Career Planning

Tell me about yourself: 5 Strategies for Creating a Strong Brand

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You may have heard about branding yourself and wondered what it has to do with you; after all, you’re a person, not a product. That’s where you’re wrong!

Whether you’re looking for a new job or seeking a promotion—or even wanting to be well regarded at work, branding yourself is essential. Your brand is what makes you stand out from everyone else. What is branding? Branding is about how others see you and how you see yourself. Obviously, you’ll want to control the narrative as much as possible.

How can you go about establishing your brand? Recognize that branding yourself is about understanding yourself, how you are known to others (basically your reputation), and how want to be known. It needs to be authentic to you. It is both your real self and your online self—and those need to match.

Here’s how to get started on identifying and creating your brand:

1. Think about what makes you unique. Where did you grow up? What are your special talents and skills? What do people say about you? What are you known for? What do you care about? Write these things down. This is part of understanding who you are.

2. What does your current employer want / need? What about prospective employers? When employers are considering you for promotion or hiring, they want to know what you offer—in the context of what they need. Is there a match between who you are and what your current / future employers are looking for?

3. Create your value proposition. Sum up your brand in one sentence. It should be easy to say, understand, and remember. This will be the essence of your resume, your LinkedIn, and your answer to “tell me about yourself.” This will not be identical across all platforms but it should be consistent.

4. Communicate your brand and value. How do you communicate to your current and future employers? The obvious ways include your daily interactions, your resume, and your LinkedIn presence. All of these should be consistent and communicate the same message. Almost all employers (and yes, even government employers) will do an online search of applicants. What is your online presence? Does it match what your resume says about you? How you behave on a daily basis? If not, you have work to do. Your message needs to be consistent across the board.

5. Reinforce your brand. It’s not enough to put a brand out there. You have to reinforce it. If you say you’re an expert, prove it. Post articles about your expertise. Comment (appropriately) on others’ posts. Be yourself. And keep it up; you do not want to be static; this is not a “one and done;” you want to manage your brand so that it stays fresh and current.

Creating and maintaining your brand takes time and effort. But taking the time to do it right is time well spent. After all, your brand is yours alone and your career is worth it!

Are You a Program or Project Manager?

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There are thousands of program managers / project managers in the federal government! If you are one of them (or want to be one of them), you should know about the Program Management Improvement Accountability Act (PMIAA). The PMIAA requires, in part, that most federal agencies designate a senior executive as their Program Management Improvement Officer (PMIO); in turn, the PMIO should implement a program for enhancing the role of program managers.

That program includes improved career paths and training.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) recently issued guidance that identified the key skills and competencies for program managers. The competencies were created based on focus groups that included more than 7,000 employees across government. These competencies are expected to form the frame for training and development of program and project managers going forward.

As an existing or aspirational program / project manager, think about your existing skills and experience in this framework; if you have gaps, and these competencies are relevant to your specific position, you may want to address any gaps through your Individual Development Plan (IDP).

I would also encourage you to think about these competencies as key words to be sure to include in your resume!

General Competencies

• Accountability
• Attention to Detail
• Conflict Management
• Creative Thinking
• Customer Service
• Decision Making
• External Awareness
• Flexibility
• Influencing/Negotiating
• Information Management
• Integrity/Honesty
• Interpersonal Skills
• Leadership
• Legal, Government and Jurisprudence
• Manages Human Resources
• Manages Resources
• Oral Communication
• Organizational Awareness
• Partnering
• Planning and Evaluating
• Political Savvy
• Problem Solving
• Reading Comprehension
• Reasoning
• Strategic Thinking
• Teaching Others
• Team Building
• Teamwork
• Technical Competence
• Technical Credibility
• Technology Application
• Writing

Technical Competencies

• Acquisition Strategy
• Business Process Reengineering
• Capital Planning and Investment Assessment
• Change Management
• Compliance
• Contracting/Procurement
• Cost-Benefit Analysis
• Financial Analysis
• Financial Management
• Knowledge Management
• Performance Measurement
• Program Management
• Project Management
• Quality Management
• Requirements Management
• Risk Management
• Schedule Management
• Scope Management
• Stakeholder Management

More information about the program and project management competencies can be found here: https://www.chcoc.gov/sites/default/files/PMIAA%20Competency%20Memorandum%20Attachment%20for%20CXO%20Councils.pdf.

