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EOC Perspective
Topic: Career Control In coaching and mentoring professionals, I have found that people who are enthusiastic about assuming as much control as possible over their own career development tend to reach their goals more quickly and with greater satisfaction. They quickly learn how to pursue the professional development opportunities that pay big career dividends. Career self-management is easier for some people than others, but it is definitely a skill that anyone can cultivate. It centers around four basic strategies:
Modern industries, work environments and the careers that develop within them are dynamic. Consequently, individuals need to plan strategically as much as organizations do. By assessing your strengths, limitations, challenges and opportunities at regular intervals throughout your career, you can adjust your professional development focus and be ready to handle positive or negative developments as productively as possible. If you maintain a healthy level of awareness and preparation, you can also reduce stress and give yourself an edge in thinking creatively about upcoming career openings and changes. 2. Establish an Individual Professional Development Plan. Career growth involves a constant tension between comfort and challenge. You begin a new career role both energized and intimidated by new responsibility. Then when you successfully master new responsibilities to the point where they feel routine, you start to think about what’s next in your career. Professional development helps you make the journey from novice to expert at every step. It involves any resource that helps you master new knowledge, skills or personal development, including: professional reading, formal training, new work experiences, mentoring, networking and feedback. Ideally, your organization will provide appropriate training for core functions. However, you may have to budget time and money for professional development (just as you would for personal fitness) to advance your career. Your plan should include resources that: support your current level of responsibility, address any deficiency you want to overcome, and prepare you to aim for the next level of career growth. 3. Exceed Performance Expectations. Success in the workplace is all about establishing and maintaining trust: with clients, supervisors and colleagues. The best way to achieve this credibility is to demonstrate to these individuals that they can rely on you to deliver your best work within the confines of your resources. It means delivering your professional contribution on time and with reasonable efficiency—while taking a genuine interest in the people and projects you encounter. 4. Pursue, and Welcome, Constructive Feedback. Real time feedback is the best way to expedite professional development and one of the most difficult resources to access. Busy schedules, discomfort with giving even constructive criticism, fear of damaging a collegial relationship and the assumption that no feedback is needed are among the obstacles contributing to the feedback gap. Yet delayed or missing feedback sabotages timely performance improvement. The solution is simple—ask for specific feedback when you need more direction or are uncertain about how you should have handled a particular matter. Often supervisors are more receptive to these narrower queries than to general handholding because they understand what feedback you need and the fact that you welcome it. 5. Communicate Often, Clearly and Professionally. Failure to communicate is one of the biggest causes of misunderstandings in the workplace. Take a little time to discover the communication preferences of your colleagues—method, frequency, style—to ensure they feel informed and confident when dealing with you. Keep your radar up for communication snags and move quickly to correct them. For example, you can often head off trouble from an email dialog that has gone off course by simply picking up the phone or stopping by someone’s office to troubleshoot the problem. 6. Exhibit the Highest Standards of Professionalism. Professionalism is a natural complement to outstanding expertise. It avoids entitlement or minimal efforts. Responsible career management can involve advocacy for respect and fair treatment when necessary, but it also requires maintaining high personal standards in the most challenging circumstances. If this sounds abstract, imagine a performance evaluation form with such categories as attitude, commitment, ethics, contribution, professional appearance and professional courtesy. Then decide where you want to be on the scale between Outstanding and Unacceptable and what level of enthusiasm, volunteering, teamwork, respect and personal capital you must cultivate to achieve it. 7. Seek Mentoring Support. It’s unanimous. Everyone agrees a good mentor can be an invaluable resource in advancing your career. The challenge lies in engineering positive mentoring opportunities among busy professionals. In this instance, proactive career management offers a solution. If you already have a formal mentoring relationship within your organization, do your part to maintain it by occasionally taking the lead in connecting. You can also look for informal mentoring opportunities to spend a few minutes with those in your organization you feel have special expertise or insights to share. For example, you might choose to sit next to a veteran colleague and chat while waiting for a meeting to begin or seek out expert advice on a unique problem you’ve encountered in a new project. 8. Maintain an Active Professional Network. Good career managers know they should be networking even when happily employed, that networking has many benefits besides learning about new career opportunities. A good network helps you troubleshoot complex issues and explore new developments. It can help expand your own professional development through shared practical experience and insights. While some networking relationships flow very naturally from regular professional encounters, you should also stay in touch with colleagues you value but see less frequently. Sometimes setting a time (the first Monday of every month) or a goal (having a networking lunch once a month) will help you rotate more deliberately through the contacts you want to maintain. 9. Keep Revising Your Professional Resume. Do you have a resume you could hand or e-mail someone today that accurately captures a current professional snapshot of your career experience and accomplishments? Rather than filing away your resume after landing a position, use it to keep a running check on your career progress and record major achievements as they occur. By noting details while they are fresh, you will be better able to quantify your performance when revising your resume or advocating for increased responsibility or compensation. In addition to providing a convenient career log, the evolving resume will help you spot patterns that can inform your strategic career management and professional development decisions. 10. Be Open to Unanticipated Opportunities. Often the accidental discovery trumps the most detailed planning, in personal and professional endeavors. Think of penicillin—or a surprise encounter that develops into a lifelong friendship. However, in many instances, we would not even recognize the opportunity if our planning had not propelled us into its path. Ideally, your proactive career management will give you such a clear command of your strategy and action agenda that you can spot unique potential in an unexpected development and respond with confidence and creativity. EOC Perspective Archives Career Control - June 2007 |