Supercharge Your Career

Reclaim your A+ Reputation

It seems like yesterday that you finished your professional qualification and got your first job. You were brimming with enthusiasm and energy. You keenly absorbed information about your job – what, where, when, why, how of your role, the organization structure, business, and everything else! You gave your best! Your work was appreciated by your bosses. You remember the heady feeling of being a high performer, getting rewards, and being promoted every few years!!

You wonder when did the excitement subside!!

You are busier than ever, but your job does not give you that heady rush anymore!

You seem to be doing more of the same every day! You do not remember when last you felt challenged by your work or were applauded for it!

You are frustrated. You don’t know what to do, how to start loving your job again and have it love you back, get outstanding performance reviews and exciting projects that put your career on the fast track.?When things do not go well at work, we tend to retreat to what we do well, i.e., our work. We believe that the response we are getting from our boss, colleagues, etc. is external to us. We do not know how to influence that, so we put our heads down and focus on what we know. We hope that our dedication will be noticed, and we will be rewarded for our contribution. We believe that if we stay focused on our work, someday soon, our boss will give us our due!!

And when this approach fails. We start losing our motivation, energy, and eventually our confidence. The feeling that events are not in our control takes over, and we give up. We stop making efforts. While we are unhappy, we do nothing about it. We languish, we crib, and we get bitter! Of course, THIS does not help at all!!

The belief that something or someone outside of us can make our situation better is misplaced. Waiting for outside forces to remedy our situation gives away our power. And things can only go south from there.

The solution is to lean in and take charge of our careers. We need to believe that we are in control. This belief allows us to look for solutions. It is the bedrock of a growth mindset and helps us analyze what worked, what did not, what did we learn from the situation, and how we can build upon it.

With the belief that the accountability for your career resides with you, there are broadly 5 elements to evaluate yourself on. I call them the 5 Cs -?

1. Clarity
2. Control
3. Charge
4. Connection, and
5. Courage

?Let us dig into each one of them -?

1. Clarity?- Here are a couple of examples of what lack of clarity may result in -

• Recently a struggling manager shared that through the year, he was so busy dealing with the emails he received that he had never taken the time to ask what his goals were. He was shocked to find that he fell way short of the parameters he was measured on.?? This is a genuine struggle for many professionals who move from roles where they were actively managed by their supervisors, to roles where they are expected to self-manage. This challenge has only become graver in the remote and hybrid work environments where the quality of interactions has changed and at times become more transactional.
• In my work as a coach, I often come across people managers who think their only job is to manage the performance of their team. They get surprised by their lackluster performance evaluations at the end of the year.??

If any of the above resonates with you, ask yourself the following questions –

• What does success look like in your role?
• What is the purpose your role serves in the organization?
• What relationships do you need to succeed?
• What behaviors are rewarded?
• If you have been in your current role for some time, and feel that you are ready for your next challenge, think about –?
• ?What kind of role do you want to do??
• What does success look like in the role that you desire?

?Feel free to stop at this point, give yourself 30 minutes and answer the questions above.?

2. Control?– Once you have clarity about your goals and the purpose of your job, ask yourself-?

• How successfully are you serving that purpose?
• Are you in control of everything that you are supposed to deliver??
• Do you meet your commitments on time??
• Do you walk your talk??
• Do your stakeholders feel comfortable that you are in control??

Meeting your goals is table stakes. If this is not in place, you quickly need to figure out –?

• How can you put your arms around the basic requirements of your job??
• Do you need to upgrade yourself to do your job effectively?
• Are you in the wrong job? What can you do to find a job that meets your skills and temperament?

To gauge where you stand, rate yourself against all your KRAs on a scale of 1 – 10. Where do you stack up??

What will you do with this knowledge? Which areas of work will you pay more attention to? If your job is not outside your competence, which behaviors and habits will you develop to take control of your career?

3. Charge - This is about taking charge of your career.?

Often mid-career professionals struggle with this. They believe that they are doing great work but are not getting recognized. They are confused, frustrated, and at times angry. They don’t know how to change this scenario. This phenomenon is so common that there is a term for it - the ‘Tiara Effect”.?

We grow up being told that all we need to succeed is to work hard. It works when we are in school. Our job is to study hard and do well in our exams, and at the end of the year, our teachers reward our hard work with good grades, medals, and certificates.?

But things are not the same in professional life. There are no accolades for putting your head down and staying focused on your work, especially if you are a mid-senior level professional.??

Look around you. You have reached a level where everyone is bright, works hard, and is competitive. Meeting your goals in this environment is a basic requirement. You need to shine the light on the good work that you do. Let people know of your victories. Do not assume that your boss knows about them.?

If you think you are too busy for such things, know that your boss is definitely busier. Unless you share the stories of the hoops you go through to meet your targets, no one will know them. You need to take charge and build your visibility.??

