Slowing Down, Not Lagging Behind
According to Barbara Kovach in Survival on the Fast Track, there comes a time in the career of every ambitious person when it is necessary to slow down a bit. The Reason is this: At some point in your race up the ladder, some insecure-yet-powerful senior managers will begin to see you as competition. They will begin to focus on your flaws and look for reasons to push you off the track. Though your opinion once counted, you may begin to be ignored.
1. Give up a competitive orientation for cooperative one.
2. Develop interpersonal rather than achievement-oriented skills.
3. Replace an emphasis on substance with one style.
Accompanying those three are the following points of learning:
1. The team is more important than the individual.
2. Merit alone will not carry you to the top
3. You must be tolerant of the failings of others.
4. There is a time to lower your own visibility and Management idea of the week.
You might want to take heed on those practical advices and slow down a bit. Take the time to rest, and contemplate on those things that matter most in your career and/or business. Slowing down does not mean to lag behind, but actually putting on spaces between your paces to renew your stamina for the long haul. Run your course like a winner does in a marathon, not in a sprint; for your career life is not a 100-meter dash. Doing this, you will see your goals in a fresher perspective and with a renewed vigor.
I agree that slowing down to “take a breath” in one’s career in productive, but I’m not sure I agree with the 3-step advice for dealing with a senior exec that views you as competition.
Why alter your productive style to accommodate the insecurities of a competitive senior colleague? If you’ve moved up quickly, it probably means your doing your job well.
While I like the content of the advice (be cooperative, develop skills, etc.) I’m not sold on the timing.
Organizations, like government offices, are riddled with politics. Sometimes to get the approval of your bosses or those senior to you, takes the humility to play along; i.e., to subject your ideas and opinions to theirs. A brilliant or creative idea would be of no use if the people who approves them perceive you as a threat and/or they are not receptive. For the harder you press ahead, the harder they will get on you; and that would eventually lead to an early demise of your career in that organization.
In the new HRM (Human Resource Management) paradigm, organizations value more employees or professionals who are team players or have good inter-personal skills. Why? For in the end, the success of any organization is always attributed to group efforts not to a single maverick.
I understand your concern there Jake, and I respect it. However, should anyone wishes to climb a steeper corporate ladder, one must learn to let the one ahead of him climb first, to slow down, and follow. Exceptions are, when these ’seniors’ lose their grip (either voluntarily or by virtue of incompetence, or any other factors) then you are at the right place -you are next in line.
Kobach’s advice are worthy of consideration. I took them; they are indeed effective.
Thanks for the comment jake. Btw, I hope you leave your URL next time so that I can visit your site/blog.
Cheers!