As a part of our interview series with InPower people I am loving talking to so many executive coaching experts. Coaches are often, by definition, pulling from their InPower source. They have to in order to help their clients, and the best ones are helping you access your internal power source with a subtle combination of teaching, modeling and challenging you to go inward.
I recently had the opportunity to meet Joel Garfinkle virtually. He’s a fellow blogger at Smartblog on Leadership and our editor put us together. I’m glad James thought to connect us, because I really like Joel’s book, Getting Ahead: Three Steps To Take Your Career To The Next Level. His advice is solid, and though he didn’t write it specifically for women, he takes an approach to career development that I think is very natural for women and he does give women specific advice in a few places.
Joel is clearly a first-class coach and he has a natural, intuitive talent for helping his clients. I thought it would be interesting to find out how he got to be such a great coach. Listen to our 12 minute audio interview to learn a little about Joel’s background, what makes him tick and how he learned the power of being “seen.”
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I also asked Joel a few questions by email that highlight important points in his book. Here are his insightful answers. Enjoy!
Q: In the book you recommend that rising stars improve their perception and take control of how others see them. What does “control” really mean in this context?
A: Create the right image of yourself by taking control of how others see you, so that the perception of you accurately reflects your impact on the organization. You want people to see the impact and value you bring to the organization. This directly impacts how others perceive you.
Q: “Influence is possible for everyone.” You advise people to “lead through influence, not power and authority.” Many people are influential but are not content with that, seeking other signs of power. Can you give someone who seeks more than influence insight into why being influential will help them reach their other goals?
A: Everything you do, everything that happens at work involves influencing your peers, stakeholders and bosses. Thus, the importance of influencing them is key to your future success. You need to leverage them to get things done, gain buy-in for your ideas and for collaboration.Q: You have some fascinating charts at the beginning of the book that show how different attributes are important for doing well at different levels. In upper management you say that performance is only important 2% of the time compared to influence (56%), perception (25%) and visibility (17%). Why is performance so low at the top?
A: At this level, employees must be performing at the level required of them; otherwise, they never would have reached upper management. Thus, after reaching a certain level of career advancement, performance becomes a non-distinguishing skill.
Contact Joel at his website www.GarfinkleExecutiveCoaching.com and follow him on Twitter.
Want to suggest someone – maybe yourself – for a profile interview on InPower Women? Contact us with a bio and pitch and we’ll take a look.
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