The world outside our comfort zone

During one of the interviews I had a few years ago, I have asked one candidate what made her stay for 5 years at a company where her experience was not valued. 

Her answer was: “Well… the colleagues are nice, I got used with everything in the company and the management is also not that bad.”

She knew the whole time that she could do much more. However she continued there for so long because it was cozy.

Recently I have had the chance to talk again with her and I have found out that she is still with the same company but much happier. What happened?

She had decided to take the risk and try something new. She has discussed with her manager, she has been assigned to new projects, had to learn new technologies, was noticed by the management and got promoted.  She had left her comfort zone and decided to go for more, take risks and work hard until she got what she wanted.

When was the last time you have tried doing something new? What was the biggest step you took out of your comfort zone?

Here is a good illustration about the comfort zone and what could happen if we dare to get out of it.  

Setting goals – what actually works?

If you don’t know where you want to go, you will never get there. This is a quote I heard long time ago and that I always like to give as example when it comes to goal setting.

As there are so many theories out there on this topic I decided to test some of them in order to see which one will work for me. I could choose from hundreds of techniques, advice and methods. I could use images, graphics, lists, computer programs and in some cases my imagination or meditation would have been enough.    

In the past seven years I have tried several of methods and stayed with the one that helped me to get to the results I wanted.

What it works for me when it comes to both personal and professional goals is the following: breaking long terms goals into intermediate goals that will help me achieve the long term goal. Then I set other goals that will lead me to the intermediate goals and repeat this until I get to specific actions that I need to do in the present. I have also found very useful to set the goals following the SMART rule. Shortly the characteristics of a SMART objectives are:

Specific: Goals should be simplistically written and clearly define what you are going to do.

Measurable: Goals should be measurable so that you have tangible evidence that you have accomplished them.

Achievable: Goals should be achievable; they should stretch you slightly so you feel challenged, but defined well enough so that you can achieve them. You must possess the appropriate knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to achieve the goal.

Results-focused: Goals should measure outcomes, not activities.

Time-bound: Goals should be linked to a time frame that creates a practical sense of urgency, or results in tension between the current reality and the vision of the goal. Without such tension, the goal is unlikely to produce a relevant outcome.

To be more specific, here is an example

Let’s say that you are a senior accountant and your long term goal is to become the Head of accounting in an international company, in the next 5 years.

What would it take for you to get there? (Intermediate goals for the medium term)

1. Find a job as Accounting Manager – December 2014

2. Master in Economy - 2016

3. Getting accounting qualifications - 2015

4. Working with certain operations and accounting standards - 2018

5. International work experience – 2018

6. Find a job as Head of accounting - 2019

What would you need to do to achieve every of these goals? (Intermediate goals for short term)

1. Find a job as Accounting Manager – October 2014

- Research on job market, requirements, jobs open on the market, companies that could be interesting – December 2013

- Preparing CV – January 2013

- Updating professional profile on online social media channels – January 2014

-  Increase online social network with 20% until April 2014

- Contacting recruitment agencies – March 2014

- Sending applications – minimum 1 per week – starting March 2014

And so on with every intermediate goal on medium term.

Regarding the form, simple lists like the ones from above are sufficient for me. However, for some people graphics, diagrams or pictures might work better.

Some specialists say that is helpful to share your goals with other people. For me this is not working at all and I prefer to keep my goals just for myself as I think they are something very personal. 
It is essential to periodically read your goals and cut of the list the ones you have already achieved or to update the list with new dates or new mini goals.

I believe that there are no good or bad methods when it comes to goal setting. Each of us should try out and choose the strategy or technique that has the best results for us, or even combine them.
The main thing is to have a goal and strive to achieve it.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

Following my previous article, someone asked me "Where do you see yourself in five years?” This reminded me of my first interviews as a candidate when other recruiters have asked me exactly the same thing. It was one of the questions I hated the most and I have always tried to do my best in giving answers as general as possible.

Later I understood that the intention behind it was to see if I had a career plan and how the job I was applying for would fit in my plan.

Whoever started asking this question didn't realize that mentioning an exact time frame forces candidates either to give answers out of the blue or general answers that were well prepared prior to the interview. Not everybody has a 5 years plan but that doesn't mean that they don’t have a plan at all.

How can this phrase be avoided and still find out what one’s career plans are? There are many other questions that can be asked around this topic. I believe that questions like "What is the next step in your career?" or "How do you see yourself evolving professionally?" are much more efficient. This way the other person has the comfort of not having to think at an exact time frame.
There are lots of people saying that this question makes no sense, that it’s a stupid question to ask and it forces people to say what they think the recruiters want to hear.

However, most interviewers ask this question one way or another. If you find yourself in the situation of answering the famous “Where do you see yourself in five years?” always have in mind that the real question is “What is the next step in your career and how the job you are applying for will help you get there?”. The answer will then be easier. What we should always have in mind is that we must emphasize how the job that we are interviewing for is integrating in our career plan. This is also a good opportunity to ask back the recruiter or the manager about the career potential in the company. It’s always a good idea to show your interest in developing your career in the company.  

How do we know when it’s time for the next step?

How do we decide when it’s time to leave a company? How do we know when it’s the right moment? When things are not going the way we wanted it’s quite easy. We are unhappy, so we know that something must be done.

But what if everything is fine?

For how long should one stay in a company where everything is alright? Until things get bad? Until retirement?

During our employment with a company we go through certain stages that are more or less the same from everyone:

-  The intensive learning period when we get used with the requirements of the job, learn to work in a different environment, maybe learn new technologies, new software, new industries and so on.

-  The period when we apply what we have learned and we perform at our highest potential.

- The stage in which we don't learn new things and we are not confronted with too many new situations.

The length of these stages is different depending on the each individual, company and  position. However, staying for too long in the second stage is dangerous because there is a point starting which time works against us.

This is a period when we are mostly applying what we have learned. It is comfortable, maybe overall everything looks fine but this can mean also that our career is going down.

But why should we keep on learning? Why should we always try to improve ourselves when we could do the one job that we are good at? Why do we have to step out of our comfort zone and find a new challenge?

Because everything is changing: the society, the way business is made, the technology used, everything. Companies die, new companies are created. Jobs disappear, new jobs are in demand. Our environment has a certain dynamic and in order not only to have a job but to improve our chances for a career, we should adapt and be ready to face the changes.

For career oriented people knowing when to make the next step is essential, especially because we don't want to be job hoppers either.

Coming back to the initial question, in order to know when is the right time to move on, we need a plan. Even if we don't know yet where exactly we want to be in the next 10 years, having a 3-4 years plan will definitely help.

Let's say that we are in a new position. We should already think what we would want as next job. Then think what of this current job will help you to get the next one. What we need to learn, what successes we need to have, maybe even for how long we need to stay in this current position. After having all that cleared, we need to focus all our energy in doing the best in the role we are at the present moment.

It will then be obvious for us when it's time to move on, even if everything is fine.

This is where the well-known "Where do you see yourself in five years?" question comes from. The employers want to know whether we want a career or just a job.