Crystal - Barkley Events
Participants in our three-day Life\Work Design courses receive a minimum of eight hours of coaching (three of which occur before the workshop begins) and proven group visioning exercises. In the five-day course option, participants are provided five hours coaching.

New York
December 2 - 4
January 27 - 29

Los Angeles
March 24 - 26

Call 800-333-9003 or visit our continually updated website for more details on these events and other special programs.

Reminder to Clients

Don't forget to utilize the Crystal-Barkley Alert! Queries go out twice a month to clients as a vehicle to pose questions to other clients for your surveying needs, to announce services, or to pass along items of interest to other clients. If you have anything you'd like to include, please send it to terry@careerlife.com

 

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From the Desk of Nella Barkley 

Oops! 
It's fall. Oops, it's Thanksgiving and the rest of the holidays are upon us. I hope many of you will be giving thanks for health and loved ones. Many, however, will be struggling to put on a good face - those who have not yet found work or found good work. It's alarming.

This fall, The Economist devoted much of an issue to  "The Quest for Jobs." The poignant and sometimes baffling dilemmas faced by both aspiring employees and employers keep rolling around in my head. I feel an urgent need to spread the message that it is more important now than ever to discover and develop your "personal brand."

A personal brand is expressed by Crystal-Barkley clients as a goals statement. It is built on the unique pairing of your skills and your aspirations. Once discovered and articulated, this brand forms the framework for all you do; it gives people a reason to invest in you above all others. Your brand expresses your mission.

In the midst of fairly staggering and understated unemployment numbers, we hear from many employers unable to find or retain qualified workers (see left column). "Finding the right people is hard enough, keeping them motivated once they are on the payroll is even harder," asserts The Economist's special report. Such dichotomies! 

Amongst a sea of unemployed, we see those who could hire them voicing concern about unfilled or inadequately filled positions. It is becoming abundantly clear that those in enterprises wishing to attract and retain the best workers will increasingly have to look to life quality enhancement for these workers. If you doubt this, consider the surveys quoted: four out of five would leave their current job if they could. And
a global Gallup survey found that at the average big firm only 33 percent of employees describe themselves as fully engaged in their work, 49 percent say they are not engaged and 18 percent say they are actively disengaged.

But, if you are working in tune with your brand, you actively choose to put yourself before employers --or clients--who need what you've got to offer. If you also vet the working circumstances with respect to compatible values and environment, you will have set the stage for being fully engaged. Only then should you make the pitch. You must know yourself to do this effectively. Let's do it and become a favorable statistic.

                                                                       Always, good wishes,

What's Next, Nella?

Submit your career question and Nella will respond in future newsletters.  
  
Q: I am in a possible jam. I want to leave my current firm where I am in charge of a significant sales territory to start my own firm with people who do substantial business with my current firm. Also, I wish to retain a relationship representing my current firm.  Any suggestions as to how to approach this so as help them to feel good about something that, initially, will not please them?

A: This is tricky and needs to be embarked on step-by-step:

1. Be sure that you have done your due diligence on your proposed enterprise's prospects
2. Put your partnership and any other critical agreements in place firmly before revealing anything publicly
3. Create your business plan, paying particular attention to the advantages it will bring to your current employer
4. Plan to give at least the expected notice, having as much in place for your replacement as possible
5. When you resign, do so in person, at the same time presenting the business and revenue advantages of your move to the firm you are departing

Approaching your current bosses and co-workers as colleagues, all working to the same ends, albeit in different ways, will be the atmosphere you want to create. Business relationships change all the time, and bridges built with past relationships often serve to profit all involved in the future.

Good luck on your venture. You have all the skills required to make it a success. It is exciting.

 Click here to submit a question for Nella.