The Future of Work: 12 steps to achieve a fulfilling career
Chart your own course to navigate the changing corporate employment reality
More questions than answers
On an individual level, most of us will find ourselves at a career crossroad at least once in our lives. This happens for a variety of reasons: circumstantial, personal, physical, …. It is often triggered by something small that is amplified and gets us thinking; we may feel that we’re on a wrong career path, that we’re being pulled in unanticipated directions, or realize that we’re just not moving forward in our current positions the way we think had hoped.
Originally associated with mid-life or the last few years before planned retirement, this seems to be happening earlier in careers as traditional employment is facing a “perfect storm”:
- Corporate life-long jobs are a thing of the past,
- Employees are less loyal and attached to their organization,
- Availability and affordability of technology solutions are pushing more people towards the gig economy and digital nomad lifestyle.
For many professionals the questions “how did I get here?” and “what do I do next?” are the norm and not the exception. With the de-facto demise of in-house coaching, the apparent abdication of manager-as-mentor, and the unreliability of internal talent/career management, there is a widening gap between what individuals are doing today and how they prepare themselves for their next career move. There is often no one to answer questions we have on what to do next, so most people simply follow the straight line until an obstacle comes, for which they are unprepared.
A personal application inspired by corporate strategy
Corporations spend a great deal of time analyzing scenarios, potential growth paths, target markets, and new product ideas through a strategic planning process. These processes typically require the company to consider things like capabilities and how to engage with stakeholders through better branding and positioning. Such a process is essential to the very survival of a business and having spent over a decade leading and developing strategies for organizations and functions, I realized that the very same process can be applied for individuals.
This led me to adapt the corporate strategic planning process and test whether there was a comparable level of success between companies/functions and individuals. Although the data pool is probably not large enough to draw statistically valid conclusions, the anecdotal results suggest it can have a meaningful impact on employees (occupying a position within an organization), intrapreneurs (those that create a new role or responsibility within the corporate environment), and those that consider taking the entrepreneurial leap outside a corporation.
The outcome was the creation of a step-by-step roadmap for personal and professional success, which is summarized in this article with the double aim of:
- Triggering a reflection to make you better understand yourself and your professional situation in light of today’s reality; and
- Sharing a pragmatic map to help you define what you want to be known for, where you want to go, and how to get there.
The Strategize / Crystalize / Realize Journey
The SCR Program consists of 3 phases, broken down into 12 steps that are covered typically over a 1-year period (resembling a corporate strat plan process), although individual paces may vary. This process is not meant as a one-off but rather a continuous iterative journey by which individuals regularly re-assess their progress.
STRATEGIZE: The first phase of the journey is identifying its destination, making it compelling enough to want to get there, and clear enough to know if we’re on track to reaching it or not. A bit of introspection is needed however before setting our eyes on the end goal:
1- PURPOSE starts with zeroing-in on what motivates you and why. As famously said by Simon Sinek: “People don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it.” Most people and functions know what they do, but much fewer tie it back to a higher purpose (whether the company’s or wider society’s). Understanding your purpose is key to making a connection with others and identifying your drivers -especially your internal ones- can be a powerful source of motivation.
2- ASSESS gives clear insights into your strengths and how to leverage them. Companies build on their strengths — if they are great at engineering, they concentrate their efforts and products on their engineering capability. Yet when it comes to their employees, they put in place development plans which focus on their areas for improvement. Successful entrepreneurs, however, build on their strengths, and this is what should be a solid and credible foundation for all. Any personal disruption should have one’s strength at its core.
3- DEFINE a compelling direction for yourself, combining aspirations and assets to either meet or create opportunities in a company or the marketplace. This is well articulated in Reid Hoffman’s book “The start-up of you.” It’s also essential to project a future (long or short-term) goal which you can work backwards from and use to assess if opportunities along the way get you closer or further from your objective.
CRYSTALIZE: Once your general direction is set, and you have an idea of how you will get there, the next phase requires you to refine it and distil your core offering (whether a role or product), give it a recognizable identify, and begin to socialize it. This phase is often overlooked when people are too motivated to start on their own, leave their organization, and become dependent on external income too quickly instead of reinforcing their base and testing their “product.”
