Supervisor – If someone else doesn’t know how to do it, she will be sure to fill in the gaps

As you move into a supervisory role, technical competence is still very important but supporting others in their development and execution of the technical skills is of greater importance.  It is no longer acceptable to just be able to do everything yourself.  In fact, if you are still the most technically competent person in your group at accomplishing a product or service delivery task, the chances are slim that you will be considered for higher levels of success.  Talent management and development is critical here.

Manager – Given a vision, she’ll figure out the specific goals that need to be accomplished

Once you reach the managerial levels, your need for technical competence is less important than your organizational development skills.  A deep understanding of the product or service is necessary so the appropriate resources and tactics can be deployed to accomplish the mission and goals established for the organization.  Being able to make the translation from idea to implementation sets people apart at this level.

Executive – Sets a vision, motivates others to perform

At the executive level, it’s all about establishing and championing a vision, then creating the environment that is conducive to the individuals in the organization succeeding at their tasks.  Finding the right balance of the things that must be “held tight” or mandated from the top versus those things that can be “held loosely” or determined at lower levels of the organization is critical to success.

At this most senior level is where many people fail most quickly.  While they have more positional power than ever before, using it regularly to micro-manage the organization can unravel their success quickly.  Relying instead on leadership influence and motivation to encourage the best performance out of everyone in the organization is a better approach that is radically different from the skills required to be successful at any other level on the climb to the top.

Learn the rules

The best way to win at anything is to have a clear understanding of the rules of engagement.  As you become more successful, it is important not to assume the same rules apply.  Take the time to learn what is required to be successful, develop new skills if necessary, and play to win.

Most planning processes are done annually and look at where a company is today as the basis for determining where things will be in the next year.  Realistic growth targets are established based upon current performance.  Forecasts are often done taking that growth out three to five years.  With the current situation as the frame of reference, it is difficult to justify large changes in growth with out an acquisition or some other exogenous force.

Since some companies do experience hockey stick growth organically, we know that it is possible.  What are rapidly growing companies doing that is different from those who experience modest growth and how to they plan for it?

Companies that experience rapid growth use the future as their frame of reference, not the present.  Here is how it can be done:

• Pick a point in the future – The exact length is not as important as setting a time frame that is far enough into the future that your mind can move to the place of “Well, that far out, anything is possible.”  Five to ten years is usually long enough.
• Create the vision – Articulate in as much detail as possible what the business would ideally look like that far into the future.
• Reverse engineer - Determine what it will take in order for that vision to become a reality.  This is where resources are identified, skills are determined, etc.
• Plan back to the present – Figure out what would need to happen each year in order to reach the goal.  Make adjustments to the timeline based upon the reality of moving from the current situation.  Time may be needed to build capacity and acquire resources before the explosive growth can begin.

Planning in this manner may actually mean that there are some years of slow to no growth necessary to prepare for the high growth periods envisioned.  By shifting the planning frame of reference from the present to the future, the necessary short-term focus and investment is much more likely to occur.

This led me to think that in business, for women in particular, documenting our past may be equally as important as planning our future.  Here are some specific ways to make that happen.

• Daily business journal – Keeping a daily business journal can be very useful during performance reviews.  Instead of letting the evaluator create their own version of your past performance, guide their opinion by giving your own version of your accomplishments, challenges, and goals first – complete with detailed examples.  This will put the burden on the evaluator to disprove your version of the story.

• Follow up emails – When you make a critical point in a meeting, increase the probability of you receiving acknowledgment for it by sending a follow up email.  Sometime in meetings, it can be difficult to remember who made what contribution.  For women, this is even more so because gender difference often result in men repeating comments previously made and ignored by women, only to have them praised and embraced.  Sending an email to the appropriate person/people following up on your idea with additional detail can increase the believability that you were in fact the originator of the idea.  (The tone of the email is very important.  The goal is to add additional insight and value, not complain that you did not receive credit for making the comment in the first place.)

• Update your resume/bio – After every major project/accomplish, update your resume or bio. Be sure the articulate what the problem was, the solution you came up with, and the impact of it.  Review your updates periodically to check for patterns of skills or experiences that jump out at you.  Update how you tell your story  and brand yourself to highlight these patterns that might not have been emphasized previously.

• Get published – With the Internet, there is no reason that a public record of your thoughts and accomplishments cannot not be created.  Blogs, ezine articles, Squidoo Lenses, and a host of other Web 2.0 tools are readily available for everyone to share quality thinking for anyone to see.  Putting works together that establish you as an authority or expert makes it difficult for you to be left out of the historical discussion.

Having the proper acknowledgement for your past accomplishments is not about building up your ego.  It’s about making sure you have the opportunity to achieve your goals in the future.  Increasingly, people are starting to realize that past behavior is the best predictor of future success.  Leaving the articulation of your past to chance is really gambling with your future.

The foundational premise chosen for a business model, however, can have a significant impact on whether or not the dream of riches will ever become a reality.  This post will discuss two different premises and the potential they offer for value creation.

Premise 1: Offer in the marketplace the services you performed for your employer (The Contract Employee)

The most common premise for a business model I hear from former corporate employees is that they will do in the marketplace what they formerly did for their employers. These accountants, consultants, HR professionals, marketing executives, trainers, web developers, IT specialists, etc. offer as a service the same duties found in their old job descriptions.  After all, they have years of experience at it and can offer it at a lower price point than could their previous employers and still make money.

It sounds good, is highly logical, but is fundamentally flawed as a value creating business strategy.

• It has limited revenue potential – Selling your time for money, which is the basis for all of these types of businesses, creates a cap on your revenue based upon the amount of time you have, how much of it can be spent on revenue generating activities, and the price your customers are willing to pay for that time.

• Never leave start-up phase – Because you can only service a limited number of clients at any given time, it is virtually impossible to always have your next project lined up.  It is the rare service business that has customers that will defer the start of a project a few months until the you can free up some capacity.  Therefore, you are continuously on the hunt for that next project.  Even with referrals, the effort looks very much the way it did when you started the business.

• Engaged in a job without the benefits – As an employee, a salary was given, sick leave and vacation were paid, health benefits and retirement plans were funded.  There was also room for advancement – career progression.  With the business strategy of doing for others what you did for your employer, you actually become a contract employee more than business owner.  You end up stuck at the same “job level,” typically with shorter engagements, and with no benefits.

Premise 2: Leverage your knowledge and skills to grow a business (The Entrepreneur)

Leveraging your knowledge and skills to grow a business has the potential to create the riches (and the lifestyle) desired by most business owners.

• Allows you to earn more revenue for your time – There are more delivery methods available for sharing your expertise than one-on-one service delivery.  Group offerings, training, products, books products, etc. all become viable means for earning income.  These other delivery methods allow you to either serve more people at once or create passive streams of income.

• Expands the growth potential of the business – With this approach to business, it is possible to build models and create systems that embody much of the knowledge you gained as an employee.  Having these systems and models shifts the focus of what you offer from you to the knowledge you bring.  Others can then be taught how to deliver services using your models allowing for business expansion.

• Has the potential to become a salable asset – After years of working in a business, it would be wonderful to have an asset that is worth something to others without your working in it.  Having products, systems, a loyal customer base, and capable employees increases the odds of someone wanting to purchase your business in a way that is not possible with the “contract employee” model discussed above.

If you are going to venture out into your own business, it is important to choose your business model carefully.  As with most people, you likely have much more knowledge than you are aware of that is valuable in the marketplace.  How you choose to monetize your skills and knowledge makes all the difference in the amount of value you can create with your business.