Rebranding yourself at work

By ANGELA McCARTHY

You've been happy with your company, but you're beginning to realise that you've hit the ceiling, either because of its size or because of restructuring and redundancies.

So what now? You like lots of things about your job, but you're going nowhere fast. What can you do to avoid inertia, boredom or dropping off the radar?

Get over yourself

Establish and or maintain good relationships with your team members, clients, suppliers and particularly the boss, says Jasbindar Singh, executive coach and business psychologist.

"You want to be viewed as a positive and contributing member of the team, not the sullen one with the personality disorder - or with a management style that is off-putting."

If you've made the decision to stay put, then sitting around grizzling suggests you haven't made a decision at all, says business consultant Graham Watson.

Take action.

Take the initiative and talk to management about how you could improve your role and gain more job satisfaction, says Norma Hayward, New Zealand Institute of Management learning and development manager.

"Try getting involved in new and interesting projects, seeking authority to do new things like solving business problems, and exploiting new opportunities.

"Move sideways in the organisation to find new challenges, or ask for a secondment to other parts of the organisation, charities, suppliers or customers."

Alternatively, she suggests you can ask to do a course to provide mental stimulation and skill enhancement, or seek more flexible working hours to change your life and work balance.

Cross the plateau


Once you start taking control of where you're going, you'll start moving off the "career plateau", says Watson.

"Again and again, I find people sitting back and letting organisations make their career decisions. You need to take responsibility and think, what sort of career do I want? Do I still want to be here?"

Too many people leave things to chance, agrees Reece Notton, executive director of DBM, an HR company focused on career management.

"Managers aren't necessarily going to know what you're good at and what your aspirations are," he says. "In fact, management may have quite the wrong idea about where you want to go."

Develop a blueprint

Having a career management plan involves defining the skills you have that you want to use, your career drivers - what gets you out of bed in the morning - and your values. It involves thinking about factors like your preferred management style and environment. It needs to cover considerations such as money. By looking at such factors, you can then start thinking about how to be fulfilled in a career and whether that career is within your current organisation or elsewhere.

"It is about you as an individual taking charge," says Notton. "Once you've done this you'll feel much more comfortable about approaching your organisation and outlining how you want to develop and be asking for their help."

Develop career self-awareness

You need to be ready when an opportunity opens up, says Career Dynamic career consultant Lee Brodie.

"If you're offered a role you don't want, but haven't articulated that to yourself, let alone anyone else, you won't get far.

"If the boss asks you where you see yourself in six or 18 months, you need to at least have competency goals or a professional development focus. You could say: There are a range of roles that might suit me and these are the competencies I'd like to develop here over the next 12 months."

One of Brodie's clients, who survived restructuring, re-visited his career plan, identified specific roles he aspired to and focused on exploring those roles within his company with the understanding that he would eventually move on.

Make sure base camp is working well

While you need to put yourself forward and make your needs known, you must first make sure you're doing your current job well, warns Watson.

"It isn't good to puff your chest out and make a lot of noise while not being effective in your own current role. So what are you doing and how well? You may be great with staff, but a bit weak on technical aspects or vice versa. It is important to know your weaknesses and ask for assistance."

Watson says Kiwis aren't good at asking for help from management. "Too often we don't have the insight to realise we're not winning and need to see someone."

Follow a zig-zag path rather than a straight line

Career paths are more a zig-zag these days than a straight line to the top. Get comfortable with that because lateral moves are not uncommon in these days of flatter organisations, says Singh. But first investigate whether that lateral move is going to add to your skills and grow you as a person.

"Say you are working in a large law or accountancy firm and an opportunity comes up in another part of the organisation, maybe even reporting to a partner held in high regard. You may not get a salary raise or flashy title but the experience could be unbeatable in equipping you with an expanded knowledge base and a greater understanding of the business."

Cultivate allies

Internal projects provide great opportunity to move you out of your comfort zone and work alongside people with different responsibilities. This makes you more aware of other roles and possibilities and others aware of you and your strengths, says Brodie.

Look beyond your nose

Look for opportunities you could get involved in that are worth exploring with your company, suggests Singh, "for example, improvements in customer relationships, better delivery of your service, or changes in an inefficient process or part of your system.

"Such knowledge and experience could have a high transferability value to another organisation, especially if you pick up experience in a critical area."

Singh also suggests paying close attention to your last performance review or 360-degree feedback. "Even the best manager or leader has areas they can improve. How about selecting one area and working on this over the next six to 12 months to produce a noticeable change?

"A challenge for middle management might be learning to make a transition to a servant-leader management style rather than the one with all the know-how."

By that, she means "increased service to others, a holistic approach to work, promoting a sense of community and connection, versus leadership, that is all about quenching one's desire for personal and political power and material gains".