Upscaling your career. How to fast-track your success by gaining a human-centric approach.

Successful leaders constantly reinvent themselves and their organisations. Critical to this reinvention is adopting an “inside out” approach that focuses on the human aspects of leadership.

This means capitalising on systematic change in how you are managing your career. To do so means mastering strategic tools and great ideas. However, many people fail to tap these ideas or don't see them at all. They are trapped in a rut, leaving their jobs, and feel frustrated. The reasons are clear: you lack incentives to remain, little or no job satisfaction, and the anxiety that your work doesn't matter to the organisation in a meaningful way.

Upscaling your career by definition puts you on a path to reinvention. It also demands being honest with yourself. To start, we suggest assessing where you currently stand. Are you truly satisfied with your role? What motivates you and inspires you to outperform your achievements? Gaining fresh insights about what drives you to act will give you the clarity to take the next steps.

Should you decide that higher education is the quickest path forward, it is our counsel to choose the best business school you can get accepted to. An MBA will expose you to new ways to regenerate how you solve business issues. Creativity and innovative approaches will further unleash your potential. Mastering great ideas never happens in a vacuum. We need a supportive structure to exercise our potential when it comes to problem-solving.

What are your next career development moves?

Plans take time to mature—but business conditions change quickly. I counsel clients to make “no-regrets” moves while drawing up their career change agendas. Start with straightforward actions that are sure to generate value and results.

Do not be lulled into a false sense of security. We know one person whose boss just notified him that he is leaving. In situations such as these, politics can unhinge your professional plans. It is not uncommon for a new boss to arrive and then hire their team from another company, sparking redundancies. Staying in your current role is never about performance. At first, I thought all this hierarchical stuff was based on ingrained corporate elitism, but it went deeper. Cultural bias also predetermines who gets on the fast track.

The more I have coached people to succeed, I've learned that when we energise people to be all they can be, the organisation that they work for thrives, and unified goals are commonplace. On the other hand, where there is an authoritarian and toxic work culture, this spirit is generally lacking.

Identifying your professional situation is more than just targeting outstanding issues. This is part of the career growth paradox. It has to do with how we measure "success." Granted, everyone has their definition. However, there is much more to success than changing jobs or getting better paid. Most people move on because they want to be valued and empowered.

Learning to manage uncertainty

Everyone agrees that we live in uncertain times. Experts call this the “new normal.” Whether it is normal or not doesn’t matter. It is where we all find ourselves. The aftereffects of the pandemic have altered how people, businesses, and society function, so we need to intensify our awareness, upscale our skill sets, and change our mindsets to capitalise on new opportunities.

Our research?and experience have demonstrated that most career transformations fail unless handled adroitly and go beyond people holding you back or cultural limitations. For this reason,?we counsel outcomes that create the space and capacity for innovative thought, risk-taking, and leadership.?Should you want to build your career faster while making yourself more resilient, we’d love to hear from you. We have helped our clients crack the code for sustainable career?change to achieve their desired outcomes. This starts?when you can?articulate a clear purpose. Are you fired up to take the next step?

About the author

Andrew Scharf is an Award-Winning MBA Admissions Consultant ?? Executive & Career Coach recognised for helping top performers, and aspiring professionals be all they can be. His?mission is to inspire, empower, and connect people to change their world at Whitefield Consulting. Have a professional project you would like to discuss, send him a DM.