In order to progress in your career, you need to be ready. According to strategic planning consultant Allison Rimm, author of The Joy of Strategy: A Business Plan for Life, ‘It is important to identify your blind spots and shine a spotlight on areas in which you need to improve. A fresh perspective can provide you with an accurate diagnosis of any issues that need to be addressed along with a prescription for doing so.’ There’s no test that can prove to you that you’re ready for the next step up the ladder, but you can ask yourself the following questions to somewhat determine your readiness:
1. Do you seek out the “real story”? You need to gain a full picture of yourself and what’s getting in your way. You may want to progress but writing that CV is always something you’ll “get around to,” or maybe you have a shining career background but you suck at interviews. Before you can get to the happy ending of your story, you need to read all the chapters.
2. Do you hold the keys to success? It’s not about having opportunities handed to you; you have to feel in control of your own corporate wellness, so that others will see this in you. Believe you can impact your own work life for the better, and you will.
3. Who are your role models? Unless you’re in show business, identifying major role models to whom you should aspire can be difficult. However, even if you don’t pick someone in your field, it’s important to find someone whom you wish to emulate. What is it about that person that is so appealing? Identify the key qualities you admire – be it communication skills, excellence in negotiating or likeability around the office – and work out how you might evolve into something similar.
4. Can you take the tough stuff? Whether it’s about your work, your behaviour or you as a person, no one likes to hear negative criticism. However, while it may be a knock to your emotional wellbeing, criticism and feedback is a necessary step for growth in the workplace, as well as in life. You may be tempted to avoid discussing your potential downfalls, but processing this type of information can prove pivotal in the long run.
5. Do you ever think about your failures? This can’t be right; surely you need to think about your past successes – not failures – to become more successful. Though it seems counter-intuitive to dwell on your mistakes, you need to focus on your failures in order to grow in a professional capacity. Look beyond the mistake, and try to see where it originated and how you could have prevented it. Maybe you resisted an offer to collaborate and buckled under the pressure of doing it all on your own or perhaps you didn’t plan out your time effectively and ended up missing a deadline. This isn’t about beating yourself up; everyone makes mistakes. However, you don’t have to make them twice.
6. Have you started a plan for your development? You don’t need to wait for permission before you move forward in your career, so why wait? Start your evolution by identifying the five skills or traits that you’ll need to succeed at a higher level in your industry. It may help to imagine that you’re talking to a student or intern who’s entering your profession. What advice would you give them, and what are you doing to follow your own advice?
7. Do you approach your career with a degree of humour? Getting ahead at work is serious business, but if you can’t laugh at the setbacks then you’re going to drown in them. Chances are, you won’t get it right on your first try, but attempting to disarm negative emotions with humour can be the start of a “growth spurt,” giving you the positive outlook you need to get back on that horse and try again.
8. Are you willing to invest the energy that you need to? Most of the time, just keeping up with the bare minimum requirements for the job you have can be trying, but this magnifies when you start looking to get ahead. You might need to take on more responsibility, put in more hours, or even dedicate some of your free time to learning more about the industry. All of this takes time and energy, so be sure that you enter the process with a store of patience.