It seems that there is a growing tendency for technical careers to stall. Worse than that, as they start to falter, the typical responses tend to make matters worse.
One individual I spoke with had noticed his career slowing down over the last 3-4 years. His level of influence declining, despite being one of the best in his field, and working at a global level in one of the big consultancies. His attachment to his expertise is now becoming a career limiter and he needs to move away from the notion that his results will speak for themselves.
Another, Ana, came to me at the beginning of December. She felt she was drifting. Unsure what to do. In summary:
- She is technical through and through. Superb analyst, intuitive grasp of strategy, and working with the most senior people in her division.
- Having survived various restructures, she is now positioned in an operational team who have little understanding of what she does – and that includes her boss!
- Without the right position in the hierarchy, she is struggling to exert the necessary influence to get stakeholders implementing her ideas, for the good of the company.
- She wants to continue to pursue her technical career, and doesn’t want to move into a leadership role. Yet, most of the career paths in her organisation seem to be biased towards leadership.
- She feels that the politics get in the way of doing the right thing.
- Her work is of massive strategic importance although right now, most seniors seem to be fire-fighting and not attending to the medium-term (let alone the long-term) development of the business.
- Ana wants to add more value, and be recognised and valued in return.
If you are in a similar position to Ana, or want to transform your technical career so you can get it moving, or moving faster, here are the key things you need to attend to that I have been working with Ana on:
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- Understand the bigger picture for the organisation as a whole. This is vital so that you can contextualise your contribution to the lives of the key stakeholders. It will also help you to learn what potential there is for re-positioning yourself.
- Focus on understanding the powerful people. What is their agenda? What challenges are they facing? How does your work make a difference, or could make a difference?
- Make a clear decision about what you want to make happen. What are you aiming for, in detail? When you are clear, make a firm commitment to shoot for it.
- Build a tactical plan to turn things around. Inevitably this means preliminary conversations with various stakeholders, but always with a mind to what’s feasible. This stage is about landing a step-by-step approach to move towards the bigger goal.
- Suspend your judgment. All too often people are betrayed by what they believe to be true. Faulty guessing removes the possibility of more positive realities.
- Enlist the help of an independent challenger. They need to be able to help you see new possibilities, challenge your assumptions and preferably, have experience in similar territories.
- Get moving. Don’t sit on your hands wondering if this or that. Get out there into the arena and engage with people. This way, you’ll quickly improve your accuracy, and your plan will take shape as you move towards the goal.
This is what I’ve been working with Ana on. And, it is working. Here’s her email to me just before Christmas, suitably disguised…
“Dear Colin, I wish you Merry Christmas!!!
“Thank you very much for the last coaching. The meeting with [senior stakeholder] on Thursday (21.12) went very well – instead of 15 min he spent 45 min with me (!). He said, our discussions are always very enriching.
“I started as agreed in the call and you are right – he sees that there is a strategic gap about [private] and that developing it should become a high priority in 2018. He said, I should work closer with [private]. Actually, he said that [private] is working on one strategic issue rather than on the [private] strategy as a whole. He also said that my results 2017 should become a part of strategic work in 2018. He also told me some information on global strategy – more about it in our next call.
“He also agreed that it makes totally sense if I report to [her boss’ boss] directly – but also mentioned, that he is the one who finally should decide. He will drop a word to [her boss’ boss], he said.
“My next steps will be to sum up and send the enhanced aid memoire to [her boss] – for her discussion with [her boss’ boss] at the beginning of the year.”
Today I had my first call of the year with Ana. She’s had a good break and is now ready to get started, and feeling confident. Actually, she is positively beaming “it’s difficult to believe just how fast things have changed.”
Anyway, lots more work to do, but now she is on the right track I am very optimistic that she will very soon hit her first goal, and then we will turn to how to attend to the politics and adjust the way she interacts with the wider group of stakeholders to implement her strategy.
I’ll keep you posted on how things turn out for Ana, but need to leave you with a few key points:
- What Ana has done so far was not difficult. Most of this was about adjusting her own thinking.
- She has been very good at listening to what I’ve had to say, and then applying her intelligence to turn things round.
- Ana was willing to give it a go, even though some things felt uncomfortable.
- Already, in just a month, she is now looking much further ahead.
- Most importantly, she had been able to tune into the agendas of the powerful!
So, what will your story be like in 2018?
Case Study Disclaimer
The purpose of this case study is to provide relevant inspiration to those in similar positions. Although this article is based on a real client, they have been completely disguised, and information has been changed to protect their anonymity. This has been done with the explicit approval of the individual concerned.
Colin Gautrey
Provocative Coach/Mentor | Specialism: Impact and Influence
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