Take the reins! Five ways to take ownership of your career

We can’t rely on our companies and higher management to be as passionate about our development as we are. And there is no way your boss can know you better than they know yourself!

I know you’re ambitious, hard-working and you want to move up in the world. You’re good at your job, maybe you’re the go-to person for onboarding new team members, and you’ve taken on extra projects to demonstrate your leadership skills.

NEWSFLASH: being good at your job isn’t enough to get you the promotion you want and deserve.

You’ll be left waiting a long time for that next promotion, and end up disheartened and demotivated when it doesn’t happen, kicking off a spiral of wondering if you are really destined for greater things or if you’ll be stuck in this job forever.

Stop leaving your career to chance and grab the reins!

Here are 5 ways to take ownership of your career, with valuable insights from four industry experts (and me!):

Samantha Lauver-Marion, Director of Global Partnerships at Asian Institute of Hospitality Management
Colm Flanagan, Head of Global Chain Partners APAC at Hotelbeds
Deepshikha Sehgal, Head of Commercial, Bakuun Holdings
Malcolm Leong, Head of Revenue Management and Distribution Strategy at Far East Hospitality Management

Know yourself: your purpose

When the going gets tough, the tough get going. And how do they do that?

Fight or flight.

You might have heard the advice to stick out difficult situations at work, rather than run away, so you can build experience and resilience. However, slogging away and pouring your energy into an uphill battle can make you mean and exhausted.

Here is another way:

“I think we have somewhat of an animal instinct. So we either fight or flee. Before I would say, let’s not flee, but to fight. But as I get older, I realise that my answer was wrong. At my current point of my life I realise there’s an in-between. You don’t flee, neither do you fight but you find somewhat of a higher purpose.”
Malcolm Leong

When you know your “why”, staying motivated and dedicated becomes much easier. Your life stops being a never-ending hamster wheel and starts to become a series of stepping stones towards your future.

And let’s make things easier for our potential future bosses, PLEASE!

“75% of the people I interview hadn’t even thought about that question. And very often, they don’t really understand why they want the job, other than the fact that it’s a logical next step. Just “oh and it’d be great to be the boss.”
Colm Flanagan

Colm shows how hard it is to promote or hire someone when they don’t really know what they want or why they want it.

Get clear on what your bigger purpose is, and it will reach out and grab you.

Know yourself: your strengths and values

You know you better than anyone else possibly could (or you should do!).

🙋🏻Who are you?

🫰🏻What do you care about?

🤹🏻What are you good at?

And how can this unique combination of strengths and values help you have a hugely satisfying career?

“I am a huge advocate for focusing on your strengths, because you are naturally good for some reason and I don’t even need to know why. I just need to know that you’re enjoying what you’re doing. Because when you enjoy what you’re doing, you’re going to do it better and more and think about it. I don’t want you to try to strengthen your weaknesses as a focus because it always puts you on the backfoot and I want you to go forward confidently”
samantha lauver-marion

Samantha put it beautifully: you need to focus on your strengths, because this unique combination of things that you love and that give you energy will propel you to new heights.

Rather than working on your weaknesses and going from bad to mediocre, you need to understand your strengths and use them to go from great to glorious.

Combine this with crystal clear knowledge of your values and you have a roadmap that will guide you not just in your career but in all areas of life. Every decision can be made referring back to this intimate knowing of your core self, and that is POWERFUL.

One of my clients, a hotel DOSM, is approaching a tough situation with new-found confidence and optimism, as she is clear on her unique strengths and values and won’t settle for less.

Take the biggest goal and break it down

We’ve all heard this one, right?

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

But how many of us don’t even start the journey, because it all feels so overwhelming?

Samantha has some great tips:

“We are often told that we should focus on an area to become an expert, but you don’t need to make a whole change to a new department or a new role in order to start incorporating new things. So whatever it is that you’re passionate about, start talking about it consistently six months before you try to make a move.

It’s realizing that you can be very happy with where you are and also slowly work on something else moving forward. We need to get people to be able to identify other areas of interest and encourage them in that direction because it will increase the likelihood that they will stay within the company, find satisfaction in their workplace and contribute to what’s happening in the company, because they’re actually interested. It’s not just a job. It’s something that they actually care about, and they’re gaining some benefit from it, and so is the company”
samantha lauver-marion

Try asking yourself this question:

“What is the one thing I could do right now, that would make everything else easier (or even unnecessary) on this journey?”

Your personal elevator pitch

Don’t waste a single opportunity to get closer to your dream.

Pass the CEO in the corridor?

Getting coffee at the same time as the boss of that department you want to move to?

“Define what it is that you want to learn in the next one to two years and create a short elevator pitch that you will use whenever people ask you ‘how’s it going?” I always make sure that when someone says ‘how are you doing?’ I don’t say I’m busy. I say ‘I’m working on this exciting thing’, or ‘this is what I’m happy about’. And it doesn’t need to be long or complicated, but you need to become known for whatever it is that you want to be known for.”
samantha lauver-marion

This comes down to personal branding i.e. getting everyone to think about you in the way you want to be seen.

Make sure you stand out in the crowd by having a strong, short summary to use in any situation.

Focus on what is in your control

It’s easy to get bogged down in blaming others for your situation, rather than taking control.

Think that isn’t you?

Have you ever found yourself:

🦜Gossiping about higher management and how bad they are at running the show?

👀Thinking “once someone finally recognises me, I’ll be able to show my best side”?

🐌Moaning about the terrible processes and slow response of other teams?

Then you are expending energy on things that are not within your control.

The Circle Of Control

We’ve all seen this circle before right? 👆🏻

When you find yourself worrying, moaning or feeling overwhelmed, come back to what is within your control and take action on that.

This goes for how you are approaching your current job as well as how you develop.

“I always set responsibility on the individual to drive their own career. You have certain things in your control as an individual. So if you have goals and KPIs, working as hard as possible to reach those. If the conversation when you reach those doesn’t go your way, then you need to be resilient enough to deal with that, but also to ask yourself ‘What’s in my control?’ I can either sit back and accept it. Or maybe it’s time for me to move companies to look for another pathway”
colm flanagan

When looking to get ready for your next move, the same rule applies. It is up to YOU!

“Don’t always go to people with a request of what you want from them, also go with a solution. For example: I see there’s a gap in my skill set and here’s what I want to develop and here’s what I’m starting to do. Do you have anything else that you’d like to add on to this? Or is there anything that I’m missing that you think I should focus on instead? Because there’s nothing worse as a leader for someone going to and saying ‘fix my problem for me’.”
samantha lauver-marion

Samantha goes on to highlight that by taking the lead, you won’t be dragged into areas you aren’t interested in or that your boss would like the team to have but don’t suit your career goals.

Ready to grab the bull by the horns?

Now you are armed with five awesome ways to take ownership of your career. No more hanging around waiting for the “fairy promotions godmother” to wave her magic wand! 🪄

Stay tuned for the next edition where I’ll be sharing four ways of getting support (you don’t have to go it alone!).

If you want some support, like, now! Then set up a free discovery call with me here.

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