The issue I have with career progression

Here’s what I’ve learnt about the world so far: The Bullshit and The Truth.

Career progression…the cover-all term to describe the growth mindset in action when you enter the corporate world. Could be in a small firm. Could be in a multi-national megalith of a firm. Either way, the lure of development, progression, ‘being better’ is often touted as reason to believe in the employer you choose for.

And in some respects from my perspective, rightly so. From the moment you enter the working world, you are learning. First about how to do the repeated, baseline task you are initially employed to fulfil. Which gets expanded to more and more responsibility for the tasks the business is involved in, and if you’re super-efficient and effective, you may be given supervisory responsibility over other people delivering such tasks – welcome to people management and leadership. Keep going, and you’ll progress through middle-management and one day, senior leadership.

This career development journey has been a staple of the industrial era….and did you notice that I just described it in one paragraph? Must be simple right???

Well, here’s where I have a big issue with career progression. To be specific, it’s not career progression as a concept that I have a problem with, because it describes the developmental journey one takes through their working years.

The issue I have is more with the commentators/experts who map this journey into boxes, saying all the elements you need to progress in your career, yet seem to miss or underplay one huge element that influences career progression – timing, coincidence, serendipity.

I say it’s an issue, because I hear younger generations talking about their career progression like wise old hats all the time, with all the vocabulary to ‘say’ where they want to go, why they want to go there, how they need to do x, y and z to make it happen. And they have the social media accessibility to say to their world ‘it’s not me, it’s my employers that are holding me back!’.

And they can’t be faulted for following the recipe of someone else’s journey.

But that’s having a cancerous impact on a person’s career progression because it isn’t happening when they think it will. There appears to be a blind belief (or even expectation) that following the recipe without appreciating the surrounding factors that determine whether you will progress or not. Manager preference to you or another candidate, performance and capability to do the tasks in hand, does your face fit - forever an issue despite the inclusivity progress made in recent times.

These all influence whether you will get your moment to progress or not and often are completely out of an individual’s direct control. Influence maybe, but not direct control.

And then comes the inevitable rescue pattern when someone hasn’t progressed at the time or pace they would like – the social media rant.

I get it. Seek like-minded people to reassure you that the problem isn’t yours, it’s outside of you. And because they’re on your side and they ‘get you’, they’ll say something that endorses your school of thought, quenching any discomfort you might be feeling about the situation.

However, is that social catharsis actually helping you grow?

Because that feeling of rescue from a social media blurt is avoiding looking at the biggest thing you can influence – your ability, motivation and drive to show up, learn and develop. It’s preventing you from lowering your expectations on progression based on the definition you or someone else outside of your working world has. It is limiting your ability to be fully present in the moments you are in, excel in each one, and stack up a truckload of positive moments that are observable to those hiring and firing.

All of this is in the hope you will be the favoured candidate when opportunities arise or at least be considered in the conversation.

In short, I’m saying lower your expectations on when you will progress and increase your attentions to being world class in the moments you experience every single day. Leaders have longed for this, and welcome this kind of approach from their talent.