Hey Homie: Your Boss Likes The Gold That Glitters And Polishes It Even More

Michelle* was her junior in that company and she was always willing to help when Michelle asks for guidance to complete assignments. She was the type that knew her stuff and was so good in getting things done. Then she noticed that her friend, Michelle, now attends more conferences with the boss and makes more presentations than before.

She was still happy helping her friend to put her presentations together and to do other things.

One day, She was notified that she will now be reporting to Michelle. And things fell apart. She couldn't get it. But the management justified their decision to make her former junior, Michelle, to be her new boss.

She may have the technical expertise, but Michelle has the upper hand when it comes to people/ leadership. Michelle has been attending conferences with big heads, CEOs, etc, and making presentations. She's been groomed on strategic issues and on how to lead.

Michelle saw beyond just doing nice office work. She took her future in her own hands and the company gave her a nod.

Ours is a world that rally around superstars and a world of bosses being more eager to support the career development and growth of employees who breath growth need.

Career growth and career  development are some of the top things people look for in jobs. Studies by PwC say "yes" to that claim. Check out their findings below

And Deloitte agrees as well. See what studies by Deloitte found below:

So it comes down to being a fact that career growth and development are some of the top things people look for in jobs. Yet, most people aren’t growing. Why is that so?

Reasons Some People Don't Enjoy The Level of Career growth and Development  They Desire

If you are not enjoying the level of career development and growth that you need, here are why:

1. The Topic Usually Don't get talked about Often:  discussions about your career development and growth often end during the hiring process. What happens after that is work. Work. Work. In some companies, there're always more work to do that your career development and growth don't get talked about. And anytime you stop  performing, the door may stay open for you. So, you need to bring up the matter more often.
2. Your Managers don't Know what you need  Unless you let them know: Your bosses are  not  mind readers.  If you haven’t brought it up, they may not know it’s important to you. No one will care more about your career than you, so the first step is to make sure they know.
3. Your Bosses don't Know what growth and development mean to you and how you might want them to support:  Career growth is reasonably necessary to maintain an engaged and motivated team. What does growth and development mean to you? Would you love to take on more tasks, volunteer to work in other teams? Do you care about attending conferences and trainings ( both internal or external)?. Some persons want to go easy. Some wants the aggressive way. Your manager doesn't Know where you fall in unless you talk about it.
4. The Boss may be selfish and may need conviction of personal benefit to support your career growth and development:  If your company doesn’t  reward managers for growing their people and you don't maintain good relationship with the boss, those who work closely with your boss will get on well ahead. Because they are working closely with the manager and get to know and take advantage of opportunities. You need to maintain good relationship with your Bosses. It's true that some bosses only care about themselves. If you push for growth, they may help simply to save themselves from low performance scores for ignoring you, or it’s easier than not helping.
5. Your Boss is overwhelmed: Many managers are individual contributors and managers, or they have a huge team. Both cases make it easy to forget to make long term investments while fighting fires. And that's one of the reasons why those who are always assisting their managers to meet up with tasks, get their coveted support. And they ask for it.
6. Developing and Growing people is  not rewarded – If your company doesn’t measure or reward managers for growing their people, it won’t be a priority.  It can still become important to them, but only if you push for it and they realize it’s key to your happiness and motivation.
7. You're overly Detached from the job and the organisation: it's really not easy to be committed in an organisation that you don't like. As a result, your emotional detachment may stop you from taking advantage of the career development and growth opportunities you may have in that firm. If that's so, find out if leaving is best for you.
8. It's About You and when you are not committed to It, No one may do so for you: In fact, that may be all there is to it. 

Is Changing Jobs The Only Way Forward?

Most desire for job change is influenced by the need for growth in the hope of getting it else where,  if the individuals concerned feel that they are unable to get it in the companies  they work in. 

Probably,  you weren’t getting growth and development at your previous place of work, so you left and came to the company you're working in currently.

"You can absolutely change jobs every few years to satisfy your desire for growth. However, that still leaves a lengthy period of time when you’re not growing once you settle into a job and before you move onto the next one.

This can make future job searches harder, as you have to start practicing a good answer to why your resume looks like you’re a job hopper.

It may seem like companies will still hire you, but ask yourself: What kinds of companies are most likely to overlook flaws in resumes and new hires? The best can usually be picky."

Changing jobs should become necessary only when you really need to do so for your own good and you should not let it hurt your career through frequent job changes which will not be a good image. 

What To Do To Achieve Your Career Development And Growth Needs

Get your manager involved efficiently

• Get approval for small budget items: your manager can help pay for a local event or conference for you to attend, buy you a book, purchase an online course for you, etc.
• Introductions: your manager can help you with an intro to a mentor or expert inside or out of the company to interview, get coffee, eat lunch, etc and learn from.
• Anticipate future opportunities: managers may know about future openings and hiring plans that may fit your goals. They also can spot upcoming projects to get you on to gain experience.

The beauty of all of these things is that you can make them less than 5 minute tasks for your manager:

• If you send them an Amazon link to the book you talked about, it takes 2 minutes to open the link, enter the company card, and order it.
• If you ask for an intro, it takes them 2 minutes to draft an email to their contact and you, and hit send.
• If you ask regularly about upcoming openings or projects, it takes just a few minutes to talk about them and establish the right time to get you involved.

Again, the goal here is to make their life easy. The smaller the ask, the easier it is for them to do it. 

 Write Your Career Development and Growth Plan Down

Talking about your career growth is good. Writing down the plans to get you there is better.

 

Check In On Your Managers To Find out What They Feel About The Progress You're Making And How To Do Better

Your Boss really care about having an engaged and motivated team because it will influence his or her own  performance. 

These small steps you’re taking, and the time efficient requests you make of your manager are great. They ensure you don’t go months without making progress on your career goals, and that you’re getting them invested, too.

Your boss will be willing to respond to you, if you  ask your manager things like:

• Do you feel my skills are improving in the areas we identified as weaknesses?
• What are the biggest barriers I still have to the next promotion, raise, etc?
• How have I performed on recent projects we’ve identified as important to my growth?
• Does our agreed upon plan still cover the most important steps?
• What would make you feel totally ready to advocate for me?

 Conclusion

It turns out that your boss likes the gold that glitters and polishes it even more. Your Boss really care about having an engaged and motivated team because it will influence his or her own  performance. And will prioritise supporting your career development and growth if you make it a priority yourself.

You must take the lead in your career development and growth targets through taking steps that show that personal growth and development matter to you. 

* Michelle is not the real name of the individual used in the Example