Ready To Move On With Your Career

This post is inspired by Day 30: Embrace Change of my book, Confidently You. It almost may seem that you are living your version of the 90s movie, Groundhog Day. Do you sometimes perceive that you are repeating the career experiences that produce the same outcomes that may be holding you back from advancing in your career, just displaying in different ways? Sometimes, we will keep repeating select experiences in our careers until we master the skill or learn the lesson. Sometimes reluctance to embrace feedback is the complication. The feedback’s baseline is the same, although the circumstances and role you’re in may differ. Accepting and understanding the takeaway can likely connect you to the knowledge or skills you need to shift from repeated professional experiences. 

 Dismissing the need to develop in certain areas until it arises as an issue possibly, more than once that can leave you frustrated, overlooked, or issued corrective action to resolve. Whether you perceive the feedback to be accurate or not negates that the perception or outline facts leading to having areas of improvement do not need improving. Are there soft skills that you need to enhance or a certification you need to attain? Not being proactive about your professional development can be another factor. For others, it can be a mindset roadblock that’s overshadowing them regardless of their workplace performance. You’re accountable for your success. Confidently decide to dismantle the root cause of the mindset that may be stalling you.

The author of The Proactive Professional, Chrissy Scivique, has identified five key behaviors that demonstrate being proactive at work and in life. 

• predict
• prevent
• plan
• participate 
• perform

Scivicque shares that developing foresight confirms the ability to understand how to recognize the regular routines, daily practices, and natural cycles that exist in your business. Proactive people focus their energy on finding ways to overcome obstacles that turn into concrete roadblocks. Avoid one-step, “here and now” thinking and instead, look ahead and anticipate long-term consequences. Bring the future into the present; what can you do today to ensure success tomorrow? 

 Confidently You avatar is Joel, which will complement the embracing change career focus. Joel is a team lead and a strong contributor and has periodically received feedback that he needs to work on his communication skills, explicitly delivering performance outcomes to his subordinates on his team based on his manager’s feedback for the past few months. However, Joel’s tone is perceived to be harsh frequently from his team. Joel is on the consideration list for a promotion into the executive leadership training program. Joel meets all of the requirements, but there is concern about him not being receptive to developmental feedback. After further reviewing the candidate pool, Joel makes a list for the next cohort based on his need to improve his communication. In this scenario, Joel dismissed the repeated feedback to improve his communication. He didn’t connect with the impacting significance his tone makes when communicating with the team from a leadership perspective. This feedback is on a repetitive loop, and although Joel did excel in other areas. It was the area that he did not deem important that held him back another rotation until he masters this skill. 

Choose to proactively course-correct and develop to advance to the next step of your career path. Please do not let you be the reason you miss the career responsibility you are seeking because you did not shift out of a repeated cycle tripping you up. Instead, make a choice not to let procrastination and denial fuel the delay of changing behaviors that you need to alter and acquire the skills you need to propel your career.