My oldest brother knew before he went to university what he wanted to do. He had been advised by a vocational guidance professional that he was an entrepreneur. It was suggested to him that he qualify as a Quantity Surveyor but that he should not practice one .Rather he should use what he had learned as a basis for building a business. He followed this advice and became a very successful property development.
I, on the other hand, stumbled from job to job until I finally realized one day when I was close to 40 what it was that I wanted to do work–wise. Looking back I realized that clues to what I really wanted to do were available to me throughout my job – hopping days. Of the several jobs that I had all of them either had marketing or sales elements. What attracted me to sales and marketing was the money and, also, in my second job a company car. I was not a great sales person but I was pretty good at marketing. When I was approaching 40 I was a senior executive in a major bank in Canada in charge of sales and marketing for the retail bank. I was unhappy in the job and for the first time thought deeply about what I knew about myself and my work.
I had a number of 360° surveys that have been done over the years as well as a track record of successes. I thought about a question: “Which roles in my work-life did I feel happiest in?”. I was able to to answer that question fairly easily. But the next question was more difficult. It was, ”What was it about the role that made me happy?”
After a while it became very clear to me but I was happiest when I was doing one of three things, learning, teaching or coaching others. As a sales person I’ve had been through a number of training courses. The one that had most impact on me was SPIN selling. You can Google it as it is still available today. There was other provided on such things as active listening, negotiating, benefits selling, relationship building and strategy development. When I became a sales manager I mostly enjoyed training the sales people as opposed to making the sales. In the bank I was given two responsibilities at a senior level before being put in charge of marketing and Sales. Both them involved facilitating teams of people to achieve pacific results. These were happy roles. One was facilitating teams redesigning processes that were not producing desired results and the other as I had been made SVP for Continuous improvement for the bank. The other was a short heading private banking. Both required huge learning curves and influencing others to see the way forward.
The point of these stories is twofold:
1. Few people know with any degree of certainty what it is we want to do with our lives work-wise.
2. We need to you become aware of what things in our personal and work life bring us joy.
Thought Two: Flow
There is a wonderful book ‘Flow’ by Mihaly Csikszentmihaly in which he explores the state that people experience when they are fully engaged in what they are doing. It is a state in which time seems to stand still and o awareness of time and they are getting joy from what they are doing.
What I discovered about myself was that I was in the flow when working to help others grow and develop. It was a slapping myself on the forward “duh”! moment.
Early on in my work as a manager I had a young 19-year-old man working with me. I forget the reason, but it was an office celebration and I got chatting to him. I asked about how he liked the work he was doing and what were his ambitions. He was bored with what he was doing and said that what he really wanted to do was to be an artist. His passion was clear when he spoke about art. In response and in my infinite wisdom I pointed out to him that as he was young, unmarried, debt-free and rent free, this would be the best time to pursue being an artist. He resigned shortly thereafter and I had no contact with him for about 15 years. I was visiting another of my brothers at the time. He told me that there was somebody who when he heard I was visiting, wanted to meet me. It turned out that the ‘somebody’ was the young man all grown up, married with two children and recognized as one of the leading artists in South Africa! He wanted to thank me for my advice and to introduce me to his family. As an aside I bought two of his paintings and did not receive a discount! So I think that he had managed to become a good financial manager as well as an artist.
Note two things in the story. One my questioning him was already a sign that I was passionate about helping others succeed. Duh!. And, second, it just took a small suggestion for him to get into action.
An exercise I recommend to you is consider deeply the question: ”When am I in the flow?”
Considered not just your work-life but also your personal life.
It might take you some time to get clear on when you are in the flow.
So what do you do when you have an insight into what makes you happy at work?
Start thinking about what roles in the company that has more of the type of work that makes you happy. It might be in another department, it might be a more senior role, it might be changing your responsibilities in your current role. It might be something different all together. The value of doing this is that gives you a basis for taking control of your future by ensuring that it moves you towards your “Flow State”. We will talk more about this in Thought Four and Five below.
There might be a gap in your knowledge to make a move from one job to a more flowing one. That might be part of your plan to be prepared. There might be specific training or experiences that will help prepare you. You can seek those out.
Thought Three: Deliver results. Be results focused.
