Are you ready to take the next step in your career?
Are you ready to take the next step in your career?
As an intelligent, capable and experienced person you may feel ready for the next step in your leadership career, but are you fully aware of why? Do you have a plan for what you want to achieve? Have you had time to reflect on what motivates you? This article looks at how you can recognise your own personal drivers and how aligning them to your role can be vital for your professional and personal development.
Past experiences, knowledge and competencies are arguably hugely important aspects to consider during professional development but equally important is the ‘why’ behind the ‘what’. Acknowledging that you want to take the next step in your career is almost a given but ask yourself ‘why do I want this?’ and the answers can be very revealing even when they are not spoken out loud. You probably haven’t reached your current career level without knowing what the expected or palatable responses are e.g., “it’s a natural progression”, “I want to earn more money”, but what are the answers that you keep to yourself?
“I need to keep myself busier” “I want to make my family proud” “I want to retire earlier” “status is everything to me” “this might help me feel more secure” “I’m bored and need a new challenge”
The possible answers are endless but each one reveals the more deep-seated drivers behind your climb up the corporate ladder. Understanding and aligning your personal drivers with the role you take on is the key to your development and will allow you to realise your full potential.
Exploring deep-seated personal motivators, can be problematic particularly if you find introspection difficult or think that the only acceptable answer to the question of ‘what next?’ is further promotion. Looking too deeply might feel like a pointless or risky exercise. Framing self-discovery within the context of a formal assessment methodology can often help make this process both more comfortable and productive.
We all have personality traits that can be measured. At Alumni we use the five-factor model of dispositional traits which measure the behavioural, cognitive, and emotional factors that are distinct and recurrent within individuals. This five-factor model (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism) is rooted in trait theory and research consistently demonstrates that it is a psychometrically valid model that is related to a variety of work outcomes, including measures of job performance, satisfaction, absenteeism, leader ability, and career success. These traits can change over time[1], however change is usually slow.
As people gain professional experiences and insights over the course of their career, they come to see themselves, their priorities and their personal sense of identity – both private and professional – in new ways.
When we talk about personality change in the context of leadership development, we are mostly concerned with behaviour and reputation. We attempt to change behaviour with the help of feedback, coaching, and continuous developmental effort first and as people start to see and respond to you differently, positive effects will follow. You may start to see yourself differently too. Identifying your own learning style is useful to ensure that your investment into professional leadership development drives sustained behavioural change.
Fig: 1 How personality traits feed into professional leadership domains
Knowing yourself is the foundation of strong character, purpose, and authenticity. It's only when you understand who you are, not who the world thinks you are, that you're ready to lead. Knowing who you are, requires an accurate understanding of your strengths, weaknesses, values, beliefs, motivations, and desires. It is crucial that you explore your own identity and develop a deep understanding of what really drives you as an individual when embarking on professional development.
At Alumni we have leadership consultants and chartered psychologists with a wealth of experience in unleashing leadership potential. If you would like to explore what makes you tick or take positive movements towards your next role in leadership we would be delighted to help you explore your options.
References
[1] https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/open-gently/202101/how-personality-traits-may-change-over-time
About Alumni
At Alumni we thrive on listening to the many experiences and careers of people in our network and we are passionate about matching the right individuals to the right opportunities at the right time. We have a broad portfolio of services and help companies recruit key roles, within management, C-suite, and board level opportunities. Our mission is to connect, advise and challenge in order to bring out the best in individuals and organisations; in short, to help unleash potential. We have many ongoing dialogues with organisations who are looking to add new skills and competence to their teams, and we are always looking to grow our network of candidates.
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