Career Watch: Finding your balance

Computerworld - This version of this article originally appeared in Computerworld's print edition

Q&A: Randall Craig

The president of Pinetree Advisors discusses some of the ideas in his book Personal Balance Sheet: A Practical Career Planning Guide.

Randall Craig

Why do people have to make a special effort to plan their careers? What's wrong with just doing your job well? You spend more time at work than doing anything else in life, so doesn't it make sense to spend just a bit of time planning your career? For example, how should you decide if a particular promotion, contract or project is best for you? How do you know when to leave your job and find another? And with such limited time, how do you know where -- and how much -- to invest in your professional development? The answers are the province of career planning. Yes, to do well, you need to do your job well today, but achieving your longer-term goals requires some longer-term thinking.

You note that much of what passes as networking is worthless. How can people extract real value from the exercise? Many people believe that networking is about showing up at an event, making small talk and exchanging business cards. The more Web-minded might add having lots of "friends" on Facebook or LinkedIn. While these types of activities are important, they are not networking. Networking is all about broadening your contact base and then deepening your relationships. Networks -- and relationships -- are like bank accounts: Without making a deposit, you can't expect to make a withdrawal. Said another way: Unless you help others get what they want, you can't expect them to help you get what you want. This concept of "give to get" is central to the process of networking.

If we're all working hard on our careers, plus doing our jobs well, is there time for anything else? I sure hope so! To succeed in our careers means not only doing well in our jobs, but making sure that our jobs support the lifestyle that we desire. Unfortunately, when people complain about balance, often the problem isn't too much work, but too little life. Solving this problem can be as simple as scheduling nonwork activities or as complex as seeking flexible work arrangements. But what "life" activities should be scheduled? Two clear facts: No one but you knows what your perfect balance should be, and no one but you can know which activities hold interest.

A useful model is the Personal Balance Sheet, which defines "balance" along the dimensions of community, family, intellectual, physical, spiritual, financial and career. The basic idea is that by choosing activities within each of these dimensions -- or not -- you are effectively setting your perfect balance. And if you're clever about it, some of your nonwork activities will pay off on the job as well. -- Jamie Eckle

Career Nurturing at Xerox

Career development is anything but haphazard at Xerox Information Management (XIM).

When Pat Brewer joined the team last July as its HR director, CIO John McDermott asked her to develop a global framework for career development. The idea was to create a blueprint for determining the steps that XIM should be taking to develop and nurture the career paths of its 800 IT professionals worldwide.

Pat Brewer

To that end, Xerox developed a Web-based software tool called Global Talent Builder. With the software, which Xerox will begin using this year, IT workers and their supervisors will be able to assess their skill levels and growth potential as well as their competency gaps, says Mark Laffin, a performance and productivity manager at XIM.

Once IT workers have completed their self-assessments, the software helps them choose activities that will address their competency gaps and provides instructions on how to go about doing so, says Laffin.

Working with a third-party vendor, XIM has also created a methodology for assessing IT professionals' potential. The assessment can lead to strategies like giving people "stretch assignments." For example, a U.S.-based worker could be assigned to an international project or to a special project in addition to his usual role.

XIM plans to have its 500 U.S.-based IT workers fill out self-assessment and career development plans during the second half of this year. The effort will go international beginning in 2009, says Brewer. -- Thomas Hoffman

Compiled by Jamie Eckle.