The need to identify your career success drivers

Ensuring a successful and rewarding career is not simply about gaining some specific piece of knowledge and then taking on a role that appears to be appropriate. Knowledge is only one component of any career role that you have to take care of and manage - no matter what it is. Depending on the role itself others components (to varying degrees) include;

1. Ongoing demand for that role in the economy/organization

You cannot assume you can continue to perform your current role, in its current form, forever and gain the same financial reward. You need to determine why your role is in demand and ensure you move along with what is and will be required.

2. Leadership and management ability and understanding

This is just not about being a leader or managing others - it's about understanding and having empathy with those who lead and manage you. There are many styles of leadership and management and both as a leader and someone being lead you need to comprehend what is best and how to adapt to the varying styles with which you will be faced.

3. Time and stress management

Put simply, if you do not manage or your time or stress levels then your career performance will suffer. Two key drivers of performance are focus and dedication - being stressed and not allocating time to important tasks will not allow you to be either.

4. Networking

More and more careers are requiring some kind of networking to be undertaken - even if it's inter-departmental. Don't shut yourself off in your cubicle, home office...These days it's very much who you know as much as what you know.

5. Personal presence and confidence

Personality plays a large role in career success, no matter how knowledgeable you are in your role. If you want to progress and develop in and beyond your current role you have to be confident (not cocky or bragging) that you can handle your role and more. This is just not about ensuring promotion in your career. If you wanted a flexible work arrangement for say family reasons, there is even more reason to appear that you are confident you can perform in this situation.

6. Health and well-being

More and more evidence points to the fact that if you are strong physically it will allow your mental capabilities to be fully utilized. Mental health and well-being is also a critical component of performance and you must ensure meditation and relaxation is scheduled into your week.

7. Identification of re-education required

Associated with Point 1, experience will only take you so far - as the world changes, the economy changes and thus demand for goods and services changes. Your knowledge of today will not suffice for what is required tomorrow and you have to ensure you keep yourself up to date - this can mean subject matter knowledge, marketing and sales techniques, IT etc. If you don't, then you run the risk of becoming redundant in terms of skills on offer and career options will be limited.

8. IT ability

You need to assess the basic level of IT skills required now and in the future. This basic level will continue to rise so don't think being young means you automatically know everything required.

9. Perseverence and drive

This is one of the most important components. You need to work hard and smart and don't regard failure at any point as the end of the journey but as part of the journey. Success is not achieved overnight and you cannot assume that once you have achieved one thing that it will not disappear if you don't continue to perform. You need to understand your motivations and values for performing.

If it was only knowledge that was important then those with the highest IQ would have the most successful careers - and this is not the case. Aspects of emotional and social intelligence play a major role in success apart from IQ.

The next three important steps are the following; (1) identifying the rank and percentage of the total current role related to the above components, (2) produce a plan on how to improve your performance of each and (3) do the last two things for your next planned career moves. It's no good finding out you don't know how to drive or drive well when given a car....you have to plan in advance.

Why are you underperforming in your chosen career?

FACT: what you thought were the key performance drivers underlying your career are probably out of date.

FACT: what you think you need to do to ensure your career is successful is probably not nearly enough.

A career is a fluid creature - it may look like it retains the same shape but in reality it is continually evolving and demanding different things from those involved. Why is this? Because our society is evolving and as such what was needed 50, 20 or even 5 years ago is no longer applicable/not applicable to the same degree.

Take the job of a lawyer, accountant, investment adviser, IT programmer, marketer, recruiter and even a teacher - the career requirements have developed and changed from what they were to something else today. The skills and knowledge required for each has progressed because of the different demands facing each of these jobs.

So what does this mean for you?

Well, if you commenced your career over 5 years and particularly if more than 10 years you should be sitting down and researching the competencies (skills and knowledge) that are now required for your career. Start by looking at what your career is and what your key performance drivers are. Some of the skills might be the same but you may have to change your focus. For example, accountants are just not about financial reports and regulations but business advising and company restructuring and strategy. Teachers have to adapt to the generations coming through in respect to personal branding, networking and IT knowledge. Recruiters are not just about finding you a job but career advisers and personal branding experts (if they are any good of course).

So it's just not about assuming you're on the right career path - you have to assume that as society changes, demand for your skills change and thus you need to adapt to that demand. What our society is going through at the moment is this on a very wide scale; our society is changing what is wanted and what is not and thus the allocation of resources is being turned on its head. We are finding that we are not able to provide the correct resources and there will be therefore a period of exploration and consolidation whilst our society gains the required skills and knowledge to move forward.

For you, take a look at yourself and if in doubt as to how to manage your professional career, feel free to email me.

What are the key things entrepreneurs need assistance in?

Entrepreneurs are a strange bunch.....I say this tongue in cheek as I have a lot of respect for this group of people who often risk everything in the belief that their service or product will be a success. I am not talking about business owners here per se but those who start a venture from nothing, create the possibility to bring something new or improved to our society. The best entrepreneurs have loads of confidence and self belief, have a great vision, focused and lots of determination and perseverance. Ideas may be sensible, slightly crazy or completely off the wall but in all cases they often have a reason for pursuing their particular venture. The vast majority of us would not be successful as entrepreneurs - even though some of the competencies of an entrepreneur can be taught a lot has to do with personality traits. This is not something that can be taught.

However taking into account all of this I have seen many entrepreneurs fail and some of my clients are entrepreneurs - thus I have seen the same patterns over and over again. Entrepreneurs are great at kick-starting a project but they do run the risk of expending lots of energy with little return even though they may have a high degree of focus. Entrepreneurs are often not able to operate as a business, rather they often operate in the 'new product development' or R&D sphere, which is great to begin with but is not sustainable. What entrepreneurs need to be aware they need assistance in is business strategy, financial management and funding and most important, self health and well-being.

