Pale blue dot

Late on saturday evening I am taking alook around youtube, as I often do. I should be in bed, but I am not. Came across this video, which I find very powerful. I have seen it before, but every time I do it gives me just that little bit of power :-)

Developing competencies? Show me the money!

So that is the purpose of personal development without any way of seeing and following that development?

AIESEC uses a leadership based competency model to measure the development of its members towards positive change agents, the objective of the organization. Like all models it only depicts a certain view of reality, but it definitely gives great input for personal development.

As a member of AIESEC I have this really cool access to a competency assessment tool developed together with our partners at Career Innovation. Basically this tool allows me to assess my own competencies based on a series of questions where I assess my own behaviour in situations. When being honest about oneself and ones own behaviour, this allows me to break down and the see the whole picture of my own competencies. In addition, the very same tool can then be used for 360* evaluation.

The very same behavioural questions are asked to those you pick out yourself (teammembers, teamleaders etc.) to assess you, and who can give you honest (it's anonymous in that at least 5 others give their input for it to work) feedback on your competencies.

This then allows me to compare my own assessment of my behaviours and competencies to those made by those working with me. This gives me an understanding of where I actually stand, where I have blind spots, known strenghts/weaknessess, hidden strengths etc.

All this is really cool, of course. Now they have added this awesome thing which gives me the chance to actually publish my results. So here it goes:

http://www.netbiog.com/OutputWindows/Generic.aspx?SiteUsedUID=9296

Basically only one of my profiles so far consists of a full 360* evaluation.

LCVPTM_Q3 is from Q3 2008

LCVPTM_Q4 is from Q4 2008

and the third is from Q2 2009 (that is very recent).  - unfortunately I have not been able to rename this one for now.

I prefer making this public as this allows me to keep accountable towards myself and my own aspirations!

Random note: Today is a beautifully sunny day in Oslo and I am inside studying for exams. Sometimes real WILLPOWER is required! :-)

New Role...

So... Here I was. Selected into the role of Vice President of Talent Management in AIESEC Norway. Things were fantastic. I felt right at home in an area I love, where I am developing alot, and where I get to strategicallly have alot of impact on the organization that I love and care for so much.

Since January I have been preparing for this role, improving my knowledge, thinking of the individuals I was going to be leading on local level. I was developing and adapting strategies, observing and trying to obtain information and input, and taking my role of inspiring for change and growth in this area.

You plan and predict, and try to make yourself comfortable. Bang. The 99,9% that falls within our pre-conceived boxes makes us comfortable. We feel like we understand the world around us. That we can turn unpredictable surroundings into a predictable and safe environment. But even if we were to be right 99,9% of the time (and we're not - we really suck at predicting and still keep going at it!) it wouldn't really matter.

What happens in the last, 0,1% is much more important. It has a much larger impact on our lives. Firstly, because it is by definition outside our realm of understanding and prediction it has larger implications than other events - we are unprepared for them. And trying to understand and know what they are doesn't help either - you can't - they are unpredictable! Secondly, because whatever we can't predicat usually has the pattern of an event with "unimaginable" magnitude. We don't assume it can happen, just because the impact seems so uncharacteristically larger.

What is the solution? Well, let's be careful in not looking for one too hard. Let go. In addition the solution is to change our mindset. I have started realizing this lately and hence I started to change my mindset about unpredictable events. I have started to think more in terms of being prepared for events that I cannot be prepared for. I do this by staying light on my feet, letting go of as many models, theories, and conclusions that I can (this isn't easy - I am intuitive and judging!). I simply try to see events more as a random combination of things, than as a chain of connected things. This is hard, and I am exagerating my ability here!

But last week I was confronted with just such as situation. In AIESEC, like in any organization, there are different roles on a leadership body, depending on the functional area. The Vice-President for Corporate Relations for our team next year was the same person that is doing the job now. What happened is that she actually found out that this position was not at all aligned to what she wanted to do with her life. Not now - not later. And finding motivation to start a whole new term doing something for which you are not motivated now, is hard. Actually, not only is it hard, we shouldn't even try.

Instead, she was brave enough to actually be proactive and say - "I cannot do this!" It takes courage to stand up and do that. Diverting for a second, I myself have spent several years at one point doing things I hated, because I could not admit to myself that I was doing something I hated. As a result I was doing poorly! Anyway. She was facing the truth about her own motivation in an open and honest way. And she had the courage to step up and say so. I am very proud of her for that.

