Many people want to achieve success in their career. Some will actively manage their career so that they achieve success, while others will leave it to chance. Truth is that for the majority of people there will be a combination of active and passive management of their career. On the other hand, if you want to achieve success it is better to actively manage your career. So what are my 6 tips?
1. Decide what you want
If you want to achieve career success, you need to be clear on what you ultimately want to achieve. We are conditioned to play small but if you want to be the CEO of a top organisation, set this as a goal. You might not know how to achieve it but you have taken the key step of setting an intention.
2. Carry out a self assessment
One thing that those who achieve career success have is a high degree of self awareness. They know where they contribute most and least. They know what skills they have and those that they rely on others for. They know how their behaviours, style of working and how they communication impacts on others. If you want to develop that level of awareness, carry out your own self assessment.
3. Ask for feedback
Successful people see that benefits of getting feedback and if you want to achieve success, you need to get feedback. A common mistake that people sometimes make is to ask too few people or not a wide enough cross section of people for feedback. Make sure you get as broad a range of feedback as you can. In addition, be prepared to be surprised. People will often see skills and attributes that you are not even aware off.
4. Go the extra mile
Achieving career success, especially if you want to get to a senior level requires a high degree of personal commitment. You don't maximise your success by doing the minimum. On the other hand you cannot give your best if you are facing burn out. Be willing to go the extra mile when you need to but be ready to recharge too to maximise your contribution.
5. Build your reputation
To get the most from your career you need to build your reputation. You might want to build you reputation as someone who creates great teams, brings creative solutions to challenging problems, brings out the best in others, inspires others or provides balance in decision making to name just a few. Decide what you want to build a reputation for and then start taking the actions to support this.
6. Continually develop yourself
In business things develop continuously and if you want to achieve lasting success you need to continually develop yourself. Even if you committed to learn one new thing each week that would help you to achieve more career success, you would have 52 new skills or attributes by the end of the year. If this was replicated in teams you are part of, imagine the impact that would have.
Nothing is guaranteed in terms of your career but by actively managing your career you can greatly enhance you chances of success.