Business: 3 tips whilst navigating your career & workplace.
Diary for young professionals - Career snippet!
Despite the fact that many people spend a huge slice of their life in the workplace - it’s a place still evolving ; a place that has been for so long neglected till 2020 happened and pushed everyone to rethink what “workplace” really means. Dare say that the experiences we have in our various workplaces are all personal and differ to various degrees. Yet, we all seek to unlock the key to happiness and fulfillment in our careers and workplaces. Isn’t it so? What is your desire in the workplace? Why is it we spend so many years learning and preparing to find ourselves stumbling into this journey called work filled with careers? Is the notion of work and careers changing ? I truly believe it is and we are just beginning to see revolutions and new models of work and careers. What however still holds weight today personally, is three things that I shared 5 years ago - things I wish I had known sooner. I still revert back to these and they still resonate as very fundamental.
So, here are 3 things that I wish someone had told me more about this connected system called the workplace before I found myself at the deep end waters. I still do think swimming is fun and diving into the deep waters isn’t all that bad - you learn by doing - nevertheless why not jump in with a little orientation. These are little things to give that little guide on how to make the most early on in your career in an environment you almost call your second home. I strongly believe these have helped me navigate through.
Here it goes - Voila - 3 Things I wish someone had shared with me!
Experience
It seems pretty ridiculous, but yes, Companies are requesting 2 years plus experience from a pool of fresh graduates for entry positions. It gets you thinking what has changed over the decades...? However I will not waffle about this...
Let’s bat our eyelids and get down to the word experience itself - The word experience means engaging in the moment, it requires throwing away the theoretical jargon and learning about the practice - this allows you to acquire that valuable knowledge/skill you need.
From time to time - set aside your own “perfect” ideas and engage with your team to hear their experiences
Understand how to fit the right experience puzzle pieces to the perfect collaborative solution towards the toughest issues you tackle in your workplace.
There are things in life you simply have to experience and learn from without trying to let the moment fit your idea of a perfect scenario, ( remember its essential to take a step back to get a view of whats at hand during your experience journey ) and by all means don’t forget to ask the right questions while at it. In other words - If Experience is living - make your life learning experience a series of questions that when answered give direction and growth - hence making it a habit to stay always curious - while at the same time driving for results.
Connect purely
If you have never had a conflict, you have never connected to the level that pushes the strings to a very necessary skill for growth: Connecting. You can’t experience conflict with something you are not connected with. In order to deep dive into this connection point - communication is so key - which when broken down becomes Observing, Listening and speaking - all 3 being skills that can be sharpened with time. When you connect purely, conflict is unavoidable - however good intent and strategy keeps a solid connection intact. Connect more often !
It’s a beautiful thing to connect with people who share different values, beliefs and backgrounds- do that more often!
Constructive dialogue and conflicts take place when we connect purely. One of my favorite business communication coach Ursu Mahler , gave an analog of connecting/communication as daily bank transactions. Keep your bank on check and avoid running on the negatives. Pure connection is driven by the giving principle.
A lot of times in the business arena people`s networking is motivated by identifying something someone has to offer or wanting to collaborate on something exciting - which is all fine - yet the true value of a network lies in connecting to give value. In giving and truly caring. Connecting in its pure form is being curious about the other person and genuinely wanting to know their journey - the part that’s important is not drawing out things this person can do for you or with you - but seeing opportunity to bring value to them.
Be aware of your value
Having spoken about connecting to give value, it`s important to know your value... How much are you worth? Let me ask you something - If the price tags you press on to your clothes were shifted on to you - how much would your tag say? Most times you give yourself a figure based on statistics, education, experience etc. Yet the reality is the real value can never have a figure to it. Your well-being can never have a 6 figure tag on it. Its intangible and that is what makes self-awareness of your worth a critical skill in the workplace or anywhere else for that matter.
There is no doubt that you should be prepared to know and negotiate a fair salary for yourself based on facts, yet one thing we tend to lack early on in the workplace is perspective. Perspective of what your value means in the long-term, what being whole and treating yourself as well as being treated fairly means. Treating yourself fairly means you are conscious that your value encompasses more than just the work experience and a figure. This perspective gives you confidence and freedom to be simply you and not being driven by storms of unfair treatment or others perception of you. As a women of color and most times being in a minority group in the workplace has meant standing firm on what I believe, what I represented and not flinching about my self-worth and place in the places I stood. It has also meant walking out on things that don’t reflect this after connecting purely.
Being aware of your value means believing in yourself and remembering your bigger goals- It means reminding yourself of what fuels you and your passions. Being aware of your value entails trusting that your presence is intangible and taking care of your complete well-being because that can never be compensated in a pay-check.
What are your 3 essentials to navigate and grow in the workplace? Happy reading and happy to hear your story.
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