Issue link: https://industrialengineer.epubxp.com/i/826827
June 2017 | ISE Magazine 31 Many people are familiar with Stephen Covey's book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Those habits are be proactive; begin with the end in mind; put first things first; think win- win; seek first to understand, then to be understood; synergize (combine the strengths of your team); and sharpen the saw. But believe it or not, there is a set of habits even more funda- mental than Covey's. These 10 things require very little talent but can become the bedrock for your brand: 1. Being on time 2. Work ethic 3. Effort 4. Body language 5. Energy 6. Attitude 7. Passion 8. Being coachable 9. Doing extra 10. Being prepared In some cases, these things actually are our brand: body lan- guage, energy, attitude, passion, work ethic and being on time. All young professionals should bring these 10 things to the table from the beginning. Yet experience in the field suggests that most have not mastered them, so foundation work needs to be done. Establish a strong foundation. Then climb Covey's celebrat- ed first set of seven steps. Refine, hone and build those habits by using what we will call the second set of seven habits for highly successful young professionals. 1. Selectively and effectively use great mentors: Care- fully create a board of directors for yourself. Learn how to tap into their wisdom. Seek feedback from them and others. 2. Build and sustain great relationships: Learn how to be a great relationship manager. Develop the ability to initial- ize relationships, understand who the key stakeholders are and how to understand them and work with them. 3. Manage your brand: Understand brand, consciously de- sign it, understand your default position brand, identify gaps and close those gaps. 4. Toot your own horn: Position yourself consciously and systematically in the organization. Learn how to "toot your own horn without blowing it," as the expression goes. Posi- tion yourself effectively but not in a boastful fashion. 5. Develop curiosity and T-shaped mastery: Successful ISEs are curious, but over time they have to build what's called the T-shaped mastery model (breadth and depth). 6. Establish thought leadership: Many young ISEs enter the world of work without a lot of confidence. They are hesitant, cautious. Their organization is looking for them to bring points of view, to bring theories, principles and methods to bear on complex problems. In short, ISEs have to learn quickly how to be thought leaders. 7. Build and grow trust: Your ability to influence others, to motivate and cause positive change, is based on your abil- ity to have key stakeholders allow you to work on proj- ects where the quality of your solutions can be recognized. And this is based a great deal on whether people trust you. People, especially young professionals, don't understand the mechanics of building trust over time. Now let's examine ways to develop those habits in a system- atic way to become more believable. Becoming believable Your brand is foundational to becoming believable in many respects. Who you are, what you stand for, how you think, talk, behave, your mindset and your image all create the con- text for credibility and trust, the two components of the be- lievability index shown in Figure 4. People base trust on different things, but they generally trust people who they believe will do them no harm. Do we think and sense that people are out to serve the higher good? Part of believing what people say or suggest is about whether we can establish and sustain trust over time. Trust is like an in- vestment or retirement account: We are responsible for the deposits and withdrawals, in this case through our thoughts, words and deeds. The other component of believability is credibility. Cred- ibility comprises the objective and subjective components of how believable a source or message is. You build credibility over time by systematically managing the T-shaped profes- sional model: Saying yes to things, being proactive about learning and growing, being curious in ways that broaden and Webinar can help jump-start career The Columbus/Eastern Ohio Chapter of IISE will offer a webinar on June 14 designed to help young engineers with their professional development. Elizabeth Schweizer of Disney will review results from a survey of young ISE professionals. Jared Dunlap of Accenture, former president of IISE's Young Professional group, will discuss building your brand and positioning IISE and yourself in the organization. Jared Frederici of The Poirier Group, the Great Lakes regional vice president, will offer his views on thought leadership and trust management. The webinar also will review "the second set of seven habits of highly effective young professionals." For more details and to register, visit http://bit.ly/mhwebinar.