While corporate mergers and downsizing trends are mimicking the strategic plays of football, these sports in business place demands on professionals at the line of scrimmage. How you respond in order to stay on top of the game is key to your resilience in the game. As Don Shula, former coach of the Miami Dolphins said in his book Everyone's a Coach, certain attributes exist among those persons who effectively remain successful in their careers. It is certainly no surprise to find that, in an interview with Peter Isaakson, president of international training firm Tri-Learning, Inc., these same qualities in successful IT professionals shone through even the technical jargon of the techie game. Read the cheat sheet that works as well in business as it does in football.

A resilient professional is mission driven.
"Employees need to feel that they have a mission," Isaakson said. The key question to ask is 'what is my mission?' Seeing the defined challenge to the corporation invites you to ponder your own role in it. Even when the context of the company's practices have changed, it is important to look at your mission's similarities and differences in the new setting, making adjustments where they are called for by new demands. A successful professional makes these adjustments because of a deeply held in his or her personal mission.

A resilient professional has over-learned needed skills.
Over-learning skills makes your task of assimilating them into new contexts. In football, the task is for players to perform a task as if it was programmed second nature. Over-learners can do tasks without having to think about it. It shows that you are not a novice at your craft and conveys to others your confidence in yourself is well-placed.

A resilient professional is audible ready.
Isaakson said this about adaptability in the corporate sense: "Adaptability is often seen as the corporate ideal. Market-led companies seek to adapt to their marketplace and will therefore achieve success more often than product-led companies that hope the marketplace will continue to be interested in their product."

Can IT professionals afford to do less? The fact of markets' needs governing product is most evident in the technical world, and as a professional YOU are the product. Successful professionals know this and follow the needs of corporations. Consider corporate needs as the line of scrimmage. From here, what actions must you take to score a touchdown? You'd never consider doing the very same thing you did last time. You'd consider your options and placements of players as they are now and act accordingly. That's what your career demands of you. Be resilient. Be audible ready.

A resilient professional is consistent.
As a twist of irony, the audible ready professional exists on the foundation of consistency. Isaakson said that if needed changes are minor, "the adaptation will be based on the defense of what is stable - seeking to improve it and provide a better fit within the marketplace. If the changes appear to be long-term, it means managing the process of change and reviewing the impact on every level of the system." Can you see what will happen during the current placement of players on the field when you throw the ball? Of course, the game is the same. The only thing that has changed is the needs of the market, so you respond by changing your play to make that fit.

These principles are effective in mergers, startup companies and shifting positions within a career. These can include cultural conflict and systems methods, among others. These are always the same game, but place new demands on professionals. Working in the bouncing market that is information technology, professionals can, and must, remain resilient.

2003 - 2004 Copyright Sabrina Glidden. Printed with Permission.

About the Author
Sabrina Glidden is a freelance writer based in Eaton, Indiana. A generalist, she writes about family, animal advocacy, business, and women's health issues. Her Web site at www.YourBestWriter.com.