11 Keys to Career Success - Key No 1: Self management
This is the first of eleven articles about the key competencies that will help you stand out in your career, at whatever stage you are at. In fact, these competencies are so fundamental that every school student needs to develop them before being let loose on the world of work, and it is the same competencies that are needed by the managing director of major companies.
The first of these competencies is Self-Management. Being able to control your emotions, your temper and your whims in the workplace allows you to work effectively with other people.
Usually when someone experiences serious work problems it is as a result of working with someone who doesn’t manage themselves well – the bully, the nagger, the criticiser, the nasty commentator, the yeller, the drama queen, the underminer, the inappropriate-joker……the list could go on for pages! Do you identify someone you have worked with in one of those titles? Think of the damage they cause to the people around them.
People who don’t have self-management skills are often barely aware that they are causing problems, or they are likely to blame others for the problem. In their lack of self awareness they also lack the ability to recognise that their behaviour is the root of the work problems. This person is usually pointing the finger, without recognising that the other three fingers are pointing squarely back at them.
Another aspect of self management is your ability to motivate yourself and to see your own skills, experience and value in the workplace realistically. As an employee it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you have no control over your own career, but that isn’t the attitude of a person who aims to achieve career success.
Gone are the days when the company you worked for was in charge of your personal career development. They are to the extent that they want to be, and when world finances are tight businesses often cut back on the “extras” they can offer their employees.
But taking charge of your career is not an “extra”, it is fundamental to your future success. Here are a few questions to ask yourself:
Do you know what you want to achieve in your career in the future?
Are you in the right occupation, or will your current work lead to the right occupation?
Are you a good fit in your current workplace?
Are you undertaking additional education/training to take you towards the work you should be doing?
Are you actively seeking opportunities to take responsibility, to undertake projects, to stretch your horizons at work?
To achieve career success, to be offered interesting opportunities and to be a person that others enjoy working with, your self-management skills need to be strong.
To your career success!
Jenni Proctor