We do not set out in our careers with the intention of getting stuck in a role that we hate.

But all to often, after a couple of years, or for some, even within a couple of months or weeks that is exactly where we find ourselves. Staring at a career dead-end, with limited prospects, feeling bored, unappreciated and unmotivated.

Acknowledging that your career has come to a standstill is a critical first step to making the changes needed in order to pull yourself out of the rut. Taking a step back to revaluate what you want to achieve in your career and what will excite you again is the next important step.

Even if you have not quite hit career rock bottom, perhaps you are anxious to ensure that you are moving at the same rate as your peers. Whatever the driving reason, this is the perfect time to evaluate your career ambitions and goals, and to reset your targets for career success. 

By setting yourself new development goals you can energise your thinking and reboot your career mindset.

Focus on Taking the Correct Action

Consciously deciding to expand your skillset, can be one way to reposition your career horizon. Conversely deciding to focus on a single core strength can be just as powerful a way to develop yourself to the next level.

Deciding which of these two approaches to follow, may require a significant amount of introspection, reflection and insight. 

Adjusting and redefining your professional goals regularly is an action that too many professionals fail to do . The key is to be radical in ensuring that your goals remain achievable and the timescales appropriate for your career ambitions.

Assessing Your Development Needs

Understanding your development needs (either expanding or converging your essential skills) will fundamentally underpin your career progression, at any stage of your journey. By focusing your efforts on only those aspects that will delivery the career returns that you desire.

Here are my top tips to rapidly address career stagnation and reversing a trajectory of career decline.

1) Feedback is your Friend – Get feedback now and ebsure that you seek it out regularly thereafter. In fact my advice is to canvas for advice every 6 to 8 weeks, if you are serious about consistent and rapid progression. Use this feedback to assess not only the areas that you need to improve on, and where you have gaps. But also to understand what your best and most valuable skills are. What are your career ‘Super Powers’ and where in your division, organisation and sector are they in demand.

Ensure that you are seeking feedback form trusted colleagues and individuals. Senior managers, peers and subordinates, and don’t forget friends and family, who have the benefit of being able to provide you with feedback in non-work, social contexts.

For any performance gaps, set a target for when you aim to implement changes to facilitate improvements. And where you have identified performance strengths, aim to enhance the positive behaviour patterns and further amplify in your role.

3 – 6 months should be sufficient time to see changes, ensure that you implement using SMART objectives.

2) Seek to undertake a leadership or supervisory training course. This can be beneficial in supporting you to learn new skills and practices. Ask your immediate superior what training they have undertaken and what training supported their development into leadership.

If courses are not readily available through your organisation consider alternative ways of gaining this development, such as online training course, webinars and seminars. Consider also shadowing senior leaders either on a formal or informal arrangement.

3) Learn more about your organisation and company operational procedures for your area. Set aside at least a half-day per month to do a deep-dive assessment of your organisation. Assess the operating market, competitors, collaborators, opportunities and operational threats. Consider any innovations or novel working practices, implemented by the organisation or locally within your division. 

4) Grow your Network, identify the networks that are most influential for your performance outputs and assess your relationship to those networks. Consider if there are ways to strengthen your existing network and create new networks that will be beneficial to your development goals.

5) Work on developing your emotional intelligence, your goal here is to improve your understanding of your own emotions and those working around you. This will support you in improving and increasing you communication with co-workers and clients. And to identify ways that you influence and motivate those around you to perform better. 

Alongside obtaining feedback, this is the next best method for increasing yourself-awareness. Begin by observing all your workplace interactions and try to understand how the relationships you are involved with are impacting your performance and development opportunities.

6) Work on improving your time management. Managing you time better is the key to developing your career. By giving yourself the optimum amount of time to action work and activities which are valuable to your organisation, and to your brand. Careful prioritisation will give you time back to focus on your critical performance requirements. It will also give you a better understanding and appreciation of the prioritised value of your work.

Your Weekly Action List:

•  360 Feedback – Find at 3 people to provide you with immediate feedback on your current gaps, strengths and opportunities for growth.

•  Identify the most useful training or development course that you can complete within the next month.

•  Set aside one hour to undertake a deep-dive of your organisation followed by a further 20 minutes looking at the 5 critical operational activities in your department.

• List out your 5 most influential relationships, consider the impact of these relationships on your current performance. Decide if you should reduce, enhance, leverage. 

• Identify three networking opportunities with your immediate and external team. Set up a meaningful engagement and follow up on the connection at least monthly.

• List your 3 most critical tasks each day, for the next 5 days. Review each evening how many of those critical tasks have been effectively completed each day.

Wishing you a great week of growth!

Nicola Benjamin, MBA, BSc, ChPP, MAPM,

People Development, Skills and Training Director at PMCW