The U.S. is moving through a period of reckoning with the workplace. For individuals, it can be challenging to know how to navigate these changes in their career trajectory.
At Bank Midwest, we believe that everyone has a dream worth pursuing. We know that moving up in your career isn’t just about economic mobility. It’s also about finding work that feels both challenging and fulfilling.
Here are our top tips for taking steps to move up in your career.
Learn the business of your business
If you want to advance in an industry, it’s critical to understand how the ins and outs of how it works.
Think about your current workplace or a place that you want to work in the future. Ask yourself: What is the chain of command in your organization and department? What are the responsibilities of your leaders in their day-to-day work? How does your work relate to the goals of your team and the people who lead you?
These questions apply to every workplace and every job. By understanding how your industry works, you can set goals for where you want to be in your career in one, five, and ten years. You can also focus on developing the skills of the people who have your dream job.
Exercise your emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand and name your emotions and control your emotional expression. It may sound like a buzzword, but it’s been a focus for psychologists for several decades. More importantly, it’s a significant focus for leadership development.
To be clear, developing emotional intelligence isn’t asking you to change who you are or how you work. It means having a heightened awareness of how you process and express your emotions and the people around you.
In the workplace, emotional intelligence means having the skills to deal with conflict constructively and professionally. It also means being aware of how you present in a room, regulating yourself, and reacting to how other people feel about your communication.
Practice inclusive leadership skills
Leadership skills aren’t something abstract or a set of qualities that certain people are born having. In the workplace, leadership skills are essential, regardless of who you are on your team.
It means learning how to give people feedback and coach them. It means learning how to effectively delegate parts of a project to a team based on their strengths. It means learning how to confront someone constructively and resolve an issue. It also means knowing how to run an inclusive meeting where everyone has an opportunity to speak.
Bank Midwest believes in dreaming big and planning wisely so you can live well. Looking for more ways to implement these tips in your career? Listen to our interview on Dream, Plan, Live with Suzi Kalsow, VP of Learning and Development at Bank Midwest.