I’ve described the YES! Leader as anyone (not just a people manager) who applies the ExploreFlexSupport model to his or her daily attitudes and actions. In the same way that the model guides performance improvisers in their spontaneous onstage performances, using Exploring, Flexing, and Supporting behaviors can help you achieve your goals in the brave new world of constant change.
To meet the challenges of this ever-shifting improvisational world, you need to consider new ways of thinking about charting and navigating your career journey. The ExploreFlexSupport model can help you here as well.
EXPLORE: Performance improvisers can’t just wait around onstage for something to happen. They need to take action to create a scene that will tell an interesting (and concise) story. Similarly, the YES! Leader needs to explore her own skills and background to tell an interesting (and concise) story … about herself.
Tom Peters notes that an individual needs to think of herself, not as an employee, but as a brand – a provider of products or services that confers value in a unique, distinctive way. To be a brand, says Peters, “you’ve got to be a broad-gauged visionary – a leader, a teacher, a farsighted ‘imagineer.’” In other words … an explorer.
The good news is that you may already be that “imagineering leader” – but just haven’t yet acknowledged that fact or put it into words.
The career fit concept can help you identify your own distinctive brand. What unique combination of skills do you bring to your work? How do your interests – your passions – shine through in what you do? How clear are you about your core values – and how do they (and can they) connect with others’ values? Finally, how can this one-of-a-kind combination make a difference in other people’s lives?
Explore your answers to these questions and then sum them up in a single statement of 10 words or less. (For example, “A creative professional consultant, coach, and catalyst for action.”) This is your essential message, your concise story … your own Brand You.
FLEX: In my earlier article, I noted how the traditional career ladder is being replaced by a career lattice. Peters uses other apt metaphors for this shift: “A career is now a checkerboard. Or a maze. It’s full of moves that go sideways, forward, slide on the diagonal, even go backward when it makes sense. A career is a portfolio of projects that teach you new skills, gain you new expertise, develop new capabilities, grow your colleague set, and constantly reinvent you as a brand.”
Navigating this web of potential moves can be both freeing and daunting. While you can plan for much of the journey, ultimately you’ll need to adopt the performance improviser’s mindset of “being ready for the next scene – whatever it might be.” Keep your mind open to possibilities, plan what you can, but ultimately realize the futility (and the energy-depleting effect) of trying to utterly control every outcome. Life has a funny way of not always molding itself to our assumptions and expectations.
Learn to trust your in-the-moment instincts. If you’ve done a good job of getting clear about your essential message – your Brand You – they won’t let you down.
SUPPORT: Many people criticize the “personal branding” concept as encouraging self-absorption and an overfocus on “Me Me Me.” And granted, many people do fall prey to those traps. Tellingly, though, the very first requisite that Peters sets out for effective branding is: “You’ve got to be a great teammate and a supportive colleague.”
A performance improviser can’t succeed alone; improv is a team effort, requiring mutual trust and support. Similarly, your brand can succeed only if you’ve built a solid network of other people (team members, collaborators, potential advocates) who have trust that you’ll give value back to them. If you’re perceived as always wanting something from your network – if that outstretched palm of yours is seen as less of a helping hand and more of a grabbing hand – then you’re likely to gain an unwanted reputation as someone who always takes but never gives.
Share articles and ideas. Put people in contact with each other. Comment and build on others’ posts on newsgroups and social media. Keep a large supply of notecards and send personalized “Thank You”s and “Kudos” on a regular basis. These are just a few of the things you can do to gain for your Brand You a reputation for generosity and support.
Explore your history and find your essential story ... chart your course while staying flexible ... support others along the way ... and above all think of yourself as a creator of value in all that you do. This will in turn create value for you - and for your brand.
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