What do you do if senior stakeholders are unaware of your goals and aspirations?

?? To address this challenge, it's crucial to take proactive steps. Begin by initiating open & honest communication with ur seniors. Schedule a meeting or find appropriate chance to discuss your career aspirations, detailing your short-term & long-term goals. Articulate how these align with the firm’s objectives & how ur contributions can benefit the firm. Also, seek opportunities to showcase skills & abilities through projects or initiatives that demonstrate value to the firm. Building strong relationships with key stakeholders can also help raise awareness of ur goals & create opportunities for mentorship & support. Clarity & proactive communication are essential in ensuring that your aspirations are recognized & supported within the firm

Regular performance reviews and quarterly business reviews (QBRs) provide structured forums to discuss objectives, KPIs, and next steps with senior stakeholders. These formal channels enable two-way feedback and alignment. Develop a proposal for your career development, which might include additional training, new projects, or shadowing opportunities. This plan will demonstrate your initiative and how your growth can benefit the team and the organization. Showcase your contributions, achievements, and the impact you've made in your current role which helps senior stakeholders recognize your capabilities and potential. Successful involvement in highly visible projects can significantly raise your profile within the company.

It is essential to take proactive steps to communicate your ambitions effectively: 1. Self-Reflection: Before communicating your goals to senior stakeholders, take some time for self-reflection. Clarify your career goals, aspirations, and the direction you want to take in your professional development. 2. Identify Key Stakeholders: Identify the senior stakeholders who have the most influence on your career growth and development and schedule a meeting with them. 3. Network Strategically: Build relationships with other influential stakeholders within the organization who can support your career advancement. Attend networking events, seek out mentorship opportunities, and actively engage with colleagues across different departments.

I've more often than not, had goals cascade down from my seniors, hence never faced this problem. This helps us in aligning ourselves with the manager's and company's goals for the upcoming year. However, if your goals are not cascaded down, then, ask your manager to share his goals and pick the ones that are relevant to you. W.r.t. developmental goals, you'll have to own it and discuss it with your manager. Your developmental goals should help you improve (soft or technical skills based on your area of interest) and contribute positively to the company. This should help you align yourself with the company goals and this will also ensure that your goals are in line with the expectations of the senior management.

One thing I have found helpful is to build relationship based on trust and respect with all stakeholders. It's critical to understand their objectives and align your work approach accordingly. Senior stakeholders also value clear and compelling communication especially when addressing concerns. This has helped in building a collision of support from time to time.

Open dialogue and real time feedback need to work on a 360 perspective. Using perf reviews and QBRs are some examples of how senior stakeholders can be aware of next steps, plans, KPIS, etc. Also, having simple and self-explanatory one-pagers can be useful, with bullets and snippets in a language senior leaders can relate to, avoiding acronyms and technical terminology. Empathy and simplicity will always be great ways to generate and capture stakeholder’s attention.

Make yourself known professionally. Show them how your professional interests and aspirations are aligned with their own objectives. Stakeholders will remember you because of empathy, because you share common goals and because they know you are working on what they need.

Set up regular 1:1 conversations if not already in place. Ensure there's time to discuss your goals. Provide a clear agenda prior to the meeting to make sure the leader is aware what the topic of discussion will be. Set-up regular check-ins and don't leave it till formal 1:1 if possible. Always ask what the skills look like for one to progress in the current role or other opportunities.

Humility is key. Seldom is one person right. We all think differently and have different needs. By engaging a range of perspectives and actively listening to your stakeholders - it is likely their ideas will diversify your solutions, making them resonate more with more people and leading better adoption / outcomes.

One thing I've found useful is to have an open dialogue with stakeholders. Be ready to accept feedbacks/their views and make necessary amendments to the way you are working/communicating.

Build networks within your company and industry. This will work in your favour for others to understand your work and guide you in the right direction.

It's always helpful to come to this from various angles. If you can have an ally pitching for you, it will make a big difference if someone has already heard about you. And importantly, don't be shy to reach out to people and expand your network. As for help. Be specific and say, "I'd like to go for a coffee with you, as I'd like to learn more about this and I know from XYZ that you're a subject matter expert". Or "I am not sure how to navigate X, and I'd like to talk to you and get your guidance". Senior stakeholders were once more junior too, and most of them are happy to help others earlier in their journey if they can.

Use social media platforms, such as LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook, to share your message and engage with stakeholders. Join relevant groups, participate in discussions, and share content that showcases your expertise and thought leadership. Seek advice from those outside your network who are thought leaders in their respective fields of work. Attend networking events, such as conferences, trade shows, or industry meetups, to connect with stakeholders in person. Use these events to build relationships, share your message, and gather feedback.

Building internal stakeholder networks is critical, particularly when you become conscious of senior stakeholders uncertainty around you or your business areas’ goals. One thing I like to do in my specific context (fintech banking for SMEs - I lead the customer onboarding function) is maintain a really open ongoing conversation with stakeholders across our risk, product & engineering and ops functions to ensure priority changes are never a surprise. However, the best way I’ve found to take this forward is to set shared cross-functional objectives and sync openly, honestly and frequently about challenges.

