How to create your own career growth
Want to advance your career the right way? Ask yourself these 3 questions.
A very small minority of employees know that if you want to grow fast, you can’t wait for the right opportunity—you have to create it.
But how do you create the right opportunities?
In my experience making it to VP of Preconstruction & Sales at 28 years old, there are opportunities everywhere! And you can create the right ones—for yourself and for your company—by asking yourself 3 simple questions. These work no matter hold old or how experienced you are. Let’s talk about how you can get to the level you want fast.
Question #1: Where do I want to go?
You can’t create opportunities for growth if you don’t know where you’re going.
So, a compelling vision of your future is an extremely important starting point. This vision must accomplish two things:
Define your “north star”—what career/position/etc. you are going to chase
Get you excited—to make the journey worthwhile
With a compelling vision for yourself, you will start to see what you need to do and learn in order to be ready. The more excited you are about that vision, the faster you will work on the knowledge, skills, and attitudes you need to get there.
Question #2: Where is the business going?
It’s likely that your owner/executive team has some vision of the future for the business. They may even have an idea of where you fit into that vision. If you really want to create opportunities for fast growth, then you must take an interest in all of it.
Go to your owner/executive team and ask them questions like:
What are our long-term goals?
Where do you see us in 5 years?
What is our strategy for getting there?
What are our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats?
What do you need from the next generation of leadership for us to succeed?
Where do I fit into that plan now? How can I provide the most value?
Not only will they will be amazed at your devotion to the business, but you will also get a clear picture of where you could fit into the business’s future: The more you understand the business, the more you can position yourself around the right opportunities.
Then, ask yourself question #3.
Question #3: How can I align where I want to go with where the business is going?
Your personal goal is great, but does it align with the business’s goals? Does it align with the opportunities that are going to be available in the short-term? With some slight adjustments, are there opportunities you could create for yourself right now?
For example, you may see yourself in an Operations role long-term, but upon talking to your owner/executive team, you find out that the head of estimating is going to retire in the next 5 years, and they are looking for her replacement. Does that interest you? Is that an exciting opportunity?
Or another: imagine the long-term plan is to open additional offices in new markets. Could you be the person to lead that charge? Are you willing to move and grow as each new office does?
Only you know the answer to those questions, but the point is that without knowing where you want to go and where the business wants to go, you can’t plan your path to growth. In other words, you might be chasing the wrong opportunities. Once you align your current efforts with long-term opportunities, you put yourself in a position to grow quickly—much more quickly than your peers. .
Creating Opportunities
Once you do decide which opportunities you want to create, make sure you go tell your boss. Don’t be cocky, but rather excited and open to feedback:
“I thought about what you said, and I would like to find a way to take over the Head of Estimating position in 5 years. What do I need to do to get there?”
“I am excited about the idea of helping to open new offices in the future. Can I be a part of your plans? If so, I want to start working on the skills I need—in addition to my normal workload—right away. Could we talk more about what that would look like?”
You will position yourself for fantastic growth just by stating your intentions and demonstrating a commitment to getting there.
Then, the fun begins!
Spark Notes:
If you want fast career growth, you must create opportunities, not wait for them.
Start by asking yourself what you want out of your career. Make sure it is an exciting vision.
Then, ask your company about its goals.
Finally, align your goals with the company’s goals and figure out how you can make the most impact in the shortest amount of time.
Adjust your goals accordingly, make sure they are still exciting, and then go crush growth for your whole career.
