Suranga Chandratillake, founder of video search engine Blinkx, discusses the strategic challenges to sustainable growth for a technology start-up.
Careers advice and articles
Welcome to the career advice and articles page
Read on to see June’s monthly career coach: Q & A web advice.
This month’s chosen career question to Gianfranco Macciomei career coach comes from Marie.
Marie has been in her job for several years now and can see that her MBA learning is helping her grow in her role. She is struggling to bring her colleagues’ along with her and would welcome advice on how she can implement her learning and be the ‘new’ Marie without alienating her team.
Gianfranco’s advice for Marie:
Marie is experiencing a typical problem in change processes. The colleagues interacting with her are not used to the “new” Marie; they are used to the old one.
The difficulty is not on Marie side, it is on her colleagues’ side. She, however, has to cope with the effect. Her colleagues are currently not able to see and accept the change from the “old” Marie to the “new” one.
Marie can openly declare the situation (she should call a meeting with her team) and indicate what will change in the future. Marie should understand that this will not be easy. She will experience a lot of resistance and may even be scorned.
The main difficulty here is for Marie to keep true to herself. It is very often difficult to behave as the “new” Marie if the environment treats you like the old one. The emotional price of this option is high; she may lose some of the relationships within her team and experience difficulties with others. However, some of her colleagues will go along with the situation and will keep the relationship with Marie as before.
If Marie endeavours to stand firm in her new approach and she still is not taken seriously, Marie may have to consider changing jobs. In a new job she can define the new rules of interaction and be the “new” Marie right from the start.
No matter which decision she will take, it will be tiring and difficult, the end result for Marie will be worth it as she gains more credibility and fulfilment from her career.
Good luck Marie with whichever path you decide to take.
Gianfranco Macciomei is a Consultant at MAGICONSULTING. He is an experienced program manager, consultant, trainer and coach with in-depth technical knowledge of the aerospace industry. Gianfranco speaks English, German, Spanish and Italian fluently.
Don't forget if you have any specific questions you would like to ask Gianfranco please contact Janet Barker who will pass your questions on. One topical question will be answered and published online the following month.
Take a look at the new articles added to the industry bank of knowledge:
Motivating Staff: Adapting the Corporate Approach to the Public Sector
In this article Carlo Stasi examines ways of motivating staff with limited available rewards and targets, and within a public sector culture. Carlo has 18 years’ experience in corporate communication.
Think like a Banker for better results with your Business Finance applications
Want to give your business finance applications the best chance of success? In this article, John Thompson offers some sage advice to help small businesses compete for scarce funding.
John has 25 years’ experience of owning, operating and advising businesses through economic and strategic difficulties. If you want to read more, John shares his thoughts and experience on how to avoid problems and harness opportunities on the Trans Capital Blog.
How positive psychology is transforming the way we think about leadership
In this article Bridget Grenville-Cleave looks at the power of positive psychology in leadership and how to spot to what extent you are a positive leader.
We are creating a bank of industry knowledge and insights generated by alumni to support fellow alumni.
If you would like to contribute to this online library please contact Janet Barker.
Articles:
Carlo has sound experience both in the private sector and in supporting European Commission's awareness raising initiatives. He uses this experience to examine how to motivate staff in a public sector culture.
John has spent more than 25 years in the world of small to medium entrepreneurial business. He has been a business owner, a business developer, a manager, an advisor and a consultant during a period that includes three major economic downturns and recoveries.
- How positive psychology is transforming the way we think about leadership - Bridget Grenville-Cleave
The science of positive psychology (its application within organisations generally and to the practice of leadership specifically) is bringing new thinking to this area, read more here.
David Scott tells us about his venture into independent consultancy in the field of Learning & Development. David had longed to go it alone with the original plan to commit to a year or two, review, and then return to corporate life if things weren’t working out. Thirteen years later he is still independent, but there are a few things he would have done differently if he had his time again. Read a summary of David’s reflections along the way.
Don Leslie is a recruiter of management consultants at BLT, he writes:
“Management consultancy and investment banking are the two top career choices for business school graduates. Join a consulting firm and you can become comfortably off: choose investment banking and you’ll be obscenely rich. But it’s about more than the money, isn’t it? Isn’t it?” Read more from Don.
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