Career Transition and Management in a Changing Business Environment (2)

In many of my programs, I have emphasized the importance of acquiring emotional management skills. It is a truism to say that when everything being equal, the one who manages better or leads more effectively is the one who is better able to hold the reins of his emotions. The Hindu epic, Mahabaratha illustrates this well through the use of 5 horses that pulls the chariot of Arjuna on which is also Krishna, his teacher. The 5 horses represents the 5 senses of Man and Krishna spends quite a bit of time trying to convince Arjuna to control his senses so that.... here is the beauty of it all.... he can control his emotions which is in turmoil as his enemies on the other side of the battle field is none other than his own flesh and blood.

Having the most powerful being in the universe (Krishna) was no guarantee for success as Arjuna still had to manage his own emotional turmoil. Similarly having the most sophisticated skills and knowledge will only take an individual so far in today's changing business environment. This is especially so when the individual is expected to pick up the pieces after a strategic change in the organization.

Emotional management, EQ, EI or whatever one prefers to call it, is simply the ability to use one's emotional energy towards something positive; towards the direction which will bring the best results in the long run. The first step in this is the willingness to be aware of how our emotions, more than our intelligence, influences our actions. I say 'willingness' because for most of us, being up-front about emotions is considered a sign of weakness. Being able to do this will probably make the difference between success and failure in this unpredictable business environment.

Donald Trump once told the audience of his Apprentice that " He has to go.... I don't want to end up managing his emotions for him"!

Career Transition and Management in a Changing Business Environment (1)

From the 5th to 8th of December I was in the vibrant city of Jakarta conducting a Career Transition program as an Associate Consultant to Right Management Consultants.

One of the key skills that I think, young graduates entering the job market should have is the ability to plan out, direct and manage their career. Life time employment and cradle to grave benefits and protection will become a universal thing-of-the-past in the near future. Managers and business leaders at all levels must also be equipped with the right skills to assist their subordinates on how to manage their career development. Of course, managers too need to manage their own career development!

As organizations the world over has slowly managed to educate their work-force that a guranteed life-time employment is no longer feasible, the least they can do for their employees is to have a structured and well designed approach towards imparting career management skills to them. As what many companies are doing, such things are also best left to the experts as business is business and the focus should not be diverted to anything else.

In a world of change where asking people to leave after years of service has become 'corporate re-engineering' and where people turn-up as usual at the office in the morning only to be told that they have been 'right-sized' have become a norm, I suppose preparing employees to be able to pick up the pieces should be part of the Corporate Social Responsibility mantra. To truly have an impact on society and to gain true loyalty and goodwill of the people, organizations must look into ways of not only training and developing their employees in leadership, management and technical skills but also on how their employees are prepared for drastic changes which inevitably also affect their career development.

I hope to share more on this in my next few postings.