Michelle Gibbings* says career success is rarely a solo venture, but we often don’t pay enough attention to those we need alongside us, supporting, encouraging and challenging our next steps.
Success rarely happens alone. This tried and tested statement came to the fore recently as I was baulking at doing something because I was worried about being judged.
A former colleague stepped into a support role and helpfully challenged me — spelling out all the reasons why I should back myself.
It was a great reminder of the role that the people around you play in your career decisions and outcomes.
Often the people that care for you will see what you need before you can see it yourself.
It might be a family friend who helped you get your first job, or a former work colleague that referred you to someone, or a boss who advocated and backed your promotion.
When it comes to your career, contacts and relationships matter.
Researchers refer to this as your ‘developmental network’.
The people in this network take an active interest in your career and take action to help advance it.
They can include family, friends, peers, colleagues and community contacts.
Finnish researchers, Marianne Ekonen and Pia Heilmann examined the role these networks played in a manager’s career.
They found that a developmental network was integral to a person’s career.
Other research, which focused on females, found that it’s not just who is in the network, what matters is the level of intimacy and depth of the relationships.
Having people in the network who had status and were well connected increased career satisfaction.
While we all know that career success is rarely a solo venture, we often don’t pay enough attention to whom we need alongside us, supporting, encouraging and challenging our career steps.
I liken the developmental network to having your personal Career Advisory Board which, like corporate boards, will provide advice and guidance.
These people will give advice, share insights, constructively challenge your thinking and actions, and provide connections and ideas.
Having a Career Advisory Board will help you in the following ways.
Expand your perspective on what’s possible and practical concerning your career.
Connect with people you don’t currently know that will facilitate and accelerate your career.
Overcome challenges and remove roadblocks, particularly if you find yourself becoming complacent or looking for the easy way out.
Be inspired by hearing success and failure stories and seeing what’s achievable when you put your mind to it.
Remain focused on what matters when it comes to career and life success, and not be distracted by shiny new toys.
When thinking about your board, there is a range of roles that can be filled.
This can include a mentor who has been where you want to go and can provide advice on what the next steps may look like.
Then there should be a sponsor, who advocates for you and will be in your corner cheering you on; a career coach, who will be a sounding board and provide moral support and encouragement, and an advisor, who will offer advice on core aspects of your career and life.
There should also be industry contacts and friends who will provide advice, ideas and contacts in your current or future career field.
Who is on your Career Advisory Board will change over time as your and their needs and circumstances change.
The people involved can be directly connected with your career or adjacent to it.
They may be work-based relationships or socially focused.
Sometimes, the roles may be formal and other times, informal.
For example, I’ve had people I see as sitting on my Career Advisory Board who don’t know they play this role in my life.
They are people I turn to and whose advice I trust.
Your board doesn’t have monthly meetings, and there are no minutes or formal rules of engagement.
It’s a concept intended to get you to think about who can help support and encourage your career choices.
Always remember, relationships are a two-way street, so for the people on your Career Advisory Board, always look for ways to support and help them too.
Above all else, be appreciative.
As the American writer and statesman, William Jennings Bryan said: “Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice.
“It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.”
*Michelle Gibbings is a Melbourne-based change leadership and career expert and founder of Change Meridian. She can be contacted at [email protected].
This article first appeared at changemeridian.com.au
