對自己現在的工作沒什么感覺?那么對上一份工作有感覺嗎?你是否厭倦了每隔幾年就問自己“接下來怎么辦?” 詹妮·布萊克想幫助大家找到一個長期有效的答案。由于對自己的職業生涯不滿意,她在2011年辭去谷歌公司一份優渥的工作,然后寫了一本書,并開啟了自己的咨詢事業。 布萊克選擇了迎接改變,而不是在職業道路上停滯不前。這給了她靈感,促使她寫出了最新作品《軸點:只有下一步才要緊》(Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One)。 布萊克把職業軸點定義為“對有效的東西加大投入,以便有目的地轉向一個新的相關方向”。從這個角度來說,確立軸點就是“一個有目的性,并且系統地靈活把握職業發展變化的過程”。 求職網站Monster最近和布萊克探討了人們怎樣才能借助她的軸點理論來擺脫職業停滯期并更好地適應變化——無論他們的年齡、職業階段以及經濟情況如何。 問:你的網站上說美國人平均每份工作只會干4-5年,而且在這段時間里,人們的工作性質也會發生巨變。考慮到這樣的變化,普通員工要怎樣做才更有可能獲得一個圓滿且成功的職業生涯呢? 答:這本書的要點圍繞一個名叫“軸點理論”的進程展開,它分為四步:播種、審視、試行和起步。無論是自由職業者還是在公司給別人打工,有一件事大家都能做,那就是看看哪些東西真正適合你,看看自己的優勢,最喜歡干什么,對什么有興趣,以及今后幾年學習哪些技能會讓你真的感到興奮。我把它稱為“播種”階段。 設立一個為期一年的愿景。我覺得,“你認為五年后自己會怎樣”這類問題完全不著邊際,因為沒有人真的有答案。但一年后你把工作干的很成功會是怎樣的情景呢? 問:我們每年都應該尋找軸點嗎? 答:不是的,這并不是說我們要不斷地確立重大的職業軸點,當然不是這個意思。你甚至可以為同一份工作確立軸點。軸點更多的是一種思維模式。比如說,想一想“哪些東西管用?接下來我想做什么,我怎樣才能通過一些小試驗來達到目的?” 這種小試驗也是軸點理論的一個重要組成部分。你可以就職業發展做一些小試點,以便測試一個新的方向,而且不會感到要一下子向上猛蹬幾步的壓力。 問:有沒有一些普遍存在的信號可以告訴你到了確立軸點的恰當時間了? 答:在某些情況下,軸點會主動找上門來。人們會遭遇裁員、公司重組、調換團隊或者失去大客戶等情況。至于主動確立軸點,有幾種方法可以讓你知道自己正站在這個點上。 人們只需要看看哪些起作用,看看下一步是什么,目的就是要采取行動。就像每年都要練習一次一樣,他們要問:“好的,接下來這幾年什么東西會讓我最激動?”這里不存在任何誘因,軸點思維就是一項常規練習。 此外,有時候我們會遇到意想不到的軸點。突然之間,我們覺得非常無聊或者“鴨梨山大”。這些都是實實在在的征兆,表明確立軸點的時間到了。有時我們會忽略這些跡象,或者沒有積極地反思現狀。這時候,軸點就會不期而至,那種感覺就像遭遇危機一樣。 問:恐懼顯然是阻止人們確立軸點的一大障礙。我們應該怎樣面對這種恐懼,讓它不再成為攔路虎? 答:一個辦法是不要把這樣的恐懼當成個人問題。要意識到職業道路上的變化會威脅到我們最基本的需求,比如衣、食和住。當我們考慮改變職業發展路徑時會感到害怕,因為我們的生計遇到了風險。 感到害怕也沒什么大不了的。它實際上表明你在做一些讓你興奮的事,而且你正在做出改變。變化往往會帶來恐懼。邁出的步子要小,保證它在你的“伸展區”里,而不是你的“恐慌區”。 在這本書里,我提出了“風險強度表”的概念,也就是人們內心對風險的感覺。有些人現在待在舒適區里,一切安好。很快,你就會進入停滯區。你會感到非常無聊,而且準備好要做出改變了。對確立軸點的人來說,他們的甜點在伸展區里,這個區域讓他們覺得有挑戰性、有參與感而且心情激動。如果你覺得自己進入了恐慌區,也就是被害怕情緒所困,無法采取行動時,你就會知道自己這一步邁的過于突兀,相對于你目前的位置來說轉向過大。出現這種情況時,就要再選擇一個跨度較小的行動。 問:好的,讓我們假設萬事俱備,然后你按照此前的計劃改變了職業發展路徑,結果摔了個嘴啃泥。那么接下來怎么辦? 答:你采取任何行動時都要知道哪些東西管用,哪些不管用以及接下來你想做哪些試驗。只要能保持這種不斷學習的思維模式,并且問“我從中能學到什么?”,你就可以把軸點理論用于“失敗”。也就是說,對于失敗,你可以說:“好吧,這里面有哪些東西確實有用呢?哪些不管用呢?哪些是我想更多地去做的呢?我可以進行怎樣的調整呢?” 很多時候,我發現軸點不起作用的原因是相對于他們現有的實力、興趣、經驗甚至目標來說,人們想要轉的彎太急。通常,不管用的軸點意味著問題要歸咎于這些核心元素中的一些。 一般來說,要通過這樣的過程養成一種習慣。每季度,或者每半年,我都會看看哪些東西最管用,接下來我想做什么,我想學習哪些技能,我想和哪些人建立聯系,以及我在工作中可以進行哪些小試驗。人們還可以把這些用到項目中去。這樣,如果在做項目或者進行創意時卡了殼,就可以用這種辦法來尋求突破,把工作推進下去。(財富中文網) 譯者:Charlie 審校:詹妮 |
Not really feeling your current job? Did you not really feel your last one, either? Are you getting tired of asking yourself, “What’s next?” every few years? Jenny Blake wants to help you find a lasting answer. Unsatisfied in her career, she left a plumb job atGoogle in 2011 to write a book and launch her own consulting business. By choosing to embrace change instead of staying stagnant in her career, Blake was inspired her to write her latest book, Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One. Blake defines a career pivot as “doubling down on what is working to make a purposeful shift in a new, related direction.” Pivoting, in this sense, is “an intentional, methodical process for nimbly navigating career changes.” Monster recently spoke with Blake about how everyone—regardless of age, career stage or bank account balance—can use her pivot method to get unstuck from a career plateau and get better at adapting to change. Q. Your website states that the average employee tenure in America is just four to five years, and even those roles tend to change dramatically within that time. With all that change in mind, what can the everyday employee do to increase their chances of having a fulfilling, successful career? A. The crux of the book is centered around a four-stage process [plant, scan, pilot and launch] called “the pivot method.” The one thing that anyone can do, whether they’re self-employed or working for someone else at a company, is look at what’s really working [for you], look at your strengths, what you most enjoy, what you’re interested in, what skills you would be really excited to learn in the coming years. That’s what I call the “plant” stage. Set a vision for one year from now. I think the question, “Where do you see yourself in five years?” is totally obsolete because none of us can really know. But what does success look like in your