In today’s fast-paced and constantly evolving job market, the power to manage your career has become more crucial than ever. However, many professionals find themselves in a state of uncertainty and disempowerment due to the lack of a professional development track. Developing these employment management competencies is the key to regaining control of your career trajectory and feeling more confident in your professional journey.
If you’re an early to mid-career professional, you’re likely grappling with the uncertainty of how to develop the robust career management skills needed to generate career success and job satisfaction. You’re not alone in this journey.
Or, if you’re an established leader, how can you ensure that your team’s individual goals align with your organizational goals and fit into your long-term good succession planning? What tools can you give your company’s promising young leaders that will prepare them for success?
In this article, we’ll delve into the core components of career management, explore essential workplace success strategies, and provide actionable steps to foster professional growth.
Understanding Career Management
Career management is the lifelong process of planning and guiding your career. It starts with setting career goals and identifying opportunities for advancement, then adding the skills and knowledge you need to get ahead.
Throughout your professional career, you may have several jobs and many paths to more advanced roles. Successful career management will help you navigate your career trajectory confidently and better plan for opportunities, promotions, and career fulfillment.
The job market is ever-changing. Your goal should be to highly adaptable so that you can change with it.
The Importance of Career Management Skills
Organizations highly value employees with well-developed career management skills. They particularly appreciate those who align their personal goals with organizational objectives. By maximizing your employment management competencies, you can make yourself stand out and feel more valued in the job market. Adding new abilities to your skillset may lead to improved job performance and a greater sense of personal fulfillment.
Define Your Career Success
Success is subjective and can vary greatly from one individual to the next. You have to ask yourself what success looks and feels like to you. Does it mean achieving a particular position, acquiring new skills, attaining financial stability, or balancing work and personal life?
Once you determine your definition of success, it’s time to determine the skills you need to achieve it.
What Are the Most Essential Career Management Skills?
Here are six categories of skills to start thinking about as you create your career management toolkit:
- Self-Management and Self-Awareness: Self-awareness is the ability to understand one’s emotions, thoughts, and values. It means recognizing emotions in yourself and others quickly, understanding one’s strengths and limitations, and grasping how one’s feelings, attitudes, and beliefs are related.
- Self-management takes that awareness to the next level and better regulates emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. Those who excel at managing themselves prize skills like organization, goal-setting, decision-making, and time management.
- Mastering these competencies enables individuals to learn the art of maintaining composure in high-pressure scenarios without allowing emotions to hinder decision-making. These skills can be continually honed over the course of one’s lifetime.
- Goal Setting and Planning: Incorporating goal setting and planning provides a way to improve clarity of thought, foster motivation, and develop a strong career strategy.
Goals are more than mere targets. They provide us with a sense of purpose, a clear direction to progress towards, and a means to measure our advancement. Additionally, they are crucial in fostering a growth mindset, which is essential for personal and professional development. A growth mindset is the belief that dedication and hard work can lead to the development of one’s abilities and intelligence. Through setting and pursuing goals, individuals can nurture this mindset, resulting in continuous improvement and success.
The SMART framework, which stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound, is a goal-setting approach that offers clarity and focus. It utilizes five criteria to formulate goals:
Specific: The goal should be articulated clearly.
Measurable: This type of goal enables easy tracking to gauge when it has been achieved.
Achievable: The goal should be challenging yet within reach.
Relevant: A relevant goal is underpinned by a key priority or challenge, as well as a clear purpose.
Time-bound: The presence of a completion deadline creates a sense of urgency.
- Communication and Interpersonal Skills: Practical verbal and written communication skills will take you far. While some of us are born with these abilities, others must learn, develop, and improve them over time.
- Communication can take many forms. It may be verbal, such as the words and tone you use, or nonverbal, such as being an active listener, using expressions and gestures to show empathy, and projecting an aura of approachability.
- Employees look for strong interpersonal skills, as those with them tend to be influential leaders. By using these skills, you can build solid relationships and a network of career advocates.
- Adaptability and Flexibility: Demonstrating the ability to adjust and learn from changes is a valuable trait. Being adaptable and flexible allows individuals to navigate their career paths’ inevitable twists and turns.
- Recognizing that change is the only constant empowers leaders to view challenges as opportunities for personal and professional growth. Building resilience in the face of setbacks is not about enduring, but about learning. It enables individuals to learn from experiences and emerge stronger.
- Leadership and Team Management: Leadership is about setting a vision for the future and inspiring others to work towards it. It’s about creating a roadmap and guiding others along the way. Team management, on the other hand, is about the day-to-day operations. It’s about making sure everyone is working together effectively and efficiently. Both skills are essential for career management, and developing them will take you far in your career.
- Effective leadership and team management skills require a deep understanding of team dynamics. To build a high-performing team, a leader needs to establish clear communication channels, set the tone, and define specific goals. This ensures that the team stays well-informed and connected, allowing them to effectively leverage their diverse skills and perspectives to work together towards common objectives.
- Great leaders and managers also focus on the development of others. They empower their team members to establish their career goals, fostering a sense of responsibility and personal growth that enhances motivation and engagement.
