Ambitious and want to change the world?
But it’s happening too slowly…
Many of us have dreams, ambitions, of making a difference, of doing meaningful and fulfilling work. But also work that is bigger than us.
That will one day leave behind an improvement or a legacy.
But how do we make that happen, how do we continue to see the stars when we are mired in the mud? How do we speed up that process so we can get the result we want faster.
Here are 3 keys:
1 Build your brand.
Sometimes we believe that if we do a great job at work – it will speak for itself & people will see it and give us the recognition we deserve. It isn’t always the case though, often people are too busy or have too much going on to notice everything you are achieving.
And in some cultures, self-promotion isn’t encouraged - I remember one of my Nz clients saying the kumara (Nz sweet potato) doesn’t speak of its own sweetness. Instead, it’s the people surrounding the kumara who speak of its delights. But what if you are working in an environment where people don’t talk of your successes (or sweetness) or are more interested in talking about themselves - what then?
Learning how to communicate your successes in the right way (so it doesn’t just look like shameless self-promotion) can pay dividends when you are in companies or cultures where people don’t advocate for you. And that is a key way you can thrive and get the recognition you deserve. Indeed, after working on this - one of my clients, a young lawyer, was one of only four people invited to represent her part of the world on a global webinar about women making change…
2 Cultivate your relationships.
If you are keen to fast track your career working on strong stakeholder management is crucial. You can be amazing at your job but without having the buy in and support of other people there are limitations on your success i.e. My client was wanting to achieve a Director level role however while comfortable at building relationships with the people beneath her she was more shy about cultivating relationships with the senior people in her firm.
Career coaching helped her develop her relationship building skills and get more support from the senior leadership team. After she got good at stakeholder management her career really took off - she was promoted to Head of QA Systems and became a part of the SLT with a team of 20 plus and 5 managers reposting to her!
3 Get support.
If you are a woman working in a male dominated world getting the right help can make a big difference. The business world was designed originally by men and for men. Of course, things have changed and are continuing to change. But it can still be challenging to navigate when there are unspoken rules that men might implicitly understand and that not every woman will.
Career coaching can also make a key difference at pivotal moments in people’s career e.g. Another lawyer I worked with was feeling angry and disappointed with her boss’s behaviour and wanted to let them have it. It was understandable given the situation but doing it wouldn’t have helped her relationship with them long term.
Career coaching helped her stay calm, be assertive about her needs and grow their relationship. Today her relationship with the Managing Partner is so strong she has the office next to him & they have even provided a kennel for her dog at work…
Here’s to you changing the world and getting what you want in your world too!