“I can help with that!”
In the final installment of this “motivation” sub-series,
this post will look more at developing career paths – your own and more
importantly, those of your team. Yes,
your team is more important than you.
That is the true core value of a successful leader (which we will get
more into that in future blog posts).
For now, think about this question: How did you get to where you are in
business today?
Of course a question such as that, has both positive and
negative answers.
First the negative.
How much further in business would you be today IF someone had helped
you along the way? Many of us had
supervisors who stunted our personal career growth. There were peers who were difficult for the
sake of being difficult. Don’t forget
the team members who were “inherited” and truly did not belong on the team. There you are, in the middle of this, going
it alone with the burden and no reward. How
long did you last?
Imagine if you didn’t go it alone. What if there was a mentor, coach or sponsor
who took the time to understand your career aspirations and helped you to
navigate around the obstacles? Even if
it wasn’t an outside influencer, suppose your manager put the best interests of
the team first. Instead of stunting
growth, the leader worked to understand the team’s individual traits and
motivations. With this knowledge, people
can be assigned roles according to their true abilities. Looking back in that context, you can envision
how much would have been different?
Now, think about your best career moment. What was it and how did you get there? More importantly, who helped you along the
way? It is very doubtful you were
alone. How much of a difference did a
leader, mentor, coach or sponsor make in your outcome? Could you
have achieved it without their help?
These best career moments have to go beyond just receiving. Think about the giving aspect as well. In the moments we help others with their unique motivations, we are building credit towards our own.
Wait, how can that be?
Simple, we are humans, we learn from each other. Helping someone else fulfill their
motivations and achieve their goals, helps us to grow. We may have our own thoughts but it is our
surroundings which help us to evolve. Plus,
we love feeling good about ourselves and truly nothing feels as good as knowing
you helped someone else achieve a goal.
Trust me – it is one of the best moments ever.
Finally, put it all together. When we work together, learning our own
unique and very personal motivations, we develop understanding. An understanding which leads to trust. The kind of trust it takes trust to build
careers.
In those darker moments, imagine if someone had said: “Oh, I
know why this is important to her – it will help her make strides in the
direction of her career goal and I can help with that!” Take the time, understand what your own
motivations are. More importantly, learn
what motivates those around you.
Be the
person who “can help with that!”
Thank you for joining
me on this renewed journey. I welcome
comments and questions. Please go to my
webpage, www.rdadvisorygroup.com
for more information on an assessment of your current business functions. If
you would like to read my previous blogging efforts, please go to: www.managingbusinessacument@blogspot.com.