“You don’t know how far you can you until you go too far”-Ralph Waldo Emerson
Most professionals believe that their manager has the responsibility for advancing their career! In fact some are under the illusion that their managers often lie awake at night wondering about how to promote their employees’ careers and how to make worth their while!
Nothing could be further from the truth!
Most employees (about 80% of them!) let their careers “happen” to them. This attitude of surrender or resignation occurs early in life. Their parents tell them what they should pursue; their neighbors influence them to think about what they missed out on; their professors inveigle them to pursue an exciting research idea, and so on. As a result many undertake a path in their careers which might be different if they had spent some time contemplating about how to pick the right path and what really excited them.
It is often true that early in life such insight may be difficult to get. Those who are lucky enough to have such insights and have the conviction of their beliefs about what they want to do when they grow up often make their dream a reality by their perseverance and by their hard work. But, what about the remaining 80% who resign themselves to be led in their careers by their fate, their destiny, and the vagaries of those in the immediate clutch of others?
It is not as hopeless as it may sound. Why? Opportunities abound at any time and many are there just for the asking. The fact is that most do not feel compelled to see the opportunity that is not manifest, take some risk, and follow their own will to own it. In any organization there are many opportunities that lay dormant because no one either sees them or that they do not have the courage to take their ownership to lead them to fruition. Most wait for their managers to present just one such opportunity as a gift as they await its arrival! With this approach you are controlled by the politics of the place, organizational vagaries, and managing your perception at levels that matter.
Managing perception is one of most challenging factors in one’s career. This includes not just merely doing great work, which is a prerequisite to moving ahead, but also how others perceive what you have done and are doing. Most assume that if they do good, honest work, people around them will take notice and remember their contributions. Alas, it does not always work this way in organizations, where people foist their agendas and cut down others who get in their way. Managing perception entails managing upwards and downward how other perceive what you do. This takes work and diligent effort.
Much of this can be trumped if you seize a compelling opportunity, make a case for it in the right circles, and show leadership in how you can shepherd it to take the organization in a different or new direction. Such initiative, regardless of its ultimate success, can propel a career to far greater heights more quickly than the endless politicking, posturing, perception managing, and making yourself visible.
So, to summarize my mantra for career advancement, the following list may help the self-initiated put their career in high gear:
- Identify what your next career stop is and find out what requirements must be met to claim that position. Proactively ask for assignments that provide you the opportunity for these skills.
- Prepare your resume ahead of time for the promotion you are seeking and find out how you can get such assignments under your belt. Don’t wait; ask!
- Uncover what is not happening and what the customer is experiencing. Do not wait for marketing or for the results of the latest survey to glean this information. Go out and talk to the customers, even though you may be someone far removed from such experiences.
- Propose a project or an initiative that will bring about the right change and transform the customer experience. Lead the effort, and, when completed, send out an announcement stating what you have achieved.
- Collaborate with upper management and work with those around you to flesh out what needs to be done that will change the status quo.
- Team up with others and see their help in improving things and give them credit for their initiative and help.
- Check your own market value by updating your resume and responding to jobs that are a step up
- Attend shows, conferences, and trade events to make yourself visible. Promote your brand relentlessly.
- Work on a time table for your advancement and let your boss know what you are seeking. It is amazing that simply stating what you desire and working towards it can get you what you are after.
- Help those below you to advance as you want to be helped in your own advancement. The law of good karma works universally!
Career advancement is NOT a mystery. You can drive your own career to destinations that you choose!
Good luck!