INTERDEPENDENCY

EMPOWERING YOUR PROFESSIONAL LIFE

1. Determining how far to take your org relationship

2. Building your job description around co-worker interdependencies

3. Interacting in pro synergy zones

PRO SUCCESS TOOLSInterdependency maps (see p.27 of online Virtual Teams professional manual)

Working alone is a career breaker. Working with

others is a career maker.

Everything in life, both personally & professionally,

comes down to interdependencies.

Independence exists only in naive minds.

Your professional IQ

(Interdependency Quotient) = your

capacity for success

Org culture = its interdependencies = community =ICONs (internal constituents) +ECONs (external constituents)

Interdependencies are your real (constantly

evolving) job description

SOURCES OF PRO INTERDEPENDENCY

• Responsibility to/for others

• Project (team) work• Constituent interaction• Job specialization• Technology

Can you map your job interdependencies? Your

career success depends on it.

Pro success = Excelling in

pro synergy zones

Synergy = optimized pro interdependencies

Pro synergy occurs when employees “make plays” (create success synergies) as the result of interacting interdependently with the minds, skills, & shared agendas of ICONS or ECONs. Tony Romo is a football player only when he’s interacting on the field creating synergies (hopefully) with his team.

PRO SYNERGY ZONES

• Org-human interfaces: collaboration between org & employees

• Leader-follower synergy: WE > ME

• ICON-ECON synergy: employees serving clients

*Agenda-overlap synergy

CYCLE OF CAREEER INTERDEPENDENCI

ES

WANNA MARRY YOUR COMPANY?

Stage 1. DATING A COMPANY

Learning how the system works & becoming part of

the system

• Do I want to go further with this professional relationship?

• Do I want to experience other jobs & companies or settle for this one?

• The longer you date, the more marriage expectations grow.

Stage 2. GETTING ENGAGED TO YOUR COMPANY

Serving internal org clients

You know your company wants to quit dating and get engaged when they offer you a major promotion (= significant new professional responsibility). “You now know our company well and have developed a positive profile through your excellent work and contributions. We want to put you in charge of our facility in Denver.”

Interdependency

Responsibility (!)Career development hinges on your capacity to assume increasing responsibility (which gets in the way of self-focus). Marriage & life are the same way.

If you decide not to get engaged to a company, you gotta start

dating again: building your pro profile AGAIN for

another employer & ramping up your

responsibilities AGAIN.

• How much do I really want to settle down into this company & career?

• How do I know I can’t do better somewhere else?

• Am I really ready for more responsibility & higher professional productivity & expectations?

• What if I don’t like this job after awhile?

Stage 3. MARRYING YOUR COMPANY

Serving external org clients

For their professional employees, companies want

marriages, not one-night-stands. They also want short

engagements.

Your professional performance is greatly MAGNIFIED with clients, creditors, competitors, communities, regulators, other nations, etc. Thus your RESPONSIBILITIES are also greatly magnified.

• Am I willing to start living my life around the demands of my current organization?

• Am I ready for my life to be mostly about work & pro responsibility?

• Besides me, who else will have to make sacrifices for my professional success?

Stage 4. HAVING CHILDREN

Responsibility for the work & success of

others

• Am I ready to be responsible for what others do & their agendas?

• Am I ready to rely on others to do much of my work?

• Am I ready to coach & mentor the careers of others?

Stage 5. GETTING DIVORCED (?)

• Quitting your job• Losing your job

• Demotion• Loss of authority

Divorced people find it harder to find a prime marriage partner (great company to work for) again. Professional divorces mess up your interdependencies, which must be rebuilt one-by-one in a differentplace withdifferent people.

• Should I look for a new professional marriage partner ASAP (to retain my previous pro lifestyle)?

• Or slow down my pro momentum to ramp up my personal life?

• Or start a new pro career/life?