5 Lessons on Career Advancement with Jennifer Flynn

What’s on Jennifer Flynn’s mind?? 5 Lessons on Career Advancement

I would like to introduce you to Jennifer Flynn, CCNS board member. Over the next week we will be posting 5 lessons on career advancement. Come back to see them all.

Introduction

When I was recently asked to talk about career advancement, it took me a minute to consider how I was going to start off by sharing that I have been with the company for 14 years and only held 2 positions, manager and my current director role which I have had for 10 years.? Then I realized that my story is probably not so different from many others; when we “level up” we look for title changes.? We rarely talk about how we got here.? And that’s why I am excited to share my journey and some valuable lessons that I have added to my personal handbook.

This is me when I was 4.? It was my first day of school, and I was going to nail it.? How could I not with my Wonder Woman briefcase?? I love Wonder Woman.? I mean what’s not to like?? She was beautiful, smart, a problem solver, strong, a role model.? She was perfect.? She kicked butt.? I wanted to be her!??

It wasn’t until recently that I realized that Lynda Carter likely wasn’t perfect.? She probably had confidence issues, and was likely terrified while she was chasing these bad guys.? But you know what?? She never hesitated to fire that lasso in the right direction. ? She never asked herself “what is going to happen if I miss?” ? She just tried again.? We can learn a lot from Wonder Woman.? She is after all a state of mind.? But what if we just focused on being a Wonderful woman?

When I first started working with Register.com in 2008 I was excited to work alongside my manager at the time.? I had a lot to learn about Outbound Telesales.? I worked hard at understanding list strategy, dialer software and the benefits of domain names.? I wanted to master it all.? My team grew from 35 to close to 100 in just under 2 years; I was doing it – I was kicking butt!? I was hungry for more; so I asked for it.? I quickly found myself spending my Sunday nights processing commission files, creating weekly sales plans and crunching numbers.? I was growing!? It was only going to be evenings and weekends until I planned my week better.? It wasn’t always going to be long hours… right?? Early on, I realized that this was a lie I was going to tell myself forever and ever.? It sounds a lot like this; “When you are career driven and committed to excellence, you will always work long hours.”? Sound familiar???

Lesson 1: Be Honest with Yourself

The first lesson I learned that I wanted to add to the “Wonderful Woman” guide – be honest with yourself and where you are with your progress.? I thought that long hours showed everyone that I was committed to my work, and that was worn like a badge of honour.? What I didn’t realize is that I was teaching others my bad habits, and they thought that was expected of them.? Burn out ensued, relationships were jeopardized, and ultimately the hours were simply not sustainable.? Prioritize your health and happiness, and take care of yourself first.? This does not mean that you cannot keep your eye on the career prize.? In fact, it’s quite the opposite.? When you prioritize yourself, and are honest about how you use your time, what your real goals are, and what your downfalls are, you can prioritize what needs to happen to make the improvements to get the work life balance you are looking for.? A disclaimer here.? There are going to be times that hours are needed based on projects; what I am saying is that it shouldn’t be all day every day.? Book the time you need in your calendar for seminars, webinars, courses.? This may be hard to hear? – but you don’t know everything, and no one expects you to!? That’s called “wonder woman syndrome”.? And we need to help each other get past this!??

Lesson 2: Managing with Emotion vs being an Emotional Manager

My career has been a rollercoaster of emotion, and I am ok in admitting that.? The secret (or maybe not a secret), is how you handle your emotions.? Removing your personal feelings from the situation to evaluate the scenario objectively and sincerely is critical.? Managing with emotion can be a fine line; but it makes you human.? When you are human you are relatable.? And when you are relatable, you can be honest, even when it’s not always what wants to be heard.? Your message is delivered calmly and is absorbed.? You can show compassion during the hardest of conversations and be genuine.? Being an emotional manager however can cause poor decision making and for those of us that are people managers, can be catastrophic to your career.? It’s ok to be genuine – it is appreciated.

