Career Renovations

As many homeowners know, every few years you look at your home, and decide that one room or another needs a renovation. You go through the work, perhaps re-painting, perhaps purchasing new furniture, or perhaps doing something a bit more radical. When the renovation is complete, you know that it will provide years of satisfaction. Of course, there are bills to pay, but the satisfaction is worth it.

As the CEO of your career, when was the last time you looked at yourself and decided to "renovate"? Consider the following aspects of your background and performance - these are just a few of the "rooms" that you can choose to upgrade:

• Formal education and ongoing professional development
• Interpersonal skills
• Internal relationships
• External relationships
• Breadth of your network
• Analytical skills
• Sales skills
• Technology skills
• Communications skills (writing, speaking, etc)
• Attitude
• Product/Service/Process knowledge
• Work ethic
• Work-life balance
• Industry knowledge
• ???

Even if you are a superstar, surely one of these is a bit weaker than the others? If you aren't sure which, consider asking your manager, mentor, or a close colleague. Or look through the last several years of your performance appraisals for additional clues.

This week's action item: Choose one area of your career to renovate, and write down 2-3 things that you can do immediately to start construction. The beauty of this approach is that the more upgrades you install, the more satisfied you will be when the renovations are complete. (And the higher your value going forward.)

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Randall Craig is an expert on Career Development, Work-Life Balance, and Networking. For more information about how Randall can help you or your organization, go to www.PersonalBalanceSheet.com, or contact Randall by email through editor@ptadvisors.com.

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Copyright © 2008 Knowledge to Action Press and Randall Craig. All rights reserved.

Publication Date: March 18, 2008