There is nobody on this planet who cares about your career success and advancement the way you do.
It might sound harsh, but it’s true.
It’s more than likely that you’ll have some super-supportive bosses, well-meaning peers and family and friends along the way but nobody other than you will be investing anywhere near the same amount of time and energy thinking through your career options. Only you can develop the best strategies get yourself up that career ladder.
Take Control of Your Success
“The only common denominator in your career is you”
A Global CEO gave this career advice to me years ago and it has always stuck with me.
To put it frankly, if you are the one who is going to benefit most (fame, money, self-satisfaction) from getting ahead, then you should be the person most motivated to do so.
Unfortunately, you’re the only one who can actually do the work required. You can’t outsource your own professional development!
In today’s business environment, getting the training you need is tough. But the good news is that in five minutes (about the same time as it takes you to drink an espresso), you can get the daily information you need to keep your career on the fast-track to success.
No Budget, No Time, No Training?
Taking full accountability for your training is definitely the first step to fast-tracking your career. But you then face a number of other hurdles.
Large companies have cut budgets so severely that there is rarely any money to attend, or travel to, the really great procurement conferences and specialised training.
Not only is funding non-existent, many procurement teams have been forced to downsize to such an extent that they can’t afford to have multiple people out of the office at the same time.
This is a dramatically different world to that which your bosses grew up in. A time when MBAs were funded, elaborate corporate leadership development programs were in place, and attending conferences were all part of the job.
But this is the reality of the modern economy. This is the business environment you are trying to develop in and one in which you will also need to nurture and develop other future leaders.
You need to throw out your old perceptions of professional development and training and adapt to the brave new world. This is all about taking matters into your own hands and going digital for success.
Learn Online or Become Obsolete
Globalisation and technological change is disrupting every aspect of procurement. Even when you are motivated to take accountability for your own training, it’s difficult to keep up with everything that’s going on.
Global CEOs are aware of the need to motivate employees to take their professional development into their own hands, and dramatically up-skill themselves now and in the future.
For example, “Adapt, or else”, were the new marching orders for employees of AT&T earlier this year.
Faced with competition from not just from Verizon and Sprint, but also Google and Amazon, the telecommunications giant is now working aggressively to make sure its employees catch up and get ahead of the changing technology of the times.
Its CEO and Chairman, Randall Stephenson, isn’t afraid to mince words about what will happen if his employees don’t.
In an interview with the New York Times, Stephenson said those who don’t spend five to ten hours per week learning online “will obsolete themselves with technology.”
“There is a need to retool yourself, and you should not expect to stop,” Stephenson told the Times.
Anytime, Anywhere
We often joke about doing procurement training whilst at home in pyjamas but nowadays this is not such an absurd idea.
It’s increasingly easy to access the latest thinking and procurement insights from around the world on your laptop, smartphone or other device, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
This means there is absolutely no excuse for you not to be plugging those career competency gaps!
Learn On-The-Go With Procurious
There are so many ways to enhance and develop your learning with Procurious. With our 17,000 members (and counting), the possibilities to engage in insightful and relevant discussions are limitless. Want your questions answered by industry experts and leaders or just in need of a second, or third, opinion? Head over to our discussions section.
Fancy taking five minutes out of your day to do some wider reading? Procurious publishes fresh blog content every day covering a diverse range of procurement topics and up-to-date news commentary.
In the site’s learning section, you can access our training videos. These are organised into ‘bite-sized’ modular form with videos ranging between 2-12 minutes, allowing anyone involved or interested in the space to learn from the best in the business.
On Monday 19th September we launched Career Boot Camp, a three-week training programme challenging Procurious members to strengthen their career muscle. Each morning, a new, five-minute podcast and supporting article is released onto the site, centered on a different career topic or key skill.
The great news is that it’s not too late to join in! You can access all of the podcasts to date on Procurious and all fifteen will be available after Boot Camp’s completion.
Getting involved in the Career Boot Camp will help you start an important habit. Just a few minutes of daily learning can make the difference between you standing still, and delivering more impact through your role.
Get Connected. Get Ahead!