THE TRUTH ABOUT MANAGING YOUR CAREER…..
The Truth about moving on…..
Truth 1:
Good career planning requires you to know yourself….
“A young executive named
Robert reluctantly went through the general Electric career-planning program:
three days of looking where he wanted to be at what stage of his working life.
Rather busy at the time, 24-year-old Robert felt it was a bit early for this
kind of thing. However, after completing the assignments, he realized that
being in-charge of many people meant a lot to him. He determined that his long
term goal was to be the top person in his profession at a major company before
he was 50.
When Robert’s career started
to stall at a major fortune 50 company, that objective stuck in his mind. He
knew he needed to move if he were to make it to his goal. Robert worked for
four more companies, expanding his role every time, always considering the
endgame. Now almost 60, Robert has reached his goal and beyond. He is president
of a major U.S. corporation, running a $30 billion business. He credits that
course 36 years ago that helped him become clear about his career goals.
We can all learn something
from Robert’s clarity of vision. However, it would be a mistake to assume that
you share his idea of a successful career and to try to imitate his strategy.
It is a workplace myth that most of the people are ambitious to get ahead-one
reinforced by a culture of promotion meaning success. The truth is that
different people are motivated by and committed to different things. The best
bit of career planning you’ll ever do is to spend some time getting to know
yourself. Then you can focus on what you really want.
There are 4 principal ways to
get satisfaction at work: to get ahead, to get secure, to get free, and to get
high. Which of these or which combination of these is most like you?
§
Get-ahead people
enjoy competition, one-upmanship, and risk. They are good at thinking years
ahead and are comfortable working with lots of politics.
§
Get-secure people
enjoy being competent at their jobs. They may seem territorial, wanting to be
an irreplaceable expert by knowing more about something than others at work,
such as legal stuff or finances. They may hate taking vacations since they need
to irreplaceable.
§
Get-free people
want to be able to do their own thing. They often carve niches in esoteric
areas that enable them to pursue personal interests. Role as consultants or
academics can allow them to determine their own working patterns, but they
often choose to work for themselves.
§
Get-high people
need to do work that not only matters to them but that they love with a
passion. They enjoy being challenged and maybe entrepreneurs, researchers, or
project leaders.
Knowing yourself and knowing
where you want to go helps you focus on the bigger picture of your working life
and keeps you from getting distracted or discouraged by the small frustrations
or slow patches. It also stops you from leaping into the wrong job just because
you think you should accept a promotion. It maybe that you should stay put,
move sideways, or even move on……
(Truth 2, on the way!!)
