6 Figure Career Management

Here are a selection of headlines from one newspaper last week:

- ‘Oil price to soar beyond $150 per barrel’
- ‘American Airlines puts surcharge on hand luggage to cope with fuel hikes’
- ‘Basic food prices up 30% on last year’
- ‘UK house prices to fall 7% in 2008’
- ‘Lehman to lose 5% of workforce’
- ‘JP Morgan to cut 8,000 Bear Stearns Jobs Worldwide’
- ‘No more big bonuses for 2 years say banking bosses’

Quite depressing hey?

Your disposable income is falling, the value of your biggest asset (the house) is falling and with various job cuts and hiring freezes you will have fewer resources with which to get the job done this year.

So quite possibly you’re getting less reward and not a huge amount of job satisfaction.

“But that’s financial services” - you might think – “you take the rough with the smooth.”

Well I agree – to an extent.  You need to be able to ride the bad times.  But every market has its winners and losers.  You can still come out a winner in the current market.

All you need are the right strategies and mindset.  Here is a 5-step model to help you make more money AND get more job satisfaction.

1. Don’t be defined by your title or role

When I began my career in 1993 as a graduate trainee with the UK retailer Marks & Spencer Plc, I was joining an organisation where people would be loyal to the company for 20-30 years of their lives in exchange for security and a healthy pension.

Over the last 15 years the work place has changed significantly – particularly within financial services.

The days of being loyal to one employer in exchange for security are long gone.  In today’s world, you offer an organisation your talents in exchange for opportunity.  The opportunity to learn, develop and do interesting work.

Similarly, the days of the ‘one profession’ career are gone too.  There is every chance that the career or function you did at the age of 25 is not the one you will be doing at the age of 45.

So, like it or not, the world has changed.  The rules of the game are very different.

You don’t ‘belong to’ any one company for life, and your main affiliation isn’t to any particular ‘function.’  You’re not defined by your job title and you’re not confined by your job description.

It doesn’t matter that you are in a permanent job – you are a free agent, so stop seeing yourself as a ‘Sales Director,’ ‘Portfolio Manager’ or ‘Head of Equity Trading.’  It’s time to think You Plc (or You Inc).  

2. Discover your unique ability

Time and time again, studies into job satisfaction show that one of the key ingredients of a satisfying job or career is doing work that plays to your unique abilities and talents.
 
Unique ability is that task, those skills, those ‘things’ you have always been great at, that come naturally to you.  And when you do this so-called ‘genius work’ it doesn’t even feel like work.

In addition to getting satisfaction, you will find that when you do what you are naturally great at – the opportunities and money just show up.  It’s the way the world works.

This is no different to what any bank or any other organisation does – figure out what they do best and how that makes them unique in the market place.  As the CEO of You Plc / You Inc, you are doing the very same thing.

3. Find out who has a problem you can solve

As the CEO of You Plc (Inc), focus on finding out who has a problem that you can solve using your unique abilities and so create value for your ‘client.’

Now if your objective is to create more money and more satisfaction, you may need to consider a job change.  It may even involve a career change – but not always.

Think about the major challenges your organisation is facing.  The biggest problems your business unit or division is facing.  Or the major challenges your external clients face.

Forget about your ‘title’ and ‘job spec’ – which of those problems do you feel you can solve. Banks need more problem-solvers in the current market, not less.

4. Solve the problem

Become a problem-solver – not a ‘director,’ not a ‘manager,’ not a ‘VP’ – those are just titles.  

To maximise your chances of earning a good bonus and salary increase at the end of this year, go and solve the problems that your organisation (or clients) don’t seem able to deal with - problems which do not have an obvious solution.
 
If you want satisfaction on a personal level, then make sure you hit the ‘sweet spot’ – tackle problems you can solve by using your unique abilities and natural talents.

5. Create Value

This may sound like an obvious point, but make sure you tackle the problems that have tangible benefits to the organisation.

Within financial services, that means focussing on increasing sales revenues, reducing costs, reducing risk or saving time. 

Become laser-focused on delivering these outcomes over the next 6 months. 
 

Your Field Work:

Over the next 7 days: Do ONE thing.

These 5 steps don’t happen overnight so just do one thing that will make the biggest impact in moving you forward – whether it’s getting clear about your unique ability or meeting with a business leader or client with a problem you think you can solve.  Whatever it is, just get started.

Yes, the newspapers are full of headlines and problems.  But being fixated on the problem won’t get you anywhere.  To ride the economic storm, keep your mind firmly focussed on solutions.

Working on solutions whilst tapping into your natural talents will help to maximise the chances of being rewarded well and satisfied in your work come the end of 2008. “Rewarded well and satisfied in your work” - now there’s a headline you’re unlikely to see in the financial press for a while.