Arrive Magazine - January/February, 2009

Business Class
The 100-Day Turnaround

Kick off 2009 with
a 100-day plan
to relaunch your
career. You may be
surprised what you
can accomplish in
three months

By Sheryl NaNce-NaSh illuStratioN By weSley BedroSiaN

It’s a new year and you’re ready to move forward. Whether you’ve been on your job one year or 10, decisive action over as few as 100 days can catapult your career to the next level. Here’s how to move momentum in your favor.

Ask for More Responsibility

Create a new vision for yourself and your place in the company. Start out as outrageously as possible in crafting that vision and then pare it to what feels like a stretch but could be real, suggests Joni Carley, coach/consultant with Wisdom at Work, in Media, Pa.

Few people ask for more responsibility at work. If your manager isn’t challenging you enough, demonstrate your own managerial skills by asking to tackle a project that needs to be done, or show how you can improve the effectiveness of the team. This also will go a long way toward increasing your visibility.

“Don’t wait for your boss to single you out for promotion. Ask for more responsibility as soon as you feel you are able to handle it,” says Alex Lluch, author of Simple Principles to Excel at Your Job. He says studies confirm that taking the initiative pays off. “A recent poll that asked the nation’s leading executives

what they believed was the best way for employees to earn a promotion or a raise revealed that 82 percent said asking for more work and responsibility would do the trick,” Lluch says.

Attend the Optional Stuff Two-thirds of promotion is motion. Get in motion by attending all meetings, presentations or events sponsored by your company, even if they are optional, says Lluch. “Think of it like getting extra credit. Though the meeting may not immediately relate to your job, your attendance shows a clear interest in the company as a whole. When it comes time for supervisors to consider filling a position, they are much more likely to consider a candidate who showed up and familiarized him- or herself with all aspects of the company rather than someone who just attended the bare minimum of events.”

Check Your Attitude More often than not, if you carefully and honestly appraise yourself, you will learn that there are areas where you can improve. Look in the mirror. What’s missing in your education or experience that might be holding you back?