Show you can handle ambiguity!

“Ambiguity; the quality of being open to more than one interpretation; inexactness.”

Many of us have been educated in environments where what mattered most were the facts. You had to get the facts right. When you needed to make a decision, you gathered the facts and then evaluated them. Great care and attention was given to gathering very precise facts.

In the present world, gathering exact facts should be easier than ever before. The problem is, though, that the world has become a much complex place. It is full of data but not all that data has been processed into good information. Meanwhile decisions usually need to be made quickly.

So, we find ourselves working with incomplete sets of facts, that may conflict and that make you feel they must be unreliable.  And often that is just what they might be! But still you have to make that decision. You find yourself having to go with what you have got.

In management, the more senior you become, the more likely you are to be making decisions with ambiguous information. For many professionals, doing that lies at the very heart of what they do.

Recognising the reality of decision making today, more and more employers and recruiters are looking for candidates with an ability to handle ambiguity. Employees who can manage ambiguity are likely to be welcome in large, complex, organisations that are subject to change or reform. But also they are needed in SMEs, particularly in the digital world.

The ability to handle ambiguity goes with confidence in your own judgment and a willingness to live with risk. If you are used to going through change and have learned how to cope and thrive in a changing environment, you have probably learned to handle ambiguity.

If you are preparing for a job interview, be prepared to be asked about occasions when you had to deal with confusion or uncertainty. When did you have to make a decision without having all the facts? When did you find yourself having to act in an unclear situation? What did you learn? If you feel that you could have coped with a situation you faced better, say so, and explain what you learned. Prepare to be asked how you cope in a crisis. Any crisis is likely to throw up uncertainty. How did you cope and what skills did you use? If you go to an assessment centre that has an in tray exercise, be prepared to adapt your plan of action to cope with new information that lands in your email inbox.

Risk surrounds ambiguity. Make sure you always have a back-up plan and think about how you will handle things if you have got it wrong.

When presented with any problem think through what you need to make a decision and the time available to you. What is the compromise you are prepared to make, if you need to take action quickly? How risky is your plan and how will you know if things are going wrong? How will you handle the fallout and move to your back up plan. Move quickly and with confidence, but always know your risks.

Life has always come with uncertainty. Now, it is time for you to learn to work with ambiguity!

Wendy Smith is a personal coach and writer at Wisewolf Coaching. She is a qualified coach and a member of the Association for Coaching as well as being a member of the Institute of Consulting and a graduate of the Common Purpose leadership programme. She is the author of “The WiseWolf Job Search Pocket Book: How to Win Jobs and Influence Recruiters” as well as two novels and a number of articles on management and well-being. Her latest publication is a little eBook; “How to Get on With the Boss.”  You can contact Wendy at wendy@wisewolfcoaching.com

First published on LinkedIn

How to Choose a Keynote Speaker

Image provided by the BusinessMakers Show from Flickr’s Creative Commons

This guest post is from Anna Mendez. Anna began her career working for an event planning company. Today, she is one of the company’s top event planners and has booked several keynote speakers.

Almost every event requires a keynote speaker. A keynote speaker’s role is to deliver a speech crafted to pull the event together around a uniting message, concept or theme. Choosing the right keynote speaker for your event can be a nerve-wracking process, especially if it is the first time you have done so. But, it doesn’t have to be stressful if you follow these simple steps.

First, you have to determine a few factors about the keynote speakers you are interested in. Are they relatable? Do they make you laugh (or cry, or whatever emotional response you are hoping for)? Is their fee within your budget; if not, are they willing to work with you? These and other considerations can take the guesswork out of choosing the right keynote speaker for your next event.

Agency Versus Solo Search

One of the first things you’ll want to decide is whether you plan to use a speakers bureau to help you find your speaker or whether you are going to do the work yourself. Perhaps you have a team of people who are in charge of planning the event and one of them has some experience with hiring a speaker. Maybe you have a few speakers in mind and you’d like to contact them before you reach out to a bureau. On the other hand, maybe you are new to hiring speakers and you want an expert to handle the process for you. These considerations can help you decide whether to hire a professional agency to find your speaker. Keep in mind that while the agency will likely offer a higher price for the speaker than you would get if you contacted them directly, it is also not always possible to contact certain speakers directly if they have an agency contract. Also, with an agency, you have a guarantee that contracts will be honored and the money will be handled professionally.