Preparing Executive Core Qualifications (ECQ)

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You’ve examined your qualifications and interest, and made the decision to apply for the Senior Executive Service (SES). It is time to start working on your ECQs. Don’t wait until you have a specific SES posting. There is absolutely no reason why you cannot work on your ECQs now.

Not Job Specific

ECQs are NOT job specific; instead, they are about your leadership. Getting your ECQs prepared ahead of time will allow you the necessary time to prepare your executive resume and any Technical Qualifications (TQ) associated with an individual posting. Once you have a strong set of ECQs, you can use them across multiple postings.

What goes into ECQs?

ECQs include specific evidence of your possession of the each of the 5 executive competencies (leading change, leading people, results driven, business acumen, and building coalitions). In addition to the 5 ECQs, there are also 28 sub-competencies embedded within the ECQs and an additional 6 cross-cutting competencies that should be clearly exhibited throughout your ECQ document.

What is CCAR and why does it matter?

CCAR (challenge, context, action, result) is the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) rubric that must be used for your ECQs. Using this rubric will help readers of your ECQs understand your stories. The CHALLENGE is the specific problem you faced, the CONTEXT tells the reader about the people involved, the organization, the larger climate, and other details that demonstrate the executive nature and complexity of the challenge. ACTIONS are the things that you personally did (or that you directed others to do) to address the challenge. And of course, RESULTS are proof that you solved the challenge. In a perfect world, results should be demonstrate using qualifiable metrics; it’s not enough to say “things improved…” you need to prove that they improved.

What are your ECQ stories?

Before starting to write, you should identify your ECQ stories. Your stories need to be executive (rather than transactional) and ideally show enterprise-wide impact. Examples should be from the past 10 years (5-7 years is better if possible). Your examples should have an ending so that you can demonstrate results. If your specific example has not yet fully concluded, provide a specific metric to demonstrate progress. And obtaining a degree or talking about your philosophy will not be considered executive. Focus on specific leadership achievements.

How can you identify your stories?

There are two ways to go about identifying your stories; the first way is to identify when you led change, led people, etc. The second way is to identify your most significant achievements from the past 10 years and then match them to a specific ECQ. Both ways work; you need to figure out what works bet for YOU. It is not unusual to have more stories than you need for Results Driven and not enough for another ECQ. If that is a situation you face, review the underlying competencies for the ECQs and see if you can tell your story in that frame. For example, if you have too many Results Driven stories and not enough Leading Change, look at the underlying competencies for leading change (vision, strategic thinking, innovation/creativity, external awareness, flexibility, and resilience) and see if you can think about how to tell one of the results driven stories through the leading change lens.

Other things to keep in mind:

Review OPM Guidance on preparing ECQs (see: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/senior-executive-service/reference-materials/guidetosesquals_2012.pdf.) Try to have at least one action for each underlying competency in every ECQ (and keep the underlying competencies in the right ECQ). Use as many numbers as possible throughout your ECQs—numbers of people, dollar value of budgets / projects / contracts, timeframes, etc.

These numbers provide context to your stories and the ultimate readers of your ECQs is the Qualifications Review Board (QRB) at OPM—they will not know your agency or your job. Focus on your leadership, not your technical acumen. Be prepared to spend the necessary time to put together a good package; in my view, this is 40-60 hours.

And if you’re struggling with your package, get help! No one does this alone.

