ANGELIQUE ELECTRA
When you notice that others are being promoted or that your boss is not providing you new “stretch” projects to demonstrate your readiness for advancement, you may feel a burn or an itch for change. Perhaps you’re stuck in a managerial clog — your manager won’t credit you or publicize your accomplishments, and make you more visible to senior management as promotable talent. You’re told you are doing fine, but you’re not given any roadmap on what it will take to get to the next level. Your reviews are light weight (“keep doing what you’re doing!”) and what it will take to get that raise or promotion are not even on the agenda. You feel stuck. You keep waiting for something to change. Another year goes by, and there are always excuses. No budget, changed strategic plan, etc.
If this feels familiar, it’s time to adjust your perception of the situation and begin to self-empower. Reframe your current job or career position as your current “performance platform.” From where you sit, think about your job as your performance platform to enable you to reach your goals, despite whatever else is going on in the company or organization. Consider that the performance platform represents alignment between between your goals and that of the organization. Defining what you want, and giving yourself a career roadmap that has requirements regarding your future is the key to successfully operating your performance platform. The performance platform exists for you to not only deliver the scope and quality and efficiency required by your role, but for you, it is to deliver your career building requirements as well. Does it provide a clear and accessible track to enhance and grow your skills, provide growth opportunities, afford exposure and visibility and reward you with competitive compensation?
Along with the periodic performance evaluations by your manager, conduct your own review of your employer for your career development. We can get swept up or distracted by the many complexities of Company strategic plans, operations, executive personnel changes and politics. However, if you feel stuck, it’s time to reassess.
Ask yourself good questions — and candidly write down your answers in a journal.
1. What is my timeline for determining whether this performance platform will meet my career needs?
2. Where do I want to be in 1, 2 and 3 years? At each point, what is my role, level/title, and compensation?
3. Looking ahead to that 1, 2 or 3 year mark, what will I have had to do or be?
4. Have I been meeting and exceeding the requirements of my job? If not, why not? If so, who gets to notice?
5. What are the current opportunities I have on my current performance platform?
6. Are there current obstacles to my promotional opportunities (whether who or what) and to what extent can they be eliminated through my own efforts?
7. Is my manager actively addressing growth opportunities with me?
8. What skills and experience do I believe I need in my portfolio for me to advance? Can this performance platform provide them?
9. Does the company have a strong and demonstrative DEI culture that supports employee values and growth?
10. Does the organization invest in its employees and are these investments made available to me (education, training, leadership programs, etc.)?
11. Is the organization achieving its own goals? Am I clear on how I contribute to them?
12. Am I staying too quiet? Am I addressing my own goals with my employer and asking for the roadmap of conditions meeting my requirements that enable my development and promotional opportunities?
13. Whose or What role do I aspire to in my career ? If there is no role I want, can I create the one I do want?
14. How satisfied am I with my role? Do I want to transition into something else?
15. Do I understand my employer’s strategic plan and how my role fits in to accomplish it. Am I aligned?
16. Who are my influencers (advisors, mentors, coaches) in my career decisions? Am I making good use of them?
17. Do I stay current regarding industry demand for what I have to offer?
18. Does my LInkedIn profile accurately describe my Brand, Value (accomplishments) and Aspirations?
19. Do I occasionally respond to opportunities to help me assess my career performance platform?
20. Do I know what my compensatory value is?
Assess Your Answers and Create a Performance Platform Action Plan. Once you give your performance platform a thorough evaluation, it’s time to get into a planning mode. First, provide objectives and goals for yourself for each of the following 3 years. These can be milestones based on job role, additional education/training, compensation, or specific achievements. If you are looking to transition, it can also include this milestone. By writing down the specifics of your career goals, there is a much higher likelihood they will materialize as written.
Review your plan quarterly, record accomplishments and revise to address changes. Once you have a plan, review yourself and your performance platform against it. Ensure that you review your thoughts with your manager quarterly regarding your performance and ideas and expectations that you have regarding your career growth.
Take the Action Called for by your Plan. If the plan is not developing in your favor, that may mean talking to your manager, or putting out feelers for other internal roles or external jobs.
Most managers don’t really care about your career development and growth apart from their own. They mostly care about their own, and the extent to which you can help them look good and get there. This may seem harsh, but it’s just human nature. There may be some managers who love to inspire, mentor or and coach, or have a special interest in ensuring their people are happy. Assess whether yours does. If so, nurture the relationship further. If not, prompt your manager to be thoughtful by being an active participant in your evaluations and 1-1s. In short, peole who want to advance need the help of others. The point of this? You must act in your own best interest like you’re the only one who really cares, because in most cases, you are.
Organizations and their managers do not want to lose great performers. Be so good at what you do that they would hate to lose you. Being a valued contributor provides you leverage. If your performance platform shows no improvement in delivering to your requirements according to your timelines, it may be time to go elsewhere to grow yourself. Their fear of losing you can make them act to give you more of what you want. This means, if your performance platform is not working optimally for you, you must always be prepared to leave for greener pastures to prompt change you want.
Waiting for change to occur doesn’t move the ball. Staying in motion on the changes you want does . Positioning yourself to win in your career is staying in the driver’s seat with your foot on the gas.
