Harmonics

First Mover Advantage in the game of Career Chess

We regularly speak at ‘careers week’ events in corporate organisations to help offer fresh insights into career management in the changing world of work. As part of these events, there is often a company lifer rolled out to tell their career story about how they joined the organisation as a shy 22 year old, expected to stay for 5 years but they are still there 30 years later. The typical career story – a vertical career path from graduate to Manager to Director. This celebrates the message that a combination of lifetime loyalty and hard work pays off in the end.

Celebrate career agility, not lifetime loyalty

But how appropriate is it to showcase this message in today’s world of work? It is considered career suicide today to spend your life at one organisation and in one functional silo. Organisations are becoming flatter offering less promotion opportunities, so new routes to career success need to be urgently explored.

An interesting HBR study revealed 66% of employees don’t want to be managers.  The research continues to tell us that only 7% say they want to pursue C suite Executive Leadership level positions.  So when organisations are showcasing what career success looks like, they should not promote career progression as ‘up being the only way’.

Engaging the disengaged majority

The 66% of employees who don’t want to be managers are in the majority in every organisation.  And even though they form the backbone, there is often very little left in the budget for their career development.  If an organisation does not profile someone as a future leader, then potential career paths are rarely identified and career development is very much up to the individual.  Is it any wonder the Gallup survey on disengagement stands at 70%?

These two pieces of research tell us 66% don’t want to be Managers and 70% are disengaged. There must be some correlation. My view is that employees don’t believe their outstanding individual contributions are valued by the organisation. The only reward the organisation can offer is to promote them when someone leaves or retires. But is that what they really want? And is it the best match for their skills set.

Is it time to change the language of career success?

It is time for organisations to realise all successful career paths do not have to end on the senior leadership team.  The future of work is truly open, so organisations need to be open and honest with their people.  They need to help them to become realistic about their career futures rather than trying to tempt them into climbing the career ladder which might not be appropriate for their skill-set or sustainable for the organisation.

We have identified 4 clear career pathways that employees should consider:

Enrich – This is the most obvious but the least researched career path because it will show little movement on your CV. The enrichment strategy is really about seeking new ways to challenge yourself in your current role and develop new skills. The most practical way to enrich your current role is to become involved in a new project, this could be a cross functional project, or becoming skilled in a new technology that makes you more marketable. Your job title, grade level or status tells us nothing about your future ability to succeed and thrive in a changing world of work. It is your ability to be proactive, innovative and to collaborate that is considered currency for career success.

Explore – This pathway is about seeking opportunities in different divisions or departments across your organisation. It often involves taking a leap of faith into a new area that may make you feel vulnerable. Career growth only occurs when you step outside your comfort zone. It should never be about only wanting more financial reward but the longer term reward of becoming more employable. This strategy requires building relationships outside your own function that have the power to make things happen for you. The biggest barrier to exploration is personal self-confidence to begin self-marketing yourself for future internal opportunities.  If you don’t explore, someone less skilled may do and this increases frustration, so take action.

Elevate – This is the traditional route of upward career growth. One word of warning; make sure you complete a series of career assessments in advance of seeking a people management role. Secondly, invest in developing your people management skills as part of seeking any promotion. It’s tough managing people you once worked alongside in the trenches. Relationships change and you have to be ready for being unpopular and making hard calls. The road to promotion is littered with shattered egos and stressful sleepless nights. The glow of promotion soon wears off, so best be prepared as it’s not just about the increased monthly pay cheque. There is a reason you are paid more to climb a level!

Exit – I know many organisations are not promoting this as a career option. But it’s increasingly happening. There are more jobs offers externally. My advice here is not to be swooned by the recruiter promising the earth moon and stars in the new shiny company down the street. Like promotion decisions, think carefully about what enriches you personally and what you want. The lack of research people put into career moves is quite startling, they just accept information as gospel truth without doing their own digging. Always fully exhaust all internal conversations before this becomes the only option left. Lastly on this, organisations just have to become more resilient to accepting a certain level of churn at this time of increased opportunities.

