How I Spot Winners
J.T. O'Donnell
Founder & CEO, Work It DAILY | Board of Directors, McCoy | Career & Professional Development | Job Search | HR & Recruiting | Employer Branding | Recruitment Marketing | Talent Management | Executive Coaching
When I up and left Corporate America and started my own career coaching practice, I caught a lot of flack and lost a few friends. My favorite story is about a guy I went to college with. When I explained I was going to be a career coach, he said, “You aren’t going to do all that new age hoohey crap, are you?” Alas, Brian never was one to mince words. I explained I was going to use my experience and passion to help people finally figure out the true meaning of career satisfaction on their own terms. (Okay, reading it here, I can see how it sounded a little odd.) He smiled, chuckled, and I haven’t heard from him since.
In the Beginning, You Work Pro Bono
When I started out, I was advised to take some “pro bono” clients as a way to establish credibility. In exchange for helping them, I would get testimonials and references so I could eventually start to charge for my services. That was an interesting experience. I worked with people for free and did HR consulting on the side to pay the bills. In that time, I probably took on at least 20 clients pro bono. I have to say, it taught me something very important with respect to being effective in my profession: how to spot a winner, a.k.a. a person who I could actually help achieve their goals.
I Know My Limitations - I Can't Help Everyone
When you coach people who are looking to find a new job or change careers, the goal is to get a clear sense of their situation and mindset. You need to know what roadblocks and assumptions might be limiting them in achieving their goals. Then, you have to look at your own skill sets and tools as a coach and make an honest decision as to whether you can really give them the Ah-ha Moments necessary for getting the results they want. If you can't, it's better to be upfront and direct them to a different resource. There is a big risk in working with someone you can't help - your reputation can suffer. As a result, I feel it's important to be proactive and only partner with clients I feel certain I can assist.
My Brand of Coaching...
I'm a realistic optimist as a career coach. Which means, I believe there is a systematic process that can be used to find career satisfaction (that's the realistic part). At the same time, I believe attitude has a major impact on the ability to succeed (there's the optimist part). Thus, the ideal client for me is someone who recognizes they need a new system for success, and believes once they have it, they will have the ability to make things happen.
After many years of coaching thousands of people, I can now spot the ones I can't help. My formula looks like this:
Hopeless + Helpless = Won't Get the ROI (Return on Investment)
There are two types of potential clients in my world: The job seeker who realizes what they are doing to find work isn’t working, but believes with the right information, resources and coaching, they can succeed. Then, there’s the person who, without realizing it, wants to be able to blame someone for their situation and seeks out a coach to validate their viewpoint. I've learned the hard way I can't make that job seeker see what they are doing. I can't tell you the number of times I've desperately wanted to help someone, but based on the way they were describing their situation, I knew I wasn't the right coach for them. I've worked with several people like that, only to realize they had no intentions of following my advice. They just weren't ready for my brand of coaching. It was frustrating, but a good lesson nonetheless.
Before You Tell Me I'm a Bad Person for Not Helping Them...
Now, I'm sure some people reading this are thinking, "How selfish. She should help everyone who needs it. Those people are suffering. She should work harder to find a way to get them results." I've already thought of that. I'm a coach. It's in my DNA to want to help everyone. In fact, I spent those early days really struggling with that thought. Then, a wise mentor shared a quote with me,
"When the student is ready, the teacher appears."
This quote made me accept the following: trying to help people who weren't a match for my brand of coaching was limiting my ability to do good work - it was taking me away from helping those who were ready to learn. There are only so many work hours in the day. It was up to me to make the most of them.
P.S. - First time reading my posts?Thanks for taking the time to stop by! Not only do I write for Linkedin, but I'm also founder of the career advice site, CAREEREALISM, and currently run the career coaching program, CareerHMO. I hope you'll check them both out! If you want to read more of what I've written, check out my articles on Inc.com.
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CAREEREALISM’s Founder, J.T. O’Donnell is a nationally syndicated career expert and workplace consultant who helps American workers of all ages find greater professional satisfaction. Her book, CAREEREALISM: The Smart Approach to a Satisfying Career, outlines her highly successful career-coaching methodology. Purchase her e-book of CAREEREALISM for only $9.95 by clicking here !
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9 年This is spot on with the pro-bono work I do at #OJTTulsa (ojttulsa.org) and some of the 'paid' work I do via Coltec Consulting LLC Thx CAREEREALISM
Human Resources make a difference, step by step VJ Project Manager Networking with...?? Influencing people be together ??
9 年I agree.
Real estate investor
9 年A pro will practice until they can't get it wrong but an amateur will only practice until they get it right. When you see that kind of determination, you've got a real winner!
Strategy Consultant
9 年All people have at least one fatal flaw and most people have have at least one type of mistake they make over and over. Successful people work very hard to limit their exposure to fatal flaws unlike those who are hopeless because the flaw defines them. Very few people are clueless as to their weaknesses and the difference between total failure, success and somewhere in between is how we chose to manage those flaws. I see hopeless people as much more trainable than those who simply live with their weakness at their side but the problem is certainly more acute and angst ridden . The first step is to expose that failure out loud. The second is to ask yourself what you want to do about it. Some people like being a victim. For those who are caught in a cycle and really wanting the music to stop, the second step is to understand what enables the cycle. It usually is because their personal life is not where it should be. The first plan is creating a personal footprint, the second is applying it to a job. Life is rarely fair and often we have bullies in our lives that take away who we are and nobody can fix that. When you lose a job and the reasons are unfair or simply arbitrary or even more likely to stem from a situation where you were in the way of someone with an agenda, the best answer is to fold. No one could succeed without playing the game back and when you start out playing defense you are likely going to lose. Nobody likes excuses and its always the one that retaliates that gets caught. Remember 3rd grade? It's self defeating and investing a minutes worth of time is a sign of someone not that good at what they do. It sucked and it crushed you, not your boss or the company. Winning requires two things. You have to have the confidence to show what you can do and you need to know your limitations and interests. While being older, ethnic, short, fat, thin, fired a dozen times etc. is not something you can change, you can win people over with genuine enthusiasm and interest. People are for the most part self indulgent and they like to be around people who feed on their goals. LinkedIn groups, networking and continuing education are positive channels where you can feed on people who like what you like. Finding support for your ideas is key and contribution is the secret sauce.
Director, Talent Engagement & Development @UOPacific | Connector, Collaborator, Coach | I help people build, grow and advance their careers.
9 年I'm guessing most of us in this profession can appreciate J.T.'s position from personal experience. My formula is Hopeless + Blames Others = Neither of Us Can Win.