23 Jan Build your Career

Why can’t you build a career? We call it “frustration of the skilled one who doesn’t progress”.

There are some employees who complain because they see their less competent colleagues building a career while they do not get a promotion – despite their skills, loyalty, enthusiasm. But are their colleagues really less competent? Which skills are needed to build a brilliant career?

“To know”, “to be able to do”, “to be able to be”. In addition, “to be able to grow”.

Of course, to know and to be able to do are easier than to be able to be.

To be able to grow means being able to evolve according to the changes of the third millennium. To be able to be is a critical point that often causes lack of recognition, delay in career take off, and disappointment in losing the game against the colleagues.

The winning skills are those that help you make the difference and lead you through a continuous journey of growth allowing you to seize greater opportunities and therefore achieve goals and better results.

Sometimes people are used to staying in their comfort zone where they are unable to intercept or fear change. This keeps them away from the dynamism of proactivity, creativity, keeping up to date and therefore also from a successful career. Some other times people are almost too focused on their tasks which they carry out scrupulously, that they do not cultivate lateral and transversal thinking, they do not have an enlarged vision, and they lack strategic thinking.

Other times the things that hold them back are the lack of skills such as optimism, problem solving, and tolerance of stress. Being afraid of making mistakes, being anchored to habits, having bad relationship skills, stopping continuous training and – let’s say it – human ambitions, generally do not promise any career. How many times have you heard or thought that some colleagues reached high levels simply because they were better at “selling themselves”?

Let’s remove that ‘simply’. The ability to communicate well is an important skill that can express awareness, excellent communication skills, trust and positive attitude.

Maybe the perception of “being skilled” must be revised, because the predisposition or willingness to work on oneself in order to know how to be and how to evolve is anything but an option. It is highly probable that the colleagues who manage to play their cards right are determined to exploit their full potential and are able to better position themselves on the market.

Being skilled is also not an option. It is not enough to have a strong CV, to boast experiences, and adequately fulfill one’s duties. You need an extra gear, the one that always allows you to take a step forward.

We believe that people who are curious, proactive, enterprising and resilient are likely to be more successful. So, do challenge and get involved.

Sabrina Tabacchi