IBM takes employee education seriously.

IBM insists we complete a minimum of 40 hours of professional training every year, including mandatory modules relating to ethics, compliance and IBM’s offerings (author consciously avoids using the word ‘solutions’). IBM also provides access to other professional training via 3 party providers.

If you do not complete your 40 hours of training – you are admonished. With pineapples. Thick, spiky pineapples.

This year, I have completed over 90 hours of training and received zero pineapples. I do not like pineapples.

IBM’s employee enablement website features a clever little tool built with IBM technology. This analytics application considers MY current role, career aspirations (according to what I tell it they are) and my IBM training history. Subsequently, a learning path is generated. Neat.

However, the software is incapable of developing a deep understanding of a person. The tool is unable to account for experience gained throughout a pre-IBM career or the influence of peers, clients and mentors. It is oblivious to personal values, ethics and self-confidence.

When it comes to assessing individual quirks and unique attributes; frankly, it is a bit of a thick head. As useful as a chocolate fireman. Consequently, it is not 100% effective at helping guide someone towards a bang-on custom learning path.

Don’t get me wrong. It is a good tool. It just doesn’t know how to read minds. This is, without doubt, a good thing.

A colleague asked me this question last week. ‘Can you recommend any good courses from our internal training site?’

‘Perhaps. It depends on how tidy your garage is.’, I replied.

Ok, I didn’t actually use those words, wishing to avoid sounding like (as we say in Australia) a complete wanker. Instead, I asked him about his background and career aspirations, hoping to use that information to make some sort of recommendation.

In my mind, I was definitely wondering what his personal professional garage looked like.

Professional garage?

Many of us are fortunate enough to own a garage, or other space to escape to and tinker.

Our precious tools live there. Tools are eternally awesome things. We can never have too many.

Say we don’t own something needed to tackle a specific job. What options are available to us? We may look to purchase or borrow what we need. Occasionally, we exercise creativity and conjure up a workaround, which always results in a magical moment of inner back-slapping (assuming the bodge was successful). Alternatively, we may elect to employ someone else to do the job. Saving us time, though often at significant cost.

To be as useful and efficient an environment as possible, garages requires a certain level of organisation. Categorising and organising possessions helps us form an understanding of how well equipped we are to tackle most jobs.

Some people take this to extreme levels. Considering not only functional but also aesthetic organisation. For example; ensuring all spanners are meticulously stored with heads facing the same way. Some may describe this as having great attention to detail. Others may describe this as a sickness (or having waaay too much time on your hands).

Likewise, we all have professional ‘mental garages’, filled with an ensemble of tools, materials, and crap. Do we organise the stuff occupying the space between our ears to help us become better, happier and more confident? Or do we just toss what we possess in a pile and hope to find what we need later?

We live in an information intensive world which has high expectations and demands. Do very much more with considerably less. Remaining organised has become increasingly challenging, in spite of (or due to) the electronic tools we have at our disposal.

I don’t know about you, but, occasionally, I find myself with way too much information to manage within the confines of my little brain. Sometimes, it feels like I am holding a water-filled balloon in my hands while trying to maintain its cliché, balloon-like shape. Predictably, things tend to become somewhat wobbly.

Exercise, hobbies and vacations do help to clear the mind of this ‘white noise’. However, I believe we can all benefit from an occasional mental stocktake to tidy up our inner garage and feel more in control.

What might be some of the benefits of this? Improved focus, motivation, professional competency, happiness and career progression.

The PPG – Personal Professional Garage

The assets we keep in our PPG can be difficult to quantify, let alone take advantage of. Especially when our heads are filled with email, YouTube, email, Facebook, WhatsApp, email, Instagram and email.

In my opinion, our core assets include, in no particular order:

Education. The collection of instructions, how-to guides, manuals, magazines and scribblings sitting on dusty shelves in the garage.

A ‘Garage Zen Master’ knows how to RTFM (Google it) and takes on knowledge.

Education comes in many forms. Our, experienced friends, colleagues and mentors are great educators, having ‘been there’ before us. Listening to their stories and advice helps short track an education.

At the same time, we can learn from the nasty, vicious, brown vinyl people who come into our lives as understanding what not to do as a professional is equally important.

Think of this as others screwing-up, so we don’t need to.

LinkedIn can be a great tool; allowing us to connect, follow and participate in community conversations. Following influencers, joining community groups and keeping abreast of what clients and competitors are saying is a great way to learn and identify current and future trends. For the record, I have no affiliation with LinkedIn, though do accept direct deposits and PayPal. Cash is also nice.

There are countless online resources, conferences, industry publications and of course, the offerings of thousands of educational institutions.

Schools provide us with that invaluable certificate which is a wonderful thing. This is why everybody has one. They are a ticket to the dance.

However, to be a dance master requires hard work, loads of practice and some advice from Roger Swiper – Tango Master. Do you know a Roger? Find a Roger. He works on level 22 of my office.

Experience. The shiniest, most powerful tool in the garage.

All of us gather experience throughout life. No matter if we do something correctly or completely cock it up, we always gain valuable experience.

What if someone happens to be new to the workforce? How would they gain experience rapidly?

I would recommend tapping into the minds of subject matter experts, analysts, managers and (again) mentors. Especially (if possible) through a conversation (try reaching out via LinkedIn). When we show genuine interest in someone and ask questions, most people will open up and gladly share their experiences and learnings.

As will old people. Try asking an old person a question should you seek to fast-track a journey towards Garage Zen Master status. The ‘Wise One’ in every story told is always the oldest person in the room. There is a reason for that.

Listening to old people is cheating. I encourage everyone to cheat. Often and with vigour.

Values. Transform a garage into a temple.