Putting Together an Effective Individual Development Plan (IDP)

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While many agencies I work with offer employees the opportunity to put together an Individual Development Plan (IDP), most of the IDPs I see and hear about are simply training plans. An IDP is about much more than training! With a renewed interest in employee development (Priority 4 of the Federal Workforce Priorities Report), I thought it would be a good time to discuss IDPs.

At the end of the day, employees must develop themselves; although supervisors can assist employees on their journey, they cannot do the work for them. An IDP identifies an employee’s development goals in the context of their agency’s Strategic Plan. A good IDP contains training, education, and development activities to acquire or enhance the knowledge, skills and abilities needed to maximize job performance. This will help to ensure that you are prepared to carry out your responsibilities and contribute to your agency’s mission by helping you learn new skills, refresh old skills, and make use of emerging technologies.

An IDP gives you an opportunity to:

  1. establish objectives that support both the unit’s and employee’s needs and goals;
  2. give you a clear guide for working toward career goals and the supervisor a chance to channel your efforts in ways that help the unit achieve its goals and mission; and
  3. organize and set priorities for development experiences, that will help you:
  • learn new skills to improve current job performance
  • increase interest, satisfaction, and challenge in their current position
  • obtain knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to reach career goals that are aligned with your agency’s strategic goals
  • prepare for increased responsibility.

An IDP is NOT:

  • A performance plan or appraisal—the IDP does not replace a performance plan or performance appraisal. Strengths and areas for development are being considered, but you are not being rated for performance appraisal purposes. Discussions about performance and development share some common themes, however, the focus of each discussion is fundamentally different and should not take place at the same time.
  • A promise of promotion—the IDP does not guarantee advancement upon completion of the developmental objectives, but does increase your ability to compete for future jobs as you develop skills.
  • A binding document—when you and supervisor sign the IDP, it is simply an indication of intention and support for your development. You may not always be able to take advantage of developmental opportunities because of budgetary or workload constraints, among other reasons.

Creating a Draft IDP and Discussing It

Either you or your supervisor can initiative an IDP discussion. Ideally the discussion will begin with your supervisor explaining the IDP process, the supervisor’s role, and your role. Both you and your supervisor should review all information regarding your development status. In this process, you and your supervisor typically:

  • Identify knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) or competencies required by the current work assignment
  • Review and discuss strengths and areas for development in performing the current work assignment

Together, you and your supervisor should draft a plan by identifying developmental activities needed to reach the IDP goals. The IDP should specify:

  • Goals and competencies to be developed during the specified period
  • Developmental experiences that address the competencies
  • Measures of success
  • How your supervisor can support you
  • Potential barriers to success
  • Possible developmental activities and proposed dates

Your supervisor should monitor your progress and together, you and your supervisor should update and modify your IDP as appropriate.

Looking Over 2018 and Making Career Plans for 2019

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2018 has been a busy year for the government; I thought it might be a good time to reflect on some of the career-related matters that have come up; having a larger context for what is going on in the government from a Human Resources (HR) perspective can help you think about the decisions you might want to make for your career next year.

In February, the Administration issued the first-ever Federal Workforce Priorities Report. The report identified six Government-wide priorities and provided what it considered promising practices from agencies.

The priorities were in were grouped around two major initiatives: reshaping the workforce and maximizing employee performance, are as follows:

  • Priority 1: Succession Planning and Knowledge Transfer. Conduct succession planning activities to retain and transfer institutional knowledge, as workforce reshaping efforts are undertaken.
  • Priority 2: Deploying Communication Tools. Adopt tools that allow employees to easily connect, communicate, and collaborate with one another regardless of geographic location.
  • Priority 3: Securing Technological Solutions for Human Capital Analysis. OPM will seek to acquire or develop enterprise technological solutions to assist the Federal human capital community with human capital analysis.
  • Priority 4: Expanding Employee Development Opportunities. Provide employees with ample opportunities for continuous professional growth and skill development.
  • Priority 5: Bolstering Employee Recognition Programs. Administer robust programs to appropriately recognize and reward employees who demonstrate high levels of performance and significantly contribute to achieving organizational goals.
  • Priority 6: Enhancing Productivity through a Focus on Employee Health. Encourage employees to engage in physical fitness activities during time spent commuting and being at work.