- Continuous Learning and Skill Enhancement: Beyond your commitment to lifelong learning and professional development, you must remain ahead. That means staying up-to-date on the latest industry trends. Whether that means reading trade or industry publications, attending conventions and seminars, or joining industry associations, you should constantly increase your knowledge base. This commitment to learning not only keeps you competitive in the job market but also offers a wealth of opportunities for personal growth and development, inspiring you to reach new heights in your career.
- Another way to keep learning is to acquire new skills. Attend online or in-person classes, reach out to experts in your organization, or work with a mentor who can challenge you. Avoid complacency and embrace that there’s always something fresh and exciting to learn.
What are the Most Valuable Skills in the Workplace Today?
Today’s job market demands a diverse set of skills. We’ve looked through several recent studies to compile the skills that rise to the top:
Data Analysis and Statistics: Today’s business world recognizes the value of big data. Knowing how to interpret and properly analyze data to make informed decisions is an important skill that employers prize.
Digital Literacy: When you list specific proficiencies with digital tools and platforms and any certifications you have, you show employers that you go beyond the basics. In addition to digital literacy, artificial intelligence (AI) literacy equips individuals with the knowledge and skills necessary to critically comprehend, evaluate, and ethically utilize AI tools.
Project Management: Efficient project management from conception to completion is a critical skill to add to your skill set. It pays to increase your knowledge of appropriately planning, organizing, and managing resources.
Public Speaking: Building on the communication and interpersonal skills mentioned earlier, communicating effectively in front of an audience is essential. This skill can help you connect with others, influence decisions, pitch ideas to senior management and clients, and share your vision with your team and stakeholders.
Creative Thinking: The ability to think critically and creatively remains essential. Instead of relying on the expected, you will increase your value as a leader if you can innovatively solve problems and generate new ideas.
How Can You Better Develop Your Career Management Skills?
The first step in developing your career management skills is to assess your current competencies. Be honest about where you are and where you need to grow. Self-awareness will form the foundation for setting realistic career goals and planning your professional development.
If you need help determining where you stand, consider using a tool like LuminaSpark. Many professionals use this comprehensive program to gain deeper insights into their personality and work style. It helps individuals understand how they operate in various contexts, identify their core strengths, and recognize areas that may require development. This knowledge is crucial for career planning and management.
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EWF International is a certified Lumina Practitioner and our team utilizes its tool to build a foundation for their coaching, workshops, and peer advisory groups. The Lumina Spark tool is used to help identify strengths and developmental areas to build self-awareness. Based on Dr. Stewart Desson’s PhD research in business psychology and psychometrics, this reputable tool has created substantial growth within organizations in 40 countries all over the world. With the ability to measure 72 different personality qualities, the Lumina Spark tool offers a variety of benefits: increased self-awareness, improved work relationships, enhanced stress management skills and much more!
Find Out More! Improve Work Relationships and Productivity with EWF
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Once you clearly understand your skills, the next step is to apply your insights to your career development plan. What skills are required for your desired career path? How will you acquire and enhance these skills?
How Can You Find the Time to Build New Career Skills?
One issue many professionals face is that self-directed learning or formal training requires a significant investment of time. How can you balance your work commitments and life outside of work with your desire for personal growth?
Accept the commitment, embrace the commitment: If you are dedicated to advancing your career, it is essential to be prepared to adjust your priorities. This does not imply that you must entirely sacrifice your family time, but rather find ways to integrate learning into your daily routine. For instance, you can listen to audiobooks, podcasts, and other materials during your commute or workout. Remember: Improvement comes with a major time investment.
Do your research: Before you put in the hours to make it happen, ensure those hours go where it counts. If you’re doing self-directed learning, make sure that you get credited for it or that it increases your skill base. And if you plan on getting formal classes, make sure they give you a value commensurate with the time it takes to complete them.
Learn at your pace: One of our digital world’s best improvements is that learning no longer needs to happen in a classroom. You can listen to valuable industry insights on your phone and read or connect with other learners online. Many career development classes are available on your schedule.
Schedule the time: It helps to schedule time for self-development. Think of it as another job you must be on time for. You can block out time on your calendar at work or set aside an evening exclusively to improve your skills.
How Can You Track Your Progress?
As you continue to develop your career management skills, it helps to reach out to others. It is ideal to regularly seek constructive feedback from trusted peers, mentors, and supervisors.
Should you have concerns about receiving objective feedback, join a peer advisory group. This step guarantees that you receive unbiased input from professionals who share similar career paths and face comparable challenges.
Putting It All Together
Whether you’re an early to mid-career professional seeking new opportunities and unlocked career paths or an established leader who wants to support your team with tools and resources, developing career management skills is a major part of achieving the career satisfaction we crave.
If you need support, turn to EWF International. We offer a range of programs designed to enhance career management skills, including our Emerging Leaders Program for early—to mid-career professionals.
Our leadership development workshops cover the vital topics you or your organization need to transform talent into future leaders, strengthen leadership pipelines, increase overall productivity, and improve retention rates.
Additionally, we provide customized workshops and keynote speakers to suit your company’s specific requirements. Should you require specialized talks and discussions, such as female leadership topics, we can develop relevant engagements for your team.
What’s your next step in your career management journey? Take a moment to reflect on the skills and strategies discussed in this article, and consider how to apply them in your career. Remember, career management is a lifelong process; every step you take can bring you closer to your career goals.
