Create a team of advisors for your career

Ever wish you had a trusted team of career advisors -- a group that would help you analyze whether to push for a higher salary, how to keep up morale during a job search, whether to go back to school for more training, or even how to handle little things like how to respond to an email that raises your blood pressure?

For almost a decade, I've had such a team. It started with a small writing group that formed when I was transitioning from law to journalism. Before long, that group morphed into something even bigger. We edited each other's work and helped one another find the perfect publication for a particular pitch. We made sure that each of us had goals and stuck to them (e.g. get that book proposal finished by January). We shared our contacts so that we each had a deeper network than any one of us could have had alone. And we were always available for an emergency session on how to tackle any problem one of us faced.

I often recommend this idea to anyone committed to career development and thought about writing a book about how to create groups like this, but I don't need to because Keith Ferrazzi's new book, "Who's Got Your Back," is a blueprint for how to find the collection of key people who will help you succeed and keep you accountable to your goals. The book is worth reading, but as a teaser, here are a few takeaways:

Accountability matters. There's a reason people lose weight in programs groups like Weight Watchers or quit drinking after joining a twelve step program. These programs all focus on the nuts and bolts of how to do something - lose wait or tackle addition -- but they also add in the component of accountability to others.

Choose wisely. Ferrazzi's book is filled with stories about people he turned to at various critical moments in his career. What is true in all of them is that they are people he knew and trusted, often having cultivated relationships over years. My group worked for all those years primarily because we had trust and mutual respect for one another.

Support your peers. Recently I got a call from a writer who wanted me to coach her. As we spoke, it became clear that she had access to a network of other writers who could probably help her as much as I could, as long as she was willing to help them as well. I told her that she should save her money and start a group with a bunch of fellow writers, much like I did with my early group. Ferrazzi calls this "peer support."

There is power in teams. In case after case, Ferrazzi illustrates how joining forces with others can lead to greater career success. In one story that stayed with me, he talked of a real estate agent who grew her business considerably by partnering with a fellow agent. While the two could have become competitors, instead they are an unofficial team, covering for one another when one is unavailable, pushing each other to sell more, and helping each other to improve skills like cold calling.

While we are on this subject, I want to share two other great resources:

If you are working on the more specific question of how to find a job, have a look at Tory Johnson's article and resources on how to start a Job Club, on Job Kernl, a new digital tool offered by Good Morning America and Hyperion Books. It works on the same principles Ferrazzi talks about in his book. Also, check out career coach, Michael Melcher's guest post on my old New York Times blog, Shifting Careers, about how to assemble your own personal board of directors.

If you've had success with a job or careers group, please share any advice or perspective you have in the comments.