June 9, 2010

BE DiFFERENT YOU! The Context

As discussed in Section One of BE DiFFERENT or be dead, there are many external uncontrollable and unpredictable events that impact our organizations, and success and survival require the BE DiFFERENT prescription.

Organizations internally are microcosms of external markets in many ways and exhibit similar dynamics:
> Stiff internal competition is at play among the high potential and promotable now group, who are all vying for the few top jobs available.
> New leaders are brought in to address key challenges that the organization is facing, introducing change, uncertainty and causing risk for incumbents.
> Numerous and inconsistent messages clutter the internal environment resulting in uncertainty around the values and priorities of the organization.
> Hiring managers are unclear on the critical skills and experience required for a particular position, bending the requisites to suit a favored candidate. Often, people like to hire in their own image and ignore established job requisites.
> Outside influences complicate internal organizational dynamics as Board members, key customers and other external stakeholders influence the decision making process.
> Internal politics influence who gets selected and who does not for the key positions. It’s WHO you know rather than WHAT you know that pre-determines the outcome.
> Expense reduction programs are implemented to improve economic results thereby reducing leadership layers and the number of opportunities available.
> Decision making inconsistencies can be observed among leaders in the organization often making it difficult for upward mobile people to get a clear picture of what they are expected to do in order to succeed.
> Demand for the plum positions - the number of people available - in any organization always exceeds the number of positions available, resulting in intense rivalries and at times dysfunctional leadership behavior.

In view of these internal organizational forces, your success in aspiring to advance to leadership levels in the organization depends on your ability to BE DiFFERENT. Your challenge is to develop a BE DiFFERENT YOU strategy; one that clearly spells out clear, relevant and compelling terms why YOU, and only YOU, should be placed in a position to lead your organization and to create the value necessary for it to successfully perform and survive.

As I stated in BE DiFFERENT or be dead, YOU don’t necessarily have to be BETTER than your internal competition; you have to BE DiFFERENT.
YOU have to possess the uniqueness that will capture the interest of the decision makers in your organization.
YOU need to stand out in the crowd of possible candidates as the one who has the experience, skills and currency to do what the organization requires.
YOU need to be perceived as the natural selection choice for the key roles.

In future BE DiFFERENT YOU! blogs I will discuss a number of simple and practical YOU strategies that will change your career forever. Stay tuned…

Cheers, Roy

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BE DiFFERENT YOU! | Leadership | Permalink
Posted 6.9.10 at 08:00 am by Roy Osing | Read Comments (1) | Leave a Comment