When clients come to me for help they are often looking for ways to advance their careers and to grow. Yet, when I look at their work and how they are engaged in it, I often find that they have slipped into a zone of comfort, and are not really pushing to grow. When I point this out to them they often get defensive by telling me how busy they are and how they do not have time to take on more work to show what they can really do.
What is happening here is that your hard work—long hours, managing teams in different time zones, and constantly reacting to the raging fires that need to be put out—mistakenly becomes your proxy for your value to the company. Many clients are surprised to learn this at the end of year when their performance review is presented to them. They are disappointed that despite all their hard work they have not advanced their station in any significant ways; perhaps a modicum salary increase, some kind words from the boss, and a few tips of encouragement: Keep up the good work!
What is happening here is that the client is mistaking hard work for creating new value for the employer. When you are doing the same work, more or less in a transactional mode, you have slipped into a comfort zone, and, despite all your hard work it is not going to make much difference in how it reflects on your résumé or in how the company sees your value. So, in every such case my guidance to my clients is the same: find something in your area of work that puts you in a zone of discomfort, take it on, and show the value you can create.
Even to do this right there is some method, which you must follow to translate your undertaking into something meaningful to both your career and to your growth. Here are my recommendations on how to do this right:
- First make an audit of your workload and evaluate how you spend your daily time attending to your work. Find repetitive work and see how much of that you can delegate it down, sideways, and to the trash heap. A case in point: When I was managing a large project with over 300 people I used to get urgent phone calls all day along about various project matters. When I decided to wait 24 hours to return many of those calls, nearly 80% of the requests vanished as the callers had found other ways to address the issues!
- Expect people around you, including your direct reports, to do more than they are doing. It if strange, but when you expect more from people, they often come through!
- Now find some worthy project or cause that you really want to sink your teeth into. Find the value of that initiative to the department, your boss, your company, and to your customer. Take on a high-value, high impact initiative that will make your résumé shine. Put together a plan and make a business case for it before going to your boss. Get it fully vetted and then present to your boss in a way that makes him look good in front of their superiors. More importantly, it should provide you a significant professional growth opportunity.
- It is here that you negotiate how you are going to be rewarded for your initiative before you take it on. Do not assume that your boss will remember your work at review time and give you what you deserve out of the goodness of their heart. It does not work that way. You do not get what you deserve; you get what you negotiate beforehand! Get specific commitments. Merely hearing from your boss, We’ll take care of you, is not enough!
- Make sure that you have organized your project with sufficient resources of time, staff, equipment, and support. Generously use your ability to acknowledge people’s help by writing emails of commendations with copies to many higher-ups in the organization. It is amazing for a simple email of recognition what lengths people are willing to go!
- Keep a journal of your progress and evaluate what you are learning and how you are growing. Keep track of the benefits that are the result of your work. Such benefits might be: A more efficient workflow, a better product design, a smoother customer interaction, and so on. Try to monetize those benefits so that you have some ammunition at the time of your annual review, and for a bullet on your résumé.
- Make your boss an integral part of the ongoing activities in your initiative. They must feel committed to the project, so when it comes to taking credit it is appropriate. Also, when it gets into some trouble your boss’ neck is also on the line.
- At key milestones send out emails about what you have accomplished and, once again, acknowledge all those who have helped you get there. This will ensure their continuing help in the overall success that remains ahead.
- When you have completed what you have set out to do make sure that you send out an email documenting your overall initiative, how it has helped (or will help) the right cause, and how you were able to succeed getting this done with the help of those (with names) who worked with you!
- When your annual review comes due make sure that your contributions are well acknowledged with a commensurate change in your compensation. Remind your boss of the promises you extracted before you started working on this (a’ la # 4 above). Also, revise your résumé to get it market ready!
Getting out of your comfort zone is where your growth is. So, next time you start slipping into a rut, follow this advice and do something for yourself!
Good luck!