All too often I hear employees talk about how they can’t move up in their job, their manager doesn’t listen, they need more training, they are bored…yada yada yada.
The truth is your manager is not the issue, you are!
Employees must equip themselves to think and act like intrapreneurs! Below are a few ways to accomplish this:
- Get clear about your workplace goals: Often times, employees are not clear about their goals and thus place this burden on their boss. However the aspirations of an employee and the goals of a boss are very different. Sure you both may have an interest in your success, especially in terms of performance and productivity but that’s usually where the commonality ends. The truth is, YOU are the only person that is genuinely vested in your career success and as such YOU are in the best position to manage it.
- Don’t be afraid to initiate dialogue with your boss: Whether your boss has an open door policy or not, is irrelevant. You should and must initiate dialogue with him/her on a regular and consistent basis. Gone are the days where bosses championed for your career success. Now they sit quietly on the sidelines and take note of those employees who drive their careers by championing for themselves.
- Communicate your career goals and aspirations to your boss: Let your boss know what your career intentions are and don’t just communicate those that are related to your current position and/or duties. This is the time to dream big and give your boss a visual of direction in which you are headed. This is not the time to hold back! Your boss can be of great value to you once he/she is aware of your goals and aspirations.
- If a clear path towards meeting your goal is not present, suggest an alternative: Don’t resort to how things currently are in your organization. Organizations change all the time and usually it’s a result of someone coming up with a better way of doing things. Agility and innovation are at the core of every successful organization so if a piece of the puzzle doesn’t fit, gladly suggest a new one and if you’re bold enough create an entirely new game. Change is inevitable. You can either benefit from it or be hindered by it. It’s up to you!
- Make suggestions that will allow you to grow and at the same time be of benefit to your boss: Having an arterial motive is not necessarily a bad thing. In the world of business you should and must always think about how you can benefit. No one has your back like you do. So be strategic in your approach. Businesses operate in this manner and so should you.
- Insist on working with your boss to develop a plan of action: Put it in writing! I can’t stress enough the importance of having a plan. It not only helps to keep you on track but it also places accountability on your boss to ensure that he/she is providing you with the resources to succeed.
- Propose a timeline to revisit your plan with your boss: Milestones or some other form of measurement will allow for time to revisit your progress, lessons learned and next steps. You don’t want too much time to lapse. Suggest a reasonable time frame for following up (i.e. weekly, monthly, quarterly). Do not allow an entire year to go by before you revisit this. Again change is inevitable and letting too much time lapse could prove to be ineffective as the steps in your plan will likely need to be tweaked along the way.
- Make adjustments as needed: Make them and move on. Nothing is set in stone. The worst thing you can do is proceeding with a plan that will not produce your intended results. Time wasted. Resources depleted. And your boss will not be impressed!
- Keep your eyes and ears open for opportunities: Opportunities exist on a daily basis. Most employees however, take a passive approach towards growing their careers. This approach will lead to frustration and even worst, resentment. Volunteer for that committee or special project. Take the lead on an initiative. Find ways to enhance your craft. Whatever you do, don’t be a backseat driver. Get out there and be seen. The more people that know who you are and what you are capable of doing, the more likely you are to reach your goals.
- Be consistent in your efforts: How you start is how you should finish! Change does not occur overnight. Work your plan and it will ultimately work for you.
Employees are an organization’s greatest asset. If you don’t learn to manage your career, someone else will!
*Feel free to leave comments or ask questions. I would love to hear your thoughts.
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