Mapping Route to Professional Success

Millions of career-focused people strive to attain one elusive goal: professional success. But what exactly does professional success mean, and how does one go about achieving it?

Traditional Beliefs

Some say that your rise up the corporate ladder will begin when others want to see you succeed. If you conduct yourself in such a way that you inspire your customers, suppliers, coworkers and bosses to want to work with you, you'll find yourself propelled up the business ladder. Becoming a "yes" man or woman and a constant people pleaser won't earn you respect from colleagues. However, if you develop a reputation as a trustworthy, competent and genuine employee with powerful communication skills, you'll find it much easier to accomplish your professional goals.

Successful business people aren't self-absorbed careerists with "job" mindsets. Conversely, top performers are results-oriented people who set the bar high for themselves and those around them. They work to develop long-term relationships with colleagues and make every effort to assist others as they work to achieve their professional aspirations.

According to Arlene Thompson, an executive coach for AMT Consulting, you should create three-to-five guiding questions for yourself in your professional career to begin your journey to success.

"What questions are so compelling that you'd be willing to focus the next 10 years of your professional life answering them?" asked Thompson. "Moving to a space of inquiry frees you up from being defined by your job, your projects and your daily responsibilities. Instead, the questions give you purpose and an arena to test the processes by which you generate work results."

Sharon Lawrence, vice president for executive career management with Right Management Consultants provides another method to help you get on track to professional victory. Lawrence suggests that you complete the statement, "I am best known as…"

"If you cannot complete the statement, what does that say to you?" Lawrence said. "If you answer the question, but don't like the answer, determine what you'd like the statement to be and develop your action plan to make it a reality."

Obviously, as your life and work goals evolve, you should adjust these guiding questions and statements. To keep your action plans relevant to your life, periodically ask yourself, "What's missing from my professional life right now?" In addition to the questions, the following tips can keep you focused on your goals and grounded in your quest for success:

Find a mentor both inside and outside of your organization who will coach you on your professional intentions. An effective mentor is someone who has made positive strides in answering their own questions about where they want to be. Mentors tend to give feedback and advice based on their personal work experience, so you might also consider hiring a coach to help you formally construct an action plan and hold yourself accountable to it.

Communicate results instead of simply discussing deliverables, work activities and individual events. Talk to your customers and business leaders in terms of results. Practice interacting in this way and ask your mentors for feedback.

Volunteer to work on highly visible cross-functional initiatives important to both the organization and you. Be assertive and ask for roles and responsibilities that align with your guiding questions and will help you develop into who you want to be known as in your profession. You should be willing to make a lateral move in order to gain experience in other areas of the organization.

Continually educate yourself with quality resources and develop a self-training strategy. Set learning and development goals that truly challenge you. Seek out expert information from books, Web sites, audio tapes, professional associations and industry groups and apply what you learn to your work.

Take ownership of mistakes you might make and immediately fix the errors. Don't make excuses and blame others. Be a trusted team player.

Stay visible both inside and outside of your organization. Develop a favorable reputation among your peers and colleagues not only at work, but in other companies and industries too. Build a strong internal and external network that supports your intentions and be willing to make strategic moves to get closer to your goals.

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