Do you feel a bit unfulfilled in your career? Does it feel a bit like groundhog day… different day, same stuff? Are you just going through the motions, pounding the treadmill of work just to keep the bills paid but not feeling fulfilled.
Perhaps you feel like you are putting in a lot effort for very little reward? Waiting and hoping that things will change or something else that might come your way?
Or is there just no room to grow or move ahead in your current work environment? Or perhaps there is….. but you just don’t know how to go after them or make a change?
Perhaps you were like me when you started to have a family and you reconciled to yourself that it’s OK, just accept it, my career not that important right now. And then you wake up on the Monday morning with that flat feeling of facing another week in the same job, watching the clock tick by, until you can pick your kids and go home and do something you really want to be doing.
You are surviving but not thriving.
With all careers, there will be peaks and troughs, high points and plateaus, with a few disappointments thrown in.
But staying in that career plateau too long can be detrimental to your confidence, your overall wellbeing and could eventually erode your future opportunities and or worst still your performance, causing more issues down the track. I see many highly talent professional women in this position every day in my coaching practice.
It is important to address these things. Even if it’s about the season of life you are in, there are still things you can do to ensure you are getting some fulfilment from your work every day.
A career plateau can be caused by a number of factors such as organisation constraints or assessment or your own personal choices. Generally it is the perception that there is low likelihood of progressions or a feeling of no longer being challenged by the work or responsibilities of the role.
Here are 10 things to do to help you get unstuck and feel more momentum in your career, whatever your situation.
- Work out what motivates you
Understanding what motivates you at work is really important to understanding why you may be stalling in your current role and what you can do to improve the situation.
Research indicates that individuals who pursue work that is congruent with what motivates them and aligns with their values, are much more satisfied and successful in their careers. Knowing this information can give us valuable information on how we can improve the current situation or make decisions to change it. Click here to download my free tool – Love your Mondays again, 3 steps to find your motivators at work. Spend 10 minutes or so identifying the key things that are important to you and what gives you satisfaction at work.
- Look at your current environment
Once you have a clear sense of what motivates you, do an honest assessment of where you might fall short and identify any gaps. Is it possible to change the environment or your mindset? Or is it that the day to day job is completely at odds with what lights you up?
Sometimes just some small tweaks to your environment can really help you get some momentum back.
So what you need to do is some job-crafting (Wrzesniewki and Dutton, 2001). Job crafting is refers to a self-initiated, proactive strategy that individuals can do, to change the characteristics of thier job to better align the job with their personal needs, goals, and skills.
So first look at your tasks – what can you do more of at work? Can you change the frequency or the order of some the tasks you do, so you can do more of what you love. Next look at relationships, how can you work on your interactions at work? Are there certain people you would like to interact more with (or less with!) and are there opportunities to build in more social interactions. Finally, look at how you think and perceive your work. How can you change the way you think about the tasks and activities you do? Can you get more meaning in what you do by linking it to your bigger goals, beliefs and passions both inside and outside the organisation?
- Talk to you Manager
Sitting down with your Manager and having a meeting specifically about your career can prove invaluable and it is something we don’t often make time for or initiate ourselves. During this meeting make sure you share with them you what you enjoy, your key achievements and what aspirations you have.
Don’t assume they know. Managers can be a great sounding board on what options there might be in the future. They can also sponsor you for certain development and mentoring programs (internally and externally) as well as introduce you to interesting contacts to help you increase your visibility in the organisation. They will also be able to share their own stories around their career and what they did to get there.
Of course this relies on having a good relationship with your Manager. Do all you can to enrol your manager as your ally. However if you Managers not the right person you can enrol a trusted mentor.
Some suggestions to strengthen your relationship with your Manager are to have regular one to ones, do exceptional work and show your value (sometimes you have highlight what you are doing, how you are approaching and thinking about things and how you go about your work in conversations, more than you think you need to!). In these meetings be positive, come with ideas and enthusiasm and think about how you can help them with what is top of mind for them.
Ask for feedback and for their advice and this will go along way to building your relationship with your Manager and opening up doors, to help you get unstuck in your role.
- Invest in relationships
Your manager isn’t the only one who can help you, so don’t fret if you are not getting what you need. Building a broad network both inside and outside your organisation to help you get some more perspective on where you could take your career.
Do you have mentor, someone who can you can ask advice from, pick their brains about certain topics in your field or about their career and the steps they took. It’s good to have a couple of Mentors you can call on.
