AT WORK
Instead of keeping many career options open, take a calculated risk

By Andrea Kay
Gannett News Service

I hope you're not freaking about your job search, as Kathleen does. After 15 years as a manager in a large company, she left for something better. Well, at least in search of something better for her life, which now includes a 6-month-old and a desire for more flexibility.

"Besides more time at home, I want a career that's more about who I am," she told me. So we spent hours defining that — what she's best at doing, what she cares about most and how she wants to make a difference at the end of the day.

It became crystal-clear: She wants to help make others' lives easier by using her research, organizational and problem-solving skills. She enjoys wading through information that gives someone access to important data having to do with parenting, medical care or education.

We brainstormed about industries and companies where she might combine her skills and interests. Colleges, schools, healthcare and educational consultants were some we came up with. We were making progress. Then she freaked out.

"If I focus on this, I might miss out on another opportunity. I need to keep my options open," she told me.

She's missing the point.

There are millions of opportunities and options. If you "keep your options open" to all the possibilities, that's what you'll get — just about anything.

But if you want a position that's reflective of you (and you've defined that), you have to take a calculated risk to get it. This involves:

• Declaring "I want such-and-such," then writing and posting it on a wall where you see it every day.
• Sticking with it and not wasting time chasing jobs that don't fit what you say you want.
• Saying no to offers that aren't what you declared.
• Trusting yourself. If you've taken a thorough look at yourself, trust that what you came up with is right for now. There are no guarantees. The best you can do is take calculated risks.

This isn't easy. One simple but powerful way to make it safer to take risks is to change the language you use, say James Citrin and Richard Smith, authors of "The 5 Patterns of Extraordinary Careers."

For example, instead of seeing this next move as part of a plan, call it an experiment. This is safer because experiments prove or disprove a hypothesis. Plans are riskier because they're either met or not met.

"The learning from an experiment can be adjusted and cycled back into the thinking so that over time, assumptions are changed," say the authors.

The company e-Bay applies this experimental approach to product development. They test out new ideas on their customers, "getting feedback, adapting to what people want, putting new features on the site, getting more feedback and adapting again. It's a powerful process of sensing and testing for needs and responding accordingly," they say.

Apply this thinking to your career. See your next step as an experiment based on the best information you have at this time and what you think you want — your hypothesis.

Make the best choice you can and see what you learn from the experiment. Then cycle that into your thinking so that, eventually, you're open to the changes that can lead to the next best thing.