Yes Networking happens through supporting each other in the roles and responsibilities for the smooth and better flow of work to benefit the organisation. after this People forms an opinion which will be an added advantage of networking to meet the aspirations.

What I have always found useful is to find an opportunity to link your recent success with a strategically important area for business and position your goals as a significant contribution towards their own goals and over all business delivery; that for sure gets their attention..

I have often found it effective to listen for an opportunity to tackle a current challenge / project which is taxing the senior stakeholders. Doing this well will not only illustrate your worth, but also be more memorable since (hopefully) they will be grateful to you for relieving a pain point. One word of warning though - be careful it's not something you really don't want to do going forward. Ideally, it should link to an aspiration. Typecasting can be a problem otherwise!

Define clear success metrics that align with your goals and aspirations. These metrics should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). Afterwards, Collect data to track your progress towards your success metrics. This data may include customer feedback, sales data, website analytics, or other relevant metrics.

In my experience, defining success criteria upfront will help to measure the success factors and ultimately showcase them to senior stakeholders.

You should be clearly showcase the success or differentiation you could make it to the organisation by making clear cut presentation or expressing quantitatively or qualitatively. One Example- reducing Attrition- can lead to direct and indirect benefit - like reduction of replacement cost and work efficiency as a good performer leaves the organisation it may take 6 months for the new comer to cope up to that level and perform.

Regarding Strategic Timing, understand the requirements from Management at which they would like to have update, few may be liking to hear immediately after incident or Data, or few may be understand come with some solution etc... Consistency and Loyalty in performance and updating the management another successful step

If senior stakeholders are unaware of your goals, schedule dedicated meetings to discuss alignment. Leverage informal interactions to build rapport and share aspirations. Tie your goals to business priorities, showing how they benefit the company. Seek mentorship from senior leaders. Use performance reviews to openly address career goals. Proactively create a development plan. Build visibility through high-profile projects. Approach this strategically, build trust, and demonstrate mutual benefits. The key is aligning your goals with those of senior stakeholders through open, collaborative dialogue.

Regarding timing strategies; Set expectations with stakeholders on when they can expect to receive updates or reports on your progress. This will help you manage their expectations and ensure that they are not caught off guard. Then align your communications with key milestones in your project or initiative. For example, you may want to provide an update after completing a major phase of your project or achieving a significant milestone.

Senior stakeholders are often busy - don't try and schedule long meetings. Offer to go walk with them when they are picking up their lunch or a coffee. Be concise and precise, the easier it is for them, the less likely they are to say no!

Continuous engagement is important to maintain stakeholder interest and support for your goals and aspirations. Therefore, it is important to provide regular updates to stakeholders on your progress towards your goals and aspirations. This can be done through email, newsletters, or in-person meetings. Foster two-way communication with stakeholders by seeking their feedback and input. This will help you build relationships, understand their needs and concerns, and incorporate their ideas into your strategy.

Circle back with what you've been doing - and that can be a short email. Remember that they are often short of time, so a quick update is much better than a long email. Be specific, and also make sure to thank them.

Requesting feedback on my performance and contributions from senior stakeholders can provide valuable insight into areas for improvement and opportunities for growth. It also opens up a dialogue for discussing career goals and aspirations.

Converse in their respective languages. Do not over emphasize on savings to a CMO and do not forget to talk about numbers to a CFO. This approach will help in obtaining compelling buy-ins with a greater influence

Develop a Personal Development Plan: Create a plan outlining your goals, how you plan to achieve them, and the support you need from senior stakeholders. Share this plan with them to demonstrate your commitment to your development. Engage in Mentoring or Coaching: Seek out a mentor or coach who can help you navigate your career goals and provide guidance on how to communicate them effectively to senior stakeholders. Be Visible: Take advantage of opportunities to raise your profile within the organization. This could include participating in cross-functional projects, volunteering for leadership roles, or sharing your expertise through presentations or workshops.

Build Relationships: Invest time in building relationships with senior stakeholders. Show genuine interest in their work and goals, and look for ways to support them in achieving success. Monitor Progress: Regularly review your goals and progress towards them. Adjust your approach as needed based on feedback and changing priorities within the organization. Stay Flexible: Be open to adapting your goals and aspirations based on the evolving needs of the organization. Flexibility and agility are key traits that senior stakeholders value in their team members.

Your actions can have a significant impact on people on the team outside of stakeholders. They can either motivate or demotivate your team members. For example, if you consistently recognize and reward team members for their contributions, they are likely to feel motivated and engaged. On the other hand, if you fail to acknowledge their efforts or criticize them unfairly, they may feel demotivated and disengaged.

One thing I found helpful is to balance your approach. If you can address your aspirations and at the same time demonstrate an interest on how this can help your stakeholder achieve their own goals, that is a win-win.