The Hub

Learns

By Charlie Donnelly, 14 February 2012 2:35 pm

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“And all at once everybody realised that there was nothing to be afraid of and never had been.”

Helping others has been the most satisfying aspect of my career here so far. In reviewing my first placement I have benchmarked any projects/work against the question: will this help make lives better?

This is a simple yet powerful question to refer to and has helped shape my first five months at Barclays. It got me thinking about personal development and self-awareness. In reflection, I can now see that I have worked on projects that have allowed me to display and develop skills and characteristics that I felt I needed to improve upon. Whilst on the Future Leaders Development Programme (FLDP), there is always a pressure to succeed; this may come from the FLDP team (who have invested so much time, effort and resources into the cohort), from your Line Manager and team or from yourself (or a collective of the above). For most readers, this will apply to the selection process or to new joiners, if the latter, then substitute ‘first placement’ for ‘Assessment Centre’ below.

The best thing you could possibly do during the Assessment Centre is seize the moment – you are unlikely to have this chance twice. Where appropriate be commercial and apply this knowledge, manage your personal presence, impact and relationships, structure answers and be concise. Quality over quantity and emotional intelligence with cognitive intelligence are impressive characteristics. Be imaginative, be bold and be yourself (this is the most important of all for me).

When at work, it is sometimes difficult to balance the amount of time invested in your task orientated work versus your development, learning and reflection. Being able to step back, think and change has been something that I have had to do repeatedly during this placement. Thankfully, this thinking has allowed me to create and imagine new solutions or perspectives that have helped enrich the depth and quality of my work. I’m probably over-critical of myself at times (it’s a Virgo thing) but I think that you have to be prepared to do this in order to succeed; this likely applies to elsewhere as well as Barclays. During the selection process, it is never too late to change and improve. Being aware and self-critical during this process will reflect well upon you and will help you make the most of the opportunity presented to you.

From the perspective of a candidate or soon-to-be colleague, there are a number of things that could probably be read into the above. Personally speaking, I think the following are worth noting:

• Do I know my weaknesses and am I prepared to explore them?

The absence of application in developing areas where you are not quite so strong will strangle your development. I found this something that was hard to take but acceptance of this has helped me inordinately. My new found love affair with Excel is evidence of the degree to which flexibility and commitment to learning can broaden your prospects in the workplace. Thanks to this, I’m now seeing projects that I have worked on and driven come to life – these are helping both customers and colleagues. The pleasure in receiving feedback from frontline staff that your idea/project is enriching their’s and their customers’ experience is amazing. Better than any praise one may receive is the knowledge that your ideas and initiatives are making a positive difference.

• Next up, does this fit with my values?

I am not prepared to work on a project if it does not fit or conflicts with my values. Unless you are prepared to compromise on those ideas and beliefs that form such a part of your psyche, you would also find it hard to support a project that you do not believe in. This leads into a wider (and more valuable, less stream of consciousness) point: simply doing the work because it is there and needs doing is not enough, you need to engage with it, believe in it and drive it. This boldness will add such value to your work that it would be very difficult to deliver in its absence.

• Finally, where will this take me?

Future sight is important in selecting and driving work today. A knowledge of the needs of small business in the East of the UK is little good if you do not deliver on these needs with a view to their needs tomorrow. For a candidate or new joiner, I think this translates into ‘where will this career take me, where do I want to go and why do I want to go there?’ By considering (not necessarily answering) these questions you will better prepare yourself for the changes you will experience in your expectations, experiences and ideas. By having an idea of the future, be it a dream or a goal, you will instinctively steer your current self along currents of value.

Self-awareness is one of the key requirements to succeed in any organisation and, by knowing yourself, your goals and your direction, hopefully you will be able to lay strong foundations for your future, whatever and wherever it may be.

Also, finally, check out the recent videos on the Hub giving you an insight into the selection process from the perspective of the assessors – this is a really useful resource!

Ciao,

Charlie