DEVELOP AND DEMONSTRATE PCBs TO THRIVE IN YOUR CAREER BY SIPHIWE MOYO

Now, more than ever before, employees must develop and demonstrate PCBs. Okay, let me put you out of your misery. ‘PCBs’ are Proactive Career Behaviours. “PCBs refer to the deliberate actions of individuals to realise and achieve their career goals” (Claes & Ruiz-Quintanilla,1998). It includes initiatives and activities to further one’s career within the organisation, such as setting goals, exploring options, developing skills and abilities, and building interpersonal networks (Claes & Ruiz-Quintanilla, 1998). 

‘Proactive behaviour’ refers to individuals' anticipatory actions to impact themselves and/or their environments (Parker, Williams, & Turner, 2006). Proactiveness is conceived of as a process that can be applied to any set of actions through anticipating, planning, and striving to impact the self or the environment (Grant & Ashford, 2008). The key criterion for identifying proactive behaviour is whether the individual anticipates, plans for, and attempts to create a future outcome that impacts the self or environment (Grant & Ashford, 2008; Parker et al., 2006).

Other terms such as ‘self-career management’, ‘individual career management’ or even ‘career initiative’ have been used to discuss the same concept. Employees who display Proactive Personal Behaviours are the most desirable and attractive during these tough times, and you want to be one of them.

“There appears to be a consensus among academics that proactive career behaviours lead to the attainment of desired career outcomes and to general feelings of career success (e.g. Sturges et al., 2002, 2005). Simply put, research proves that displaying these behaviours makes you more likely to succeed in your career. In these tough times, the gap between those who don’t demonstrate these and those who do can be huge. 

Inherent to the notion of the new career is that the individual has the primary responsibility for managing his or her career (Briscoe & Hall, 2006; Hall, 2002). From many studies, two components of proactive career behaviours can be discerned, i.e. a cognitive and a behavioural component (De Vos & Soens, 2008). While the former refers to the insights individuals develop into their career aspirations, the latter refers to the behaviours they initiate to manage their careers.

So, how can you display these PCBs as a survival strategy in the workplace?

·      Develop genuine relationships within and without the organisation. 

·      Take the initiative. Don’t wait for your managers. Go to them and propose solutions.

·      Seek feedback after performing tasks and use it.

·      Do not shy away from selling your ideas.

·      Schedule a development discussion with you and your manager proactively.

·      Anticipate the needs of your manager/leaders and meet them before they even know they have them. If you’ve watched the series Suits, be a Donna to Harvey Specter.

Your football-playing career may end if you are a professional footballer and get injured badly. But it doesn’t mean you will never have a football-related career again. You can proactively study and position yourself as a coach, analyst, commentator, stadium manager, sportscaster or sports kit designer. The list is endless. 

There are two advantages to this strategy. You already have relationships in that industry and will be involved in an industry you love. Think about your industry. Where do you see opportunities? Is there a way you could position yourself in the part of your industry that is not as affected? 

A word of caution. Even if you display proactive career behaviours, some will still refuse to see them. Many people don’t have the eye to see a gift that is about to explode. Don’t blame them. They can’t see what you carry. They can’t see what you see. Stop trying to convince them. Don’t be bitter. Just focus on the work. And whatever you do, don’t stop. 

Siphiwe Moyo is a location-agnostic Professional Speaker. He is a Speaker Hall Of Fame & Educator Hall Of Fame Inductee.

www.siphiwemoyo.com 

New Book by Siphiwe Moyo: Your Next Move: Career Strategies to Survive and Thrive During Covid-19 and Beyond

From the author of  #StagnationMustFall comes a comprehensive guide to constructing antifragile careers.

 

There are roof leaks that can only be revealed by a stormy, rainy season. These leaks are not created by the rain but they are revealed when it rains. When the sun is shining, when skies are clear, you think everything is perfect until you are hit by hail, rain and wind and you realise that the roof is leaking. This is so true about our careers right now. We were fine. We didn’t think that our careers were vulnerable. We thought they were robust. Or even antifragile. But we were exposed.

 

Building a resilient career enables you to anticipate and prepare for challenges before they even occur. But no one saw the pandemic coming. COVID-19  exposed how vulnerable most of our careers actually are. It’s not really our fault but now we have to think deeply about how we construct our careers. There’s an IsiZulu proverb that says “Ukubona kanye ukubona kabili”. In the figurative sense, it can loosely be translated as: an unpleasant thing that befalls you should serve as an alert to you to avoid the same thing happening to you again in the future. This is what this book is about. It is meant to help us close the immediate roof leaks exposed by COVID-19 on our careers. And, more importantly, help us construct resilient (even antifragile) careers beyond the crisis.

 

With his usual mix of sound scholarship, practical HR experience, humour and storytelling, Moyo presents 50 career strategies to survive and thrive during COVID-19 and beyond. 

It launched on October 6th and is available at Exclusive Books nationwide.

Mental health and COVID-19

I recently wrote an article about mental health & COVID-19, which was published on the Daily Sun newspaper this past Sunday. No theory, just practical tips to help us survive the lockdown.  Here's the article Mental health coping during COVID-19 by Siphiwe Moyo

Regards,
Siphiwe 

The impact of community in surviving the crisis

I had at an honour of being a guest at the news channel, eNCA this morning to talk about the impact of COVID-19 on our mental health and some coping strategies. One of the points I made was that now, more than ever before, being part of a community of like-minded people is critical. By immersing yourself particularly in a community of people who do what you do, you can share your fears and anxieties freely without the fear of being judged because those people are going through the same thing. You can also talk freely without having to minimize your pain because ‘other people are going through worse than what you are going through’. I’m so grateful that I’m part of a great community myself. I hope you have your tribe.

