I was once at a media industry conference, leading a workshop on breaking out of the mid-career plateau. While all the participants were somehow connected to media organizations, there was a lot of variety – 5 to 20 years of experience, locations all over the US and even abroad, big companies and start-ups, business functions like sales and finance but also creative roles like content. There was even more variety in how the participants defined what it would look like to break out of a career plateau. Here were just some of the career demands:
- More money
- Higher title
- Bigger team
- Access to senior leadership
- Decision-making authority
- Greater autonomy over your work
Many people wanted a combination of things, and some didn’t know exactly what they wanted – just more…or the feeling of moving forward.
Negotiating for more money or a higher title or more resources, like a bigger team or access to senior leadership are all doable and sometimes all come together, but typically need to be approached individually with a specific strategy and tactics for each.
In order to craft the right strategy and select the appropriate tactics, you need to know how you’ll measure forward movement in your career. Otherwise, you might end up with something you don’t care about, or worse, keep spinning your wheels in place.
The right next move could be a new job, a different career altogether or staying put and changing something else about your situation. My book, Jump Ship: 10 Steps To Starting A New Career, gives a step-by-step plan to change your career to something you love – just $4.99 on Amazon.
