Four Important Steps For Your Career Bridge

09 Sep Four Important Steps For Your Career Bridge

A few years back I sat down with a tenured employee to discuss his career – and his goals for the future.

He was frustrated by the lack of opportunity – at the time – with our company and wanted to know if he should consider making a job change. His reasoning – there’s a chance his career might stagnate and he had “lofty goals.”

In my book The Compass Solution: A Guide to Winning Your Career I outline the Corporate Divorce Ten – key questions that can offer guidance on how you might approach a decision about your place of employment.

But this wasn’t a discussion that warranted walking through The Ten – there were important factors in the “here and now” that demanded attention.

And they began with the employee – not the company and the “slow down” on growth.

Four important points any person at a crossroads should ask – and not of the organization that pays them a check, but themselves.

Call them Four Must-Dos for anyone really serious about optimizing their career journey. Your answers to each of the following will go a long way in answering the success your trek.

1. Am I performing my job at a high level – and do the results and performance reviews reflect that contribution? (Insider’s Straight Talk – I’ve invested hundreds of hours counseling average performers on their career – and in everyone of those conversations the real question is not the path ahead – it’s the shoes they’re in right now.)
2. Have I invested any effort beyond the company mandated training to improve in my role? (Insider’s Straight Talk – We live in the information age, learners will dominate the future because they will leverage that advantage. The amount of incremental time we all have to invest in our development is off the chart. It’s been my experience that less than 10% optimize it.)
3. Do I have any network beyond my job assignment? (Insider’s Straight Talk – The days of the lone wolf ascending into the corporate or career heavens has passed – who you know counts.)
4. Do I have a character and a reputation that extends beyond my current role? Abraham Lincoln once said, “Character is like a tree and reputation is like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of; the tree is the real thing.” (Insider’s Straight Talk – I’ve seen a lot of people hired and promoted based on the shadow – but I’ve only seen careers thrive based on the strength of the tree. If you’re serious about your future remember your real profile will not be based on the tilt of the sun – it will be based on the timber of your character.

The Four Must-Dos are elementary – a common sense perspective from an insider who navigated 30 plus mergers/acquisitions/restructures over the course of my career in the healthcare field.

I watched a lot of people fall by the wayside because of their failure to understand even these very basic points.

To learn more – please visit www.thecompassalliance.com

And I am now on Twitter  @officialtimcole      Please follow me.

For the real Master’s Course – The book The Compass Solution: A Guide to Winning Your Career comes on the market on Sept. 25^th, 2017.