Time Management - Exploritat

Taking the Driver’s Seat on Your Career Growth

Posted on April 2, 2018April 5, 2018 by Leticia Hartmann

Charting your course towards a CEO position or leadership role has taken quite a different trajectory compared to what it once was. In today’s business world, growth-minded executives no longer wait to be recognized for their contributions and standby in anticipation of that well-deserved promotion. To get ahead, you need to be your own advocate.

Take risks

Taking the Driver's Seat on your Career Growth In a recent study published by Harvard Business Review, C-level executives referred to as ‘CEO Sprinters’, were analyzed over a 10 year period. The findings of this CEO Genome Project showed that Sprinters achieved fast-track success by making bold initiatives that catapulted them ahead of their peers who followed more traditional career paths. This accelerated path often requires taking on risk, forcing yourself out of your professional comfort zone, and adopting the mindset of “making your own luck”. If success is what you seek, dare to take chances and expand into new territories.

Manage up/Communicate your accomplishments

In addition to making strategic strides to expedite your career growth, learning to hone your communications skills is vital. You are your foremost champion when it comes to educating your company about your value and accomplishments. Many highly productive executives don’t pay attention to managing up or recognize the importance of selling their achievements. If this sounds like you, schedule time into your calendar for making a conscious effort to communicate the impact you have on your organization.

Become a thought leader

Taking on the role of being a leading voice within your field is enormously valuable. Executives who make a conscious effort to study new trends, explore future possibilities and communicate their ideas, have the potential to serve as thought leaders.

Time for learning is time for growth

How can you be ahead of a moving curve and guarantee that you are a “disruption-ready leader”? Make time for strategic thinking and learning beyond your role.

Be proactive about building relationships

If you’ve got your sights set on executive growth, you must dedicate time to building key relationships. Carve out time to network and proactively cultivate relationships outside your current role within your organization. Reach out to key executives you may not frequently interact with and ask for advice from opinion makers in your industry.

Get support from a mentor or coach

Every step higher you take in your career requires a different set of skills. Don’t feel like you need to go it alone. Leverage different resources to prepare for growth. If your company has a formal mentor program, take advantage of it. If not, reach out to an executive coach or partner outside your organization who can help you expand your thinking and develop your next layer of performance.

Now more than ever, there’s no shortage of ways for you to propel your career forward. And while effort, talent and ambition are still the keystones of what it takes to make a great leader, keeping your toolkit updated will get you there faster. If there were road signs for today’s up-and-comers, they might read: Be Bold. Be Savvy. Be Noticed. Be Heard. Be Proactive. Follow these signposts towards your career growth, and the sky’s the limit.

Leticia Hartmann is a Certified Executive Coach who specializes in leadership development and career growth. She is the founder of Exploritat.

Are Your Top Achievers at Risk of Burnout?

Posted on October 25, 2017April 4, 2018 by Leticia Hartmann

Top achievers are typically workaholics by nature. They don’t settle for mediocre results. It’s as if though they’re wired to their company’s mission and results. On both a professional and personal level, they’re committed to make it happen for you. Then, suddenly, it’s as if they wake up one day and ask themselves “Why am I giving my life to this company?”

So, what can you do to help your top achievers? Telling them to work less isn’t effective but you might be able to help them work smarter. It’s essential to make your top achievers understand that it’s to their own benefit to create healthier boundaries for work and budget their time better. The following are a series of questions and identifiers that I’ve gathered throughout my corporate and executive coaching life.

Burnout barometer: How do you know if your top achievers are feeling burned out? Who are your the top contributors that you need to focus your attention to guarantee they are not at the point of disengaging?
Meaningful work: Your key players will almost always stay engaged if they continue to find meaning in their work. How do you reward all the effort they pour into your company in a way that touches their heart & soul (or brain)? Are they impacting a greater cause? Are they seeing any type of gain on a personal or emotional level? Are they getting the type of recognition they want/need? Does your company have an outreach program or make significant social impacts?
Team structure: How do you measure if a Leader has the team size needed to get the job done? How do you review process and procedures to avoid bureaucracy and red tape?
Productivity tools: I can assure you that many top achievers could do more if they had better time management tools. Learning these skills is easy; however adopting a new habit and changing a personal operating system requires another step. Training can be supplemented with leadership coaching to support long lasting behavior change.
Delegation: Many top achievers tend to be controlling and find it difficult to delegate their work. How can you help them learn how to delegate better?

The above checklist is meant to serve as a litmus test to determine if action needs to be taken. As an executive coach, I still see many companies expecting more and more from their top achievers, pushing them to the point where they disengage and look for a way out. If you have the power in your organization to offer advice to your key contributors, make the time to analyze how you can help them achieve even more.

Leticia Hartmann is a Certified Executive Coach and Founder at Exploritat.

Are you on Track with Your New Year’s Resolutions?

Posted on February 3, 2017April 4, 2018 by Leticia Hartmann

6 mindset shifts that will help you achieve your goal this year!

It happens every year: You come up with a goal for the New Year ahead. Maybe you want to change jobs, get a promotion or restructure your team for peak performance. Giddy with excitement, you allow yourself to fantasize about how amazing your life will be when you reach these goals. Yet when it comes to thinking practically and taking steps toward your objectives, you lose steam. Pretty soon, you’re making excuses for why you just don’t have enough time to change things. Flash forward to the end of the year, and you’re far short of those ambitious goals.

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Time Management Secrets of the Successful

Posted on December 5, 2016April 4, 2018 by Leticia Hartmann

“I just don’t have enough time.” That is a challenge that my clients consistently struggle with and something that I am used to hearing as a professional coach. People come to me with a goal and are enthusiastic about taking that next step in their careers… until the next hurdle presents itself: struggling to find time to dedicate to their professional growth.

What makes some professionals more effective at getting things done? I believe a key factor in career evolution lies in the answer to this question. I decided to conduct my own empirical research and interviewed several of the most organized, Type A individuals I know. My findings confirmed what I had long suspected about time management.

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