Don't kettlebell your career

Swing….exhale….swing…avoid sever injury…swing...exhale… remember to inhale....swing...



Such have been my mornings this past week, swinging a kettle bell to try and supplement my post-January health kick. Tim Ferriss and the Four Hour Body are the inspiration for the choice of exercise, though I am not sure whether it is the wanting to have an efficient exercise or the fear of having some delicate parts of my anatomy crushed which mean that I am keeping a close eye on my form. Either way take care with your exercise, it can hurt otherwise.


With the 'bell moving in the air it can be a real delicate balance of getting the right action so you do get the benefit of it, whilst at the same time not losing control of circumstances. In some ways it is a near metaphor for a lot of us who are wondering about how best we can refocus our efforts on our career whilst at the same time not losing track of friends, family, sanity, etc.


Worried about not having the right balance with your own professional/personal kettle bell? Here are some ideas to get your grip in gear:


1. Wheel of Life
Ok it is in every book going and most of you will have heard of it before but I always think it is worthy of mention. I remember the first time a mentor presented it to me it blew my mind - not only about the possibilities that lay ahead for development in a variety of areas but also realising that I did not have to get everything right at once but that I was succeeding in other areas. I like this Mind Tools version which has a guide and one you can complete online.


2. Call on council
Napoleon Hill talked about creating his ‘Master Mind’ group or council, an imaginary group of real life luminaries in different fields who he would draw upon to get ideas when he was in a quandary.


Have a blast at imagining your own (it can be quite fun) but feel fortunate that we live in an age where it is easier than it has ever been to try and create your own council to draw from. Use your own networks to get second opinions and strategies of how to cope better. No one in your immediate or peers networks able to advice about the path you want to walk? Then fall at the altar of social media and scream hallelujah! With sites like Twitter and LinkedIn it is now easier than ever to find peoples contact information and find out how they got in to the position where they are today.


Furthermore it gives you a chance to add a personal touch when you first get in contact (“I notice from your information that prior to school teaching you were once a member of Bros – I loved you guys!”).


3. Purpose, Learning, Enjoyment
Still a little lost? Get back to basics. I often find if you are able to get two out of the three above correct then the third has a habit of presenting itself.


Enjoyment – examine what it is you are doing day to day. On first sight it might not be clear but upon further examination you might find there is a lot of what you do that you enjoy. Now you just need to see how it is that you can maximise this in your time and what you do. You owe it to yourself to try and do right by you, no?


Learning – if you feel you are on a path of development this will help a great deal with any feelings of anxiety about progression, as well as that guilt we all get sometimes when we look at peers and think “why am I not where they are at?” Furthermore, when you enter in to a programme of training/education you often find that…

Purpose - …. reveals itself, as you have been shown a means of progression, perhaps not in the field you first thought but a path that is worthy of further exploration nevertheless.


The alternative? Well perhaps you just drift and then one day realise that you have self sabotaged yourself. And then I imagine you would feel like this.

Enjoy the Silence

It happens to all of us. Fuelled by on our own self worth and esteem we crash in to handing out opinions and advice to people left, right and centre.

Reading My Hell is other People recently it seems this guy has had too much of it – and had responded in a passionate and fair way I would say. Yet, in some ways, I was grateful someone had provided an opinion or advice to prompt such a response – no matter how irritating it clearly was to the writer!

It made me think about all of the opportunities that social media offers to not just HR but professionals across industries to share and impart knowledge, are we sometimes swamped by the social media sin of blah blab blah?

When being advised on the delivery of my first training sessions, it was suggested to not always feel uncomfortable with (nor underestimate the value of) silence. Sometimes information needs to  settle, in order to allow for a period of reflection and analysis; the idea being to then feedback, maybe look at things with a fresh perspective and see how things could be moved forward (either in the context of the schedule for the session or the discussion being had).

How might the opposite be illustrated in everyday social media life? Well a good example is the recent figures that came to light about the total tribunal costs for the BBC in 2010.  This story was re-circulated on Twitter lots – I had it in most of the status updates on my timeline on the day it came to light; all just re-circulating the same information, a link to the story.

But what did it tell me about that person who was trying to share the information? It acted as evidence that they read People Management; or maybe they have a colleague who tweeted it and they re-tweeted, hence we both follow their details and it ended up in my timeline. So perhaps in a (tenuously) Kevin Bacon style five steps of separation we are of a similar mindset in terms of information resources ... but beyond this?

Do you know this man? In fairness, who does not feel like they did not after seeing Tremors? Image via Wikipedia

We are all guilty of it (anyone else guilty of resending the top 10 most used profile words on Linkedin? Why did we do that?!) and no issue with people trying to spread the good news but perhaps we all need to check what the purpose of sharing the information is. If it is relevant it will have no problem reaching the top of the information tree on its own – just ask the guys at Domino's when this story broke.

But maybe try thinking of doing this - for every one professional tweet or status update when you wish to resend information of a story someone else is sending round in the echo chamber, why not try and put your own spin on it? Maybe not just share the information but show how you would have approached the situation differently or why this solution occurred in this field but might not be applicable in others - some insight if you will. Suddenly you have moved from being a data manager to a bit of a problem solver.

Then just sit back, relax, and watch as it goes round the world - who knows? You might even find it more rewarding/productive than forwarding on the same information as everyone else.

House of Cards

In what was either an attempt to expand upon personal brand or a large concession to my ego I have ordered a set of business cards for this blog.


At first I wondered if it was a bit old hat in this digital age but after having spoken to a few peers gave in and went for it. Suddenly I found myself sucked in to an American Psycho style process of designing – what font to use? Shall I go with a matt finish? Is grey scaling too 80s? Double or single sided? Include Linkedin information? Twitter? Star sign?!


Ironically I ended up with something relatively simple in plain black and white (see below) but thought I would go for a quote on the back to liven it up:


“Hell, there are no rules around here – we are trying to accomplish something”

Feeling hugely impressed with myself (“Funny quote from Edison coupled with contact information – better copyright this, I've cornered a niche market!”) I hit return on the keyboard and ordered 250 which will duly arrive in a few weeks time.


It was then that I reflected on the card. Followed then by the quote. And a feeling of quiet panic slowly fell over me.


Is HR not meant to provide some rules and, at times, some form of procedure to an organisation? There again, there seems to have been a concerted effort since the 1990s with changes in HRM and more recently in the new millennium the Business Partner approach for a less control and command model – or moves away from the ‘Policy Police’ image to something more flexible.

This being the case, was I projecting a schizophrenic representation of the kind of HR service I can provide and believe in?


I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle (in regards to HR I mean, as opposed to any split personality disorder I may or might not have). We are expected to provide some form of over arching structure and feed in to the business plan, whilst having to give King Solomon-esque advice and solutions to people problems.


At the same time we need to have a brand/image which stands for more than just keeping staff in line and making sure everyone follows procedure – we live in an age which dictates that flexibility in order to get the best from our people, not to mention to attract and retain them.


So where does this leave my card? Not sure really – surely half the success of these things is in the way it is received. As Jeff Bezos says, “your brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room”.

Fingers crossed mine prompts a smile in my absence.