First Mover Advantage

In truth, there will be different times throughout your career lifeline to employ each of the 4 career strategies above. In the world of work today, organisational change is inevitable and we all need to take personal ownership of our future careers. Proactivity is the key, waiting for the Organisation to make the first move means you offer up your first mover advantage!

Up is not the only way

Career Development needs to be for everyone. In the past, talent management was the preserve of the chosen high potentials prepared for the swift lift to the Top Floor. Career development helps employees become realistic about their career futures.

We have created a 24-7 anywhere, anytime access Gateway Career Portal which offers employees their bespoke Career Framework map plus thousands of Career Development resources at the type of cost that makes business sense to companies of any size.

I am always struck by how many people think that career success is all about promotion – getting to the next level and an increase in salary. The expectation is to follow the hero’s journey Hollywood style; by getting the next promotion all of our problems will be sorted and we will live happily ever after.

It may have worked in the traditional and hierarchical organisational structures of the past but times have moved on. In saying that, organisations continue to spend a lot of time and money profiling high potential talent and grooming them to be the leaders of the future. Succession planning appears to be focused on the talented favourites. They are promoted or sent on management development programmes as a reward for high performance in their current role despite the fact that performance in a current role is no indicator of success in a management position.

Great succession planning, in an ideal world, would have a subs bench-primed with ready now and ready soon leaders to fill any gaps that may appear if someone moved or left at short notice. Reality, as we know, is often very different.

So is this talent development approach for upward only moves setting employees up for an extended period on the subs bench without experiencing the real thing? Is it created a frustrated level of hi potential talent ready to be poached by a recruiter? Has the organisation thought about what these people actually want? Do they as individuals know what they want?

The first question to be addressed is: What do people really want? HBR Research shows us that most people don’t want to be managers and only one third of employees aspire to management positions at any level. That’s right only 34% really want to manage people and only 7% want to work at Executive level.

Up is not the only way

Career progression should not equal promotion. If it’s not what everyone wants, then why do so many see the next level as the Holy Grail. The challenge, we see in our coaching practice, is that there are just not enough promotion opportunities in flatter organisation structures today. There are fewer levels to climb thus creating this ‘mud layer’ of people stuck at a mid-management level and even greater numbers below having no realistic opportunity of gaining promotion.

It is time to change the language of career success away from the traditional and hierarchical industrialised pyramid structure of “up being the only way” because the pyramid is filled with unintended and unsustainable consequences.

Start with the end in Mind

Before selecting a candidate for a management or leadership position or indeed a management development programme, we advise organisations to put their talented individual contributors through a 1-1 Career Stocktake programme to help them identify their personal career strengths and make a fully informed decision on what they want for their future career rather than accepting what someone else says would be good for them. We know from research that 70% of interviewees reported chance events had significantly impacted their career choices. Individuals simply do not put enough research our self-assessment time into plotting future career moves. Too many simply respond to a ‘tap on the shoulder’ suggesting a great move for you would be…… In this future world of work we all need to create our future career direction.

Right person for the right career move

Individuals need help to do this and our Career Stocktake career coaching programme helps them bridge the gap from where they are now to their best future career move. Typically delivered over three intensive career coaching sessions with access to our suite of career assessments, the programme helps individuals realise what they want and for the organisation to know they have the right person as a candidate for a management role.

It’s also time for organisations to communicate more that all successful career paths do not have to end at the top of the pyramid scheme on the senior leadership team. In our next blog we will look at our Career Pathways Model – where organisations and managers can help staff to follow realistic career paths.

It is wise for individuals to follow their intrinsic motivational drivers in selecting future career moves and not be swayed by extrinsic career offers that may be someone else’s view of career success. Create, and continue to refine, your career path in alignment with market demand. Real life is not like the movies and up is not the only way!

In an executive career coaching session recently, a coachee spoke about their conscious decision to opt out of the global career merry go round.

I’m not mobile

He was on the leadership team of a global multinational and had communicated his succession planning message to the Global Corporate HQ. The message was clear and to the point: “I’m not mobile”.  He has of course impacted his future career progression within the global corporate structure. “I’m not mobile” is typically associated with someone who has strong family ties in the area and doesn’t want to uproot school going kids to travel the globe.

