5 new rules to manage your career today

Traditional career thinking is outdated and should be consigned to history. Having a 5 year career plan and working towards a clear goal just doesn’t work anymore. Yet this is still so often the outdated advice given to people wanting to know how best to manage their careers.

But how can we plan for the future when the world of work is changing so quickly? Digital technology is having an increasing impact of our working lives and new jobs and roles being created on a daily basis. Every generation is facing a new and complex workplace where traditional career paths are at best unclear and at worst non-existent.

Career maps are now increasingly more lateral and the rise of specialist career routes is forcing people to question if they really want to take on managerial roles which take them away from their passion and expertise. This together with the increased numbers of people taking up self employment and wanting more entrepreneurial roles means the notion of permanent employment is under threat.

So how do we keep up and help people within organisations to make sense of which career path or route is the best in such a changing world? The role of line managers in this cannot be under estimated. All too often the blockers to innovative career development ideas and initiatives, line managers need to encourage regular career dialogue and not just wait until the outdated annual performance review.

There are 5 new key rules emerging that need to be encouraged:

1.) Take control: Whilst supporting employees in their career plans is a positive step, essentially it’s all about encouraging individual ownership and taking action.
2.) Be flexible: Agile career plans are the new norm. Explore planning for multiple possible career routes and consider gap analysis of skills, knowledge and experience to understand which routes may have potential 3.)Think differently: Listen to requests to support breakout development opportunities and directions that will differentiate individuals from the crowd.
4.) Take intelligent risks: In today’s workplace, employees are looking for meaningful work. Work with them to understand the choices and possible compromises that may be required to realise their potential. 5.) Relationships matter: Help your people to understand how to pull intelligence and opportunities from their network rather than just constantly pushing at closed doors?

As Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn says “The old career escalator is jammed. Age‐old assumptions about work have come undone.” I believe it’s time for fresh thinking and a new approach.

Sandra Evans