Those of us raised by great parents were blessed. Our folks instilled within us, an understanding of the importance of acquiring and demonstrating strong values. Honesty, integrity, manners and empathy.

In my opinion, most people would accept that values are nothing more than common social sense. They are a set of basic instructions for the game of life.

A professional life undertaken devoid of ethical standards serves no purpose beyond occasional monetary gain or even a promotion. Some people may consider that success. Personally, I don’t wish to be remembered as ‘That awful girl/guy with a garage full of expensive toys but no real friends’?

Values help define who we are and our reputation. Reputations stick.

Uniqueness. The special sauce which sets one garage apart from most others.

A delicious cocktail of knowledge, creativity, abilities and resources concocted over time. Small details setting us apart from competitors and peers. Details which others are perhaps unwilling, unable or possibly too ‘busy’ or lazy to focus on.

Try to work out what it is that makes you unique. It isn’t as easy as it sounds. Ask friends, colleagues and customers if there is something you do which other people they work with do not. I am sure they will help with unseen insights.

If they cannot think of anything, ask about suggested behaviours you might adopt, which others don’t. A great source of ideas to help you differentiate.

I attended a sales skills seminar some years ago. The presenter offered a tip to the 100 salespeople (I know – a horrible thing to imagine) in the audience. He suggested we follow up each client meeting by authoring and distributing quality meeting notes to all attendees. Documenting points of discussion, action items with agreed due dates, etc. The presenter suggested most sales professionals do not do this. So, by doing so, we had an opportunity to differentiate ourselves from our peers.

Stupid meeting notes. Too simple a concept to represent any real value, right?

He also pointed out that of the 100 people in the room that day, perhaps 1 or 2 of us would follow his advice. He was right. I did and I can tell you, he was right. Customers do actually appreciate that (not so) stupid element of value-add.

It is great to be known for the unique things we do for others.

Junk. Every garage contains junk?

Our junk may include a collection of fears, negative experiences, bad habits, a lack of training or poor guidance.

When considering junk; think if any of the following might occur if we ignored it. Assume we stopped worrying (or worried less) about our problems.

Would the World stop turning? Would anyone die?

Imagine if we thought less about the college degree we lack, our underdeveloped professional network or of skills we lack. If truly important, these and most other challenges can be overcome if we plan to do so. A good, honest mentor can help with this. Providing a sanity check, advice and support.

Think of the Big Rock – Little Rock analogy and try to focus on truly important issues (big rocks). Then, time permitting, work on the less significant stuff (little rocks).

A 2007 article from Zen Habits included some handy tips for applying the big rock – little rock methodology to one common source of worry for thousands of people around the world – managing our daily workload. If interested, please click to go to the article here.

I honestly believe most people are capable of reducing the volume and significance of any junk pile. Perhaps not overnight. But it will happen.

As a manager once told me; “Life is full of crap. So why waste time worrying about crap?” He always had a smile on his face.

Time to organise our professional garage.

So, by now, we have considered the contents of our professional garage. Now we move on to documenting them, keeping it simple.

Personally, I like to start by listing my assets in their respective categories – Education, Experience, Values, Uniqueness and Junk.

Yes, even our Junk is an asset. The big rocks of junk represent an opportunity to understand that little rocks are about as significant as a grain of sand. Not worth worrying about. The value comes from burden reduction and improved clarity/focus.

In fact, I suggest using a pencil to record your junk. So much easier to erase later.

Now is the time to add our assets to each category – certifications, personal characteristics, special sauces, challenges, etc.

Celebrate these and understand their value and significance.

Now select a different coloured pen and consider what is missing from your garage.

What are the 1 or 2 things which could help improve each category? Seeking additional training, working on a killer LinkedIn profile, helping a charity, some physical or mental exercise or working on differentiation and value.

I try to consider a couple of things during this phase. What could help me become better in my current role? I place a little ‘P’ for Progress against these.

Then I consider my aspirations for the next role and the 1 or 2 things I could do to move towards making that a reality. Drawing future dreams closer, step by step.

I mark these with an ‘I’ for Investment.

Next, I try to identify what I will do over the next 6-12 months to progress via investment in myself and my future. I may not have answers for all at first, but I will do for some of them. Good enough for now. A simple plan for working on moving the needle in a positive direction.

I record them in my calendar as tasks to be completed and start researching whatever is required to tick them off. Training, requesting a special project to work on, publishing a blog, etc.

The result – a handful short-to-medium-term goals to stimulate self-improvement, focus and a positive outlook towards the future.

Love your garage.

Next time we go for that promotion or a new job, we will be better armed to confidently describe our capabilities, strengths, differentiation and value.

Over time, clients will absolutely come to consider you as someone who stands-out from the crowd, is trustworthy and reliable. You help them become more successful and make their lives easier.

Some clients will become close friends.

Colleagues will turn to you for support and advice.

With a little luck, management will tap you on your shoulder and offer you a promotion or at least a path to one. If not, the competition probably will.

Through continuous self-assessment, development and re-invention, we are better prepared and positioned to remain relevant and employable as time passes.

You may end up less stressed, more focused and ‘fresher’, with a newfound sense of purpose. Something positive to work towards.

That artificial intelligence bot looking to read your mind and tell you what you should do. Tell it to ‘Sod off and go play Minecraft. Your services are not required. Thanks’.

Your funeral will be sold out – standing room only.

You will possess a glorious garage. Don’t forget to house some toys in there.

What do you think? Could a little investment in your PPG help you achieve your goals?

I would love to hear your thoughts.

Have a great day, and thanks for all the fish.

Marco.

#professionalskills #planning #career

The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the original author and other contributors. These views and opinions do not represent those of IBM (International Business Machines).