Dears,
Life is good
but I find it harder, if this the thought that comes to you often and you are
for sure going through the Mid-career crisis. You suddenly feel professionally
and emotionally stagnant. There's no challenge left for you at work. If you are
one of those people who are struggling to make mid-career transition, take
a deep breath and look around. After a certain point in your career, you need
to do some amount of introspection to find out your deeper aspirations.
Try and figure out where are
you headed, do you know yourself well enough. I find mid-carrier crisis to be a
very common problem in companies today. The super ambitious few who
want to go all the way to the top will usually get the attention they need and
get what they want. Then you have ambitious employees that not always are
aiming for top-management positions, but want to work in a demanding and
meaningful job applicable to their education and experience. But too
often, those persons don´t get the attention of management and leaders, and
they tend to find them self in a stagnant job and not getting any attention or
getting involved in exciting projects in the company. Then looking at new employees
arriving, and making progress in the company adds to the frustration. It
becomes a catch 22, where the employee becomes more and more de-motivated, and thus
receiving less attention from managers. . The leaders sometimes focus only on the super ambitious and those who are
climbing the ladder, while not paying attention to skilled employees in
the level below. By doing so, they can usually find invaluable
knowledge and experience for the good of their corporation.
Ask yourself a
series of questions like, what are my unique gifts? What is my 'calling? ‘What
can I do to make my present work and life more aligned with my calling? What are the competencies I
would like to develop in myself? "Asking questions will help you to get a
clarity on where do you stand and where are you headed.
Many a time’s people don't
understand that not leveraging their talent to the best level may lead to
frustration. They may think they are capable of a bigger role and
responsibility, but don't take measures to communicate this to the top
management or to the next level. Communicating to large extent means
taking initiatives and showing results. Unless that happens, you stare from a
distance and think you are being deprived of a bigger role. Think hard: How can
I leverage my talent to develop these competencies?
What specific steps would I like to take? How will I
know that I am making progress? What could go wrong and how do I take
responsibility for what could go wrong? Think what options lie outside the
present environment that can offer you those challenges you are looking for.
Should such a crisis arise, intensify your networking efforts. Talk to people
even if they are outside your social circle. Strangers can often guide
you better with their dispassionate opinion. And help you understand
where you're headed better providing fresh ideas uncolored by your previous
self. Build
new connections by associating with people you've long admired and can learn
from. Use alumni and company networks that can help you grow into your possible
new selves.
Any good leader knows to surround themselves with
talented people, but recognizing the future leaders who will generate change
and innovation is a task rarely considered. It is from mid-career employees
that the next generation of leaders will emerge. Forming relationships with
these employees will allow a leader to acknowledge and reward talent, as well
as identify, train, and develop talent for the future of the organization. To
enhance the value and commitment of mid-career talent, leaders need to work at
building their relationships and commitments to these employees, which means
more frequent and visible interactions that affirm the interdependency of
organizational goals and individual career aspirations.
If there is a lack of a competitive environment, and
your peer group is not strong enough to challenge your competencies, you may
lose interest and may feel like living the organization. Challenges and
competition and the hunger to learn is what keep people going, if you are deprived
of that, it’s time to get serious about it. Go ahead with
whatever you feel is right after giving it a careful thought, avoid
desperation. If you've lived with this so far, a few months more won't do any
further damage.
Even
if you fail you'll have the satisfaction of having tried what you felt. If
things go right, you are one of the fortunate ones who transitioned to the right path.
Loving P&C
DC*
