Synopses & Reviews
Remember back to your first few days in a new job. Whether you were an experienced professional or new to the workforce, you quickly discovered that the 'job description' that explained your role was quite different from the reality you faced. Nobody told you this, but the day you were hired you actually accepted two jobs. The first was the position you interviewed for, including the title and all of the responsibilities outlined on paper. The second 'job-within-the-job' included the unspoken work that required you to manage constant change, effectively collaborate with difficult people, navigate confusing workplace politics, and get your best work done in an environment of shrinking resources and increasing demands. For both managers and employees, this is the double-reality of work.
In today's competitive landscape, standing out, getting ahead of the change curve, and staying relevant at work comes from the ability to go beyond your job description and continuously improve your learning and performance as you confront the hidden demands of work. These two factors - the need for continuous learning and performance and the presence of performance barriers - form what author Jesse Sostrin calls the hidden curriculum of work.
When we face the hidden curriculum of work without a plan we often fail to contribute our best effort, we lose sight of the things that inspire us, and we disengage. Beyond the Job Description can help you translate your frustrations at work into useful insights that boost your learning and performance while increasing the value of your contributions to the team and organization.
The book provides research-driven insights, diagnostic tools, and stories of employees and leaders who have managed to turn their greatest challenges at work into opportunities for breakthrough performance. It is no longer an option to simply ignore the hidden curriculum of work. Beyond the Job Description translates the world of work and leads readers on a critical path to:
• Discover the mutual agenda where your individual values and aspirations align with the needs of the team and the goals of your organization;
• Understand your true priorities and focus on the vital purpose and value-added contributions that can help you stand out and stay ahead of the change curve;
• Establish a system to identify hidden challenges that undermine your success on the job and learn to transform those barriers into opportunities for improved learning and performance; and
• Develop a clear vision and plan to achieve the working life you want.
Review
'Beyond the Job Description delivers a powerful framework for understanding the demands that underlie any job. Step by step, Sostrin offers tools that are immediately applicable for increasing personal effectiveness and for ensuring alignment with team and organizational needs. Equally relevant for employees, managers, and those who coach them, readers will find wisdom and utility in every chapter.' —David R. Seibold, Professor of Technology Management, University of California, Santa Barbara
'Jesse Sostrin provides a powerful performance tool, Nav-Maps, to help employee's resolve everyday challenges that threaten individual and organizational success. Beyond the Job Description presents effective, easy to follow methods that reveal the hidden, ill-defined, individual performance expectations shared by most organizations.' —Maclynn R. Brinton, CEO/President, InfoGard Laboratories, Inc.
'Sostrin shares uncanny insight into a world where many of us spend the majority of our lives, but that few of us truly understand: the workplace. With meticulous detail and real world examples, Sostrin reveals the secret for successfully creating a work environment that maximizes performance and happiness. Beyond the Job Description is essential reading for any employee who wants to remain irreplaceable in an uncertain world.' —Chad Troutwine, Co-Founder and CEO, Veritas Prep
'If you want to get ahead in your own career or be known for developing the talent of others, READ THIS BOOK! Jesse Sostrin offers an innovative way to look at jobs by focusing on both the openly-discussed and hidden demands of organizational life. Leaders and coaches can use this information to foster the development of others.' —Marian N. Ruderman, Ph.D., Director, Research Horizons, and Senior Fellow, Center for Creative Leadership
"A roadmap to the working life you long for... Meticulously researched and artfully written, this book is a must-read for anyone, at any point in their career, who wants to give (and get) more from organizational life." —Jennifer Lyn Simpson, PhD, Chief Innovation Officer, Conversant
Synopsis
The purpose of this book is to help you accelerate your capacity to stay relevant in the workplace and enjoy a high-quality working life. The concepts are not presented as a fable or a metaphor based on something 'out there' to aspire to. Instead, this book is a practical guide for understanding and translating your unsatisfying experiences in the workplace into more enjoyable and better outcomes.
When work becomes messy, complicated, we stop getting good work done, we lose sight of the things that inspire us, and sometimes we disengage. Too many headaches for too long can cause chronic stress and erode our health and well-being.
This book can help you translate your headaches at work into useful insights that boost your learning and performance and make your time spent at work a little better.
All of this matters because staying engaged and relevant at work comes from our ability to go beyond our job descriptions and add increasing value to the organization. Continuous learning and performance is the best way to stay ahead of the change curve. In order to do this we have to be able to spot and move beyond barriers and the typical causes of workplace headaches that reduce our ability to engage, creatively solve problems, and continuously learn and perform on the job. These two factors - the need for continuous learning and performance and the presence of barriers that get in the way - form what Sostrin calls the hidden curriculum of work. If you want to withstand the down-economy, a shaky job market, and technology that threatens to make you obsolete…if your current job could be outsourced, downsized, or automated…and if you worry that someone else younger, smarter, and hungrier is right behind you, then your best chance of staying relevant in the workplace is to learn how to Navigate your Hidden Curriculum of Work.
Synopsis
How Managers and Employees Can Navigate the True Demands of the Job
About the Author
Dr. Jesse Sostrin is a sought after consultant, writer, and speaker working at the intersection of individual and organizational success. He is best known for translating complex ideas about the workplace into simple language and useful tools. Through his innovative break.thrü programs, Jesse specializes in helping organizations and their leaders navigate their unique path to success through complex change. He is the Founder and President of Sostrin Consulting, a leadership and organization development practice based in San Luis Obispo, CA.
Jesse is also Vice President of Workforce, Leadership and Organization Development at Wilshire Health and Community Services in San Luis Obispo, CA. In this role, Jesse is responsible for overseeing all Human Resources functions, developing a company-wide leadership and organization development strategy, and providing senior-level consultation to the Southern California, Central Valley, and Central Coast agencies that comprise Wilshire.
Table of Contents
Dedication
Preface
Introduction
PART I: THE HIDDEN PATH TO SUCCESS AT WORK
1. The Myth of Your Working Life
2. Re-Thinking the Way We Work
3. Average Is Over
4. Get Your Working Life R-I-T-E
PART II: REVEALING YOUR HIDDEN CURRICULUM OF WORK®
5. Seeing Your 'Job-Within-The-Job'
PART III: NAVIGATING CHALLENGES IN YOUR PATH TO BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
6. Transforming Hidden Challenges with Nav-Maps
7. Success Stories from the Hidden Side of Work
8. Making Your Own Nav-Maps
PART IV: STAYING ON YOUR PATH TO SUCCESS AT WORK
9. Quantify Your Investment
10. The Answer to Overworked and Disengaged
11. Create Your Own Future-Proof Plan
12. Your Daily Compass for Solo Navigation
PART V: ESTABLISHING FUTURE-PROOF LEADERS, TEAMS, AND ORGANIZATIONS
13. A Guide to Team Navigation
14. Managing to the Hidden Side of Work
15. Cultivating Future-Proof Leaders and Organizational Cultures
Appendix 1: Self-Assessment: How Future-Proof Are You?
Appendix 2: The 40-Statement BLP Assessment
Appendix 3: The Story and Science Behind the Hidden Curriculum of Work®
Appendix 4: Additional Resources to Navigate the Hidden Curriculum of Work®
About the Author
Bibliography