sponsor‟s overall role, try to describe
what you believe is their wider picture of success.
While you may not be able to help on everything. It can
be useful to link what you can offer to their overall
picture of success.
Also, when you meet the potential sponsor, it shows
that you have thought about their overall agenda and
organisational goals.
* Describe the specific things you can deliver to help
this sponsor to achieve achieve their picture of
success. Then describe the benefits.
This exercise invites you to focus on one specific
sponsor. But you can, of course, repeat it to look at all
your potential sponsors.
125. The specific challenges they face and the
specific goals they want to achieve are:
1)
2)
3)
126. Their Picture of Success
1) To
2) To
3) To
I believe that the sponsor‟s overall picture of
success – the real results they want to see
delivered in this and other aspects of their work – is:
127. 1)
2)
3)
The specific things I can deliver to tackle
these challenges, achieve the goals and help
them to achieve their picture of success are:
130. This is the part that many people find difficult. But the
key is to reach out to your customers in a way that fits
your values system. It can be useful to pursue the
following guidelines.
* Reach out to people in your network and help them to
succeed.
Most of your work will come from your network. It will
come from people who know you or from their
recommendations. People buy people. Whilst CVs may
look good, most buyers in the market want somebody
who they can trust, somebody who they know can deliver.
“But I am no good at selling myself,” somebody may say.
But they miss the point.
Introduction
131. Real networking is about helping other people to
succeed. As one person said:
“Every job I have had over the past 20 years has come
from my network. Twice during that time the company I
was employed by got taken over and my job
disappeared. So it was then time to reconnect with
people who knew what I could deliver."
"The hard part was getting started. I spent masses of
time visiting people. I learned that the conversation
should be about them and their company, not about me.
Every visit I followed up with an email framing possible
ideas they could use to tackle specific challenges."
"Several times this led to contract work and somebody
saying: „How can we take this further?‟ This is how I
have got my last two jobs. I started by doing pieces of
project work, then moved into full-time employment.”
132. So how can you reach out to people? Follow your natural
style, rather than force yourself to do „cold calling‟.
Do things that put a spring in your step. You might want
to recommend books, offer to provide a pair of hands or
connect people by putting them in touch with each other.
Like an actor, it‟s vital to „keep working‟. Do something
every day to reach people, but be patient. It takes time
before the right opportunity appears.
* Find a way to get alongside potential sponsors,
connect with their agenda and provide knowledge they
can use to achieve their picture of success.
You will do this in your own way. David Maister describes
the steps that can be taken to become a Trusted Advisor.
133.
134. The Trusted Advisor, by David Maister,
Charles Green and Robert Galford
They say the 3 basic skills a person needs to develop
to become a trusted advisor to their clients are to:
Earn
Trust
Build
Relationships
Give Advice
Effectively
135. * Continue to keep reaching out to people and helping
them to succeed.
Most of us are in the service business. We are there to
help other people to succeed.
The best time to keep networking is when you are
successful.
Some people get a job, then forget to keep reaching out
to others. This is crazy, because it takes time to regain
the momentum when they haven‟t got any work.
Do something every day to reach out to people and help
them to succeed. Keep planting and nurturing the seeds.
You will then have a good harvest in the future.
Try tackling the following exercise on this theme.
141. Let‟s imagine that at some point somebody says: “How
can we take this further?” It will then be important to
make clear working contracts. You can then aim to:
* Clarify the customer‟s picture of success.
* Clarify the agreed road map towards achieving the
picture of success.
* Clarify and do whatever is required to achieve the
picture of success.
Great service givers make clear contracts that are a „Win-
Win-Win‟. They are a win for the customer, a win for their
own company and, where possible, a win for themselves.
Introduction
142. Great service givers aim
to get a „Win-Win-Win‟
So you can aim to get a:
Win for the Customer
Win for the Company
Win for Yourself
143. You can connect with the customer and go through the
following stages.
* Clarity.
To clarify the specific challenges.
To clarify the real results to achieve and to be crystal clear
on this „What‟.
To clarify the controllables.
* Creativity.
To clarify the potential options for achieving the results.
To clarify the pluses and minuses of each option.
To clarify the other possible creative solutions.
* Concrete Results.
To clarify the conclusions – the chosen route forwards.
To clarify the working contracts – who will deliver what.
To clarify the specific action plan for getting concrete
results.
144. The Customer Meeting
You can connect with the client, establish credibility and keep making
clear contracts. You can aim to get a „win-win-win‟ and help the client to
achieve success by focusing on:
Clarity
* Challenges. The challenge is: ‘How to ____?’
* Clarity. The real results to achieve – the picture of success – is:
* Controllables. The things we can control are:
Creativity
* Choices. The possible options for achieving the results are:
* Consequences. The pluses and minuses of each option are:
* Creative solutions. The other possible solutions are:
Concrete Results
* Conclusions. The route – or routes – we want to follow is:
* Contracts. The contracts we need to make to achieve the results are:
* Concrete results. The specific action plan for achieving the results is:
145. * Describe the clear working contracts with sponsors.