No matter where you want your career to develop, one thing is clear. You must do your current work well. As a middle manager you will have multiple opportunities to lead getting results. The baseline impression you are leaving is that you are someone who gets results.
When I was in sales, although I found the work to be very stressing, I always worked to get the results needed. That insured that my resume was intact and bulletproof.
It makes sense that as you become clear on where you want your career to go, you do not create obstacles for yourself.
From the CEO down objectives our set and from the bottom up results are produced. As career development will require more senior managers’ approvals or recommendations, being seen as someone who gets results is foundational.
It can be hard, if you are in a role that you are not enjoying or doing work that bores you. Nonetheless, you need to discipline yourself to get the results expected.
Thought Four: Proactive networking
Let’s assume that you now have an idea of the type of work that you would like to attract more of into your life so that you can be in the flow more frequently. The question will arise: ” What are the roles in the company that have more of my desired work type?”
You might have some idea of where these work roles are, but maybe you’re not quite sure. This is where proactive networking comes into play.
At this time you are changing your thoughts about your career from waiting for someone else to decide where you should go next, to recognizing that you are going to influence your next moves.
The starting point is to identify in the company those people who would be most knowledgable and experienced in the type of work that you are eyeing. Quite often these will be people are more senior to you. Your job is to request a meeting with them to ask them the questions that will provide you with more information about their part of the business.
I will let you into a little secret. People love to tell you what they know. So your approach to obtaining the meeting to let them know you’re interested in learning more about what they and their department do. If they ask “why” you can explain and you were exploring which direction your career should move and you need help. I’m yet to hear of anybody who undertook this proactive networking who was turned down. Occasionally, they were referred to someone else. This is good because it allows you to say that the senior person suggested you meet with them.The meeting itself should focus on the other person, their role in their area of work and not about yourself. At the end of the meeting you wants to have achieved have achieved two things:
1. You have learned what you wanted to learn about the role or the department.
2. You have met somebody who knows who you are and is aware of your possible interest in the type oof work you want to do.
Do not forget to follow up with a formal thanks for their time. This provides your email address or text number and will be appreciated. If you’re able to authentically share what you learn from them then add this to your thank you note.
Let me put one concern to rest. Because the people you meet with probably be more senior tto you, hey will not be threatened by your expression of interest in what they do.
Practically, to proactive network you begin with five names of people whom you think would provide the insights and information you seek. Begin with one, and I guarantee, by the time you get to number five, you will be very comfortable in proactive networking.
Thought Five: Make your offer known
The final thought for today is the importance of letting people know what your career ambitions are within the company. By this I don’t mean anybody and everybody in the company, but I do mean people who could be influential in endorsing you for a particular position.
Certainly, your boss should have some idea of your aspirations. Do not hesitate to let your boss’s boss know and also key people in HR. You might also identify some individuals whose opinions are well respected and find an opportunity to let them know.
Think of this as being yourself incorporated: <your name> Inc! Be prepared as to how you will let somebody know in a chance meeting what you are all about. For example you bump into your boss’s boss. She says: “How are things in <your department> ? You answer – “They are fine we are getting our results, but I have been talking to X in <another department> where I think I could do a lot more for the company. if the opportunity arose”- or words to that effect. It is valuable to have your possible answer worked out. I guarantee that the conversation will not end there. Knowing your ‘flow’ could lead to explaining why you think you would be a fit. You might be remembered as a candidate down the road.
I was once invited to chat with a group of entrepreneurs. All were successful. They would meet over supper once a month. I had completed work for one of them and he invited me to share with the group. I did and the food was excellent – Japanese. Fast forward three years. I get a call from one of the attendees to meet. That resulted in working with his business, doing what I love for four years.
You never know when a seed that has been planted will bear fruit. But, as with my client, knowing what I am passionate about led to a meeting a few years on.
There are many opportunities to get the message out but proactive networking and knowing what you are looking for are key.
SUMMARY and final note
Take charge of your career by knowing what work or role delights you and moving towards it through proactive networking and letting those who might influence your development know what you offer.
Note: I have not spoken of this but you might have a specific strength technically or something that you are very good at, but does not bring you to flow. This is difficult as the money you earn might be linked to what you’re really good at doing. Still look at how you might bring more flow into your work. It might be a shift in focus from purely technical to more managerial or strategic.
