Clarity is my buzzword for this week’s compilation of articles that will help you better understand how to think through some critical topics.
Ask good questions before accepting that promotion. Many young professionals are always looking for the next promotion. When I’ve asked them why, usually their first response is that they want more money.
While a promotion might bring money, it also comes with demands and change. Have you noticed that the people higher up the career ladder than you work more hours, maybe even weekends? Will you have to give up doing the work you love so you can manage others? Will you spend the bulk of your time in meetings? Will you spend your time planning or fighting fires? Will you still be able to have lunch with your friends who are now your staff?
I got my first major promotion when I was 24, and I didn’t ask any questions. I learned the job on the job. I suggest that you ask a few questions before jumping at a promotion.
“Many people may assume that a management title means you’ll be, well, managing others. But sometimes a role will be more about managing processes than managing actual direct reports,” warns this article in Fast Company. Check it out for 5 good questions to ask before taking that promotion.
Are you clear about what you want to do with your career? Who are you learning from? MentorLoft is dedicated to helping you learn things you need to know to move up the career ladder, but you also need a mentor in the flesh (which we can provide).
Many young professionals turn to their friends for advice, often through social media. But research shows you need a mentor who is an expert in their field, which often takes 10 years or more to acquire. Look around and find someone you can learn from. Even if it’s only over lunch once a quarter—a lunch that you pay for—the guidance you’ll gain is amazing.
When I started my business, I was fortunate to find a mentor who had his own business and was in the same field. I can’t put a dollar value on all I learned from him.
“Having the right mentor is the real key,” Raghav Haran writes on Medium. “Not only will you learn a ridiculous amount just by being around successful people in your field, you’ll also get into their ‘inner circle’ if you can prove that you’re legit.”
One of the basics in any communication is that you have to know your audience. How well do you really understand the young professionals who work for you? Beyond all the Millennial hype, I mean.
The stereotype is that they don’t want to work hard. Not true. The young professionals I know and work with put in their 8 hours plus without fail. If anything, they might work more than 8 hours but do some of it from home, on “their own time,” as we bosses refer to it.
Furthermore, they don’t change jobs any more often than we did at their age.
What other stereotypes of Millennials are you holding on to? Check out this article in the Washington Post about Gabrielle Jackson Bosche. “Her pitch is to help companies hire and keep millennials. Bosche also translates baby-boom behavior to millennials, such as teaching them how to network, how to manage upward and how to use email or ‘textiquette,’ “writes Thomas Heath, 60.
© Pamela A. Scott, 2016
MentorLoft.com