No-Regrets Career Development: You Own Your Career
Filed under: Developing Yourself, Leadership & Career
In a perfect world, the firms and managers that we work for would recognize the importance of cultivating talent and they would focus their energies on working with us to develop and advance. In fact, some good leaders and managers do provide this support, but unfortunately, they tend to be in the minority.
A great manager focuses on employee development, is active in coaching and spends his/her time working with team members to define development experiences and opportunities that prepare individuals for next steps. They are also working one-on-one with people to understand career objectives and to define long-range roadmaps and assignments.
If you work with this “great manager,” consider yourself fortunate and leverage the experience for everything that it is worth. If like most of us however, you find yourself working for someone that is well intentioned but otherwise focused on things other than your development, I have a few words of advice:
“Get over it!”
And a few more:
“Get on with it!”
One of the realities of your professional life is that ultimately you are the only one responsible for your own career growth. The sooner that you face up to this responsibility and then do something about it, the better prepared you will be to seize opportunities and to compete in the workplace. If you’ve moved beyond that point in life where competing for the next rung is a priority, then the issue is all about investing your time in work that you find rewarding.
In my work with mid-career professionals, one of the consistent themes that I hear is the “I should have” recognition. It usually goes something like, “I should have taken the time to improve my leadership skills.” Or, “I should have taken the time to become a better communicator.” Or, “I let someone else pick my jobs for me, and I should have been more involved in choosing my own path.”
Regrets are horrible things.
The good news is that we all have it within us to avoid the regrets of omission in our careers. Instead of passing time and then wondering what happened, take the time to establish a long-range destination and then to define the roadmap, experiences and skills that you need to reach that destination. You might change targets over time, but you will never regret investing in your own skills or taking the time to identify your next challenges.
I would love to help you, but regardless of where you turn for help and mentoring, take the time and do it. And remember that the goal is for you to have no regrets!
Building Better Leaders: What’s in a Name?
When developing the Building Better Leaders concept, a number of advisors suggested that given my vision and target audiences, the name was too limiting.
My response…balderdash! (I’ve always wanted to use that word in a post!)
My vision is to help individuals in a wide variety of professions develop as leaders AND as senior contributors. The planned program for Marketing and Event Managers on High Performance Event Marketing practices has little to do with core leadership practices and everything to do with developing and employing tools of senior contributors. The same goes for future course on business planning, small business marketing and strategy.
On the other hand, as readers of the Management Excellence blog know, I put a great deal of emphasis on the development of leadership skills whether you lead formally or not. Frankly, the same skills and thought-processes and approaches that we associate with effective leaders are powerful tools for individual contributors and informal leaders.
And of course, core leadership training for those considering this formal role…those in it for the first time or those looking to develop as senior leaders, are important components of the current and planned future program development.
At the end of the day, my goal is to provide professional audiences with a development experience that exceeds that of traditional training…and to do it in a way that provides you complete flexibility and at a price that is never a stopping point.
The name has “leaders” in it, and I’ll certainly infuse all of the programs with leadership practices and effective leadership thinking, but at the end of the day, this is all about Building Better Professionals…one at a time. I’m looking forward to serving and to helping you build your career!
-Art
Welcome to the Building Better Leaders Blog!
I questioned my own sanity for a few minutes after I had decided to take on another writing commitment beyond my main blog site: Management Excellence.
After a few minutes of thinking about it, I recognized that a dedicated blog was in keeping with my intent here at Building Better Leaders and decided to move beyond my apprehensions.
First, Some Context for Building Better Leaders:
After spending several years of my life dedicated to helping motivated professionals in a variety of fields (product managers, project managers, technical professionals, non-profit professionals, marketers, first-time leaders) discover and develop as leaders and senior contributors, I recognized that I needed to find a platform that enabled me to reach more people faster and more efficiently and affordably than the horribly inefficient and expensive traditional training model.
And I did not want to sacrifice the personal contact. Thus, the idea for Building Better Leaders was born.
The approach that I’ve established allows me to:
- Deliver practical, actionable content via audio, video, visuals & documents.
- Provide developmental assignments that reinforce core concepts and provide practice with the approaches and tools.
- Develop and maintain personal contact with clients and to sustain a mentoring experience over a sustained period.
Frankly, this concept rocks. No more 2-day training sessions that yield a binder and a big price tag and little else. Instead, I offer you real-world approaches and tools, workplace-based assignments and coaching, mentoring and feedback.
Over time, I plan on adding group discussion functions, social networking capabilities and of course, a lot of additional programs for very specific audiences. The type of action-oriented, professional development programs that you cannot replicate in a training course.
The Role of the Building Better Leaders Blog:
The posts here at Building Better Leaders will be 100% focused on helping you get things done.
This blog is for professionals looking to develop and advance…and searching for ideas and solutions that they can use ten minutes after reading the post. Expect ideas, tips, tricks, how to’s, lists and plenty of challenges for you to make it happen and to drive results for you, your team and your organization.
And while Management Excellence offers a broader editorial range for my business writing, I will from time to time cross-reference and cross-pollinate both venues with the same relevant posts. Those will be the exception however, not the rule. The Building Better Leaders content will remain on balance, original.
My Target Audience Here:
Anyone professional, young or experienced, that is motivated to improve their personal, team and organizational performance and is not afraid to be challenged.
Of course, turn-about is fair play, and I look forward to being professionally challenged by you to keep providing materials and programs that make a difference.
–
Welcome to Building Better Leaders. Let the work of becoming great begin! One person, one post and one program at a time.
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