Believe me, whether you do it or not, your peers are doing it and getting rewarded for it. You can rue about office politics, the unfairness of the appraisal system, or favoritism at work, but recognize that organizations are made of humans, and humans are not perfect. You must learn the rules to play the game the way it is played in your organization.?

How else will you take charge of your career? Here are some reflection prompts for you–?

• Do you know what the biggest priority is for your boss right now?
• Are you a part of that project?
• Are you known outside of your team for your unique expertise?
• Does your boss know that you aspire for a promotion or a role change?
• How have you helped your boss prepare the business case for your promotion?

I understand this is not easy. There is no training for this. But remember, you miss every shot that you do not take. The good news is that you do not have to do this alone. You can lean on your mentors or engage a coach to take charge of your career.???

4. Connections?– Here are some questions to evaluate yourself on your relationships at the workplace –?

• ?Are you a trusted ally of your boss?
• Do you know your boss as a person?
• Do you have a supportive network within and outside your organization?
• Do you volunteer to help?
• Do you know people as people?
• Are you known for your unique strengths, your passions, and your pet peeves?

Once you have crossed a certain level in the organizational hierarchy, there are fewer roles at that level and beyond. The ability to collaborate and influence others becomes a fundamental driver for success. There are broadly two factors at play –

1.?????People like working with people they know, like, and trust – while building new teams or supporting existing projects.??

2.?????Modern organizations are increasingly matrix. You find yourself working more and more with people who do not report to you.

Being an island does not help.

In my work as a coach, I often find brilliant professionals shy away from actively cultivating their network because it does not come naturally to them.

Yes,?it takes work!

Yes,?it is hard!

Yes,?the more senior you are, the more imperative it is for you to have robust connections up, down, and across in your organization.

Take a few minutes to reflect on which of your relations are the weak link in your network?

What will you do to build your “know, like, and trust” in this segment?

5. Courage?– This is an overarching element. It runs across every dimension of life - personal or professional.

Our minds are designed to protect us. They do that by not letting us disturb the status quo. Any time we want to do any behavior change, there is a lot of resistance within us. It can take the form of fear and self-sabotaging behavior. The result is that we sometimes stay stuck in old ways. Here are a couple of quotes that I use to drive myself out of the rut –

• If you keep doing the same thing, you will keep getting the same results!!
• Courage is not the lack of fear but acting despite it!!

I invite you to think about which of the other Cs will you level up with the help of courage?

• Get clarity about your role
• Let your boss know that you seek a different role because you think you have learned everything that this role has to offer
• Get out of your comfort zone to learn new skills
• Make new connections
• Fix what is not working?
• Adopt new behaviors that serve you better
• Step out of a dead-end job or toxic work environment

You need courage for all of the above. What is most important to you right now?

• Evaluate yourself on these fundamentals and determine the actions that will reclaim your reputation as a consistent star performer, make you the trusted advisor to your boss, influence your stakeholders, increase your effectiveness, and earn you the opportunities that you are looking for, and
• Ascertain the mindset shift will help you bridge the gap between where you are and where you want to be.?

If it seems too much, don’t worry. You do not have to struggle alone. My 90-day coaching program will help you meet your unique needs to reclaim your A+ reputation.

This private coaching program will be designed uniquely for you to earn better performance reviews, get prime roles, and accelerate your career trajectory.?

Working with me, you will –?

• ?Create your unique success plan
• Take actions that advance your career
• Discover & overcome what gets in your way
• Build your support system
• Be accountable for creating your success

If you decide to invest in yourself and sign up for executive coaching with me, we will meet once a week via zoom for the next 90 days. Each coaching session will be 45 – 60 minutes long.?

Over 12 coaching sessions, we will co-create the plan of action specific to you. You will take action each week to create the career you want, and we will discuss and address anything that gets in your way during the week.

?If you are ready to take control of your career, I have a?special offer?for you. If you –?

• ?Book your exploratory session by 23rd?
• Do the exploratory discussion and sign up for the 90-day coaching program to ‘Reclaim your A+ Reputation’ before 30th March

In addition to the 12 sessions during 90-days, you will have access to 4 additional 20 minutes laser coaching slots during the period. These laser coaching sessions are a?bonus?to support you when you have a pressing situation that you need help to resolve.

During the 90-day program, I offer you my expertise, focus, years of experience, and a safe and judgment-free space to bring you clarity, awareness, insights, and new perspectives. You will take action and build accountability to ‘Reclaim your A+ Reputation’.

?Are you ready to take charge of your career? Let us talk before the offer goes away!! DM me use this link to book your exploratory slot -?https://calendly.com/neelimachakara/45min

?Cheers to your rocking career!!

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