People too often make the mistake of viewing the skills required to advance in an organization in much the same way they view the ascension itself, in a steadily upward course along a fairly predictable path. They figure out the behaviors and skills that pay dividends for them early in their career and they reason that if they just keep it up, their future is pretty much secure. Too bad it just doesn’t work that way.
Critical “inflection points” present themselves during the course of a career. They typically occur in a transition move, i.e. individual contributor to supervisor, mid-manager to department head, functional leader to general manager, senior manager to executive leader, senior executive to CEO. They are by definition “inflection points” because the requirements for success change at the next level if the individual is going to continue to be successful. Sometimes these changes are obvious, other times they are nuanced.
The problem is that too many people either do not recognize the change, or do not see the need to change. After all, the behaviors and skills they have employed up to that point are like “old friends.” They have reliably served them and have been the formula for success. So they go back to the same well, again and again. But like a friendship gone terribly bad, the skills betray them as they prove ineffective at the next level. Predictably, their advancement stalls.
The key is to recognize when you are at such a point and do something about it. It will probably involve increased (or first time) responsibility for people, customers, strategy, new functions, or a significantly larger role with broad impact. Talk to others in similar roles, do some developmental reading, seek a mentor, hire a coach. But by all means, do not stand pat.
Keep in mind that there are indeed times when “the more things change, the more they really do change.”
[...] change. A curve will enter the path and you will need to re-route. Matt Angello calls these “inflection points” because they are the times, often occurring during a transitional move, that cause something to [...]
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Greetings from Tim.
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