Black Collegian Career Center

If you’re like most of your college classmates, you’ve probably had part-time jobs and an internship or two over the course of your college days.  No doubt, these assignments helped to pay some of your bills and provided you some needed work experience.  But now that you’re about to embark on your first professional position, you’re headed for a new destination.  New destinations call for new maps.  The need to look at the “bigger picture.”

Are you ready for your new job?  New manager?  New company?  Team members?  New and different set of challenges?  Expectations?  This moment is a very critical time in your career. This article presents information on three career skills that are critical to your success in today’s workplace.  Well, if you’re ready to begin, let’s first take a look at today’s global workplace and the challenges managers face.

Understanding Today’s Global Workplace

Today’s global marketplace provides challenges for every type of business or organization. Demands on managers and supervisors are increasing and changing.  Managers are asked to do more with less.  They are told to empower their people but are still held accountable for results.  These changes in the workplace (including the tragic and horrific events of September 11, 2001) are imposing new requirements and demands on organizations to continuously generate new ideas and produce better results.  Organizational excellence is now even more dependent upon the ability to create new responses to changing conditions.

Managers are increasingly faced with the responsibility of creating or maintaining high-performing organizations, with mobile workforces, working at Internet speed. They also must implement strategies to retain their best employees and align employee goals with their organization’s goals. To deal effectively with large volumes of information – and produce more effective results to remain competitive in the workplace.   While this appears to be a huge undertaking, managers who are truly successful recognize that they can and must meet these challenges.  They do so by having the right people, tools, technology and information at their disposal.  That’s where you come in.

In her new book, eLeadership: Proven Techniques for Creating an Environment of Speed and Flexibility in the Digital Economy, Susan Annunzio, one of the world’s leading management consultants, talks about “launching a revolution in the workplace.”  She discusses business practices changing on a daily basis, with companies needing to “create environments of speed and flexibility that will engage today’s employees and allow radical ideas to thrive, because only those companies that move first and innovate fast will reap the financial rewards the digital economy has to offer.”

At this point you may still be asking: What does all this really mean to you?  First, consider how you plan to run your working life and career in the midst of the most profound changes in the economy since the Industrial Revolution.  The old-fashioned career path of 35 years at one company and a gold watch at retirement is now officially dead.  With the millennium, individuals are forced to reinvent success, and because all of this is actually new territory, many are making it up as they go along.

A key to meeting these challenges is to enable individuals to “think outside the box.” Managers must tap into the personal creativity of each employee and to manage that creativity to produce corporate innovation.  Creativity and innovation concepts are often being directly linked to corporate profitability.  Given the dynamics above about today’s workplace, you’ll want to ensure that you see your role, position and skills in the proper light.

As you approach your new job, think about the following: What’s my personal creativity level?  What are my creative strengths and development needs?   How do I save time and avoid stress in my new job?  Impact the way others react to me? Confidently take on new tasks?  Influence others and gain information?  Deliver clear messages?  Actively participate in team settings?  Plan for ongoing growth and development?    Gain the respect and confidence of my manager so that I can assume more responsible roles?  Am I ready for the real work world, now that I have some idea of the reality of it?  You can put yourself in a position of being successful by deciding that you want to thrive and succeed despite everything that may be going on around you.  Consider the following three key career skills that will be vital as you transition to the workplace.

Career Skill # 1 – Develop Effective Communication Skills
(Interpersonal And Written)

A short quiz! What do you think researchers say is the most important ingredient for success and achievement in today’s workplace?  What’s the foundation for supportive, cooperative work and personal relationships?  Interestingly, the answer to both of these questions is the same – the ability to communicate skillfully and confidently with people.  (Wow, I bet you are as surprised as I was when I discovered this information).  Therefore, excellent interpersonal communication skills are the most powerful career and personal skills you can possess.  This means how you communicate with others and through others to get to company results.  We would also broaden this to include how well you communicate in written communications (e-mail and regular correspondence).

Human resources professionals estimate that more than 80% of the people who fail at their jobs do so for one reason – they don’t relate well to other people.  Recent research shows that, even in highly technical jobs, success or failure is determined more by human relations skills than by technical proficiency.  A study published by the Carnegie Institute of Technology reports that 15 percent of financial and career success is due to technical competence and 85 percent is due to interpersonal skills.

Let’s face it --- dealing with others isn’t always easy.  In fact, if you’re like most people, it will probably turn out to be one the biggest day-to-day challenges you will face in the workplace.  Therefore, it’s important for you to meet the challenge and be successful with all the people with whom you interact.   Strive to build strong and better relationships with your work associates (this includes your manager, clients and customers, peers, co-workers and others).   If you work on mastering Career Skill # 1, you’re certainly on your way to success.   But, let’s see what Career Skill # 2 will require of you.

Career Skill # 2  – Administrative: Manage Your Job

It’s a fact of business life.  Every day employees are judged by their ability to manage projects, priorities and deadlines.  An organization’s success (and your own career success) depends, to a great degree, upon your skill in getting things done – on time and with the desired result.  Find out as soon as possible what your company and manager expects from you.   This will include using your people (interpersonal communication) and technical skills (the knowledge, skills and abilities that made you a sought after commodity).  Once you determine what’s expected of you, decide how you will accomplish it.  Design a professional development plan so that your action items lead to achieving your goals.  Stay on top of even the most demanding schedule of competing priorities and multiple projects.  To help with this, build a deadline “safety net” to make sure no critical deadlines slip by.  Also, make sure that your deadlines are realistic.

Whether you’re fully synced or choose to build a system combining paper, handheld and PC capabilities, there are many software and online solutions to increase your productivity in the digital age.   Get a planner or system that helps you with time management.  There’s never too much said about the importance of a prioritized daily task list and appointment schedule.   Keep them updated and honor your commitments.  If you find that you are constantly “chasing your appointments” take a look at the problem and remedy it.  Now, let’s go to Career Skill # 3 which has to do with relationship building.

Career Skill # 3 – Build and Leverage Your Relationships

The old adage “Who you know can be just as important as what you know” applies here.  And, nowhere is this truer than in today’s workplace where managers, colleagues and mentors (if you’re lucky enough to attract one or two) often determine who gets noticed and promoted, who finds a new job, and who thrives in the new organization.

Take charge of your career by becoming a partner with your manager.   That means that you will be working to gain your manager’s respect and trust in your competence.  Enlist your manager's full support for your projects.  As we covered earlier, know what’s important to your manager.  Be open to constructive criticism because it has a constructive impact. Your manager is the person with the power to open doors for you, help accelerate your learning and development and support you in achieving your goals.

Strive for harmonious working relationships. Workplace conflict can have constructive or destructive consequences on an individual’s performance, the team’s performance, and the organization as a whole.   This conflict is often the result of clashes in vision, priorities, values and personal loyalties.  Anticipate and sidestep the pitfalls that could impede your progress.  Once you are on solid ground with your team and manager, look around and see which bridges you need to build so that you are connected with the right people in the organization (those who can make things happen for you).  Some of these relationships may last over the life of your career.  Nurture them and value them for what you can get as well as give to them.

As we close, keep in mind the importance of understanding today’s shifting global workplace and the challenges managers face. This includes the importance of excellent interpersonal and written communication skills, the need to manage your job well, plus build and leverage all of your relationships, including the most important relationship of them all – that of you and your manager. Much success!

Chris Bardwell is a frequent contributor to THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Magazine and head of the Chicago-based career development and consulting firm, The Career Connection, Ltd.