Volume 4, No. 5 
Dear Reader,
How do you see yourself related to the company or organization you work for?
Is the relationship person-to-business? Or is it business-to-business?
A new article by by Beverly Ryle in this month’s issue argues that in the new and changing world of work we all need to consider ourselves in a business-to-business relationship with those we work for.
The Business Development Skill Pack
by Beverly Ryle
The Center for Career and Business Development
| T |
oday, as we all know, work comes in two basic varieties. It may be a conventional employment arrangement, traditionally known as a “job”. Or it may take the form of a contracted service, consulting assignment, preferred vendor status, etc., traditionally known as freelancing.
When I started out as a career counselor, the job was the coin of the realm, and the complicated rituals associated with getting and keeping one took place on a strictly person-to-business level.
On the other hand, consultants, subcontractors, and other types of freelancers have always built business-to-business relationships by providing services directly connected to the needs and goals of the clients they serve. By virtue of the value added by these services, they are granted “temporary” admission to the organization.
Nowadays, as it becomes more and more accepted that everyone is “temporary”, or at least needs to think of himself or herself that way, the line between employment and freelancing, so clearly marked as recently as a decade ago, is disappearing.
Yet even with the demise of long-term job security (the average term of employment today is three-and-a-half years), the idea that everyone is self-employed is still paid mostly lip-service, and the needed substantive shift in thinking and acting is widely lacking.
The reason is simple: it’s because many of those who suddenly find themselves needing to think of themselves as their own boss see the task as so overwhelming they revert to the familiar “how-to” rules of job-search.
What can help?
First, it needs to be understood that all types of work search are business development. Trying to find a job as a computer programmer or a marketing executive is fundamentally no different from starting an insurance agency or opening a catering business.
Second, we need to understand that effectiveness in finding work depends on an independent set of essential business skills. And these skills require the same kind of effort to acquire and hone as it does to gain proficiency and stay current in a particular area of professional expertise. Just being good at what you do is no longer enough.
The Skill Pack
I am always amazed when I talk to people who think their professional credentials alone are sufficient to equip them for self-employment, and that it isn’t necessary for them to consciously develop the business skills they need to succeed in it. They don’t see that the expertise needed to interpret the results of a medical test or wire a computer network is independent of the expertise needed to run a business.
The same holds true for people who are seeking employment. The qualifications on a resume do not automatically guarantee a person is going to be able to use them. To accomplish that requires an altogether different set of skills which must be developed just as conscientiously as the ones listed on the resume.
We need to see things according to a new model under which what a person does to make a living belongs to the category of business operations, and what he or she does to make those operations possible comes under the heading of business development. There can be no business operations unless business development comes first.
The business development skill pack includes the tools of leadership, marketing, communications and negotiations.
Leadership
The kind of leadership I am talking about here is self-leadership—taking responsibility for your professional future, setting your own standards for productivity and contribution to the greater whole. It’s about accepting the reality of change and being willing to ride the wave of transition to a place of greater authenticity. Because authentic people know who they are and what they have to offer, their voices have a much better chance of being heard above the din of the marketplace.
Marketing
Marketing is the process of understanding your worth and communicating it to others. Both the discovery of your “market value” and its articulation are part of the constant refinement of your professional message, i.e., your product and your brand. It is what makes your skills real to the people who need them. Unfortunately for many, marketing has become just another name for sales, and this has caused the term to lose its potency. The more you understand the true nature of marketing, the more effective you will be in developing and finding markets for what you have to offer.
Communication
We’ve never before had better tools for staying in touch with the circle of people with whom we do business, but tools alone do not guarantee effective communication. Once we have clearly articulated our marketing message, we need to keep it out there. We need to remain visible to potential sources of work, to the people who can connect us to those sources, and to the colleagues and mentors who support us in our professional goals. We all know that a professional network is important, but few of us consciously maintain, in good times as well as bad, a career safety net. The kind of communications critical for today’s work world is purposefully structured and attentively maintained.
Negotiation
A shorter average term of employment means that everyone is going to have to negotiate more often. Neither internal (employed) or external (contracted) vendors can afford to undervalue the work they do, nor can they “bully” their way into an organization at the long term cost of injuring their relationship with the company. Becoming skilled in the application of a mutual gain (win-win) negotiation model assures you of being well-equipped to handle the final phase of the work search cycle, closing the deal, and allows you to do it in a way the underscores your professional worth and integrity.
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In this issue ...
The Business Development Skill Pack
As we move forward into the 21st century it’s pretty obvious to just about everyone that work isn’t what it used to be. Whether we work for ourselves, or for someone else, or are in transition, things are changing rapidly and we’re caught in a shift of seismic proportions. Many things are being demanded of us, and it’s going to require more than just new skills to survive and thrive. We’re going to need to learn how to get serious about taking care of the business of our professional lives.
Taking Care of Business was created to focus on issues related to this re-education process. If you find it helpful, please pass it on to others you know who are trying to find their way through the new realities of the world of work.
We invite you to share your thoughts by emailing us at:
If you buy the argument that jobs are not the path of anyone’s future, and that the new kinds of work that replace them will have a lot in common with self-employment, the aims and clientele converge. They both are intended to help people to create new work situations and so they could be profitably combined into a Career and Business Development Center where people would not only learn to find work but also learn to create work situations for themselves and others.
Job Shift
William Bridges
We live in a world where self-leadership—taking responsibility for knowing yourself and for engaging in deliberating and constructive thought and contribution—is increasingly a core virtue.
We all work two jobs—one of them is being our own worklife self-leader. Continuous learning is the central qualification of this job.
The worklife self-leader position primarily requires that you take the initiative for working with others, career planning, negotiating with management for self development needs, and recognizing ways in which you can add value to the organization and/or the customer.
We Are All
Self-Employed
Cliff Hakim
40 Oak Leaf Rd
PO Box 156
North Eastham, Cape Cod, MA 02651-0156
508.240.3532
www.successonyourownterms.com
About Us
The Center for Career and Business Development specializes in teaching people how to manage their professional lives by providing customized counseling and educational programs which integrate conceptual thinking with practical training.
Our long-term relationships with clients, recognition by peers, and growing reputation as a community resource speak to the excellence of the services we provide and our commitment to making the world of work a better place for all.
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The stick illustrations in this issue are by Eloise Morley.
Her email address is eloisemorley@earthlink.net
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