It’s a tough world out there, with newer technologies eating the older behemoths and pushing them in oblivion. It’s a matter of time before we see organizations restructure themselves to face the new world order, that is hyper-connected and hyper-automated.
So what can you do to avoid slipping into oblivion when restructuring happens, try doing these things to stay ahead of the pack, you need to make your career resilient to the future shocks, don’t be a sitting duck.
Take initiative & add value
By demonstrating initiative, you can make your manager and colleagues aware that you are eager to outgrow your current role. For example, you could show initiative by spotting problems areas in your current flow and making recommendations to streamline it. Thus when you see an issue in the work process and handle it the way your manager would have handled it before, you are giving a signal that you are capable of and willing to take on a bigger responsibility soon.
Build your network
Moving ahead in one’s career means making as many as possible, strong contacts in your field, particular with the ones that are labeled as industry experts. Find out what’s going on in your organization and who is responsible for designing solutions to crafty problems. You should take the lead and initiate relationship with these “ninjas”, after that check if you could work on a project with them or get exposure to the issues they are trying to solve. By building credit with this group, you will be able to channelize resources and accomplish things that would position you ahead of your colleagues.
In the times of restructuring, companies tend to look for people who have solved problems or worked in unchartered territory, this experience of having worked with senior influencers will be handy and fruitful in your quest for career resilience.
Demonstrate persistence
When we work on an assignment, we tend to get so absorbed into it, that we forget to see the clinkers and other ways of solving the issues. If any of your assignment does not seem to be going anywhere, pause for a moment and try to leverage your network (provided you have built one) to help you see your assignment from different angles, the fresh set of eyes will give you a new perspective into your assignment.
It’s important that you stay on course and learn from the failed initiatives, the key to being successful is never to repeat the same mistakes again. When companies are faced with uncertainty and the future is hazy, they prefer to look for people who can stay put in tough times, there is no space for people who chicken out or grumble about the situation, however, bad it may be. The companies are looking for people with broad shoulders to take on the tough task of moving out from the gallows.
Be comfortable with ambiguity
One of the biggest challenges for the employees and managers in the new work order is to learn how to deal with uncertainty. Ambiguity demonstrates many of the stressful situations people face in the workplace, more often than not it is unclear what is not working, why it is not working or what is needed to make it work.
Additionally many employees at workplace present ambiguous requests or offer vague rationales, those of you who will learn to handle these a situations most effectively without being fluttered are the ones that companies will seek in future. In case you find yourself stranded with a manager that is always ambiguous in making requests, take some steps to deal with ambiguity rather than becoming frustrated and dumping the assignment.
In such situations, take the initiative to gather as much information as possible from your network of supervisors, peers, and others. If necessary, make educated assumptions that will propel you forward to complete the assignment, and throughout the journey keep glued to your network for feedback on how you are progressing on your assignment. Thus by leveraging your network knowledge and good judgment, you will be able to complete the task without taking too much time of your manager.
Lastly, remember information is a powerful resource in organizations, and if you aspire to get ahead and stay in the race, actively seek ways to gather more information by forming networks. By using the pointers mentioned above, you will be better equipped to handle career shocks due to the global turmoil in the making.
