How to Bring in Our Unofficial Resume and Embrace a Mindset of Paradox?

"When I look back as a child, one of the things that intrigued me the most was what people do at work, and what I will do when I grow up. I went through all the possible professions at different ages... I wanted, for example, to be Julie the hostess from the TV series 'Love Boat' "

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From this sweet childhood dream, which she remembers with a smile, two deep loves remained. Today she fulfills them in her career: talking to people she doesn't know and traveling the world.

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The field of human capital management in companies is not always clear to us. It contains many professions and we do not always understand the differences between all the positions and specializations in this world. We also do not always understand how all this affects us as employees, entrepreneurs or managers. I brought Dana to help sort us out from her rich experience.

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So what is organizational consulting? We started by discussing the broad definition.

People who will work in everything related to people and processes in the workplace - the ability to understand both at the level of diagnosis and at the level of the ability to help and assist the team or the entrepreneur to take the necessary actions to reach their goals, whether social or business.

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"Career management is something that is very personal, and one of the things that really concerns me today is how exactly an organization creates career paths and turns itself into a favorable environment in terms of career - the seam between the micro and the macro."

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Acknowledge prejudices

The career journey begins before the choice itself. It is important that we know that along with the power of our will and talents, we are also guided to certain places by the families we were born into, by the society we were in, and by the prejudices that surround us - the story behind identity and professional identity consists of many layers. Therefore, both when we are looking for the right path for us and when we are scouting for employees for our company, it is imperative to look at ourselves or the entrepreneur in front of us through several pairs of glasses. Dana herself shares that in the past she gave up her dream of becoming a doctor just after already being accepted to Med school. This was because of a fear rooted in her. However, when appearing in front of students today, it's something important for her to share.

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To conduct oneself from a paradox mindset

In the world of entrepreneurship there is complexity that must exist, it is a feature and not a bug. The constant conflict between the need to build something creative and the business side, to expand on the one hand and maintain security and stability on the other, together with the uncertainty and risk that are constantly present and clouding the field of vision, are not a question of either or, but must exist side by side;

"For example, tension at work between a manager who wants to promote things and the legal advisor who tells him - 'No, you can't do it that way' - many times they turn it into a conflict between them, but there is an inherent complexity here - now let's brainstorm how to do it both creatively and Business oriented. And the different positions represent the variety of these voices - we need them all."

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How can we create this space practically:

1. The inner phase - to befriend with the paradox. The tension between efficiency and creativity, quantity and quality, result and process, strength and cooperation, control and flexibility, requires first of all the identification of opposing forces.

"This phase to my experience is not trivial, because when assisting organizations during times of tension between two sides we tend to look at things as right/wrong. We need to understand that there are two forces here that both have value, and put them together."

The naming itself allows clearer discourse.

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2. The external phase - to produce our mix. The next step is to invite the paradox and bring the opposite explanation even when there is consensus, because all the different voices protect us. If we are talking about flexibility at work for example, and we are all in favor of the idea, let's remember the second value of control. We will see how to delimit it and create alignment within freedom. We arrive at much better solutions when we look at the whole spectrum -

"To get accurate answers you have to ask the right questions."

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Another tip that Dana gives in making decisions in the face of conflict is to make the separation between what is under our responsibility and what is outside of our control. Our responsibility as entrepreneurs and investors is to ask the difficult and complex questions and collect data - we have no control from the other side if there is an Economic crisis, or vice versa. This diagnosis is important both for our efficiency and for a feeling of calm within ourselves about our path.

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What is your resume

Not less critical than the professional resume, is our unofficial resume - not only what abilities we bring to the table, but what patterns we have in the way we work and what our values are -

"We all possess a variety of identities. Getting to work is like going to kindergarten for grown-ups; we build and destroy, we feel happy and sad, we are jealous or angry, and we have misunderstandings - the whole world of relationships enters work. So what I bring to the table is my unofficial resume."

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In job interviews or on dates with potential co-founders, we often check things with a positive bias - how do you work? What drives you? When are you at your peak?, and we don't focus on the other and equally important side - what happens in areas that are less comfortable for you? What are you offended by? What makes you feel insecure, or takes energy away from your workday? - inviting the conversation into the vulnerable and painful places can open more layers and understanding of the compatibility and relationships that can exist between us. Even in a conversation between a manager and a potential employee, we can understand - what do you need from me to meet your goals?

Dana sums it up with -

"what is not said is acted upon".

In the end, what lies beneath the surface will manifest one way or another, so we better prepare and not be surprised when things erupt.

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When I ask Dana for a final tip for conducting good and effective conversations, she shares:

‍"One of the most significant things in a conversation is to allow ourselves to be surprised." Even when a decision has already been made, allow ourselves to come out of the conversation with something else we didn't know before. This is another point of thought I hadn't thought of before."

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It doesn't matter if we are managers, employees, colleagues, or spouses, the more attentive our ear is and the more open and willing our heart is, the more we will grow. At least that's what I (Gali) believe in.