What do you do if you're seeking career advancement?

Seeking career advancement requires strategic planning and proactive steps. Firstly, self-assessment is crucial to identify strengths, weaknesses, and career goals. Next, seek mentorship or coaching to gain insights and guidance. Develop a clear career roadmap with short and long-term goals, and actively seek opportunities for skill development and networking. Demonstrate initiative, take on challenging projects, and showcase achievements to decision-makers. Cultivate relationships with key stakeholders and continuously seek feedback for growth. Lastly, remain adaptable and open to change, seizing opportunities that align with your career aspirations.

1. Reflect on Successes and Challenges: a) Analyze past experiences to identify strengths and areas for improvement. b) Consider tasks that energize you and instances where you've excelled. 2. Utilize Assessment Tools: a) Take personality assessments or self-evaluation tests to gain insights. b) Seek feedback from colleagues or mentors to validate your self-assessment. 3. Set Clear Objectives: a) Define specific goals based on your identified strengths and gaps. b) Use this self-awareness to inform your career advancement strategy effectively.

Some of the other ways to do include: 1. Review the job specs/KPIs and rate yourself (out of 10) against each competency. 2. Use free online assessments to determine your : a) personality type, b) Strengths, and c) Weaknesses. Use the info to : a) Own your strengths, and excel in them, b) Identify developmental areas, giving yourself clear goals + timelines, and c) Discuss these with your coach, mentor and/or sponsor.

My 10 tips for personal development: - Reflect on your strengths and potential - Set yourself clear and challenging goals - Develop a realistic plan - Create and maintain goal-oriented contacts - Challenge yourself without overstretching yourself - Be open to feedback - Be proactive, agile and flexible - Stay up to date with your topics - Balance hard skills and soft skills appropriately - Follow the right people and find a sparring partner

One of my favorite quotes... "You cannot read the label of the jar that you're in!" It's simply very difficult to assess what's not working from within in the situation. Our perspectives are skewed with cognitive biases and understandings developed from our conditioning and experience. This makes it very difficult to identify what needs to change and gain clarity around growth opportunities. Partnering with an Executive Coach will not only give you support during a period of transition, but will also shed light on performance gaps.

Everyone wants to move up, whether it is a promotion, a new role or starting that project they are most passionate about. Some ways to get started: - Study the industry - typically how long do people stay in a role before promotion? LinkedIn can assist. - Study the company - how have they been doing it for the past say 10 years? - Look at your competence as stated in the first comment above, identify strengths, weaknesses and developmental areas. - Focus on your professional, leadership and strategic management skills. What kind of leader are you? - Make sure your goals are SMART. And let your superiors be aware of them, and how they can support you.

I've seen the power of this firsthand. One of my clients was a high-potential executive who had been passed over for a promotion. She was frustrated and starting to question her future with the company. Through our coaching sessions, we dug deep into her long-term aspirations. We discovered that she had a passion for developing people and wanted to make a bigger impact on the organization's culture. With this insight, we crafted a vision statement that captured her desired legacy: "To be a transformational leader who builds high-performing teams and creates a culture of innovation and inclusion." This vision became the filter for all her career decisions. It guided her to take on a stretch assignment leading a cross-functional team.

Envision where you want to be in the long term, considering the type of roles, industries, and professional impact you aspire to achieve. Translate this vision into SMART goals. Break down your overarching vision into short-term objectives and actionable steps. This clarity guides your development efforts, ensures alignment with your career aspirations, and keeps you motivated on the path to achieving your professional goals. Regularly review and adjust your goals as necessary to reflect your progress and evolving ambitions.

Setting clear and achievable career goals is crucial for advancement. Define where you want to be in the short term and long term. Your goals should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). Whether it's aiming for a promotion, acquiring new skills, or transitioning to a different role or industry, having a clear roadmap will help you stay focused and motivated. Regularly revisit and reassess your goals to ensure they align with your evolving aspirations and the opportunities available to you.

Creating a comprehensive vision board and mobilising a 15 moves strategy to continually move towards it, is essential for those that really want to secure career fulfilment. Without commitment you'll never start and without consistency you'll never finish. Having the vision and continually making moves towards it is very powerful for fulfilment. I recommend at least 4 different sessions to create your vision board to take into account your 3 different personalities.

3 underrated skills to move ahead in your career: 1) Build your confidence 2) Emotion regulation 3) Build your calm These are foundational skills that support clear communication, leadership skills, effective collaboration and feeling happy (also important)

1) Be sure to have career progression conversations with your direct manager and/or HR. 2) Your manager should have a career development and progression plan for you. If not, then your manager need to start thinking of working on one with you. 3) As for the strategy, discuss your strengths and achievements, what you NEED for your growth and where you will excel. 4) What do you need to set you up for success? 5) Be sure to have a timeline, track your progress with you manager. 6) Understand the advancement opportunities and criteria in your company - talk to your HR. This should help you determine your action plan. 7) Identify what support you need from yourself, team, peers and manager. 8) Consider the feedback from performance reviews.

