There! We’ve said it! And growing in place is, in fact, mobility in a world where standing still means falling behind. We need more people who fall in love with what they do, becoming specialists by deepening their abilities and setting the bar higher in their fields.
How many jobs are exactly the same as they were a year ago, or even a month ago? Keeping up with change is a demand in every industry. Yet mind-sets are not changing as fast as jobs are changing. We need to change the conversation. We need to see the current job as fertile soil for career growth.
Every year, individuals who have been raised with technology at their fingertips since they were in their cribs join the workforce and the consumer market. This latest group is equipped with a level of intuitive digital knowledge and familiarity that drives organizations to evolve quickly and constantly. At the same time, employees expect and need the latest technology and tools to do the job.
Those are the internal pressures for change. Externally, customers demand newer and better products. Competitors continually raise the bar. Jobs themselves evolve and the skill sets required to do them shift and change. When we understand this reality, anticipate what’s coming, and prepare for it, we’re building resilience and readiness to take on whatever comes along.
Growth on the current job can and should happen in every role or assignment throughout a career. Through enrichment, individuals feed their passion about the work, stretch to build new capabilities, and grow professionally.
Enrichment can also be the spark that reenergizes a job that’s lost its appeal. Enrichment can rekindle passion and excitement around the work—passion and excitement that may have disappeared beneath daily tasks and deadlines.
MOBILITY MOMENT
The Sludge Guy
Lynn has a relative who’s an environmental engineer specializing in managing wastewater. During his career, he steadily and deliberately deepened his expertise in his chosen field. As the kaleidoscope turned and environmental issues shifted, he further refined his view to become one of the country’s go-to guys on sludge.
Did he plan this from the outset? Did he say early on, “Hey, I want to be the sludge guy?” No, but he loves where he is. He proudly identifies as the sludge guy. When you know more about your specialty than most people, you have many chances to contribute and leave your mark. The corporate ladder didn’t interest him. He stayed right where he was and created a pattern full of enrichment experiences.
So, what can you do to fuel continuous growth or jump-start a job that’s gone flat? It’s bigger than a learning event. Sure, compulsory courses to maintain certifications or meet regulatory requirements are necessary, but enrichment doesn’t begin and end in a classroom or webinar. Seek multiple ways to keep growing. If you are feeling burned out, or if someone you know has “retired in place,” enrichment can be the ticket to reviving interest and enthusiasm for the work. And everyone needs to master and excel at the now before moving on to the next.
Take the Change Challenge
Perhaps the easiest way to start a conversation about an enrichment experience is to consider a small change or two in the current work scene.
Review the Change Challenges that follow and select the questions you want to build into your conversation. Think about the current role, how it’s changing or will change in the future. Pick questions that are appropriate to the situation. Dialogue triggered by these questions can uncover multiple ways to maintain engagement and keep everyone growing.
. . . WHAT!
A small change in the current tasks can make all the difference.
➤ When you consider the current job, what tasks could be/should be eliminated?
➤ What could be modified?
➤ What could be traded?
➤ What could be added?
. . . HOW!
The approach can open the door to learning more.
➤ Which work processes are draining or demotivating?
➤ What is under your control to change, but that you have never considered?
➤ Where do you need support?
➤ What tasks or process could be completed more quickly or more efficiently?
. . . WHERE!
A switch in the physical surroundings can offer a fresh view.
➤ What other venues could work?
➤ Is working from home an option?
➤ Is working alone or in a team preferred?
➤ What about working at another site? Another city? Another country?
➤ What would the perfect work space look like?
. . . WHEN!
Flexible schedules sometimes make work “work.”
➤ When is energy highest?
➤ When is availability to others a must?
➤ When is the best time for solitary work?
➤ When is access to physical resources, tech assistance, or colleagues critical?
Small adjustments can bring better balance.
➤ Looking at the current workload, what do you want to do less of? More of?
➤ What could you delegate? What do you simply want to let go of?
➤ What do you want to keep?
. . . WHO!
Collaborating with great peers can make work interactions an energizing part of the day.
➤ Who do you interface with in a typical day?
➤ Who is a great working partner?
➤ Who simply demands too much of your time?
➤ What relationships are the most energizing? Working with colleagues? Clients? Other departments? Senior leaders? New hires?
. . . WHY!
Meaning and purpose are powerful sources of energy.
➤ How do you feel about the contribution you are making?
➤ When do you know you are making a difference?
➤ How does your work help you address things that are important to you?
➤ How do the organization’s values align with what’s important to you?
An Enrichment Question Can Change the Whole Conversation
Bev was meeting in New York with senior leaders of a large finance organization. The group wanted to launch a career development initiative in response to a recent survey. The “lack of time” discussion was on the table. One senior leader asked, “If you could just offer us one question to ask—one question that would unlock a career conversation, a question we could encourage every manager in our entire organization to use—what question would it be?”
Bev responded, “If every manager could look into the person’s eyes (even via Skype) and ask each direct report, ‘What talent do you have that I may not be aware of, that you would love to use more?’ That would be one perfect question.”
There was a hush at the table as the leaders looked at one another. Seemed simple enough! One leader suggested they try it right then and there. Each senior leader turned to a colleague and asked about a talent they had that the organization did not know of or was not using. This group, which worked together on a regular basis and felt they knew one another very well, was amazed by what they learned. The energy in the room was palpable—all generated from one simple but powerful question!
Commit to an Enrichment Workout
Just as with the latest news on keeping in shape, this workout doesn’t have to take a huge chunk of time out of a busy day. The warm-up questions in this workout can help you choose an enrichment experience. To remember these, think basic calisthenics.
These workout questions will stimulate enrichment ideas for you or someone you are working with. See if you can provoke the response “I never thought of it like that before.”
Growing in place—finding ways to stretch and learn right where you are—can be liberating and even exhilarating. Enrichment experiences keep you fresh, up to date, and learning. A career pattern with multiple enrichment experiences demonstrates an awareness that jobs evolve. Career resilience depends on keeping up with what’s needed right now and being ready for what will be needed tomorrow.
THINK ABOUT IT . . .
Answer one or all of the following:
* Pick the change challenge that most appeals to you and spin it out in your imagination. Who can you have a conversation with to take it further?
* Go ahead, pick another challenge and another conversation partner—talk it out.
* What one workout question would help you think about enrichment right now?
* If you had a two-week sabbatical to study an area of interest, what would it be?
* What talent do you have that your manager may not be aware of, that you would love to use more?
* What would you consider your specialty to be?
. . . TALK ABOUT IT
