Career Development – Multi Heading Is a New Approach to Problem Solving
Team work always was an important component for task solving. Since not very long ago team approach is being applied also to self-managing groups. Such groups combined of people from different departments does not have dedicated team leader. All decision making is done by all members of the team during brain storming meetings etc. Such approach allows faster response to arising problems without involving any level of management staff. This is proven to be successful trick for increasing productivity.
However, there is still a need for a manager, who will oversee development process and make corrections if intended line of work is going aside from the intended result. For successful career building you need not only to work in a team, but also to be actual part of it. This means sharing success and glory with other members and also ability to withstand criticism and improve self.
Full time employees, part time, sub-contractors, external consultants can be found working together on specific project. Responsibility and tasks for each individual in the past were strictly set and there was no place to change those. Now areas of responsibility become softer and overlay each other. And it raises a new task for managers – how to stimulate such uneven motivated groups of people to succeed.
Today there is only one person who can make plans for your career and it is of course yourself. No one, not your boss or colleagues, nor astrologist can write such career development plan for you. You must do it yourself. Describe targets and steps which are to be taken in order to reach those. Imagine yourself as a General Manager for your career. You can have advisors; you can even follow advisors opinions. But there is only one person to make strategic decisions in career development and it is you.
You have to set a great goal for your career. Don’t make it very specific if you are at the very beginning. You can’t know where you will end up in 25-30 years. Your goals have to be some general but clearly describe the altitude you are going to climb. Decide on how to measure your success. Is it going to be your annual compensation or maybe number of summer houses in Hamptons? Or just personal satisfaction by your success… You have to set somehow exact measuring scale for your career.