An individual's perception of career growth can limit their opportunities if they only see it as an upwardly mobile path. Here are five other ways to further a career.
Career growth means different things to different people. Sometimes it’s a promotion within the same department or company, other times it means accepting a new position outside. However, depending on someone's interests, career growth is not always about moving up.
Mark was a manager with two direct reports who had a limited breadth of responsibility. When his boss offered him a non-supervising opportunity as a program manager with responsibility over several new programs, he really had to think twice.
Even though the salary range for the program manager position was one step below that of the manager and moved him into an individual contributor role, he was being given the opportunity to take on a different and broader range of responsibilities without taking a pay cut and with a different career path.
For those individuals who are interested in seeking other avenues of career growth beyond just a promotion, here are five ideas to consider:
· Lateral Move. Nowadays a lateral move can be considered a growth opportunity offering much-needed breadth of experience. Often times, organizations hire recent college graduates and run them through several lateral positions in a variety of departments in an effort to develop a well-rounded employee and future leader. This may mean moving from a slow-growing segment of the business into an expanding area or department or even a subsidiary. Lateral moves are not a demotion. Moving laterally means moving into a position offering the same level of responsibility at the same or similar pay level.
· Stepping Back. Though many people look at this as a demotion, moving downward can be the first step in finding a new career path that eventually opens doors to other avenues of career growth. It’s a matter of keeping an open mind and determining if there is a benefit to be gained by making the move. Like Mark in the scenario above, stepping back may provide an opportunity to learn something new or take on more responsibility. Stepping back may also mean an employee moves into a position that she held prior to moving into management because it better aligns with other life priorities.
· Short-term Assignments. Many times companies will have short-term job assignments or special limited-run projects available in other parts of the organization. These assignments or projects can often take one to two years to complete. The benefit is having the opportunity to explore something new. However, keep in mind that often times as the project winds down, so does the job. There are not always positions to move back into. It’s important to be adventuresome or a risk taker.
· Cross-functional Teams. Sometimes company-wide projects require input from a variety of departments in order to be successful. Consider becoming a Subject Matter Expert (SME). A SME (pronounced “smee”) represents one area of expertise that, when combined with others, presents a complete picture of an operation. For instance, an organization may decide to expand offices into new regions of the world and is interested in developing guidelines for establishing new locations to ensure they conform. Bringing a group of individuals together from different disciplines can provide input regarding how each function should operate. Everything from developing the marketing plan to setting up human resources policies to implementing telecommunications may be decided by the team.
· Consulting Opportunities. Offering services as a consultant can provide people with additional exposure and experience.There are two options: work full-time and offer services to other companies on the side, working evenings and weekends (as long as it doesn’t conflict with the company’s policy on outside work) or strike out as an independent consultant and work at it full-time. Depending on individual area of specialty, there are consulting firms that may offer assignments with their clients as well as web sites that offer leads on consulting opportunities. Networking is essential for a consultant.
Whatever career path someone chooses, it is important to remember that career growth is not just about upward mobility. It is important to keep an open mind and explore all avenues of career growth that may be available.
