Global HR thought leader and executive coach at Primary Connect, helping visionary professionals design fulfilling careers they love.
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Whether you are just starting your career or moving from one organization to another, common questions will likely cross your mind about how you might fit in and stand out in the new company. Will my team like me? Will I fit in? What is my manager going to be like? Will it be a fun place to work? How can I grow quickly?
I want to introduce you to what I consider to be the 10 C's of career success. Let us touch on them briefly.
The first step to career success is clarity. You must have a good sense of what your role is about, who you serve or work with and why waking up every weekday should matter. Once you are clear on your work mission and purpose, clarity then leads you to build competence. It is very easy to think that you can just plug and play the qualities and skills you brought from your previous organization. This is a wrong assumption to make. Every organization has a code of operation, a set of values, behaviors and culture mostly driven by the leaders. When you get into this new organization, take the time to ground yourself in understanding the values, engagement and decision-making culture, the leadership ideology, the business goals and the role you will play.
As you do that, you start to build your confidence. It can sometimes feel that when you take up a new role you are back to being a learner again. This is not due to a lack of competence on your part but because the environment and the deliverables have changed. Your belief in your ability to learn quickly, adapt and perform the tasks given to you increases your self-confidence.
As you work to increase your confidence, you also increase your credibility. Your credibility is that aspect that makes people notice you and trust what you say. You find yourself willing to share your bold ideas, contribute to meetings, state facts and collaborate more with customers, clients and partners. In other words, you get into what we call "the flow."
As your credibility rises, be intentional about expanding your community. Many of us tend to wait to be invited to the table. But the more intentional you are, the bigger your network grows and the more people notice you. Sponsors notice you. You start to build stronger relationships with your mentors and buddies. You get more opportunities to present to senior leaders. You are more likely to be singled out by career champions too. You are not afraid to reach out to people on professional platforms like the LinkedIn community. You may get additional responsibilities like mentoring or coaching newer team members — at this stage, you are adding more value not just to yourself but to others.
As you learn and give back to your community, it is expected that you shape your character to become a better person, teammate or leader. I've learned a lot from different people in my network (community). For example, a mentor taught me the importance of setting goals and taking action to achieve them. He showed me that it's possible to overcome any obstacle if you put your mind to it. That lesson has stayed with me throughout my life, and it's helped me achieve some amazing things. Mind you, these relationships could also shape you negatively. If you hang around pessimistic and grumpy people too long, you are bound to become pessimistic and grumpy too.
Closely related to that is to be consistent. As you build character and stay consistent in delivering results, learning and growing, you start to build more capacity. Think of John Maxwell's explanation of the law of the rubber band. As your capacity expands, you should start to feel a bit more comfortable in your role. I hope at some stage, you start to feel a little uncomfortable with the comfort.
This stage then leads you to your courage zone, a state of mind where you have the choice to either settle comfortably where you are or push beyond comfort into another level of growth. As you develop these habits, do not forget an important part of fulfillment at work, which is to celebrate. Acknowledge compliments and keep your “email flowers.” Document and celebrate your successes because not every day will be a great happy-go-lucky, jackpot day.
As you think about the 10 C's of career success, which of these C's will you develop? You could aim to be more confident in your abilities and what you have to offer, clarify your goals and vision for yourself both professionally and personally, build credibility through your actions and results, or find your community of like-minded individuals who can support you on your journey.
I hope these tips provide some guidance as you make your next career move. Continue learning and growing so that you can be unstoppable at work and in life.
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