So why have I selected these particular areas? Entrepreneurs are all for pushing a product or service to market, but often they have no concept of how to move past the creation and innovation stage. Do they have experience in market entry, competitor analysis, market analysis? Maybe, maybe not but I am a believer that you cannot do everything well. Even if you think you can do everything your performance will suffer at some point due to your inherent limitations (due to genetics, your experiences and knowledge). Many entrepreneurs are not experts in finance or fund raising and this is one reason that many entrepreneurs go to venture capitalists for assistance and guidance. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, entrepreneurs are not experts in mental strength and well-being. No entrepreneur will experience success if they are continually stressed, distracted and mentally fatigued. Entrepreneurs, more then most, will face problems that need to be addressed and these cannot always be solved by one's self. There is a need for external guidance and support.

So my advice for entrepreneurs is two things. Firstly recognise what competencies it will take to be a success - not just in the creation of whatever you are involved in but getting it to market. Secondly, assess your own competency gaps and don't be too proud to ask for assistance. Know your strengths and recognize it is a strength to know when to do it yourself and when to delegate.

A business or career begins with a dream...but succeeds from a solid foundation

I'm not sure if it's due to the recent economic crisis...actually let me say economic events as I don't want to be another conveyor of doom and gloom, but I have been reassessing my own skills and personal resources recently. Purpose? To discover what I actually know and what value I provide to society. What I have found in fact is a bit of a wake up call in that whilst I do know certain things I perhaps thought I know more than I actually do.

I'll be the first to admit I have some great career goals in respect to the businesses I want to develop. Lots of goals and objectives supported by motivations but the one thing I needed to do was assess whether I had the ability, knowledge and experience to achieve the goals I wanted when I wanted. Let me tell you it's an interesting exercise to undertaken, particularly when you are brutally honest with yourself.

Let's take for example you want to run a consulting business and you think you know enough to succeed. Can you answer the following questions in a positive way:

1. Do you know more than 80% of competitors?
2. Have you validated the knowledge you need to know to succced?
3. Have you confirmed the above with your potential customers?
4. You might have 'consulting' knowledge but do you have 'financial performance' management knowledge? (that is, the knowledge to run your company finances)
5. Have you undertaken a risk assessment on the impact to your business of negative events e.g. economic downturn. Has this been validated?

See the thing is, it doesn't matter if you are smart as a 'subject matter expert' and have a great dream to go out on your own - if you don't build a solid business foundation behind you then you will not succeed. Likewise, you definitely need a great dream to succeed but it is only the start. Failure is achieved by being under-prepared and it is not hard in this fast-paced world to indeed be caught short.

Why you need to identify each of the 'components' of your career

Ensuring a successful and rewarding career is not simply about gaining some specific piece of knowledge and then taking on a role that appears to be appropriate. Knowledge is only one component of any career role that you have to take care of and manage - no matter what it is. Depending on the role itself others components (to varying degrees) include;

1. Ongoing demand for that role in the economy/organization

You cannot assume you can continue to perform your current role, in its current form, forever and gain the same financial reward. You need to determine why your role is in demand and ensure you move along with what is and will be required.

2. Leadership and management ability and understanding

This is just not about being a leader or managing others - it's about understanding and having empathy with those who lead and manage you. There are many styles of leadership and management and both as a leader and someone being lead you need to comprehend what is best and how to adapt to the varying styles with which you will be faced.

3. Time and stress management

Put simply, if you do not manage or your time or stress levels then your career performance will suffer. Two key drivers of performance are focus and dedication - being stressed and not allocating time to important tasks will not allow you to be either.

4. Networking

More and more careers are requiring some kind of networking to be undertaken - even if it's inter-departmental. Don't shut yourself off in your cubicle, home office...These days it's very much who you know as much as what you know.

5. Personal presence and confidence

Personality plays a large role in career success, no matter how knowledgeable you are in your role. If you want to progress and develop in and beyond your current role you have to be confident (not cocky or bragging) that you can handle your role and more. This is just not about ensuring promotion in your career. If you wanted a flexible work arrangement for say family reasons, there is even more reason to appear that you are confident you can perform in this situation.

6. Health and well-being

More and more evidence points to the fact that if you are strong physically it will allow your mental capabilities to be fully utilized. Mental health and well-being is also a critical component of performance and you must ensure meditation and relaxation is scheduled into your week.

7. Identification of re-education required

Associated with Point 1, experience will only take you so far - as the world changes, the economy changes and thus demand for goods and services changes. Your knowledge of today will not suffice for what is required tomorrow and you have to ensure you keep yourself up to date - this can mean subject matter knowledge, marketing and sales techniques, IT etc. If you don't, then you run the risk of becoming redundant in terms of skills on offer and career options will be limited.

8. IT ability

You need to assess the basic level of IT skills required now and in the future. This basic level will continue to rise so don't think being young means you automatically know everything required.

9. Perseverence and drive

This is one of the most important components. You need to work hard and smart and don't regard failure at any point as the end of the journey but as part of the journey. Success is not achieved overnight and you cannot assume that once you have achieved one thing that it will not disappear if you don't continue to perform. You need to understand your motivations and values for performing.

If it was only knowledge that was important then those with the highest IQ would have the most successful careers - and this is not the case. Aspects of emotional and social intelligence play a major role in success apart from IQ.

The next three important steps are the following; (1) identifying the rank and percentage of the total current role related to the above components, (2) produce a plan on how to improve your performance of each and (3) do the last two things for your next planned career moves. It's no good finding out you don't know how to drive or drive well when given a car....you have to plan in advance.