You know the truism, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”
Now is not the time to get what you’ve always got!
Now is the time to cash in on the superb set of skills that you’ve accumulated in your career so far. It’s time to sharpen your skills and add new perspectives and new approaches that will accelerate your career.
Many of the most successful and the most respected executives find that it’s effective to have:
- An impartial, trusted sounding board (so they get clearer on their thinking and have a confidential ear for when they want to offload).
- Access to selected diagnostic instruments — to give them finer distinctions about where they’re well on track and where they’re less on track.
- Objective observations of some sort of Personal Career Strategist or coach — who’s there with the sole agenda of assisting them on their sometimes-lonely journey and give them greater confidence that they’re on track.
- Someone to challenge them and someone to support them (which gives them certainty that their thinking and decision-making is sound).
- Open-mindedness about trying new approaches.
Impressive Career Progression Is Seldom Magic
Like these successful, respected executives, your career goals will be more easily and more quickly realised when you call in professional help and don’t have to rely just on your own resources.
Hardly any super-successful executives landed in their senior role by relying on their existing resources and skills. They realised that objective feedback, observations, and suggestions would fuel their progress and help them realise their career goals.
Check out these positive impacts of coaching, recently reported:
- CEO of Home Depot Bob Nardelli said, “I absolutely believe that people, unless coached, never reach their maximum capabilities.”
- Com reported, “Once used to bolster troubled staffers, coaching now is part of the standard leadership development training for elite executives and talented up-and-comers at IBM, Motorola, J.P. Morgan, Chase, and Hewlett Packard. These companies are discreetly giving their best prospects what star athletes have long had: a trusted adviser to help reach their goals.”
- Fortune Magazine published, “Today’s managers, professionals, and entrepreneurs are hiring coaches to help them with time management, a change in career, or balancing their work and personal lives.”
- People are looking to coaches as sounding boards and motivators who can offer a fresh perspective on career and life problems — but without the conflicting agendas of a spouse, family member, or even a mentor.”
- John Russell, Managing Director, Harley-Davidson Europe Ltd, said, “I never cease to be amazed at the power of the coaching process to draw out the skills or talent that was previously hidden within an individual, and which invariably finds a way to solve a problem previously thought unsolvable.”
And here’s an oldie but a goodie:
- Back in 1997, Money magazine wrote, “If you’re thinking of overhauling your career to achieve a more fulfilling life, consider joining the estimated 100,000 Americans who annually enlist the help of some 4,000 personal coaches each year. A coach may be the guardian angel you need to rev up your career.”
You may well be strong enough and capable enough to solve your own problems.
Perhaps the best question for you, at this point in your career, is: How important is it that you fine tune your engine, use high-quality fuel, polish your vehicle, and ensure you’re selecting a course that’ll both speed up your journey and make it an enjoyable one?
If you have a strong desire to develop into an indispensable, world-class leader, a Personal Career Strategist will accelerate your journey. There is certainly a strong correlation between working alongside a trusted advisor and getting to the top.
It’ll probably be the difference between you being a good executive and you being a world-class executive.
Just one note of caution!
With a Personal Career Strategist, you’ll probably wake up in the morning excited about the possibility of applying some fresh thinking to an old problem, or doing something differently. 🙂
Continued in Carolyn Stevens’ book, “Stepping Into Your Power“.