It is good to have connections outside your company, so think about industry or interest groups that you could join. Are there groups you could follow online, other associations or events you join to build that network. The world in build on relationships and it is important to not have all your relationship inside your organisation or you will become quite insular.
- Build key skills
A career plateau is an ideal time to invest in your learning. You probably “have your job in a box,” which means you can do it in your sleep. Maybe you’re even a little bored at work. The good news is, this means that you’ve got time to invest in learning new things, like taking a course or getting a degree. Or simply doing some exploring and research about what skills are needed for the future and researching other job roles and seeing what skills are required. Commit to doing one or two things each week to build knowledge and skills in a new area.
Your first step is to identify some key skills that could help you progress in your current role and put together a development plan for yourself. Think about courses you could do, contacts you have that do this well and opportunities where you can get some more experience or exposure to this skill or knowledge area.
Ideally you want your organisation to pay for any training but if you really want it, don’t wait! Get in the driver’s seat of your career and point it in the direction you want. Don’t wait for things to fall into your lap in order for them to happen. Technology has really opened up learning and there are so many options out there to learn, gain knowledge and build skills and many are free or low cost and delivered right to you online.
- Get career coach
If you still not sure what is causing your plateau, employing a career coach can really help you gain clarity, map out next steps and explore new options and learn more about yourself and how you can leverage this knowledge, to find interesting and fulfilling work. Working with a coach will provide the regular commitment and time to focus on your career and your goals and is a unique opportunity to be challenged, reflect and be accountable to yourself. Read my blog on the 5 benefits of coaching at any stage of your career, to understand more about the how coaching can help you.
- Look outside of work
There are many options outside of work that can provide you with opportunities to use your skills, develop new ones and fulfil those things that motivate you, especially when you current work environment doesn’t. You can do all this, while still doing your day-to-day job. Some ideas are, volunteering for a cause that you believe in or an organisations you are part of such as a club, associations etc. You could also lean into an existing hobby like running a triathlon or painting. You could also look to join some boards and take on some non-executive positions. Or perhaps you could be start a side gig. As long as there is no company policy against accepting outside work, starting a side gig is an excellent way to develop new skills, promote your individual brand, expand your network and make additional money.
- Develop Leadership skills
There are also opportunities to develop leadership skills regardless of whether you have the title or not. Think of ways you can build your leadership muscle through internal training, reading professional development books, biographies and business news are all ways to DIY your leadership development. Another opportunity may to become a great mentor for others. Helping more junior people in your organisation, can be energising and helps feel like you are making an impact while giving you a renewed focus. It also gives you an opportunity to learn from them in many ways, such as latest trends, technology, generational differences etc.
- Get good at interviews
Being able to articulate your value and your achievements in an authentic and compelling way, is a key skills that can be learnt, whether you use this in informal catchups at work about future opportunities, when attending networking events and one to one meetings, to more formal interviews for actual job vacancies. Getting comfortable in interviews and in speaking about yourself comes down to preparation and practise.
Prepare a short introduction and then look for opportunities to introduce yourself and your key skills/areas of expertise and when appropriate your aspirations. In order to prepare fully for interviews, collect examples of you achievements at work , projects you have worked on, details of clients you have helped, processes you have improved. Get comfortably talking about these in succinct but impactful way that builds rapport and makes a positive impression, that is authentic to you.
Don’t fall in the trap that a lot of professional women do, and down play what you have done and what you can offer. You can do this in a sincere way but also in a way that makes the most these opportunities.
- Change it up
Jumping straight to leaving job should not be the default option. Check what it is that is really the root cause of why you are feeling stuck or unhappy about , before jumping ship. There may be many overlapping issues happening at the same time. What you don’t want to do is abandon your career because you just in the wrong company, or team or because of the way you are being managed.
Also if you don’t work first on improving your current situation, you may end up bringing the issues from your current job into the next job. Be empowered that you can leave your job, but do it in a planned way, At the very least, keeping your job buys you time (and cash flow) to find the right job to break out of your mid-career plateau. There are many actions you can take to get another job while still working at your current one.
So in summary, take back control of your career. You are the one in the driver’s seat. Don’t wait to get opportunities or for things to change, there are some things you can do to keep moving forward, even in those interim roles or seasons of life where you are just going through the motions at work.
Which one of these 10 things could really move the dial in terms of how you feel about work?
Sometimes just a small change in perspective and a few little tweaks can make a big difference.
What will you do today for you and your career?