Strewn throughout corporations are dangerous landmines ready to blow-up in your face. You may even discover you’re the one who set off the blast with an attitude blunder, yet never knew you were doing it.
Check out three blunders that may be impairing your career and gain insights into turning them around:
See Opportunities Not Dead Ends: In the midst of career struggles, you may be fixating on the obstructions you see as limiting your career. The reality is (and research confirms) your attention directs your emotions. If you yearn to create better results, then you have to change your focus. When your eyes are on your:
- Lousy boss: switch your awareness to why the company has situated him or her in a position of authority, and gain clues into expanding your skills to be a future leader.
- Stuck career: change your story to get in touch with where you intend to go rather than on what’s not happening in this exact instance. Invest your energy into generating your future, not remain frozen in the career dip you’re experiencing at the moment.
- Under-qualified co-workers: Poor decision-making or incomplete assignments leave everyone with egg on their face. Focusing on the failure traps the entire team. Place your leadership hat on by spreading knowledge and knitting the team together—What’s the learning? How can I support my team members through this? What conversations can I generate to move through problems into improved behaviors, actions, and understandings?
Stop Telling Start Enrolling: You’re frustrated because no one is listening to your ideas, so you’re not making the difference in your organization that is the desire of your heart. All you’ve heard are “No’s” or “blowbacks” when presenting ideas. Chances are you’re telling people instead of enrolling them in ideas based on being “receiver-centric.” What’s this? Take on Steven Covey’s principle: “First seek to understand before being understood.” Enrollment begins as you align your ideas with the receiver’s strategic direction! Resistance fades away, and amazing outcomes occur when employees and bosses alike recognize they’re concepts have been heard even though you may not entirely agree with them.
Combine Connecting With Hard Work: Nearly three-quarters of Americans think working hard is the secret to moving up the corporate ladder. If you’re feeling held back by circumstances and yet you’re determined to attain the top ranks, readjust your attention to include connecting with others. The reality is you’ve already earned your stripes as an expert—now the organization wants to observe your powers to inspire and motivate and work with others. At the heart of relationship building is exhibiting your capacity to be a team player with those around you. The earlier in your career you take on this attitude; the more effortless you’ll experience your rise to the top.
Unfortunately, many employees blunder by paying more attention to the difficulties rather than solutions and their responsive actions. I hate to keep saying it, but you’re the only one standing in the way of your promotion, and as long as you continue gawking at the obstructions along the way, you’re not moving forward anytime soon. Energize your career by energizing yourself!