Whenever you land on any new job either as a fresher or an experienced professional, your immediate concern is how to succeed here. Even when there is an internal project switch or a department switch, you come across a similar situation when you are a little apprehensive about how to achieve success in this new assignment, you get into. While that is normal given the kind of competitive world we live in, it becomes imperative for everyone to step up and deliver consistently to achieve career advancement and recognition which we all yearn for. I have outlined a few of the techniques/strategies that one needs to follow to gain immediate momentum in any new job or role you transition yourself to:

Have a holistic view: Organizations, these days, require you to have an open mindset and a willingness to transcend beyond your role. While it is important to be adept in your specialized/functional role and have a keen eye on the nuances that your role offers, the expectation today is also to go beyond your specialization and have a holistic view to get an understanding of the end-to-end project lifecycle and the value your project brings to the organization and its customers. Having this mindset will not only help you build that meaningful experience but will also set you up in good stead to climb the corporate ladder.

Learn from seniors: To attain an upward trend in your career progression, you would always need the right advice throughout your career path. Learning from others’ mistakes especially from the ones who have managed a similar role or handled a similar situation before you, will give you that extra mileage in getting things right almost for the first time. Even in taking an appropriate career choice/decision, their advice plays a significant role which will help you in maximizing the probability of long-term career success. Given they are distinctly ahead of you in the career curve, they provide a different view of your career than you have.

Stay Updated: Given the kind of ever-changing career landscape we are surrounded with, it becomes imperative for us to stay abreast with all the recent happenings in your industry/business function and the impact it has on your way of working and the expectations that an organization has set for you. You need to be fluid, dynamic, and adaptive when it comes to changing your mindset and your working style. You also need to be communicating and networking at all levels to stay updated and remain ahead of your growth curve.

Be Productive: Organizations count on you to deliver results at the time when matters the most. While you may spend considerable time building your foundation to become a long-term player, it is equally important that your work helps an organization realize its goals/objectives. Hence, learning the art of managing your time and improving your productivity plays a huge role in one’s career growth. There are a lot of productivity tips one can learn, like prioritizing the work, applying the 80-20 rule, taking up highly-intensive tasks in your peak hours (when you’re at your best), etc. Learning them and applying them early in your career will help steer your growth and boost your productivity.

Reflection/Retrospective: Inculcating the habit of reflecting on your performance every time you carry out a task or a project goes a long way in building your experience. You should be constantly asking the question “What I could have done better?” in order for you to build an honest feedback model and learn from your past mistakes and come up with potential improvements. This constant reflection will help you drive your personal growth and better respond to similar situations in the future.

These are a few strategies/mindsets you can adopt and apply to your work life immediately. It is important to start by gaining smaller wins in your career which, in turn, will help you gain confidence and build momentum for you to achieve long-term career success.

Thanks a lot for reading and feel free to comment.