When I was in my early thirties, I was happily enjoying a challenging career advising C-suite leaders. They were much older than me and running some of the largest companies in the world. While it was occasionally intimidating, it was also incredibly exciting and rewarding to have that level of responsibility. I felt great that I was being entrusted by my employer to work with such influential leaders, and I felt really confident about my future with the company. When they offered employees an opportunity to participate in a high-potential program, I was hopeful—even optimistic—that I would be selected.
I wasn’t.
At the time, I was devastated. I felt that I did my job well, that I got along with colleagues, and I had a strong relationship with my boss. Looking back now, I realize that just because those things were true, that didn’t mean that the company saw my future potential. Notice that I didn’t say that the company might think I was a poor performer: How well you do your current job isn’t the only consideration of how you’re perceived for future roles. When you think about your professional development at work, you have to understand how you are performing now, and what is your future potential.
You’re doing a great job at your current job. So what? One of the most challenging things for people to understand about professional development is that their current performance is only one part of the analysis. While it might seem odd or even unfair, an organization wants to develop people who have potential for future roles, not just those who are capable of doing their current jobs.
One simple example: Do you manage people? Almost any promotion eventually leads to managing other people. Early in your career, you may be solely responsible for “tasks:” writing, calculating, analyzing, or selling, to name a few. But companies will also try to understand your ability to build relationships, mentor others, and assess other talent (because someday you will be responsible for other people’s career paths).
How do you prove you can do something in the future? Think more about the skills required, not the actual tasks. It’s not about being able to lead a meeting on the first day. But show creativity and ambition in your current role. Try to “reach up,” asking for opportunities to help your boss with a presentation or expand your role in a project. Offer to buddy a recent hire. Even if you are not senior to that person, it shows a willingness to help your colleagues and teach what you know.
Your boss might be your friend, but they shouldn’t be your only one. A strong relationship with your manager can obviously have many critical benefits. Whether you consider them an actual friend or at least an ally, advocate, or mentor, at a minimum, you want your supervisor to be someone who will help guide you and highlight opportunities.
But the reality is that no one single person is usually responsible for promotion decisions (or high-potential program opportunities). And people move on—if your manager leaves, is your entire cheering squad gone? You need to make sure that you maintain the positive working relationship that you have with your manager but also push yourself to create and develop other connections.
Understand how your company gets stuff done. Ask your boss to make introductions and to include you in meetings (where appropriate) even if you’re not playing a key role. Not only does it help you meet more people, but it also helps you hear and see the bigger picture. And it’s not just the day-to-day operations you’ll observe. You’ll learn the politics—every organization has them—and how people navigate the various levels of power. It also shows you the culture of the company: How do people communicate, how often, and in what forms? Some companies keep a large group in the loop, others don’t want their inbox cluttered. Some organizations like to group-think large decisions and then assign deliverables. You need to be watching and learning the language of your company.
Your current company can be the right fit for right now. But moving on is also an option. While all of the above are key to managing your career and can help companies see your worth, it doesn’t mean that you have to stay. In my own career, I moved on from that company to a new role. And over the years, several more times.
One study showed that moving jobs is common and can lead to higher pay. Just over 2% of the U.S. workforce leaves their job each month, which translates to 30% of the workforce changing jobs each year. The same study found that more than 50% of those who changed jobs received a pay increase.
Ultimately, I’ve felt very accomplished and successful (that’s not a brag; that’s just how I assess my own career.). Most importantly, I’ve felt valued by managers, clients, and business partners and continue to benefit now from the professional relationships of my past. Former team members have become clients. Former managers are personal friends. That early disappointment is (happily) a faint memory—and an early learning experience that one organization’s assessment is not a verdict on your value. Ultimately, you are always in control of the conversation, even if it means ending it and starting a new one somewhere else.
Does Your Company Consider You a Future Leader?
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27.03.2024
When I was in my early thirties, I was happily enjoying a challenging career advising C-suite leaders. They were much older than me and running some of the largest companies in the world. While it was occasionally intimidating, it was also incredibly exciting and rewarding to have that level of responsibility. I felt great that I was being entrusted by my employer to work with such influential leaders, and I felt really confident about my future with the company. When they offered employees an opportunity to participate in a high-potential program, I was hopeful—even optimistic—that I would be selected.
I wasn’t.
At the time, I was devastated. I felt that I did my job well, that I got along with colleagues, and I had a strong relationship with my boss. Looking back now, I realize that just because those things were true, that didn’t mean that the company saw my future potential. Notice that I didn’t say that the company might think I was a poor performer: How well you do your current job isn’t the only consideration of how you’re perceived for future roles. When you think about your professional development at work, you have to understand how you are performing now, and what is your future potential.
You’re doing a great job at your current job. So what? One of the most challenging things for........
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