When I questioned him further on his stance, there was much more to it. He said, “I’m not mobile because I don’t buy it.”

Blind career ambition

The reason he didn’t buy it was because he didn’t see a long term win-win for the personal sacrifices associated with upward only career progression. He had seen high fliers pass him out on the way up with less talent but with more blind career ambition. This led them into a blind alley because in many cases they reached a level within the corporate structure where there is nowhere else for them to go. They ran out of road. Typically in their early fifties, they then receive a tap on the shoulder to say their time is up. A hush-hush compromise agreement is reached and they get a lump sum settlement to ease their exit.

They have raced to the top with no long term career vision about what will happen when they get there. Their career plan has been tunnel visioned to get the next level job with more responsibility, challenge, authority, status and pay. The work hard, play hard mentality ensures they over deliver on their performance goals. Each time we reach a goal, we receive a dopamine hit that makes us feel good about ourselves. Achieving double digit growth, X% corporate savings all serve to justify our self-worth. Seeking dopamine hits becomes the drug of work; another project knocked out ahead of time or under budget becomes our raison d’etre, our meaning from work.

Blind faith

I have coached many of these Senior Executives when they are eased out of the corporate world and they hit a wall because of their blind faith that the company would see them as somewhat different. I recently asked an Executive attending our 50 Plus Career Stocktake Coaching Programme to name three people over 55 in his organisation and he couldn’t! “Well, why would you be any different?” I asked him.

We spoke about why individuals need to create their own personal career plan and not depend on the organisation to always look after them. He was shocked and angered with himself for being so naive and is now working on a twin track career plan. He is creating his career platform for next stage career success before becoming a victim to the corporate way of doing things.

The truth revealed

When you work for a large corporate, it is imperative you know the rules of engagement and you won’t get hurt. It’s a partnership approach but it’s not a marriage for life. It’s a marriage of convenience where you do a great job for them and in turn you build your employability and marketability for the longer term. They should offer you opportunities by providing challenging assignments to grow your career. If they don’t offer them, you should seek them out. This is what my coachee did; he sought new site projects to become involved in and built a breadth of experience. This made him the go to person to be associated with any new capital investment projects on site.

New Psychological Contract

He understood the new psychological contract. He knew he wasn’t special, but while he added value to the site, he was still a person of value to the corporate. Up is not the only way, in fact it can sometimes be detrimental to your long term career aspirations. But this new psychological contract is not on the radar of Executives and Managers who are 50 Plus and I believe more government led programmes should be introduced. We have an ageing population and with the increasing race for new talent, it is such a shame that older talent are being eased out the door.

Opening minds rather than chequebooks 

The 50 Plus age group have much to offer the corporate world. But they are often playing by the old career rules. The 50 Plus population need to become more focused on seeking out new projects to develop new skills. Likewise, organisations need to start opening their minds to what is possible rather than opening their chequebooks and letting them go on attractive packages.

50 Plus Career Principles:

1. Career agility trumps Job Level: Don’t ever get carried away by your job title, level, salary or status or pay grade. You may have reached a certain job level but always continue to replenish and refresh your skills by seeking new projects that build your career agility. The last three years on your CV are the most important and the most relevant.
2. Heads up is smarter than heads down: In rugby, they teach ‘heads up rugby’ and playing the game in front of you as it develops rather than sticking to set plays that won’t make sense when the game is live. In your career, you need to scan your entire environment in front of you. Keeping your head down busy helps with your ‘projects to do’ list and keeps your boss happy but always remember leaders look to the future, followers keep their heads down.
3. Challenge zone over Flow zone: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi speaks about people being at their best when are fully engaged in what they do. He calls it the flow zone. The challenge with many people is that their flow zone becomes their comfort zone – the financial accountant who becomes a Business leader, for example, and can’t take his/her head out of the financial spreadsheet. Instead, they become caught up in the detail. The challenge zone for them needs to be becoming a better leader and developing their leadership skills. They revert to type and end up failing their people by counter checking their work while not spending enough time developing as a leader.