TO BE MORE EMPLOYABLE -- THRIVE ON CHANGE
Carol Kinsey Goman, Ph.D.

Employees at all levels have a right to feel vulnerable. As the economy has weakened, many businesses have made large-scale job cuts - and are announcing more to come. Accounting scandals, like those at Enron and WorldCom, have led to thousands of additional layoffs and a further weakening of confidence in senior management.

But it does no good to stand around, whining, worrying, and wringing your hands about circumstances. It's time to take control. Want to become more employable? Then learn to thrive on change! The era of predictability is over, and the time between surprises is shortening. The result is a new reality where change is "business as usual." Enterprises are looking for individuals who understand this new reality, who thrive on chaos, and can inspire others to do so as well.

Through extensive research and experience consulting with companies around the world, I've uncovered six factors that determine whether an individual is change-adept -- that is, proficient at dealing not only with transition, but with upheaval as well. The following is a summary of my findings and a few strategies for becoming more employable (at your current or future organization!) by nurturing your personal change-adeptness:

Factor #1: Confidence
The personality trait most responsible for an individual's ability to deal well with difficult transitions is self-confidence. Confident people are self-motivated, have high self-esteem, and are willing to take risks. They know how valuable they are. But even the most confident people may suffer a crisis of self-doubt, and it is here where having a personal strategy becomes crucial.

Strategy: Play to your strengths
Confidence stems from being aware of, and playing to, your strengths. Lee Strasberg, the famous acting teacher, once said, "I can train you for anything except that for which you have no talent." So stop focusing on building up your weaknesses. Instead, identify those specific competencies and accomplishments that make you special -- and develop your natural talents to the fullest.

Factor #2: Challenge
With any disruptive change, dangers co-exist with opportunities. When change-adept people are asked for words they associate with today's chaotic workplace, they acknowledge the stress, uncertainty, pressure, and disruption. But they also emphasize the benefits -- the opportunity, growth, excitement, and challenges that are also present.

Strategy: Nurture your optimism
Question: Is the glass half-empty or half-full? Answer: It's both. So is your current work situation. It all depends on how you look at it. Cynicism may be rampant in organizations, but it occupies little space in the outlook of change-adept individuals. In fast-moving, high-stress business environments, a positive, upbeat, "can-do" attitude is vital for success.

Factor #3: Coping
What you know about your industry, your job, and your profession is worth less right now than when you started reading this article a few minutes ago. Customer needs have changed, technological progress has raced ahead, and competitors have advanced their plans. Now and in the future, your value to the organization depends less on what you know, and more on how
quickly you can update your knowledge to respond to changing conditions.

Strategy: Lighten up!
In every industry, specific knowledge becomes obsolete at warp speed. To succeed, all of us must be adaptable, flexible, and engaged in a lifetime process of continuous learning. Be pro-active: Seek out a mentor, take courses in leadership and strategic planning, spend more time with your boss to learn her expectations, and volunteer for assignments beyond your job. Rather than bracing yourself for all this inevitable pressure, remember to bring a sense of humor and spirit of fun to the workplace to cushion all that rolling with the punches.

Factor #4: Counterbalance
A young man once asked management expert Peter Drucker how to become a better manager. "Learn to play the violin," Drucker replied. Change-adept individuals compensate for the demands and pressure of work by developing counterbalancing activities in other areas of their lives.

Strategy: Get a life!
It's a fact documented by my 20 years of research: people with interests beyond their professions and organizations are more resilient under stress and more effective on the job. From art to music to sports to friends and family, you'll deal better with work-related transition and trauma when your life includes a healthy counterbalance.

Factor #5: Creativity
It's easy to spot creative people in organizations. Found at all levels and in every function, these are the innovative employees who solicit diverse opinions that generate new thoughts. They're the people who question rules and regulations, contribute ideas beyond the limits of their job description, and embrace changing business conditions that expose them to new knowledge, new people, and new experiences.

Strategy: Honor your inner genius
There was a time when popular opinion held that only a few departments in an organization housed creative people. This view was not only limited, it was plain wrong. Buckminster Fuller said, "Everyone is born a genius. Society de-geniuses them." Remember that you were born curious, creative, and innovative - and that this creative ability is an innate resource you can tap
for ideas and insights to help you thrive in chaotic times. Remember also that innovation most often occurs when ideas combine (or collide!), so utilize the "collective genius" of your team. Which brings us to the final characteristic of change-adept individuals -- they harness the power of collaboration.

Factor #6: Collaboration
Human beings thrive in collaborative relationships. Given the right context, we can do great things together. Connect just two of us, working in concert, and you get the X-ray, or the airplane -- or the comic genius of Laurel and Hardy. Hook up 20 of us, as the British did in WWII, and you crack the German military code. A new workplace reality -- and one that is driving collaboration and teamwork throughout our organizations -- is that none of us can succeed alone.

Strategy: Build your collaboration skills
Your future success will increasingly depend on how well you collaborate with co-workers to find innovative solutions to organizational problems. This calls for an entirely new set of skills.

First, understand the importance of "social capital." Capital is defined as "accumulated wealth, especially as used to produce more wealth." Social capital is the wealth (or benefit) that exists because of your social relationships. Think of social capital as the value created by your
connections to others. There is no more valuable commodity in today's business environment.

Second, learn how to influence without authority. You can't command and control collaboration and knowledge sharing. But you can influence another person to collaborate and share by creating an environment in which it is safe, enjoyable, and beneficial to do so.

And third, build trust between you and your colleagues. Without trust, there is no true collaboration. You build trust when you are trustworthy -- when you keep your word, share information, ask questions, respect diverse opinions and abilities, maintain confidentiality, support others, and admit mistakes. You also develop trusting relationships when you trust others to respond in kind. When choosing where to place trust, use your good judgement. And be patient. Built slowly over time, trust grows as people take small risks and wait for those acts of faith to be justified and reciprocated.

What to be more employable? Then make it a New Year's resolution to develop the qualities of confidence, challenge, coping, counterbalance, creativity, and collaboration that make you change-adept and ready to thrive on whatever the future brings.

Carol Kinsey Goman, Ph.D. is an international speaker, consultant, and author of nine books, including "This Isn't the Company I Joined." Her latest book, "Ghost Story: A Modern Business Fable," about the power of collaboration and knowledge sharing, was released on Halloween, 2002. She can be reached by email: cgoman@ckg.com, phone: 510-536-1727, or through her web site: www.CKG.com.