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Creative Thinking versus Critical Thinking
The process of creative thinking is often, mistakenly, intertwined with critical thinking. There is a tendency to write and edit simultaneously, couple hypothesis generation and evaluation, combine problem identification with solution. To increase...
Getting Your Video Successfully Produced: Why quality is Key and how to get it!
You are ready to have your video produced, and you are about to choose a video production company to do it. Did you know that choosing the right production company will make or break your show? No matter how great the subject or script, the overall...
Innovation Management, Brainstorming Management – Why People Hate To Brainstorm!
Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.
There are distinct processes that enhance problem identification and idea...
Internet Payment Solutions - Need One?
So your business has expanded to reach the point where you need
to find an effective Internet payment solution? The first option
to consider is applying for a merchant account. If your business
enjoys a solid credit history, pays its bills on...
Sales Rquires You Get Your Foot in the Door
Sales Require You Get Your Foot in the Door By Kathleen Gage If you are in sales and/or marketing you know one of the most challenging aspects of what you do is getting in front of prospects. Prospects and clients are bombarded constantly with...
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What is Experience Anyway?
I learned in first grade that one plus one equals two. But, that's not the right equation when counting work experience. We often think we're building experience to help us get ahead. In reality, we're passing time. Ten years working like a cloned Bill Murray in Groundhog Day is not ten years worth of experience. Doing the same thing again and again yields an experience formula more like: ten times one equals one.
I used to equate years of work with years of experience. No more. I learned by making plenty of hiring and promotion mistakes in twenty years of management the two are not equal. Neither are years of work and performance. Doing something for five, ten or twenty years doesn't make you automatically five, ten or twenty years better than when you started. I've been cooking for thirty years but I remain a mediocre cook.
Two or three years involved with a business start-up or a new project might provide more growth and knowledge than ten years in a stable venue. And it might not. Gaining experience is more about you and your approach than anything else.
Recurring work events can be predictable, boring, and unchallenging ways of passing years at work if what you're doing is updating last year's memo, tweaking last year's budget, or fine-tuning last years goals without applying innovation, analysis or critical thinking. Retiring on the job is as prolific as spam and will get you as blocked as those unwanted emails.
I've found the difference between people who are
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winning at working and people who aren't, is the difference between passing another year at work and gaining another year of work experience. Those who build their experience build their futures. And, you can build experience without changing jobs.
Building experience is about the depth, diversity, challenges and learning you gain by offering the best of who you are at work. It's about seizing and creating opportunities. And it's about continual self-improvement and constant self-feedback.
You know you're gaining experience when you problem solve your own mistakes; learn to use knowledge building blocks to handle more complex issues; make contributions more valuable than the year before; acquire new skills by venturing outside a comfort zone; embrace new ideas or technologies; or recognize you don't know as much as you thought you did as you begin to see a bigger picture.
People who try new things, push the envelope, pitch ideas, offer innovative problem solving, take accountability, and never stop learning and making a difference, are people gaining experience and building their work future.
(c) 2004 Nan S. Russell. All rights reserved.
About the Author
Sign up to receive Nan’s free eColumn, Winning at Working, at http://www.winningatworking.com. Nan Russell has spent over twenty years in management, most recently with QVC as a Vice President. Currently working on her first book, Nan is a writer, columnist, small business owner, and instructor.
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