The 5 Competencies are: 

1. Courage to decide.  

2. Confidence to back yourself. 

3. Perseverance to do the hard work and make progress.  

4. Relationship Building for feedback, positivity enhancers and networks.   

5. Compassion to help take feedback and see the learning.  

Courage 

Courage is important as you know you have the expertise and experience as well as a strong sense of self-esteem but for some reason you still don't go after that new role in your team or further afield? You see all the benefits, but you also tell yourself it will involve changes, new learning, hard work, the possibility of failing as well as many more undesirable scenarios your mind conjures up. But I heard a saying recently, "Fear is a reaction but courage is a decision". It's easier to react to our limiting thoughts, to the daily hum drum and urgent issues that distract us, so we keep reacting versus being courageous and deciding to change something up for your career. You are not deciding to go to the moon, just a decision to take the first step of many steps. My years in Product roles meant I regularly had to make decisions and the right ones in the best interest of the product and company. Asking yourself the following questions should help give you the courage to make more decisions: 

• Are you happy you have all the data you need? If not, where can you get it?  

• Have you talked to the people with domain expertise, co-workers or friends and asked for advice or brainstormed with them?  

• Are you building on your experience and do you have a topic list of your experiences to draw from? This list will also give you confidence once you see on paper all you have done.   

• How much information do you need to have to make a positive decision? If you estimate you have at least 70% of the data to make a positive decision, then you should go for it as motivation and passion will get you the rest of the way. 

• Finally, no one can predict the future, you don't have a crystal ball. The right strategy is only the one that works, and you will never know until you try.   

Confidence 

I attended an online course recently on social media and website marketing. What was apparent as the course attendees engaged was their collective reticence to get into the space technically but also to be confident to post and engage regularly on a platform. Comments like "It's too technical to understand, I need a developer" or "I'm not comfortable posting or telling my story". To help have confidence and back yourself: 

• Ask yourself “What's one thing I can do that will enable me to start, even in a small way?”. I'm a big believer in getting on the first run of the ladder quickly and the rest will fall into place.  

• Ask yourself what you expect as an outcome doing this one thing! Write it down.  

• Are you able to start the work immediately or do you need help or some training?  

• Set a realistic date and time you will do it, set a realistic timeframe that has no blockers.  

• Tell someone you are going to do this task, who will also help with accountability and support.  

• What is the worst thing that can happen if you take on this work? Probably nowhere near losing your job, social standing, right? 

Perseverance 

There is no substitute for perseverance and the accompanying hard work to get things done. The smiles on all the successful faces cover up months and even years of hard-work and tears as they made success happen. If you have come to terms that you and hard work can co-exist and you are happy to pay the price in the short term for longer term success, your probability for putting in the hours will depend greatly on your ability to persevere. As humans however we are programmed to look for the most energy efficient way to get something done and we will always defer to that mindset even if it's not good for us or our career. Sometimes we just need a bit of help to flex the perseverance competency and make it more routine and to help:  

• Where can you go to do your best work and not be disturbed for periods of time?  

• How can you organize this working space, so it helps you get things done? E.g. My desk with the laptop is for working, email, documents, articles, slide decks etc. I have a separate chair to brainstorm, read and take notes. Video calls are in another space in the room. 

• What would consistent but deliberate small improvements on your career do over the longer term? You don’t need hours and hours of time. Our minds can easily wander or tire after 30 minutes work so is there a way you can schedule 30-minute blocks for career time over a week?   

• How will you reward yourself as you do good work? This will help you enjoy the process and make you appreciate that you did something to be proud of for your future self.  

Relationship Building 

We are social animals and not meant to be on our own or in our heads for long periods of time. Whether it's the need to enjoy friends' company or play a sport or other hobby that brings us together, the same is true of doing any job or career task. Things will get boring, will get tough, you will question yourself and fall out of habit if you don't have the ability to build relationships and put a system in place to converse with people on your progress, issues and worries. Have you ever found that once you share what you are doing, get feedback and confidence you are going in the right direction, how much of a positivity enhancer it is? Whenever you're committing to a big goal, as part of that commitment you need to agree with your support system. Plan in receiving feedback and positivity enhancers. From experience and being an introvert, I know I have left value on the table not building relationships as I could have and not giving it priority as a competency that was needed for success. THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS YOU NEED TO DO as people are the gateway to your confidence and career success. 

Compassion 

Finally, is how we use Compassion or not as more often is the case. When you get a setback and stop backing yourself for that career progression, how often do we say? "hold on a minute, I'm trying my best, I'm not slacking off. I’ve hit some road bumps but I'm doing a good job!” Not often enough I’d say. If you talk to yourself in a compassionate way your mindset and head clears, you start to see what is real and this opens you up to see the feedback and the learning and you continue forward. Not to mention the good feeling produced in your body when you are compassionate for yourself. I don’t think compassion is in most company handbooks as a competency but I’m sure it's only a matter of time.  

Yours in career acceleration,

Arran