Opportunity knocks, but it won’t wait around on the doorstep for long! This is especially true if you’re working for a young start-up that’s shown a lot of growth in a short space of time. Opportunities to shine and further your professional development are common, but they’re not going to be there for long. If you want to get noticed and benefit from these opportunities, you have to show that you’re someone who really wants to grow within the organization. By communicating your personal goals to management, and showing that you have the dedication to shine in a new role, you’ll position yourself as the obvious choice the next time a big opportunity comes up.
Every truly successful individual is constantly learning, even if they’re considered an expert in their field. In fact, these people are typically quick to tell you that they don’t know everything about the business. This kind of attitude is a key part of climbing the corporate ladder, and something you should go out of your way to adopt. Yes, a large part of career development is people skills and brushing shoulders with the right people, but you should always be looking to learn more about the industry, seize opportunities to develop your management skills, and generally get out of your comfort zone. The more you learn about your company and the industry as a whole, the more you’ll realize that there’s so much more to learn. This will spur you on to develop your mind even more, and push you closer to that next big promotion.
No matter what kind of company you work for, or what your ideal job is, your ability to communicate is going to hold massive sway over how quickly you rise through the ranks and get to where you want to be. This means being direct and to the point, and always giving both coworkers and customers the whole truth. It may be a kinder or sugar-coated truth, but it needs to be the truth nonetheless. Yes, you should always be considerate and courteous when communicating with customers, but that doesn’t mean that you should dance around any difficult subjects or bend the truth to make people feel better. It may not always be what they want to hear, but being a truthful and clear communicator will always have the power to take you places. You’ll help yourself and all your colleagues to really deliver, and do your part to set the whole company up for great success.