This month we are focusing on a topic that we all think about and talk about, yet many of us avoid actually learning about, it's the roadblocks of career success.
I know it's not fun, but know this, if you know exactly what the roadblocks are you can avoid them and get yourself around them if you are currently stuck behind one of them.
This month is not meant to be negative but is meant to be empowering!
Over today and the following 3 Wednesdays we are going to spend time together defining the details around the roadblocks, the what, the why, and the how, and then we will spend some time discussing how to get around them.
Today's roadblock: understanding success.
know that may sound crazy, but we must understand how we define success and, equally important, how the company defines success.
For you, success may be reaching a specific position in the organization, having a specific set of hours, a certain pay amount, or even a defined number of weeks of PTO. None of these reasons are wrong. The point is that how I define success could be very different from how you define success. So don’t look to my definition to measure yourself, create your own.
Second, we need to understand how the company defines success. This will be clear in the organization's policies, core values, expectations, and culture.
If the company wants you at work at 8 am for example, and that’s how it defines success, you must be at work no later than 8 am. Period.
The company as a whole will use language like attendance, punctuality, “on time,” and so on and so forth to convey its definition of success. It will drive home points about reliability and starting the day off correctly by being on time and being someone the team and customer can count on.
Whether I like being at work by 8 a.m. or not, it doesn’t matter. The company has defined success in this capacity and therefore I will either achieve those measures or I will not be successful in the company.
I know that’s a basic example, but it is an example that we can relate to and we can clearly understand how the company defines success for its employees. We see the definition in policies, language, and culture.
Additionally, understanding your definition of success is critical for you to feel satisfied and fulfilled.
Understanding the company’s definition of success is critical for you to actually be successful in your role.
Your homework today is to define success for yourself and get abundantly clear on how your organization defines a successful employee. If an employee does what actions, they should be successful. Define “what” in that instance and see what you come up with.
You may find that you’re doing all of those actions. You may find you’re doing none of them. You may find you’re doing some of them but don’t want to do all of them.
Whatever you find, face the truth of how you’re performing and what that means to your overall success and longevity in the organization.
Be Legendary.