From our teams point of view, we are a member down. A functional area, Corporate Relations, is suddenly without anybody. This area is responsible for sales in AIESEC Norway. This relates to the sales of our main product, which are internships, to companies and organizations. Through these internships AIESEC is realizing the development of its members through amazing international internship opportunities in another country, and the servicing fee from the internships is the main source of income for the organization. In this way we can actually run operations.

AIESEC is a not-for-profit NGO, and nobody, anywhere, does AIESEC for money - there simply isn't any! However, for the organization as a whole the sales of internships is crucial. There is no prizes for guessing that financial crisis means tough times for organizations like AIESEC which depend on the corporate sector as well! So as an organization we are a teammember down in the area which is providing the revenue crucially needed for short- and longterm financial sustainability.

The president of AIESEC Norway next year, called me into the office last week and basically told me this. I was surprised, shocked and sad. We had lost a teammember. He also laid down the situation that we needed to fill this position, quickly. The person, having to work with the Norwegian Corporate sector, ideally should speak Norwegian, know the market well, and have the competencies to sell AIESEC during financial crisis to companies that have plenty of other places of putting their money!

He told me that I was the profile he was looking for. There basically was nobody else in the organization in Norway, speaking Norwegian, who could take this role at short notice. I was given a few days to think about the situation.

I was shocked. I have been thinking about my new role for 5 months! 99,9%. But it's the 0,1 that counts. New reality, new proposal. I spent some days thinking.

What were the arguments against?

1. I did not have experience in the area from AIESEC and hence I was unsure (still am) of how I will actually do.

2. This inexperience might lead to people not respecting my ideas and proposals in the area as they might not regard me as competent.

3. I love "my" functional area, Talent Management, so much. This is perfectly aligned to what I want to do with my life, which includes starting my own business focused on education, value based leadership and learning.

4. This might lead to "my" Vice Presidents of Talent Management at local level getting lost - I have already started a coaching relationship with them.

What were the arguments for?

1. AIESEC Norway needs this. Talent Management or we die later. Sales, or we die now.

2. I want to take the role the team needs me to take. Part of my personal development goals for the AIESEC Norway term relate directly to learn to become an even better teamplayer, increase my flexible thinking and taking on new challenges. What better way of learning than doing?

3. I am excited by challenges. Anything that seems hard, that I don't know anything about, that perhaps I should keep my fingers of because it's not my speciality - I love it! I LOVE challenges. I want to succeed. Call it arrogance, call it confidence, call it stupidity. I want to be the best at anything I try. (Sorry!)

4. I want to be an entrepreneur: According to AIESECs competency model, I need to develop:

Resilience: Easily adjust to changes and new conditions, in order to be able to perform in diverse environments.

Taking on the area that is struggling most in AIESEC Norway, not knowing the area from beforehand and selling to business during financial crisis? Yeah, I think it ticks the box.

Innovation: Thinking out of the box and challenging conventional wisdom. Creating new solutions for current challenges or new approaches to old situations.

We need new approaches in sales in AIESEC Norway, especially enabling and empowering our local entitites to perform! Yes, ticks the box.

Commitment to Results: Knowing what results are important and focusing resources to achieve them.

Sales anyone?

Stakeholder Focus: Identify key internal and external customers; working with them to understand their requirements and concerns in order to generate value based partnerships.

Internal customers: Local Committess in AIESEC and their members. External customers: companies and NGOs interested in AIESEC. Let's focus on the stakeholders and create some parterships!

Effective Communication: Clearly conveying and receiving messages (feedback, opinions, etc.; written/verbal communication etc.) to meet the needs of all parties involved.

I will develop this through pcontacting partners and key customers throughout the year.

Flexible/analytical Thinking: Use technical knowledge and expertise effectively to analyse information and situations making effective decisions as well as being ready to change your opinion.

Vice President Talent Management --> Vice President Corporate Relations is my first step...

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So what is all this rubbish? Staying light on my feet, knowing where I want to go I am able to take this opportunity as a positive change for my future.

By sunday afternoon I had decided. I let my president know. I have no switched. Good luck to me,  I guess - except - I was once told that luck is for those with no talent. Is it?

Right now it is 02.18 night to friday. My life has just taken this HUGE unexpected turn. I am scared, proud, excited, and humble. And I am shouting to life: I am ready for more. Give it to me! I want to learn.