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Managing your Career
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Managing your Career
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Managing your Career |
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Managing your Career in a Project-based Environment
Your career success is influenced significantly by the type of organization for which you work. You may or may not have noticed it yourself, but most business experts agree: organizations are becoming more and more project-based. This shift away from functional organizations and toward project-based organizations has created a major change not only in the way work gets done, but also in the way people manage their careers. Moving up the corporate ladder is no longer a goal - or even a possibility for most people.
Since most work today is project work, your success, both throughout your career and within an organization, is dependent on the value of the projects you've worked on. It sounds simple enough, but this new way of doing things raises some interesting questions. Which projects should you work on? How many projects can you handle at once? How can you be a part of the most exciting projects that are going on in the company?
Following are some ideas to help you manage your career in a project-oriented world:
Work on projects that allow you to learn, and projects that allow you to lead
Achieving the right balance is very important. While learning is obviously critical to your growth, you cannot demonstrate your leadership capabilities if you are always in a learning mode on a project team. When participating in projects with very high visibility, it is always best to make sure you have something to contribute.
Build a network so that you can find out about projects before the teams are already in place. Stay in touch with people in different parts of the organization. They can keep you up-to-speed with new and potential project opportunities that may interest you.
Create your own projects
Always be aware of the organization's vision, and how you can contribute. Even if that means initiating your own projects. When you create and implement your own solutions, you receive far greater recognition than when you participate on project teams initiated by others.
Don't over extend yourself
It's always tempting to say yes when asked to join a project team. But being on too many project teams will make it less likely that you will really contribute to any one of them. The number of projects you work on may depend on the roles you are playing on each team. When you are leading a project, for example, you may not really have time to participate on any other projects.
Always keep your eyes open for new project opportunities
While you do want to give your best effort to a project, you don't want to get so immersed that you lose sight of everything else that's going on in the organization - or in the market in general. In some cases, it may even make sense for you to leave one project in the middle to work on a new project. But be careful when making this decision. You don't want to get a reputation for leaving at a critical point.
Document and communicate your success
You don't want to play politics, but you do want to make sure key people in the organization are aware of the contributions you have made. To keep these contributions fresh in your own mind, you should update your resume after each project. Include things like how you've saved the company money, how you've solved problems and the real results you have achieved.
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