IN an individual’s professional career, they face many ups and downs, successes, failures, and impasses. They try to explore new things and visit mentors to seek solutions from their experiences, aiming to be victorious in every situation. Sometimes they succeed in achieving what they wanted to know, while other times they return with more confusion. They ask themselves, ‘What makes a successful career?’
Everyone gives advice from their experiences. Some say be committed and work hard, and you will succeed, while others say be punctual and obedient. However, most feedback accentuates negative thoughts during discussions and invariably focuses on “opportunities for improvement,” even if the overall evaluation is laudatory. Informally, the sting of criticism lasts longer than the balm of praise. These are really good pieces of advice, or they are just stories of aphorisms or platitudes.
Do our commitments match our convictions? How many of us keep pace day to day, upholding our obligations to our bosses, families, and the community, even as our overall satisfaction with work and quality of life declines? And yet, our common response to the situation is: “I’m too busy to do anything about it now.” Unfortunately, unless a personal or professional crisis strikes, very few of us step back, take stock of our day-to-day actions, and make changes.
Contrary to this, some scholars suggest asking questions of your team and giving them the respect of knowing. You may be seen as a submissive seeker of knowledge, but if you think you have all the answers, you might be clueless, unaware of the rapidly changing world, or lying. In crisis and uncertainty, asking powerful questions can help solve intractable problems, connect with others, and earn your team’s trust. Involving your team in answering these questions will not only provide solutions but also change the office culture and boost their confidence, leading to active participation.
Mid-career officers are the overloaded circuits; smart but underperforming individuals. However, Peter Drucker (American Business Consultant & Educator) is of the view that ‘throughout history, people had little need to manage their careers-they were born into their stations in life or, in the recent past, they relied on their companies to chart their career path. But times have drastically changed. Today we must all learn to manage ourselves.’ As the success in the knowledge economy comes to those who know themselves – their strengths, their values and how they best perform in crisis.
What does that mean? He explains that it means we must learn to develop ourselves and we must place ourselves where we can make the greatest contributions to our organization and communities. We must stay alert and engage and improve.
Peter Drucker says ‘very few people actually know- let alone take advantage of – their fundamental strengths.’ He challenges each of us to ask questions: what are my strengths? How do I perform? What are my values? Where do I belong? What should be my contribution? He cautions don’t try to change yourself, instead, concentrate on improving the skills you have and accepting assignments that are tailored to your individual way of working.
In conclusion, a sine qua non for success is to believe in your strength because in today’s successful life careers are not planned out in advance. Professionals must develop themselves to take responsibility for managing their futures, both in and out of the office.
—The writer is Deputy Executive Director (OGRA), Islamabad.
