What makes our industry so unique is the wide variety of career opportunities. Maybe you started in operations in central monitoring stations or doing installation of different integrated electronic security or life safety systems. Perhaps your start was in an administrative or customer-facing service/support role.
Engineering, design and costing of optimal systems can be fascinating work for detail-oriented people. Meanwhile, competent, high-horsepower sales teams always seem to drive the company revenue engine. An inner desire to lead a team to new performance heights might then emerge during your career journey.
My career included all these different roles on the Boucherle Security Highway. At each pivot point, I had to shift gears. How about you?
Opportunities to Pivot Your Career
One great thing about our industry is the abundant opportunity to pivot toward new career growth paths. Your career journey has many crucial curves, downhill grades, uphill climbs and forks in the road. I know mine certainly has.
These changing career road conditions require mindfulness, including selecting the appropriate gear and deciding whether to go “pedal to the metal” or “hard brake” to maintain career traction without crashing.
You have transmission choices to make when you’re behind the wheel of your career vehicle. What drive selection will you make at forks in the road? That often depends on the stage of your career you currently occupy.
Let’s talk about the “P” in your career gearshift: “Park” mode. This mode can be both foolish and wise at different times during your career road trip.
When is being in “Park” foolish? It’s foolish when technology and business models are changing quickly. Standing still means arresting progress in your skill stacks. Over the last 10 years, the speed of technological change has accelerated as we select products to meet customer expectations and try to sell integrated solutions.
You wouldn’t want to shift a career vehicle into “Park” when it is rapidly moving forward.
Navigating the Career Success Mountain
Bottom line: Avoid “Park” mode when moving your career vehicle up success mountain! Doing this takes planning, commitment and hard work, and it requires gaining horsepower to drive career performance. Take classes, gain certifications, be an active learner and don’t shy away from challenging tasks.
I’ve always sought to promote those who demonstrated extra effort and who were willing to go the extra mile without whining.
So, when does shifting into career “Park” mode make sense? There’s one scenario I can think of when you should consider stopping to take a breath. “Park” makes sense when reevaluating your contribution to your company. Do this objectively and ask yourself business questions — not simply task-related ones.
Consider the following questions:
- How do I contribute to the profitability of the company?
- What do I do to improve efficiency for our customers?
- Do I enable other departments to work better together? If so, how?
- If I didn’t come to work, who would be affected and how?
- Do I work well and contribute to a team effort? Conversely, do I simply focus on my job?
- If I owned this company, would I view my job as adding value in light of the resources invested?
Reflect on the Results
When you have a new owner or management team, they want to evaluate the lay of the land as regards talent and the contribution you bring to the bottom line. This is not the time to describe the tasks you do at work; conversely, it’s a time to reflect on the results your work delivers to company growth, customer retention and customer satisfaction.
“Park” also allows you to slow down and observe the actions and messaging of the new leadership team. When you keep your foot on the gas pedal, you can miss traffic signals or, worse, take a route that’s familiar but that’s misaligned with the direction the company is moving.
A word of caution: Do not stay in “Park” mode for too long. Think of it as a rest stop on the career highway. This rest stop can also provide time to reflect on your career progress, kind of like that highway map at the rest stop that says, “You Are Here!” This can reset expectations and offer perspective on your career progress.
What is your next gear selection? “R” for “Reverse.” We will try out gear next month!
Paul C. Boucherle, Certified Protection Professional (CPP) and Certified Sherpa Coach (CSC), is Security Sales & Integration’s “Business Fitness” columnist. A principal of Matterhorn Consulting, he has more than 30 years of diverse security and safety industry experience including UL central station operations, risk-vulnerability assessments, strategic security program design and management of industry convergence challenges.
