Patience Is The Key To a Strong, Long Lasting Career In Diagnostics, Life Sciences or Oncology Practices
“I’ll give it a month. If I’m not signing on major clients by then, I’ll close up shop and do something else.” This sounds like a fairly aggressive strategy for a new business that is trying to cram many months worth of work into a 30-day period.
“I want to earn as much money as possible in the next ten years and then retire.” Again, this is a noble goal, but also the perfect way to set yourself up for disappointment with an unrealistic career plan.
Are you feeling anxious or impatient in your career? This can be a difficult beast to tame as impatience can serve a purpose. It gives you a sense of intention and enthusiasm for every task. Still, it’s essential to understand momentum in a career relies on external forces as well as your own efforts.
You can attend all the meetings, get close to all the right people, and knock it out of the park with your work effort, but there’s still a good chance you’re not going to immediately advance according to your internal timeline. And this is not only ok; it’s likely a good thing. Here’s how you can avoid the urge to fast-track your career and start practicing more patience.
Learn EVERYTHING you can in EVERY job
Patience is often confused with complacency. These are not the same thing. As a patient employee, you reframe your current situation and make the most out of each opportunity put in front of you.
This means you learn everything possible in your current job. Volunteer for those extra projects and get as much experience and education in your position and industry as possible. There’s a good chance not everyone is doing this!
Want to be the best candidate for your next promotion? Work through the difficult demands of the current job. That’s right… you need to deal with the difficult customers, the supply chain issues, the shoddy credit issues and the boss who rides your rear 100% of the time. Why is this important? You will learn how to handle each of these situations and be able to help others through it in your next role.
Take promotions when they make the most sense
When it comes to promotions, only pursue and those ones that are going to provide you with additional education and networking opportunities. Success depends on both what you know as well as who you know. Slowly cultivate your knowledge and your relationships instead of jumping from one position to another.
When I was a young sales representative in Arkansas, I was asked to take a promotion to an Instrument Sales Specialist role in another state. I jumped at the chance. I had some success in my Account Manager role straight out of college.
Luckily for me, I had a good mentor as my Instrument Sales Specialist who helped me learn what I needed to know in order to take the promotion. I had learned everything I could from my previous role, and given my experience working with my specialist, I was able to step in and bring value.
Where there still things to learn? Of course. I quickly discovered I needed to learn how to manage indirect reports — something I could not have learned in my previous role — so it was the right move to take that promotion and learn a new skill. That skill is one I still use today.
Work for the right managers
The best managers rarely became “great” overnight. Seek out the top leaders in your industry and organization. These are the people you ideally want to have as your guide. When you spend as much time as possible in a role under these managers, you’ll learn what led to their success and will be able to emulate their methods.
Look for managers who have proven they are not only excellent at their jobs, but they strive to impart their knowledge on their people. Look for manager who doing the following:
- Demand Excellence in their team and their team’s work product
- Display Leadership in all they do
- Protect their team
- Coach, Teach and Motivate their team
- Promote their team
Find the right manager is many times more important than finding the right position and company. The right manager can teach you the skills, attitudes and outlooks necessary to give you the runway to grow to your fullest potential.
Avoid jumping ship for “greener pastures”
Sure, money can be a motivating factor for leaving a company, but make sure you’re checking all the boxes before you make this type of decision. Too many people have left for greener pastures only to find they’ve made a terrible mistake and would give anything to go back to their old position. Some try to go back, but in most situations, that isn’t going to work. Your position has been filled, and even though you didn’t burn the bridge, your loyalty to the company and manager are in question.
If you’re thinking about making a change, step back, and ask yourself some vital questions:
- What are the pros and cons of each position?
- How do the visions of the two companies compare?
- Will your new role provide you with the advancement and renewed purpose you desire?
- Is your new manager someone that you can learn from, and more importantly, are they committed to training and promoting their people?
Patience is tough, and this is particularly the case when you’re dealing with something that you want – right now. But learning to be patient with your career can pay off in spades.
J.G. Holland once said, “That which grows fast, withers rapidly. That which grows slow, endures.” The marathon runners in the business world beat the sprinters every time. There are many sprints in our daily lives, but your career is a marathon!
If you are interested in learning more about managing your career, or those of others, we are here to help. At Cerca Talent+, we employ all the best strategies and more to ensure you meet and hire only the top candidates in your industry or find the roles in which you are best fit to thrive. We will tirelessly help you fulfill your recruiting or search goals by exceeding expectations every day. If your interested in learning more, reach out to me, Scott Rivers, via email: srivers@cercatalent.com.