{"id":1326123,"date":"2024-09-10T11:53:04","date_gmt":"2024-09-10T09:53:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/?post_type=articles&p=1326123"},"modified":"2024-09-10T11:53:04","modified_gmt":"2024-09-10T09:53:04","slug":"do-you-own-your-career","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/articles\/do-you-own-your-career\/","title":{"rendered":"Do You Own Your Career?"},"featured_media":1326128,"template":"","meta":{"_has_post_settings":[]},"schools":[],"areas":[470],"subjects":[420],"class_list":["post-1326123","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","areas-personal-development","subjects-managing-people"],"custom-fields":{"wpcf-article-leadin":["Managing evolving career dynamics requires adaptability, strategy, and proactive management, write Angela Lane and Sergey Gorbatov."],"wpcf-article-body":["Career frustration has become palpable and widespread across organizations, industries, geographies, and demographics. People are dissatisfied with their careers, and Gallup reports that only 20-30% of employees feel engaged<\/a> at work. Studies on burnout and job hopping, along with surveys like Deloitte\u2019s Millennial Surve<\/a>y, reveal that many workers are searching for meaningful roles but struggle to find them. Beyond dissatisfaction, many are confused by an abundance of career advice that is often contradictory. At one moment, experts will urge professionals to be their authentic selves and then advise them to create specific work identities to manage office politics.\r\n\r\nThe career deal \u2013 the unspoken understanding between employers and employees \u2013 is in flux, driven by three meta trends. Firstly, beginning a few decades ago, organizations started promoting the idea of employees \u201cowning their careers.\u201d This shift to career-self management was popularized by works such as Douglas T. Hall\u2019s The Career Is Dead<\/em><\/a> and was, in reality, code for a reduction in job security and traditional career progression. Alas, professionals were not actually taught how to \"own a career.\" Small wonder many employees became frustrated and skeptical \u2013 and this is only going to become more so in the AI world.\r\n\r\nSecond, the nature of work itself keeps evolving all the time. Outsourcing, zero-hour contracts, the gig economy, side hustles, self-employment, shared workforce\u2026 all these changes are simultaneously enticing and threatening for workers. They dangle opportunities for flexibility and autonomy while remaining unstable and uncertain.\r\n\r\nFinally, this new work reality requires a new mindset. Having a career on your terms means making strategic career choices, learning new skills quickly, and being open to opportunities and change. This hinges on one\u2019s ability to adapt and initiate the personal career journey.\r\n\r\nNavigating this work environment can be daunting, especially without realistic guidance on how to be successful \u2013 despite the range of self-help literature (much of which is anecdotal, and offers advice that is incomplete or simply perpetuates untrue lore about career advancement.) Many employees now understand the reality that career outcomes aren\u2019t inherently fair, and good things \u2013 at least in the modern workplace \u2013 don't always come to those who work hard and wait.\r\n\r\nIt doesn\u2019t have to be this way.\r\n\r\nLong-term success and deep satisfaction is still a real option in a career. In fact, the current turbulence represents opportunities for those who know how to navigate their career. There are so many things the \"boss won\u2019t tell you,\" which means that if you must \u201cown your career\u201d you might as well do it in a way that gives you a professional edge.\r\n\r\nHow? Well, the fundamentals of career success remain constant. What has always mattered still matters, perhaps now more than ever. It\u2019s important to be able to adapt these principles to the work environment as it continues to evolve.\r\n\r\nAnother trend is emerging that is likely to bring about a sea change in how organizations educate employees in regard to career skills. The topic of career management and career development will continue to rise on the organizational agendas. In an article published on the World Economic Forum website<\/a> in early 2022, LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky called out \"improving retention by focusing on career development\" as a standalone strategy in addressing both the impending shortage of skills in fields created by new technologies and the challenge of reskilling and reorienting millions of workers whose jobs will soon disappear \u2013 largely due to the same reason. Organizations will have no choice but to embrace career management support as a strategy for the attraction, development, and retention of their talent.\r\n\r\n\"Move Up or Move On: 10 Secrets to Career Success<\/a>\" aims to democratize career management and includes a model with four cornerstones of career success, which encompass all the different actions that can be taken to enhance one\u2019s career. Those actions can influence either today's situation (invest in today) or future options (imagine tomorrow). The other dimension is whether the action is largely within one's control (internal) or requires interaction with other people (external). At the intersection of the two axes are the cornerstones for success: Career Visionary, Value Creator, Brand Builder, and Opportunity Seeker, and these are woven tightly together steppingstones for each other. For instance, without aligning your personal definition of career success, you can't make good pathway choices; without doing great work, you can't build a sustainable personal brand; without a strong diverse network, you can't easily multiply your options, and so on.\r\n\r\n\"\"<\/a>Career practices need to be\u2026practiced. In order to truly benefit from career advice and insights, it is necessary to actively engage with them and translate them into practice. For example, one important step is planning your career pathways and thinking about the alternative routes your career might take. A common challenge in this process is navigating trade-offs. Consider examining your personal constraints (e.g., education, spouse's career, caregiving responsibilities) both in the present and what they may be in the future. This \u201clong game\u201d exercise<\/a> can provide greater clarity on when to accelerate or decelerate your career.\r\n\r\nMany find that organizing their normally scattered career thoughts can align them into a neat structure, from which new choices, next steps, and opportunities often emerge. Armed with these insights, you can set clear career goals and identify which of the essential career-success behaviors might be missing. This allows you to develop simple, focused actions to achieve your objectives. For example, if you want a promotion but lack support from senior leadership, you might strengthen your network and amplify your personal brand. If the objective is to work fewer hours while maintaining the same income, you might explore ways to multiply your options and increase your value proposition to the company.\r\n\r\nIn our work with professionals across industries, we\u2019ve observed several \u201cmoments of truth\u201d \u2013 points of realization that often signify a turning point in people\u2019s careers. The most impactful of these 'aha' moments are when professionals realize that:\r\n