In the cut and thrust of our everyday work lives it is easy to overlook the achievements that you amass each and every year. It may be a new product launch, you may win an award or it may simply be the completion of a long project. Whatever your achievement is, it is important that you mark it personally and professionally.
Not only should your achievements be celebrated with your village — with your family, friends, supporters, mentors and colleagues — but you need to find time to blow your own trumpet a little. One of the best ways of doing this is to update your resume. I was reminded of this when reading a great post by Amy Hinzmann over at the News on Women blog. To actively manage your career, Amy suggests:
- Be curious, and transform that into results
- Read
- Take advantage if training offered by your company
- Find a mentor
- Demonstrate confidence at all times
- Update your resume regularly
From a leader’s point of view, however, it is also important to turn this on its head. To actively assist in the growth of your team, I suggest:
- Encouraging curiosity in your teams, but ensure that the curiosity is directed towards outcomes that align with your mission
- Providing your team members with books, podcasts, blog links that will stimulate their thinking and develop their skills. Make sure they read this so they know what you expect
- Create personal development plans that incorporate formal and informal training elements — classroom, eLearning and on-the-job
- Offer yourself as a mentor to your team or to members of teams that have alignment with your line of business
- Build their confidence across their skills sets — introduce a range of slight challenges mixed with audacious goals. Help your team maximize their talents — whether that pertains to leadership or not
- Closing out or debriefing a project is particularly important. It should be done while the lessons (positive and negative) are fresh in the minds of the team. Encourage team members to formally write up the project out-takes and lessons learned.
Nina Nets It Out: To succeed as a leader you need to build the successes of your teams. Encourage a bottom up approach from your team but also initiate a top down effort to ensure their efforts align with the goals of your business.