role a year from now? Q. We should be looking to pivot every year? A. No, this doesn’t mean that we always have to be making dramatic career pivots all the time. It’s certainly not about that. You can even pivot within your role. Pivot is more of a state-of-mind to say, “What’s working? What do I want to do next and how can I run small experiments to get there?” That small experiment piece is a really big part of the method, as well. You can run little career pilots to test a new direction without feeling the pressure to have to move up some giant rung on the ladder in one fell swoop. Q. What are the universal signs that tell you it’s the right time to pivot? A. In some cases, people get pivoted. They are laid off, their company reorganizes, they move teams, they lose a big client. But if it’s a proactive pivot, there are a couple ways to know when you’re at a pivot point. One would just be looking at what’s working and what’s next just for the sake of doing it. Like an annual exercise to say, “OK what am I most excited about in the coming years?” It’s not instigated by anything, and that’s where the pivot mindset is a regular practice. Barring that, sometimes we hit a pivot point we don’t really see coming. All of a sudden, we feel really bored or stressed. Those are physical signs that it’s time to pivot. Sometimes when we ignore them or we don’t proactively reflect on how things are going, we hit these pivot points almost by surprise, and that’s when they feel like a crisis. Q. Fear is obviously a major roadblock that keeps people from pivoting. How should we confront this fear so that it doesn’t stand in our way? A. One thing is not to take that fear personally. Recognize that career changes will threaten what seems like our most fundamental needs: food, clothing, shelter. When we think about a career change, it’s scary because our livelihood is at stake. If you have fear, that’s OK. That’s actually a sign that you’re doing something exciting and you’re making a change. Change tends to incite fear. Look to take small next steps that are within your stretch zone, not your panic zone. In the book, I share this notion of a “risk-o-meter,” your inner risk temperature. Some people are currently in their comfort zone, everything’s fine. When you hit a plateau, you go into that stagnation zone. You’re really bored and ready for a change. The sweet spot for pivoters is in their stretch zone, where they’re feeling challenged, engaged and excited. You’ll know if you’re trying to make a move that’s too sharp, too big of a turn from where you are now, if you feel like you’re in your panic zone, which is debilitating fear that prevents you from taking action. If that’s the case, look for a smaller next step instead. Q. OK, so let’s say all the pieces are in place, and you make that career change you’ve been planning for…and you wind up falling on your face. What is the next step? A. Any next move is going to be informative about what works, what doesn’t work and what next experiments you want to try. As long as someone can keep that learning mindset and say, “What can I learn from this?”, you can then apply the pivot method to a “failure.” So of the failure, you can say, “Well, what did work within this? What didn’t? What would I want to do more of? How can I adjust this?” A lot of times when I’ve seen pivots not work, it’s because the person tried to turn too sharply from their current base of strengths, interests, experience and even what they wanted. Usually a pivot that doesn’t seem to work means going back to some of those core elements. Make a habit out of the process, in general. Every quarter, or every six months, I look at what’s working best, what I want to do next, what skills I want to develop, who I want to connect with and what small experiments I can run in my business. That’s something people can also apply within projects, so if you get stuck on a project or a creative pursuit, it’s a method to get unstuck and keep things moving. |