You are a professional, you have great aspirations, a great capacity, abilities, a lot to give. So here your doubts have come about how to have a successful career. What I will share with you are 3 keys that you must carry out step by step if you want to advance your professional career. But these 3 keys require a lot from you. How is this? You have to find the way in which these three keys work for you. And the way to do it is through powerful questions (that prompt you to reflection and action).
So here I leave you a sequence of 3 keys (with their powerful questions) to do step by step and boost your professional career:
1. Define where you want to go.
You will see that I always talk about identifying a goal, but is that if you do not know what you want, you can not go to achieve it. Do an exercise, ask your trusted colleagues, or a friend or family member "What is your professional goal?" You will see their faces of astonishment, bewilderment, they will search their brain, they will hesitate and then they will babble some words that may make sense, but that were definitely not thought, analyzed. Finding a career goal is not a 5 minute thing. It takes time, reflection, a process of analysis of individual values, of the things you enjoy and what you don't, of what you are willing to leave behind to achieve it, of how it will impact your life (positively and negatively) when you achieve your goal. You can ask yourself these questions:
- What kind of work would you like to do in 10 years? What kind of life do I want to have in 10 years? What kind of person do I want to be? Who do I want to share my future life with? Where would you like to live in 10 years? What things in your ideal life could you start living today?
These kinds of questions will give you a clearer picture of what you want your future to be like. It is a bit far-fetched but many people do not even think about what they want from their professional career in 10 years, but they are planning their vacations year after year.
2. Become a delegate master.
This does not mean delegating absolutely everything, nor does it mean, of course, doing everything yourself. Someone who always seems overwhelmed, “covered in work”, who has no time for anything and who forgets important things, is not projecting an image of success and is hardly considered for a promotion to a strategic position. Ask yourself:
to. What things are strategic in my position or in my business?
b. What things that I am doing today could someone else do?
c. What can I do in this time that I will not use in this task because it was delegated?
d. What things that I am NOT doing today should I do to achieve your professional goal?
And the most important:
and. What impact is your career having today by not having time to stop to think and decide the next step to take?
F. What would happen in your life if things continue as they are today? What would happen to your health, your motivation, your finances, your self-esteem, your
Learning to delegate what is necessary will give you the time to be able to do the things that really need your attention and focus on those areas of your function where you really add value and make a difference. In addition, it will allow you to train and train those collaborators who can occupy your position tomorrow. (Remember! Do not feel as a threat that your team is in a position to do your job, you will need it to be able to consider that promotion, a change of level in your position, etc. You cannot imagine how often the phrase is heard in organizations “I would love to give you this new position, but nobody does the job like you and I don't have to replace you.” This, far from being a compliment, is a limitation on your professional career!)
3. Master the art of personal marketing.
In another article I taught you how to give value to your work and show it to leverage your professional career (click here to go to the article). This is essential to achieve what you want. However, less than 30% of professionals who have been in the labor market for more than 10 years use it, and even fewer master this subtle art. Learning to value your work is the first step to master this art. A second step is to find out and get to know your potential clients. No, wait, don't stop reading. This item is for you even when you don't sell a product or service. Why? Because you need to learn to sell yourself. Now, you already know the value of your "professional product" (as I teach you in the article mentioned above), now you have to determine who you are going to sell it to and how.The secret is in knowing your audience. You can ask yourself these questions:
to. Who are the relevant actors who can help me achieve my goal? (For example, your boss could be a relevant actor to give your position a higher level, also for a promotion. The head of another department could also be if you aspire to a position in this other place. If you are looking for a strategic position in another company, find out who the key managers are, what positions they have open, try to familiarize yourself with the context of the company and what goes on inside)
b. How can I reach them and show them my value? Be creative!
If it is within your own company, you can offer yourself for some integration task that allows you to be in the other department and thus “show up” with your potential boss.
If it is with your own boss, you can invite him to lunch as a thank you for all his support in this last semester and take the opportunity to tell him about all your relevant achievements and tell him about your future plans and your wishes for “that promotion”. Lunch will relax you because it is a “thank you lunch” and it can give you its full attention. You must take advantage of this opportunity and be balanced and subtle (so as not to fall heavy) in everything you want to communicate. And don't abuse this strategy?
If it is someone from another company, look for information and create a plan so that the relevant actor or actors know you. What events do you usually participate in? It is a good idea for networking but, again, you must know how to take advantage of the opportunity and be balanced and subtle. Otherwise, you will be achieving exactly the opposite effect.
c. Who do I have to become to achieve my career goal? Powerful question if there are…
Nothing is impossible or so terrible if you really want it and are willing to do it to achieve your goals. A personal anecdote? Before starting my online business, I was not a fan of social networks at all. Who do I have to become to achieve my goal of reaching more and more leaders and managers who need to transform their careers? You already know the answer.
There are hundreds of things you can do to improve and boost your professional career. But always, always, you have to start with one. One step at a time. And you will go far. Which one will you start with today?
