So shall we dive into some of the layers that we describe contribute to your overall career fitness journey?

First off, we want to emphasize we view a career in a holistic way. It’s the journey that matters. That sounds cliche but in our view we see multiple career stages. We won’t dive in the specific stages (we’ll link to a future post) but rather what comprises the broad term we call career fitness.

These are the basic components, but there could be others. As your career fitness coach, we partner with you to co-develop a personal action plan that outlines all the layers and exercises.

So we’ll list them out without any particular order. In other words, every journey is different and this is not an exercise of prioritizing but more of general areas to weigh in.

Is your current role satisfying your career needs?

Whether you’re new to a role or in the same role for years, are you in it for the right reasons?

For many, we originally choose a career or role for compensation or lifestyle. It often starts post-college where we get compensated for our degrees. That’s a great starting point!  Don’t be confused this is what we all want for ourselves.

However, there are also those who completed a degree but had not intention of going into that track post graduation but reluctantly do so. Or later find out the track wasn’t what they envisioned. This can stem from may reasons outside of our control – experiences with the manager or team, a layoff, no affinity with the company’s product or service, industry, etc.

Where we often find ourselves is a self-reflection process and whether our career is giving back in ways that fulfill our life and intentions.

Are you genuinely happy about the environment we’re in or are we there for other reasons?

Somewhat related to the first question, is our current situation or role truly keeping us happy with our career? Not only are we satisfied but do we think positively about our role today that we go about our daily activities with sincere happiness and think positively about the role to care for ourselves and others.  Or we we there because it is a “j-o-b” and well past that honeymoon stage.

Here are other related topics or question to reflect on:

1. What, if anything, am I thankful for with this job?
2. Is there a purpose behind my job that inspires me to move forward?
3. Can I see myself having the same responsibilities or tasks for a few years?
4. Am I learning or growing in my career track that challenges me to succeed?

Is there growth or opportunities to grow in this role?

Certainly this relies on the stage of your career, but even then, growth could mean different things.

Let’s take the proverbial “I want to growth with the role; learn more and do more” definition of growth. In that construct we’re often looking for avenues to develop in the role as a means to  a promotion.

We hear clients struggle with potential vs growth. In some ways, they are synonymous but in practical terms we take an approach that views potential as relating to your abilities and growth as it relates to your learning capability.

Confused? Here’s an example. Say Claire is looking for a role she can grow in. She may want to learn a particular function or area of the business like Marketing or Sales where she can develop her skillset and perform in bigger projects.

Now take James who’s been in the same role for 5 years but is rated as average in annual performance reviews. He performs adequately and understands the nuances of his role enough to be a contributor but isn’t particularly exceeding expectations to reach his full potential. He also might be satisfied with his performance and not obligated to outperform, or conversely he may not be developing in a way that incentivizes him to see his potential and therefore may be held back for promotions despite James feeling his tenure enough should merit him for one.

What we often search for is a stimulating environment, social culture of a team, or timing the growth with the company (ie. startup or new product launch).

However, we sometimes get infatuated with things outside of ourselves that we neglect the things that inspired us for that role to begin with.

If our mindset is stuck or stale, we need a change in our behavior or views to get around that. There is where you may want to develop or flex new muscles in your career and try a new approach. At Navigate we help individuals map their careers and determine their growth and potential.

Are you keeping up with the latest trends, education, or certifications with your role or field?

A significant part of our career fitness journey involves education and learning. We often hear about clients needing continuous education credits to keep a certification or license active. Or clients wanting to pursue an advance degree.

Quite simply, are you learning on the job or outside the job or both?

Continuing past growth and potential, we arrive at career development.  What does that mean? We define career development as programs and methods that further educate new skills into our existing roles while creating new more advance skills for future roles. In other words, it’s all about education and training.

Many employers, especially larger enterprises, provide in-house learning programs or partnerships with specific universities for advance degrees or certificates. Often the employee gets reimbursed or has to be accepted into the program. 

These are great avenues for employees and employers to develop and retain talent.

At Navigate we can help you muster the energy or find motivation. Also, we provide learning that can be reimbursed.

Have you reach a certain point in your current role or field where you need a move or some mobility?

In our journeys, we can find ourselves hitting a stagnate level where it’s possible further training is not required and there may not be further promotion. 

In these situations, our career fitness takes an ever important role. How we keep our careers in shape and ultimately, how we feel about were we’re at in our careers to stay focused and involved, remains a constant struggle or challenge. We may have to look externally or view our roles differently in order to find new challenges.

Mobility becomes crucial for others that feel the need to explore and find new avenues. Can those be internal or external, or can it be an entirely different approach to your career?

Our programs can help explore your options and help you design a path that best fits your needs.

Conclusion 

Our belief in career fitness is about the ongoing your career journey taking advantage of the present and creating a path for the future that puts you in the driver seat and in the best shape possible to reach your potential. 

Hopefully these make sense and good luck in your search!

To find out how we can help, click the “Schedule” button for a free introductory call. Or reach us through our Contact page.

Thanks for reading!