Why Singaporeans need clarity in career progression

A majority of professionals in Asia have left a role because there is a lack of clear career progression. This is according to a white paper by Robert Walters, a specialist professional recruitment consultancy. According to Channel Newsasia, this white paper aims to examine talent management issues that have a critical impact on business performance.

Why is Career Progression Important to People?

Studies have shown that career progression is a lifelong process for people to discover their place in their workplace and in society.

The sooner you understand that your career outcome is determined on the appropriate choices you make, the sooner you will understand the importance of your personal and professional development!

People who constantly seek changes always question the status quo. They do not like to stay in the comfort zone for long. Once their goals are met, they raise the bar and ask questions such as:

·      What’s next?

·      Why do I need to learn this?

·      What are the benefits for me?

·      What are the losses to avoid?

Compared to others, professionals who yearn for career progression have a clearer idea on the goals that they want to achieve. It is their nature to constantly better their personal best!

To Align Personal, Professional and Company Goals

There was a Precision Component company who decided to wind down their local operations because of escalating cost and lack of suitable local talents. Their next strategic move was to expand in other countries. However they claimed that they were unable to find Singaporeans who were willing to travel extensively as regional managers.

When there is an alignment of goals between the professional and the company, there is greater synergy.  In this case, the company was unable to get a good buy-in of their local employees and their goals.

Take the time to clear your paths. Even though Robert Frost talks about taking the road less travelled, few people want to walk through thickets of thorny bushes. No matter how great the monetary incentive!

To Manage Expectations

The above survey showed that 36 per cent of professionals did not believe organisations followed through with career progression.

The rot starts at the top. Most professionals face superiors who have no self-confidence. If their managers are not personally adding value to the organisation, do you think they will help their people do any better?

It is imperative for these aspiring professionals to have effective mentors to help them clarify their goals. By communicating with them constantly, effective mentors can help them understand where they currently stand. Effective mentors help to manage their expectations too.

It may be an Asian culture not to ‘talk bad’ about others. But should these mentors not have the moral courage to tell their subordinates where they could improve, the subsequent result would be disastrous.  

It is indeed valuable to have brief meaningful meetings that focus on accomplishments and solutions.

Short-term goals beat long-term dreams

When we coach our clients’ leaders in our high performance leadership workshops, one of the questions we ask them would be, “What are 2-3 goals that you want to achieve over the next 3-4 months?”

This question would stump most people. Aren’t goals designed only during new-year resolutions? For such people, the right term for their goals would be ‘dreams’.

I even have directors of companies telling me that they don’t plan goals for the quarter. They claim that it is unrealistic in their industry.

Truth be told, Jane’s short term goal of reaching out to 20 clients in a month, would beat Erica’s dream of achieving $150,000 in annual sales. This is because Jane would need plan specifically on how to meet 5 clients in a week, in order to reach her goal of 20 clients in a month.

In Summary

While a good career progression model looks snazzy on paper, the truth is that many companies need to focus on investing in enhancing the performance skills of their current batch of managers and talents. The cost of a talented professional not being able to align his career goals with the company is indeed very high.