How to take the stress out of career advancement

You might have read my last post on finding a career direction and found it a big pill to swallow. I need to find a vision for my career? I need to look outside my job to find my career? These are tough insights and I will be the first to admit that nothing about finding a career direction was simple or easy. As Leslie Shearer pointed out in a comment on that post, it involves a lot of soul searching. For me, soul searching included days in the library researching options, self-reflection on my strengths and weaknesses, and of course time spent reading and writing. The entire process stretched across a few years of employment and a few months of self-induced unemployment where I was 100% dedicated to finding a meaningful career direction.

The good news is that you don’t have to find a direction to get started in building a career. It’s not necessary to do this all at once and, in fact, it’s preferable to take small steps. Just like agile practices are teaching us how we can learn and succeed through small, incremental software releases, our careers can benefit from a myriad of small, achievable steps.

But now comes the hard part–the part that causes stress. You have to take that first step. And what should it be? No one can answer this question for you. You can get started in any one of ways. You could take a look at your competencies and find one to improve, something Adriana Beal has engaged business analysts in discussing over at the ModernAnalyst LinkedIn group. You could analyze how your job provides value and seek out ways to increase that value. You could find an opportunity to improve one practice or invest in one stakeholder relationship. This list could go on and on.

As you consider a next step, you might find this makes you a bit nervous or anxious. Doing something we’ve never done before can be uncomfortable. It feels risky. What if we fail? What if we look stupid?  What if our boss reprimands us or, even worse, laughs at us?  These are all legitimate concerns. If you are worried with thoughts like this, I challenge you to ask yourself about the alternative. What will happen if you do nothing?

Doing nothing, although it feels comfortable, can be more risky than doing something, even if that something proves to be the wrong thing. I’ve met with several business analysts in recent months who are unexpectedly out of work after a long career in one job. They worked away at that job dutifully, but with their heads in the sand, assuming that the comfort they had would last. Unemployment is the worst kind of discomfort. If you do nothing to advance your career, you are bound to face this situation sometime in the future.

But enough gloom and doom, let’s pick up a more positive note and talk about the fear that surfaces when thinking about doing something. First of all, recognize this is a legitimate feeling. Our minds are hard-wired to resist change and respond with fear when change approaches. One technique I’ve used to by this natural fear is to envision the worst that can happen. I learned to do this from Dale Carnegie’s book How to Stop Worrying and Start Living. He suggested that by envisioning the worst that can happen and embracing it as the reality of your situation, you open up your creative juices and put yourself in a position to improve upon the worst.

Let’s take an example. Say you think a good next step would be to build a better relationship with a particular stakeholder that is a key contributor for one of your projects, but with whom you’ve never really hit it off. You might decide that a good step would be to invite the person to coffee and just have an informal conversation but the idea paralyzes you with fear.  I’ve been there. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve neglected to do the obvious thing to improve my situation because it seemed unnatural or scary. But if you take the perspective of imagining the worst that can happen, this feeling starts to seem quite silly.

Honestly, what’s the worst that can happen if you invite someone to coffee? They could say no. They could laugh at the idea. They could tell you they don’t have the time. But even in these negative scenarios, you’ve acquired some new information. You know a bit more about your stakeholder’s priorities and where you stand. And they know you are interested in them. Even if their reaction is negative, you may have opened the door of the relationship just a small bit. Even the worst case scenario isn’t all that bad.

How can you go about improving upon the worst possible situation? Well, you could do a bit of research and discover what kind of breaks this person takes and then change your suggestion to fit their schedule and preferences. This ups your chances of a positive response. You could be sure to stop by and ask at the best possible time, when they are most likely to be receptive to your idea. You can start the conversation with a smile. You can start the conversation by asking a question that you know will get a “yes” response, such as “wow, this project has sure taken some unexpected turns, don’t you think?”. Once you accept that you might be told no, you have nothing to lose and you open your mind to uncover ways to secure a positive response.

So my charge to you today is to find one small step, overcome the fear, and take it. Don’t just talk about doing something or plan to do something, do something. And by taking that step, you’ll begin to minimize the stress of career advancement. Because the first step is almost always the most difficult.

If you need some help determining what the next step should be, check out The Promotable Business Analyst. This is a guidebook for helping you advance your business analyst career and is full of ideas for new steps to consider.

If you want some accountability, make your first step simply leaving a quick comment below about what you intend to do. Nothing inspires motivation more than sharing your intentions with your peers!

By Laura Brandenburg. Laura Brandenburg is an independent business analyst consultant. She is passionate about the BA profession and is committed to contributing by supporting this blog as a forum for business analysts to build on each other's experiences. View more blog posts by Laura Brandenburg

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1. Finding a career direction
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3. Words of wisdom from a Career Coach: Interview with Carol Woodley