Career development cannot be divorced from a person’s journey of personal growth and that is what this piece seeks to highlight. The Part 1 of this piece looked at the meaning of career development for mid- and senior-level career positions. The Part 2 discussed entry level career positions mostly for graduates, persons launching into the world of work or into new areas of work experience. In this Part 3, tying all these up in the context of a conscious journey of self-improvement could help the reader see that your work engagement is not a separate entity from who you are and who you could become.
Your career is what you do to earn your daily living. As you grow into adulthood and into greater maturity, it is imperative that you have a career in hand that sustains your livelihood. Livelihood refers to your ability to sustain for yourself, fend for your needs and take care of your family responsibilities. While at this, the process of becoming the best person you can be, needs to be the foremost desire and goal. And this is what personal growth as a tool in career development is all about.
However, the idea of intentionally absorbing oneself in becoming better only goes with upholding personal principles and values that keeps you true to yourself. And this may not be of value or importance to everyone. Nonetheless, the idea of making your career development a tool for your personal growth, when lived that way, certainly benefits you and everyone who encounters you.
Personal growth is about improving your habits, behaviour, actions, and reactions for the better. It involves knowing yourself and working towards reaching your highest potential. It is about knowing where you want to be, who you want to become and how you plan to get there (top practices).
Now that we know what personal growth is about, it will only do one good to ensure that this goes along with you as you work towards your developing your career path and climbing up the ladder of work and leadership.
Ingredients of Personal Growth at the Workplace
Let us take a quick look at some ingredients for your personal growth as it relates to your work relations and environment.
- Attitude
Attitude can be described as a non-verbal expression of being with others, responding to others, and/or responding to circumstances, or not being responsive. Many people like to put on a nice scenting perfume. For some people it makes them feel good and confident that they smell nice. For some it is a sign of class. For others, it is perhaps to gain respect and be treated well or better.
Now, you can also see attitude as a kind of perfume. Have you ever met someone, and you say to yourself, “His attitude stinks”? or “Her attitude is just appalling.” I have personally said of someone, “This person’s attitude smells.” To me, that was the best way of describing the person’s way of acting. Let your attitude be a sweet-smelling perfume you spread around.
At the workplace, attitude matters a lot. Your attitude results from the thoughts on your mind. Hence, your attitude towards a person, a thing or a circumstance comes from what you think about the subject matter. I know of someone who got a certain entry position and assumed an attitude of superiority and disregard, even towards the supervisor. I also know of someone who relates to colleagues based on aged.
So, the question is, does this kind of persons really understand what is required in the world of work? To have the right attitude at the workplace, and indeed anywhere you go, nurturing a positive outlook to life, being positive-minded and being open to learn from everyone and from everything are key points to hold on to.
- Character
Character refers to your moral or ethical quality. It is how your habits, motives, thoughts, and behaviours relate to morality. It is a description of your moral self. It is said that your true character is best seen in the choices you make when you are under pressure. Your character is unique to you, and it is based on the choices you make.
In the work environment, this comes to bear as you cannot pretend for long. As you get familiar with your work and with colleagues, you begin to lay down your guards. Then your true character begins to emerge. In the course of your work and engagement with others, your moral self will be tested, and these will reveal your true character.
To get it right at the workplace and indeed anywhere you find yourself, do ensure that your have certain values and principles that you are not willing to compromise. Overtime, your colleagues get to know your level of integrity or even the lack of it. They get to know and can attest to your true character. Hence, it is important that you take it upon yourself to guard your thoughts, be aware of the choices you make, the habits your nurture, and the behaviours you exhibit. All these counts.
- Authority Figures
Let me ask you, “Do you generally have a problem with authority figures?” There are persons who just have trouble submitting to an authority figure. This may have begun in the way they related with their parents. Something did not go right then, and even in adulthood, they continue to carry one that baggage of always rebelling against any person placed in authority over them.
In the work environment, you will have persons in authority who may not necessarily be older or even more experienced than you are, yet you are expected to respect their authority and leadership. Here, being aware of your tendencies and personal challenge in this regard matters. If this is a problem you have, then gradually work on it and your attitude towards that person will slowly improve. But if you always think that the other person is the problem, then you will never be able to change rebelling attitude towards authority figure. You can be assertive, but also respectful and polite.
- Emotional Intelligence
This is a big one because growth in age does not necessarily mean growth in emotional maturity or intelligence. People come to the work environment with varying levels of emotional intelligence. This is an aspect of one’s personality or character that requires self-awareness and constant growth.
Emotional intelligence, as described online, is your “ability to understand, use and manage your own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges and defuse conflict”. Are you able to monitor your own emotions and direct or redirect it for a greater good? The extent to which you can say a yes to this question reflects how well you are doing on your emotional intelligence. At the workplace, redirecting your emotions for a higher purpose will create a better ambience for your and for others.
- Leadership
Do you see yourself as a leader? If you do, then even at an entry-level position, you will take the initiative more often, you will take on your responsibilities more easily and with a desire to deliver on them, and you will want to groom others too.
At the workplace, being able to see everyone as a leader in their own capacity helps you to respect others, takes away unhealthy competition and motivates you to play your part well to better build the team. Take the time to read good books on leadership and continuously develop the leader within you. This will help you to stand out anywhere you happen to be.
Conclusion
Self-improvement: As a summary, personal growth is about a journey of self-improvement. As you carry on with your career, let your concern always be, “How can I improve myself?” No one is too old or too senior or too rich that they no longer need to keep improving themselves. You can never, in your lifetime, fully exhaust your innate (God-given) potential. So, you must keep learning, growing and developing yourself to become better and to achieve more.
First is to believe in your potential, that you can be so much more and that you can achieve so much more. Second, see every person and situation as working for your good. If you develop this thinking habit, then even characters who seem to step on your toes or seem to make things difficult for you will be for you an opportunity to grow. Third, when you seek to improve yourself, it is easier to accept criticism and take corrections from others in the workplace. Even as the boss, self-improvement and personal growth must be your watchword.
(The End)
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