If you would chart a career path of most workers in the United States then you should be able to spot the trends of spikes for success, valleys for setbacks, and a straight line to denote stability. There are not too many people that we know of that just has a straight spike that goes all the way up through out their career. We are all hopeful to have that type of career where you experience nothing but success but the chances of that happening are very slim. Most people have a straight line to show that they have stable career paths with an occasional spike for outstanding performance and sometimes a valley for career setbacks. A knowledge worker can easily handle the spikes and the straight line but how do you handle your career when it is going through the tough times? We are here to help you understand how you can turn a bad valley into a spike. This is not something that can happen overnight but requires time and discipline to improve your performance. We have provided some steps that you can take to help build an action plan to turn your career around.
Step 1: Identify the problem
You need to identify the problems is in your job performance. You may think that you are doing a fantastic job and you probably are but people’s perceptions of your work is everything. You need to discover any weaknesses that you have in your skills and the perceptions that your co-workers have in your job performance.
Step 2: Identify the gaps
After you have identified the problem with your job performance then you need to know the gaps between your skills and what the need is for the job. When you identify the gaps then you need to come up with an action plan to address these performance issues.
Step 3: Create an action plan
You need to create an action plan to address any issues that you may be having with your job. Your action plan can be a list of training that you need to take, searching for a mentor, or changing your position in the company. You should talk with any professionals that are offering career services or discuss with your performance manager on the steps that you need to take to improve your standing with the company.
Step 4: You need to change perceptions
After you have addressed all of the issues associated with your job performance then you need to change the perception of your peers. This is going to take time but if you perform a good job then over time they will see you as important member of the team.
Comments