In my view, developing your skills is not just about acquiring new knowledge or techniques. It's about applying them in real-world situations and learning from the outcomes. It's about experimenting, taking risks, and being open to feedback. That's where having a coach or mentor can be so valuable. They can provide a safe space to practice new behaviors and get objective feedback. They can help you reflect on your experiences and extract the lessons learned. And they can hold you accountable to your development goals and celebrate your progress along the way.

1. Identify key skills needed for advancement and pursue relevant training, workshops, or certifications to enhance those areas. 2. Leverage online resources, mentors, and professional networks for learning opportunities. 3. Practice strategic career planning by seeking projects or roles that offer growth potential and align with your goals. 4. Cultivate soft skills like leadership, communication, and teamwork, which are critical for advancement. 5. Set periodic review points to assess progress and adjust your development plan as needed, ensuring you're continuously moving toward your career objectives.

In today's rapidly evolving job market, continuous learning and skill development are essential for career advancement. Stay updated with industry trends, technological advancements, and best practices relevant to your field. Seek out opportunities for professional development, such as attending workshops, seminars, and conferences, pursuing further education or certifications, and participating in online courses or training programs. Acquiring new skills not only enhances your value as an employee but also opens up doors to new career opportunities and advancement prospects.

Growing a comprehensive network that you regularly and authentically water and nurture is the best career risk management strategy you can have. On two occasions in my career when things went very badly wrong, my network saved me and I see this happen time and time again. Careers is a team game, not an individual game.

In my view, the key is to anticipate these challenges and develop strategies to mitigate the risks. One of my clients was a senior executive who was leading a major transformation initiative. She knew that she would face pushback from some members of her team who were comfortable with the status quo. So we worked together to develop a change management plan that included clear communication, stakeholder engagement, and quick wins to build momentum.

Managing requires proactive planning and resilience. Identify potential obstacles on your path, such as skill gaps or market conditions, and develop strategies to mitigate these risks. This might involve diversifying your skill set, building a robust professional network, or seeking feedback for continuous improvement. Embrace challenges as opportunities to learn and grow, maintaining a positive mindset. Develop a contingency plan for setbacks, ensuring you have alternative steps to keep progressing towards your goals. Regularly reassess your approach to navigate effectively through uncertainties, maintaining focus on your long-term vision while adapting to immediate circumstances.

It's crucial to celebrate every step you take. Each small win is a building block towards your larger goal. Embrace a mindset that finds joy in progress and learns from every experience. Celebrating your milestones fosters a positive attitude, making even the toughest challenges more manageable. Keep your ultimate vision in sight, but celebrate and document your wins along the way.

This is very important! We deal with a lot and are always chasing deadlines. Make sure you take time out every day to practice gratitude. Keep a gratitude journal. Write down what you are grateful for. Track your growth, see where you were this time last year. Keep a book/folder where you track your achievements, for each year, each month since you started. Read it every now and them to remind yourself who you are!

Keep it simple - First, Do Your Job - develop a solid reputation for accomplishing difficult tasks on time and with high quality - Second, always be building skills and building your network. Master the skills to accomplish #1 above and seek to understand and build skills required to advance. Be curious, especially in a WFH environment, reach out to colleagues and build trusting relationships. That’s it. It’s not about building your personal brand, developing a long term strategy, etc. Just FOCUS and do your job.

Seek a mentor or role model in your field. Follow their work. Avoid shortcuts and really pace yourself towards greatness! The great thing about role models is that you don't need to ask for their permission. You can watch, listen and see what they do from afar then adapt to your circumstances.

Understanding the organisation's mission and aligning your goals to the mission is key. Employees who worked hard not knowing the strategic directions of the organisation will make them not visible. They will not be noticed and will not make a mark no matter how hard they work. Understanding and owning the processes to advance the strategies of the organisation will not only make the employee voice out effective, efficient and productive solutions but will also bring to light unproductive work processes, negativity in workplace and assist other co-workers.

Being intentional vs accidental in your career is critical to avoiding the 'how did i get here?' question. Start with considering the impact you want to have on the world. If it is around the environment, map out the ecosystem of the entities involved in that space or who are of interest to you. Take a look at your skills and what you enjoy doing and how they would align to supporting those entities. Create a network map of individuals in those entities and create a plan of how to get in front of them through your existing relationships / conferences / recruiters / associations etc. Promote your brand accordingly through push and pull approaches such as LinkedIn so that there is clear alignment of what you stand for. Start small! Go!

For career advancement I have preferred a candid discussion with my mentor and manager. Further I have sought structural coaching sessions to help me deep dive into myself to figure out my discomforts , skill gaps both behavioural and emotional as well as technical so I can consciously work on them as a method for preparation. Then start experimenting with new skills.