Fading into obscurity: avoiding the pitfalls that can move you from ‘promising young talent’ to the wilderness

One moment you are lauded as the ‘next best thing’, the ‘promising young star’ or the ‘rising star’ and the next, you are in the metaphorical wilderness. We’ve always known that the career of a footballer is very fickle but in this article, I will argue that so is that of a young, talented corporate superstar.

South African football fans will remember this. It was in August 2003 when Mbulelo “OldJohn” Mabizela joined Tottenham Hotspur and then went on to score that spectacular goal against Leicester City in October of the same year. He was indeed the ‘next best thing’; promising young defender from Pietermaritzburg, South Africa who was about to take over the world. After just a year, his contract was cancelled and his career went on a steady downward spiral from there on. He tried to resurrect it but it was clear that the promising young talent that OJ was, had unfortunately just remained that, promising.

As a professional speaker who has worked in talent development all my life, I’ve seen this picture many times in corporate South Africa. I’ve seen promising, emerging talent who suddenly faded into obscurity. I was already thinking about this topic when I had an honour of chairing the knowledge resources talent management conference on 16 May 2018. We had about 100 senior talent managers in the room so I thought I would ask them to name one or two potential pitfalls that could move young talent from ‘promising to obscurity’. Some confirmed my own experience but I was also surprised by some responses. Here are the top six potential pitfalls that could derail your promising career as young talent:

1.    Lack of self-control. Self-control is a key component to a successful corporate career. How does this manifest in the workplace? Be productive even the manager is not around. Have control over your emotions. You don’t have to party every weekend and come back to work tired every Monday. You don’t have to be available for every argument you are invited to.

2.  Inability to seize opportunities when they present themselves. As Sifiso Mbhele, talent practitioner from one of the top telecommunications companies in South Africa said at the conference, “failing to recognize opportunities to take oneself to the next level within the chaos of everyday activity is a challenge for promising young talent”. You have to an eye for opportunities.

3.    Not assuming personal responsibility & accountability for your own career. As a professional speaker, I say this all the time; no one is coming to discover you. Everyday you have to raise your hand by continuously adding value.

4.    Inability to promote your work. Young talent often thinks “I will let my work speak for itself” and that is good but you learn very fast in corporate that you must work but you must also be seen to be working. You have to find platforms to promote your work.

5.   Lack of social intelligence and not appreciating the role of organisational politics. Young talent is often politically naïve and tends to think that politics should be left to politicians. It is true that dysfunctional politics can sink you but so is being politically naïve. Don’t play politics but also don’t be naïve to the power dynamics and informal networks in the workplace.

6.    Inauthenticity. A conference delegate who introduced herself as The Real Faith, said, “When we are not true to whom we are. When we seek validation and look for acceptance, we run the risk of fading into obscurity.”

Is your star rising? Be on the lookout for these potential pitfalls. It is not enough to have a great start; you must finish strong.

Siphiwe Moyo is a professional motivational speaker. His specialty is organisational behaviour & talent/career development. He is co-founder and Chief People Officer at Twice Blue, a human capital agency that specializes in human performance improvement. 

www.siphiwemoyo.co.za and www.twiceblue.com

An open letter to young talent by professional speaker, Siphiwe Moyo

As a professional motivational speaker who worked in talent development for many years, I’ve seen this picture many times. Up until 16 January 2018, many South Africans had never even heard of 21 year old Lungi Ngidi.  In his debut cricket Test against India – he produced an astonishing man-of-the-match performance with figures of 6/39, helping the Proteas to a 2-0 series victory with a match still remaining.

Many newspapers and online sites carried his story, with a headline nicely captured, “a star is born”. It was a great headline and a great story but the truth is that the star was not born that day; it was just exposed to the world on that day. Lungi knew he was a great bowler. Scouts in the South African cricket team knew he was a great bowler but he had to go through what I call the pain of preparation, which is what every talented person goes through. I think Lungi knew he was talented. I mean the guy bowls at 140km/h and above, and appears to be similarly comfortable opening the bowling or cleaning up the tail. He has obviously watched other people who are probably less talented than him playing and was probably frustrated but at the right time, he comes and does that on his Test cricket debut, wow!

It is possible that you are where Lungi Ngidi was. You are talented but frustrated. You are talented but concealed. I say this in conferences all the time; your talent cannot be ignored or hidden forever. Cream, poured in a cup of coffee, will inevitably and eventually rise to the top. We all go through the pain of preparation. Sometimes you dread Monday mornings because you don't get the recognition you feel you deserve. You need to keep working hard where you are because your time is coming. You might be thinking, yea Siphiwe, you are a professional motivational speaker, you are just encouraging me right now but this is not just motivation, it is a principle. "The longer you put in without getting out, the greater will be your return when it finally comes" Ralph Waldo Emerson. 

Keep serving. Keep doing the job that no one else wants to do. Your turn to be served will come. You may be in obscurity now and you feel people take credit for your work. This is fine; it's the law of sowing and reaping. You will be glad you served."I'm always amazed how overnight successes take a helluva long time" Steve Jobs. When things start happening for you, some will call it "overnight success". They are not there now when you are grinding hard alone, in obscurity. No one knows you. No one acknowledges you but a time is coming, when they will ask, "where did she come from". A time will come when your gift/talent will be in high demand. A lot will be expected from you then. Keep going.

Siphiwe Moyo’s is a professional motivational speaker. His specialty is organisational behaviour – how human beings function within organisational settings. He applies behavioural science principles and practices in organisation to increase individual and organisational effectiveness.

Are you being pulled or pushed?

"The best career moves are those where you are pulled by vision & passion not pushed by people." Siphiwe Moyo