Push yourself out of the nest - Career Development Agenda

HR Magazine, August, 1994 by Stephenie Overman

You've probably advised others to take calculated risks to advance their careers. But do you practice what you preach?

Not likely, says Mark F. Ostrowski, senior vice president of Manchester Inc. in Lutherville, Md. As a human resource development consultant, he finds that HR professionals are so busy guiding the careers of others that often they don't spend enough time and effort advancing their own.

"Most HR professionals are not risk takers," says Ostrowski. "They are habit formers. They want to nest."

That's not unusual, he adds. Few people are natural risk takers. They fear that leaving the nest means going precipitously out on a limb. What it really means is a willingness to accept the changes--and take the chances--that can move you up the career ladder.

HR professionals tend to get so focused on trying to do more with less that they get overwhelmed and forget they are responsible for taking the steps that position them for advancement.

TAKE CONTROL AND ANALYZE

"You have to understand that you're the one who is going to get you out, not somebody else," says Ostrowski. The day of a mentor coming to you and saying, 'I'd like you to take responsibility for this,' is gone."

He urges starting with one small step.

"Take a weekend and go off somewhere away from the day-to-day distractions--the lawn, the kids, the house. Take some self-help workbooks or reading material and totally immerse yourself."

It's important to put the brakes on occasionally, he says, to take time to work through what your values are and where you want to be two, five or 10 years down the road. Otherwise, you will be totally unprepared when you're struck by what Ostrowski calls an "oh my" experience. That's when "something happens that knocks you totally off your regular routine. Such as, the company is purchased or a major product line has substantial flaws.

"When it hits, people say, 'I have to react quickly.' That's true, but you also need to analyze. That's a step we find uncomfortable; we tend to rationalize it away."

Eventually such an experience will happen, whether you are looking for it or not, says Ostrowski. "Even if you avoid taking risks, risks will be taken for you; you are going to have an 'oh my' experience."

BE OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS

An important way to prepare yourself for the risks and changes that help careers blossom is to allow yourself to be open to suggestion.

"Don't close yourself off. HR practitioners are so overburdened with the day-to-day activities that they forget to make broader strategic planning efforts for themselves," says Ostrowski.

HR managers should get used to thinking of those in charge as "we." They should "include themselves in" as part of the management team, not look at themselves as support people.

Based on his research, Ostrowski believes that senior management is uncertain whether it wants HR technicians or HR global thinkers. Which direction does he recommend?

"I try to get them to do both, to expand their capability in planning, to understand the business and the employee-customer linkage, but also to make sure they have a good training base in compensation and benefits and everything else."

How can HR professionals take time to develop the grander aspects of their careers while still juggling busy day-to-day duties? How can they learn the business and take risks while managing compensation, benefits, training and staffing duties?

Technology is a way for HR professionals to streamline their workload so they have more time to look at the big picture, for themselves and for the company, says Ostrowski. By becoming more computer literate, HR managers can handle data and communicate more directly and quickly with employees.

That leaves more time to network with people in other parts of the organization, a critical career strengthener. "Partner with folks about what's happening in operations," he says. "Go out of your way to talk with people."

Learn about the business through continued education such as community college classes.

"Expand within your current job. Take responsibility, make it an objective. You have to position yourself to get exposure to marketing, operations and finance."

And, finally, you have to make your broad expertise, and your willingness to take risks, well known to top management.

He cites the example of an HR director who volunteered that she would eventually like to run a division, something her superior hadn't considered for her.

The HR director also told her boss that there was no way she could be the change agent senior management wanted if she didn't sit on the executive committee.

"She knew she had to take that risk," Ostrowski says. "Guess what, she is on the committee. Now she is one of the change agents."

It's those greater heights that make pushing yourself out of the nest so worthwhile.

HR DATA FILES

Deans and heads of M.B.A. programs ranked these schools tops in human resource management, according to U.S. News & World Report.

1. Harvard University (Mass.)

2. Standard University (Calif.)

3. University of Michigan