During 2018, there were several new initiatives that supported those goals; these include new direct hire appointment authorities, the Open Opportunities initiative, upgrades to USAJOBS, and a new emphasis on coaching. We’ll discuss some of these in more detail in additional articles this month.

Using the Challenge-Context-Action-Result (CCAR) Model

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If you are SES aspirational—or even if you’re not, the Challenge-Context-Action-Result (CCAR) Model should be your friend. Not only is CCAR required for the writing of Executive Core Qualifications (ECQ), it is also useful for interviewing.

Using CCAR allows you to tell your story in an interesting and compelling way. How does CCAR work? When writing your ECQ stories (or responding to interview questions), consider the following:

Challenge.

Describe a specific problem or goal. The more significant the challenges faced and overcome, the more significant the results will appear.

Context.

Talk about the individuals and groups you worked with and/or the environment in which you worked to tackle a particular challenge (e.g., clients, co-workers, members of Congress, shrinking budget, low morale). This is the background information needed to understand why your accomplishment was significant.

Action.

Discuss the specific actions you took to address a challenge. Focus on actions that showcase your ability to solve problems in the organization to which you are applying. Be sure to include multiple actions. Some people find it easier to actually list their actions (1, 2, 3, etc.; you can smooth it out when you edit). 

Result.

Give specific examples of the results of your actions. These accomplishments demonstrate the quality and effectiveness of your leadership skills. Results can be quantitative (with metrics) and/or qualitative. And of course, they need to demonstrate that you solved the problem.

Here’s what a potential CCAR outline might look like:

Achievement: Ensure 24/7 security requirements were met while complying with mandated furloughs during 2013 Sequestration.

Challenge:

  • Midway through the fiscal year, it became evident that Congress would not provide relief from the Budget Control Act of 2011, and the agency would be forced to comply with guidance requiring furloughs.
  • Available staffing did not permit the simultaneous full furlough and minimum security requirements to provide proper building security.
  • I was required to reduce labor hours by 22% over 7 weeks.

Context:

  • The Budget Control Act of 2011 required significant budget cuts to the agency for fiscal year 2013.
  • Department guidance leading into 2013 directed the agency to plan as if the cuts would not be implemented.
  • I was required to ensure 24/7/365 security for vital assets throughout the Department while still taking my “share” of cuts.

Actions:

  • I created a 5-person team to develop a solution to meet the security requirements and reduce expenditures toward reduction targets. I aimed to find other reductions to try to avoid furloughs.
  • I created a quantitative framework of prioritized staffing to meet security requirements and associated costs. I had my team develop alternatives with risk assessments versus cost. These scenarios demonstrated that the required 7 furlough days presented an unacceptable risk to the agency and its tenants.
  • My business case and risk assessment showed that a 3-day furlough could be sustained within acceptable risk parameters.
  • Simultaneously, I sped the deployment of an automated scheduling tool 4 months ahead of schedule to replace the decades-old, paper-based process so that staffing could be assessed in near real-time. I developed technological solutions that complied with departmental guidance for deploying new software, trained administrative officers, and provided technical support for all shifts of FTEs and contractors.

Results:

  • My 3-day furlough proposal persuaded agency leadership, who adopted it in place of the previous mandates. Politically, this caused less strife than justifying a complete furlough exemption.
  • The prioritized framework I created based on risk assessment has served as the baseline minimum security standard since it was deployed. All staffing changes since then have been assessed within this framework.
  • The lessons learned from the limited deployment of the automated scheduler significantly improved its full deployment later that year with operational lessons learned. The system is still in use by the agency and is being deployed to a wider set of users. Agency leadership views it as the most significant tool for managing staffing hours (which is the single largest agency expense) in the agency’s history.

Once you have an outline, you can “fill in the blanks” and craft your story.