Lesson 3: Think Before Reacting

Take the time you need to digest the situation before you react.? It is OKAY to try to weigh the pros and cons of a situation that is happening and how it impacts you or your team, your career, or your day.? We have all received that email that frustrates you; maybe it was something that you covered in great detail that was a very important project and time sensitive.? 20 minutes before it’s due, you get a teams message with a clarifying question that you KNOW was covered.? And that’s when it starts!? You type “Didn’t you even listen?”? or “Really?? You told me you understood yesterday!”? Timing can be critical, and your words have impact.? Take a breath, and come back to it.? Or better yet, pick up the phone and call.? Maybe it was you that wasn’t clear.? Reference lesson number 1 – being honest.? What you do with the information that you are provided, and how you react is the most powerful part of the interaction, and is a character defining decision that you get to make.? Isn’t that a cool super power???

Lesson 4: Become a Sponge

There have been a lot of recent changes in my organization.? As a matter of fact, I have had a fair share of leadership change in the past 14 years.? There have been times that I thought about this emotionally – why isn’t it ME that is moving to the next step? ? That method of thinking was getting me nowhere, by the way.? I started looking through another lens and started asking myself what I could do differently; and the one thing that I could do was learn from the actions of the others that did get my dream job.? It completely changed my outlook.? I admired each person and the specific talents that they brought to the table; each one of them is getting me to a new level.? Attitude is such an important part of your career.? If you really want it, choose to learn from those that were put in the role; or you can look at yourself as though you deserved it more.? Sometimes the only thing that is holding you back is yourself.

Lesson 5: Take advantage of all opportunities, especially when they are uncomfortable.?

Be Brave!? This time last year, it was my first time reporting to a C level executive. I had a serious phobia of speaking my mind and giving opinions in a public forum. This stemmed from a poor leadership experience from years before that focused on micromanaging, and having to run all communications through my manager at the time.? That’s important, because you learn from the not so great leaders too.? Then I had a request pop in my calendar – “Biweekly Sales and Operations Read out”; not so bad.? Then I looked at the attendee list.? CEO.? CFO. CMO. Chief of Staff.? Oh dear.? Panic ensued. ? The day came - I was so prepared that I was scripted.? And then it happened.? The CFO asked me a question, and I didn’t have an answer. Heat radiated up my body (another one of my superpowers), my face turned red.? We’ve all been there!? The next call I prepared even more, and yet again another question I couldn’t answer, but I learned from the line of questioning and improved by week 3.? Fortunately for me, it turns out that my executive team are human too, and offered guidance and encouragement.? I was fortunate enough to attend a course called “she speaks”, that I will never forget.? A coworker volunteered me to present to the group a 2 minute chat on the topic of my choosing and I would receive honest feedback from the team.? What an opportunity!? I was pumped.? 5 minutes before the meeting, my superpower clammy hands and heat started again.? Will they like my message?? Will they find it educational?? What if I forget what I was going to say?? We all have these fears; but you can look at it as fear of failure, or excitement of having the floor! ? I chose the latter.? A smart woman once said “if you’re afraid to use your voice, give up your seat at the table.”? And that’s something we should remember.? I can assure you, I like where I am sitting now that I have found my voice.

A few years ago I had the opportunity to go to the Smithsonian, and I got to see the original wonder woman outfit.? You know what?? I was fascinated by how underwhelming it was when it wasn’t being worn by the female character I admired so much.? It was just clothes.? It was the woman that made it.

I think it’s evident that I am no Lynda Carter.? I may not be a superhero, but I do have special powers that I can share.? I have the ability to control my thinking, empower others, and find strength when it’s needed.? I absorb like a sponge – that in itself is actually a superpower… right?

So what if we were not as focused on being wonder woman, and focused instead on being a wonderful woman – taking on a no fear mentality while firing our lassos into the right direction, sometimes missing, sometimes getting it right. ?