In Person Versus Sight Unseen

The best way to screen motivational keynote speakers is to see them speak before you actually hire them. Sometimes this is possible if the speaker is speaking at an event near you. If you are able to do this, you will want to look for eye contact, clarity, how the speaker handles props and/or notes, audience engagement, sincerity and the overall content of the speech. You may have very specific needs — a speaker who can share serious topics in a humorous way, for example. If you are not able to see your selected speaker live, see if there is a video you can watch. You can ask for referrals from past clients and question how satisfied they were with the speaker. However, if you work with a speaker bureau, they often are able to provide these things.

Contract, Rider and Price

Before you seal the deal, you will want to thoroughly review your speaker’s contract, rider and price. The contract tells you who handles payment, when and how payment will be made, what happens if the unexpected occurs (the speaker gets sick, there is poor weather, etc.) as well as other aspects. Because agencies tend to use a standard contract, while speakers who book themselves may have a totally different contract, there is a great deal of variance within the industry. In the same way, the bigger “name” your chosen speaker has, the more detailed their technical rider is likely to be. There are certain stars rumored to ask for only certain brands of bottled water in their dressing room, for instance. Carefully review every detail, and if you also have a contract that the speaker needs to sign, be sure they are willing to sign yours before you commit to signing theirs.

About the Author:  Anna Mendez began her career working for an event planning company. Today, she is one of the company’s top event planners and has booked several keynote speakers.

Career Development – Continuing Education – The Key to Professional Growth

Today we have a guest post from Katheryn Rivas who is an education writer interested in researching the opportunities an online university can provide. You can contact her at katherynrivas87@gmail.com.

We’ve heard over and over again how challenging the economy is today. With student loan debt the highest it has ever been, a steady unemployment rate, and a hugely competitive job market, very few people would deny the fact that the professional world can be unforgiving. Keeping your head above water in a climate like this is essential and one of the best ways to do so is by working to make yourself more valuable to your workplace. Continual professional development and professional growth are the best ways to remain relevant within a professional setting – you can become a student of your trade. Continuing your education with a focus on your job and industry is a worthwhile and effective step to take for your professional well-being. Consider these options for continuing education towards your professional growth.

Online Courses and Learning

There are few better ways to create more opportunities for yourself within the office than by seizing opportunities in the classroom. With advances in online technologies, there are more and more options online for individuals looking for a quality education. The online classroom provides the best possible option for individuals looking for expanded knowledge without sacrificing their nine to five schedule. Professionals can earn useful degrees, qualifications, or simply take a class or two completely online and on their own time. Many companies and employers will offer some sort of educational reimbursement for classes that relate to their area of work. If an official online college program or classes isn’t right for you, you can also consider open courseware classes. Major big name universities like MIT, Yale, Stanford, and many more offer free online versions of their classes. Look at your options and take advantage of what these institutions have to offer.

Professional Associations and Memberships

Investigate the various clubs and associations involved with your area of work or industry. Many of these clubs and association memberships can be wonderful tools for networking, expanding knowledge, and staying in touch with recent news in your field. Many employers will support employees with association memberships and they can become large pluses on an individual’s resume. No matter what area of business or industry you are active in, there are likely many different associations and professional groups dedicated to the subject.  Carefully evaluate your many options and decide which memberships seem the most useful for you and your purposes.

Educational Travel and Conferences

Conferences and professional travel, can bring huge plusses to your day-to-day work life. Of course, you can get more than just a free vacation, conferences travel can also be extremely educational and beneficial to your professional development. Research the various conferences offered related to your line of work. Because conferences can be pricy and time consuming it is important that you really research your options. Try to find the conference and lectures that you think you can really gain from. Any effort to learn more about your trade will be viewed as a positive thing in the eyes of your employer and on your resume.

Katheryn Rivas in an education writer interested in researching the opportunities an online university can provide for students. She encourages your comments at katherynrivas87@gmail.com.