Career Impasse

Unike 7 year itch some may go through in their marital life, many go through an impasse in their career at some point or the other. Getting stuck, becoming stagnant, getting saturated , going through the motions, are common ways you can describe this state. You reach this state when you are in the same group or domain for long enough that your learning stops. The paradox is that you know you have got stuck but you are not willing to acknowledge it. You get into a comfort zone. Based on the past accomplishments in the group, you have established enough credibility within the group and also earning a reasonable pay package. The inertia sets in and you do not want to make change even though the learning has stopped. Time and again you may contemplate making a change in the domain you work or even move to a different group, but do not muster enough courage to do it. There is a fear of losing the adulation you got in the current group, fear of taking a hit in your pay (you may not be a T10 or N10 when you move to a new group) or fear of adapting to a different group culture. When you are frustrated in going through the motions, you want to make a change but then again fear of leaving the comfort zone weighs down your decision to move. This continues and with every year that passes by, the resistance to change or move out of the comfort zone increases. Sooner or later the people junior to you may be adding as much or more value to the organisation that you do and you stand the risk of losing the job. Especially in the current economic conditions you stand higher risk of getting axed as your value addition to the organisation does not commensurate the higher pay packet you get.

If you introspect what could have been the reasons for getting into this impasse, it could be that you were fortunate to work for a very good manager and hence did not worry about where your career was going. Maybe you had established so much credibility that you did not want to let go the adulation that came with it. Maybe you were working in a silo and not interacting enough with other groups to know if there were better career opportunities outside your group. Maybe you did not want to rock the boat. Maybe you got used to the current group culture so much that you did not want to risk changing it. Whatever be the reasons, it is better that you address this impasse proactively sooner than later before the system takes it course.

One of the ways to overcome this impasse is to continuously self-introspect and keep checking the value you are adding to the organisation. One rule of thumb you can use is to look for a change in role/responsibility when someone in the team can do your job at 70% efficiency. Your taking up a different role/responsibility within the same group or other group creates a position that others in the organisation can take up. This helps others in the organisation to grow.

Also looking for a role in a different group is a welcome proposition. It would help you to come out of the comfort zone. This is a less risky proposition than moving into a different company as the credibility you have built in the current group will be known to the other groups in the current company but need not be known in other companies. However you have to be prepared for changes.

Moving to a different group may mean that your rate of salary growth may slow down till you start adding enough value in the new group. It may mean working for a different manager and you need to adjust to the individual's style of management. It may also mean getting used to the new group culture. But look at it, all these changes are good for you.It makes you more accepting to change and makes you mentally strong. More importantly your learning never stops. You increase your knowledge bandwidth and your network.

All these are critical components for having a successful and sustaining career. The earlier you do these changes in your career , the less resistant you become to more changes that come your way in the future. The organisational positions are temporary, only the skills you pick up are permanent.

So be more open and proactively keep growing your career and make impasse a thing of the past.