4- VALIDATE your reflection to-date and pressure testing it against robust criteria: do you have credibility and content? Are you able to deliver? Is what you are offering simple enough to be understood and sufficiently unique to stand out? If whatever you’re thinking of doing doesn’t tick these five boxes, keep looking!
5- BRAND is key to positioning yourself, whether internally or externally, and this applies to both your product / content and yourself. Too often we are known for a role or position we occupy, and not what we stand for, and it’s increasingly critical that you can transcend the walls of your department and employer to have a strong, stand-alone position known at large. Shape a clear image of your unique selling proposition and ensure your personal brand is aligned with it.
6- SHARE your product and unique skills, ensuring their stickiness as they are disseminated. The concept here is to give it away without any expectations of return, as brilliantly prescribed in Seth Godin’s book “Linchpin: Are you indispensable?” Understanding that the more you share, the better you become at it and the more valuable it gets, where you no longer have to push it as it rather gets pulled in.
REALIZE: At the half-way point of the journey, the roll-out and deployment of your crystalized strategy can now begin, supported by a solid preparation which give it a higher chance of success:
7- START with common principles whether you’re an employee, intrapreneur or entrepreneur. Each of them progressively offers more rewards but also more risk, and it’s essential to properly understand them before deciding which avenue is right for you. Whatever you end up choosing (and this can of course evolve over time), the basic principles in Eric Ries’ ”Lean Start-up” can and should be applied.
8- ENGAGING, not only with your current stakeholders. Carefully managing existing relationships with those who matter most and also identify those important people in your line of work who do not know you yet but are critical to what you do, and approaching them to make them aware and ultimately support your product. Both these groups require different approaches with adapted tools to build and manage a strong network.
9- AIM correctly as it takes more than random shots to be successful. Rigorously apply pragmatic and proven tools like Alex Osterwalder’s “Business Model Canvass” to ensure you correctly identify your unique selling proposition, the problem it solves, the customers it targets, the channels to reach them, what this will require, and the basic economics. Use this foundation to align your activities with the strategic choice of differentiation, while avoiding investments of time and money which don’t impact your users or customers.
This 3rd phase also some includes some essential “Actualizing” components to stay sharp and remain on track:
10- DELIVER, making the most productive use of your time and resources by ensuring you focus on the task at hand. This can be challenging when you are not working in a defined environment or on a specific assignment. Creating new things, especially when they’re not expected yet, or being on your own are some situations that require strong discipline and should be aided by tools and techniques that make these processes easier to adopt.
11- PAUSE to recharge, even when these breaks are sometimes not intentional. At times you will need to step back, and at other times that decision will not be yours. The intent is not only to recognize these unique opportunities to recharge and reinforce yourself but also embrace them to be more rested and better equipped when your growth path resumes.
12- STEER your career through a personal advisory board — a close group of individuals who have your success at heart and can contribute to your development. This was critical for me when I left the corporate world, and I wish I would have applied this sooner when I was employed. Ideally, this is done in a context of reciprocal relationships with complementary peers or trusted contacts.
Most will understand, few will apply it
The key takeaway is not to wait until you reach the career crossroad to take your first step. Personal development is the foundation of professional development and starts with personal disruption. This means breaking the path of a haphazard career path that is often in the hands of others. It means building and taking charge of your own professional plan and steering your way through a deliberate series of steps to craft a fulfilling future.
“A strategy applied reactively will never be as effective as one done ahead of time”
Most of these tools and information are out there, and no single one is ground-breaking. The success lies in diligently applying them in an orderly way, and adhering to the discipline of staying the course. Recognize this is your defining moment that will differentiate you in reaching fulfilment or simply settling for something less.
Sammy Rashed, Principal at SRCD, Co-founder The Beyond Group AG
A strategic advisor and executive coach, author of the Strategize / Crystalize / Realize methodology focused on having a clear purpose, building on your strengths, and developing & deploying a personal brand. Whether you choose to be an employee, intrapreneur, or entrepreneur, this allows you to be grounded, be positioned for a wide range of options and craft a fulfilling future.
Follow him on twitter at @RashedSammy or connect on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/sammyrashed/
#personaldevelopment #careeercoach #futureofwork #gigeconomy #entrepreneur #digitaldisruption
