For so many of us, we work really hard, regularly take on more and more tasks, and usually under the guise of being a ‘team player’ or a ‘solid contributor’. Our hope is that when someone does notice, that all of our hard work and sacrifices will be rewarded, and we will finally receive that promotion, the pay rise or the new career opportunity that we desperately wanted.
And yet, here is the thing - hope is NOT a career strategy.
Hard work alone is also not enough (yep - there, I said it).
In this latest blog post, I give you the 5 key career pillars that you need to be consistently tapping into in order to ensure that YOU are in the driver's seat of your career and your success.
1. Know yourself and set your vision.
If you haven't already, now is the time to invest in yourself. How self-aware are you, really? Who are you? What do you know about yourself? When you truly know yourself, you’ll be in a better position to know your strengths, weaknesses, motivators, triggers, and how you show up in times of stress. And therefore, you’ll know how to leverage these strengths (and deal with the relevant weaknesses), in order to better position yourself for the opportunities that you want.
So, to achieve career and leadership success this year, take the challenge to really learn more about yourself – know yourself and set your vision (and then make sure someone knows what it is!). Get really specific about what your career vision is, and set yourself up with specific steps as to how you can achieve that.
2. Cultivate your bold brand.
How do you want to be perceived in your organisation? How would you like people to describe you when you're not in the room? Your team, your manager, or your peers and colleagues -what would you hope that they would say?
Getting really clear and intentional on what you want your ‘brand’ to look like – and then setting the right mindset, the right attitude, and the right behaviours that go with it is critical to cultivate a reliable and consistent brand. Then, make sure that your brand intention is translating to the impact you actually have on people. Think: “Are people really seeing the me that I think they are? Or are the two very different?” If your intentions and impact isn't aligned, consider what blind spots you might have to work on by reaching out for some feedback from those who are in the position to give it to you - this will also go a long way to continuing to cultivate a strong level of self-awareness.
3. Relationships are key.
Relationships are critical for your success. You can swiftly accelerate your growth and your success inside an organisation through the consistent building and nurturing of real, genuine and effective working relationships. Yet, so often we prioritise the task or the project, over the people. What does it mean to invest in relationships consistently and authentically? It means sincerely being curious to learn more about other people and sharing more of you in return. Thinking: “How can I help them?”, “How might I be able to support them?”, “Who knows me?”, “Who knows who I am as a human being inside the Company?”, and “Who might I be able to connect with inside the organisation in order to further develop relationships with those that I need to?”
Prioritising building your network and cultivating relationships inside and outside your organisation is a long game, but one that will become more and more critical over the life cycle of your career. So, start NOW.
4. Performance currency.
Yes, you need to be good at your job; however, just working harder isn't enough. It's not a strategy. You need to be able to speak the language of the business that you're in and effectively link your hard work to the organisational outcomes. What are the outcomes of the work that you do? How do they serve the strategic or financial objectives of the organisation that you're in? And how do you speak the language of business to increase your performance currency?
Take a step back and think about what you really know about the organisation that you work in. What are its strategic objectives? What are its financial goals? Who are its competitors? What are its biggest challenges or threats? And, what role do you play in helping it drive success?
5. Staying relevant.
How do you stay relevant at work? The world is moving at such a rapid pace and at a rate that we've never seen before, and it isn’t showing signs of slowing down. So, it is important that you continue to find ways to stay relevant and ahead of the curve of change. You can’t afford to just sit back, wait, and hope that your manager will offer you a training opportunity. Or that somebody might ask you to be involved in a new project. You need to be on the forefront and ahead of the changes and trends occurring in your career pathway or your industry.
What are the changes that are happening around you? What micro skills do you need to be aware of and starting to cultivate now? What skills are becoming redundant or no longer relevant? And, what skills are your competitors, or the people around you becoming skilled in that you may need to think about learning too? Be proactive and continually improve yourself and your skills - This is how you can stay relevant.
The Bottom Line
So, these are the 5 things that you need to be doing consistently to drive your career in 2023: know yourself and set your vision, cultivate your bold brand, foster relationships, drive your performance currency, and do what you can to stay relevant and ahead of the curve. When is the best time to start? Yesterday, my friend.
P.s. If you're ready to do things differently for yourself this year, then GRAB THE ONE-HOUR CAREER MASTERCLASS FOR JUST $27.
You can also JOIN THE WAITLIST for the 'Transform your Career' Accelerator and be the first to know when doors open again.