When opportunity doesn’t knock…
I decided since we just wrapped up a 4-week series about your team, I would turn this week’s focus back to you!
Specifically, I want to unpack what it takes to accelerate your career growth and why many people stall.
Story time.
Throughout my leadership career and now as an executive coach, I commonly hear how people are performing well at work, getting great feedback about their projects, but getting passed up for the big promotion.
That sucks, and it hurts. I know firsthand as I missed massive opportunities a few times too many!
But I learned something important in the process: at some point in your career, PERFORMANCE matters less than your POTENTIAL.
And how do executive leaders measure potential? It turns out it’s pretty subjective and mostly unconscious.
An executive is unconsciously asking themself, “Could I sit next to this person on a flight from NYC to LA?” The answer is tied to your behaviors.
So, this week I want to share 6 specific behaviors that radically impact your career potential.
1. Your personality. As an adult, 98% of your personality is baked. Beyond traumatic events, it won’t change much. Therefore, you need strong self-awareness about your strengths & weaknesses.
“I must strengthen my weaknesses,” is bad thinking. You can’t just snap out of it. With precision, you must use tools to help you overcome the negatives.
I use two specific assessments with my clients. In some of their results, it literally says, “Socially clueless.” The good news: there are coachable tactics to compensate for this.
2. Your communication. Open the last email you sent to 10 or more people. Do you have a natural style that galvanizes people? Or do you use tactics that turn people off?
How people respond to your messages tells you everything you need to know. If they don’t respond at all, you need more work.
Also, “People shouldn’t need me to send reminders,” is bad thinking. Even CEOs fail to drive action. Having power isn’t enough. You must be able to influence at Internet-famous levels.
3. Your conflict. Think about the last convo with your boss which was uncomfortably disagreeable. How did it go? Did you establish boundaries? Were you willing to compromise?
“I want to maintain harmony,” is bad thinking. You must be able to push back and manage up when there’s a difference of opinion.
Going back to point 1, your personality may predispose you to avoid conflict or get defensive with critical feedback. Again, there are tools to compensate for this.
4. Your self-care. During safety demos, flight attendants urge us to take care of ourselves before our companions in an emergency. This is true of our careers.
“I don’t have time for myself because I support others,” is bad thinking. You must have healthy self-care habits freeing you from unconscious worry.
Otherwise, you’re constantly burned out and likely have a short wick—this is not a good look!
The six self-care habits most tied to worry and correlated with stronger brain health are: alcohol-free living, nutrition, movement, sleep, quiet time, and connection.
5. Your feedback. What are others saying about your potential? Sometimes this is informal. Are you listening? When you get feedback about performance, does it really map to something on this list related to potential?
“My boss is a jerk, and I don’t care what they say,” is bad thinking. Feedback is a gift, and you must tap into the signals people are giving you.
6. Your calendar. Stop making excuses about not having time. Don’t let your calendar and tasks own you. You control your calendar, and you have to make time for your priorities.
“I’ll wait until I find more time,” is bad thinking. If growing your career is a priority, you have to make time to work on things blocking you the most.
I’ll close out this week by sharing with you what I often remind my clients: you’re much closer than you think to the things you want most in your career.
Step 1 is to change your metric for success—yes, performance matters but your potential matters more.
Remember, if opportunity doesn’t knock … build a door!
Make it a great day!
Chris
P.S. Sharing is caring. Please forward to someone who needs this.
