Will You Be Home? Part II

By Julie Adamen

As we said last month, in reality, luck has very, very little to do with professional success. Professional success is predicated upon a person's ability to recognize and act upon opportunity when it presents itself.  This crucial ability does not come from out of the blue, but requires that a person be professionally and personally prepared by having the required building blocks in place that allows that person to do so.   

In my opinion, there are six building blocks that must be in place for opportunity to be recognized and acted upon. They are: Professional Development, Professional Fortitude, Personal Fortitude, Flexibility, Attitude and Family Support.

We talked about the first three building blocks last month and this month we will discuss Flexibility, both Professional and Personal.

Flexibility: The quality of being adaptable or variable.[1]

Professional Flexibility.

How flexible are you professionally? This quick test will give you a starting point in evaluating yourself.

• Do you see yourself as a “free agent,” i.e., a stand-alone professional, as opposed to an employee?
• When you consider a new position, do you see that position as what it could and would be with you in it?
• Do you view titles as relatively unimportant?
• Have you upgraded your employment status in the past five years?
• Have you ever considered, or taken, a position that was a cut in pay, but offered more potential than your current position?
• Do you see professional diversity as career building? 

If you answered yes to these questions you are relatively flexible. If you answered no to any of them you will need to work on your flexibility if you want to get ahead. Now, answer the questions below:

• Do you have a rigid idea about what positions you would “consider?” 
•  Do you only want an on site position (and you are not currently an on site manager)? 
• Do you only want positions in a very specific geographic location?
• Will you accept “X” amount of dollars and not a penny less? 
• Will you ONLY work for an association directly, on site or off site? 
• Will you ONLY work for a management company, on site or portfolio?

The list can be any single item or any combination but it just goes on. If you find yourself answering yes to the majority of these questions (or similar ones) you are most likely without Professional Flexibility. And you will find that self-imposed restrictions based on limited perceptions of opportunity have a tendency to create serious professional frustration.   We also see that the state of one’s Professional Flexibility is also a mindset for professional development.

“…self-imposed restrictions based on limited perceptions of opportunity have a tendency to create serious professional frustration…”

The free-agent concept. People who are flexible professionally usually have the view that they are their own most valuable asset – first to themselves then to their employer. These people eschew the notion that they are married to any one job, position or company and view continuing development and professional change as a good thing. These professionals see themselves as capable of doing any number of things in their profession and are willing to explore many options because they haven’t placed themselves in a carefully drawn box. People who have this way of thinking never feel guilty about leaving a particular position or company to better themselves professionally. They know that the more experience they have, the more valuable they become to themselves, potential employers and the industry as a whole. Generally, these folks will rise to the top of the compensation curve. Free-agent means free to make choices because of professional confidence.

It can be all you want it to be.  Well, any job that is. People who are flexible look at differing options, and see themselves in those options. Using all of their available knowledge and resources, they can often project, with relative certainty and comfort, where an option will take them in 2, 3 or even 5 years. They are able to see down that road because they know what their abilities are and what they can do to make “it” happen. These are on site managers who take a position paying below their skill-set and the job requirement, but know the game well enough to be confident that they will more than make up for that initial financial hit in two years or less. These are managers who go in to marketing for a vendor for a low starting salary and a piece of the action because they are confident in their ability and the product (i.e., they know what they bring to the table and have done their homework). These are portfolio managers who will take the leap to on site management or company management. The Professionally Flexible are able to see themselves as a successes in new ventures or positions based on their professional self-confidence.

When you have Professional Flexibility, you know that nothing is written in stone and thus everything is negotiable. Picture this: You are at an industry event. You happen to hear about a position available. The person telling you about the job is not the employer, just a colleague   passing on information. At first, the job sounds right up your alley, and then to your mind, there is the deal breaker: One of the job requirements is to be in that office every day at 9:00 a.m., regardless of night meetings, kid schedules, or what have you. Immediately, you shut your mind off to that opportunity.

If this scenario sounds like you, you are not alone, and in fact are with the majority of people out there.  But for those with flexibility in their thinking, this type of thing does not deter them from pursuing the opportunity. Why? Because they realize there are many points of negotiation in any opportunity and one negative is not going to stop them from pursuing the positives of that opportunity. Their professional development, and their personal and professional fortitude (see last month’s article) combined with viewing themselves as a free-agent, puts them in a far better position to negotiate terms of employment than the average person. For example, if you have a PCAM, have been successful manager at more than one venue or position, know that you can handle about anything thrown at you, know that you do not have to take any one, or the first, job offered you because you have the flexibility to adapt yourself to more than one set of career circumstances – well, you are in a position that others only dream about. You are in the driver’s seat when it comes to negotiating what you want.

Personal Flexibility.

Family and Relationship Issues. In order to act upon opportunities as they present themselves, personal flexibility is of the utmost importance. Unfortunately, when it comes to our personal lives there are circumstances beyond our control that affect our ability to act on those opportunities. You may have elderly parents whom you need to be near. Your spouse may have better opportunities awaiting them in their job than you. Your child may be in a special needs school. These types of issues are ones that we all face at some time in our lives. We deal with them, and we move on to when we may be more personally flexible.

Financial Flexibility. Are you in the trap of the expensive car, big screen TV, kids with $150 tennis shoes, Prada bags, large home and mortgage to match, or, upside down mortgage, credit cards where only the interest is paid, living check to check - or less?  If all or part of the above sounds like you, you are not financially flexible. In fact, you are likely so strapped to your current position that it is doubtful you are able to make any change unless it walks in, sits in your lap and just takes over. In this financial position you are able only to look at what is in a job, (pay and benefit package) now, not what a job or business opportunity can be. This type of Financial Inflexibility will keep you from the vast majority of opportunities out there. Opportunity demands that we are willing to meet it halfway by looking out for it. And when you have these types of (oh-so-common) issues, you are unable to look up, let alone look out.

Obtain and Maintain Financial Flexibility. If you want to be one of those who are more able to recognize and act upon professional opportunity as it presents itself, you must get your financial ducks in order. There are plenty of self-help books out there that are very instructional on how to get yourself out of debt and/or manage your money well. How well you manage your finances can and should lead to Financial Flexibility, which means you are able, financially, to adapt your finances to a new opportunity. In a nutshell, if you can’t afford it, don’t buy it. Have some sort of savings plan. And remember, if you can’t sell it or liquidate it relatively quickly and easily, you may be able to recognize an opportunity, but you probably aren’t financially flexible enough to act on that opportunity.

Flexibility: Overall, it’s your choice. If are seeking professional upward mobility, you must be able to recognize and act upon opportunity as it presents itself. Part of the ability to do so has to do with your professional and personal flexibility. You can’t be rigid in how you perceive yourself professionally, or how you perceive professional opportunity.  You must also be personally prepared for that opportunity by understanding how your family obligations and personal finances can and will affect your flexibility. 

Maximum flexibility does not happen by accident; rather it is a calculated state of being procured through carefully made decisions in your personal and professional lives. These decisions are seldom easy. But ultimately, Flexibility is about being prepared to act when opportunity presents itself.

Next month: Attitude and Family Support