Imagine that you have agreed with a customer on the real
results to achieve. Try describing:
- The agreed picture of success.
- The responsibilities you have as a supplier to work
towards achieving these goals.
- The responsibilities the customer has to work towards
achieving these goals.
- The specific things you can do to keep reassuring the
customer and keep them proactively informed.
- The specific things that will be happening that will show
you have achieved the agreed picture of success.
147. * To
* To
* To
The Picture of Success - The
agreed results to achieve are:
148. * To
* To
* To
The Supplier‟s Responsibilities –
My responsibilities in working
towards achieving these goals are:
149. * To
* To
* To
The Customer‟s Responsibilities –
Their responsibilities in working
towards achieving these goals are:
150. * To
* To
* To
Reassuring The Customer - The specific things I
can do to deliver some early successes, be
proactive and keep reassuring the customer are:
151. 1)
For example:
2)
For example:
3)
For example:
The Picture of Success - The specific
things that will be happening that will
show we have achieved the results will be:
153. Great workers always do the basics and then add the
brilliance. This exercise invites you to describe the
specific things you can do:
* To do whatever is required to reach the goals and
deliver the agreed picture of success.
* To, if appropriate, add that touch of class.
* To then, if appropriate, produce a success story that
highlights how your sponsor achieved success.
Here are the exercises.
Introduction
159. Sometimes it can be useful to record what people have
done to deliver success. Different people use different
frameworks for sharing success stories.
This one invites people to start by choosing a title for
the story. They can then bring it to life by writing a
compelling story, using video or employing other media.
The following format invites people to describe the
specific situation, strategies and successes. It also asks
them to summarise the learning.
Different people may, however, use different headings
to cover these or other relevant themes.
Introduction
160. The title of the success story is:
_________________________________
The Success Story
161. The specific situation we faced –
including the specific challenges - was:
*
*
*
The Situation
162. The strategies we followed to tackle the challenges
and achieve the picture of success were:
*
*
*
The Strategies
164. So here is a summary of the specific
things we did and the things we learned:
*
*
*
This to include: a) The strategies that worked and how these
could be followed more in the future; b) The things we could
do better next time and how; c) The other things of interest.
The Summary
166. This exercise invites you to imagine that you are a
Managing Director (or other leader in an organisation.) It
then asks the following question.
“If you were a Managing Director, what would you hire
somebody like yourself to deliver?”
This forces you to clarify the specific things that you can
deliver to an organisation. Again, the emphasis is on the
word „deliver‟.
So have a go at answering the question.
Introduction
167. If I was a Managing Director – or other leader
in an organisation – the specific things I would
hire somebody like me to deliver would be:
1) To
2) To
3) To
The Managing Director Question
169. This exercise invites you to do something rather
challenging before going for an interview for a specific
role.
Before tackling the exercise, however, it is vital to be
aware of your strengths and what you can deliver for an
employer.
The following pages invite you to „craft your script‟ for
focusing on the certain themes during the interview for
your desired role.
It is good to clarify these headlines but then, of course, to
be yourself in the interview.
Introduction
170. * Success.
Describe what you believe to be the goals – the picture
of success – of the organisation, the team or employer
you want to join.
This may be difficult, because you are not privy to lots
of information. But focus on what you believe may be
the goals. If possible, try to give some specific
examples.
Great workers gear their strengths towards helping their
employer to achieve their picture of success. So it is
good to put some the effort into clarifying these aims.
171. * Specific Contribution.
Bearing in mind the organisation‟s goals and your
strengths, describe the specific contribution you would
like to make towards helping the employer to achieve the
picture of success. Again, try to give some specific
examples.
* Specific Benefits.
Describe the benefits of making this contribution. These
can be benefits for the organisation, customers,
colleagues and yourself.
172. * Summary.
Finally, there is a space to summarise the contribution
you would like to make. Also add any other things that
you would like to mention.
Enjoy the exercise. It will be challenging. But it can help
you to clarify your potential best contribution to an
employer.
173. As far as I understand it, the goals of the
organisation - together with some examples - are:
1) To
For example:
2) To
For example:
3) To
For example:
Success
174. Bearing in mind the organisation‟s goals and my
strengths, the specific contribution I would like to
make towards achieving this picture of success
would be:
1) To
For example:
2) To
For example:
3) To
For example:
Specific Contribution
175. The benefits of making this contribution would be:
For the Organisation
*
For the Customers
*
For the Colleagues
*
For Myself
*
Specific Benefits
176. So, in summary, this is what I would like to
contribute towards achieving the picture of success.
Plus any other things I would like to mention.
*
*
*
Summary
177. There are many ways to do satisfying work. This pack has
focused on how you can focus on your:
* Strengths.
* Sponsors.
* Success.
Please take the ideas you like and use them in your own
way. If you want any more information, email me at:
mike@thestrengthsfoundation.org
Conclusion
