Tell me about a time where you have had success in your role? Tell me about a time where you have solved problem A, what was the scenario and what was your overall achievement?
Along your career path, you would have been faced with similar questions or instances where you have had to sell yourself based on your deliverables. What I have found is that there are a lot of professionals with amazing track records but who have sometimes sold themselves short because of their definition of an achievement, and what Performance Management initiatives within organisations have made them to believe.
KPIs are not just a productivity measuring tool for organisations, it’s also a record of your professional accountability. Every organisation has three key objectives, which are to increase revenue, mitigate risk – be it financial or operational; and to dominate market territory as a preferred brand of choice. These objectives are then broken down into smaller components and given to employees as deliverables (KPI’s) that are only deemed a success if they have achieved their short or long-term agenda.
For as long as I can remember, when we talk about the achievements we have had in our career, or within specific job functions, we usually refer to the measured achievements that have been highlighted from performance reviews.
What we fail to realise is that these reviews are based on an organisation’s perspective of success and do not necessarily measure the level of your expertise. Firstly, because success looks different from business to business, what may be considered an achievement for a Start-Up may not be considered as an achievement to an SME; and what could be measured as a success for an SME may not be considered as an achievement to a large corporation. So, never measure your ability solely on your ability to meet the objectives of an organisation; measure your success against the growth of your expertise over a period of time, and your ability to leverage on that experience to gain job opportunities, industry exposure, and career visibility.
A measurable achievement is evidence (be it tangible or intangible) that you are better than you were yesterday. Nobody wakes up to be a subject matter expert, it takes theoretical knowledge, practical experience, failure, and success to evolve
As professionals we have so many aspirations, but the foundations of those desires are centred around these three things – Professional Recognition, Commercial Exposure, Well-balanced lifestyle. The success of one, will open doors for the other.
For example, if you leverage your personal achievements successfully, you will gain recognition as a subject matter expert, which will open doors for commercial exposure in terms of job opportunities. When you are in a place where you have sold your value to the market, forward-thinking businesses, who realise how much of an asset you will be, will work around you within reason to give you a suitable work-life balance; especially as we are in a time where remote working has become a sustainable method of operational efficiency
How to measure your success for career leveraging
Keep a journal. Some people have a journal where they record their feelings; so, have a journal that highlights personal achievements that you have made at work. All successes are valid, and they do not have to be verified by an organisation’s perspective for it to be acceptable. Remember that it could be that one key achievement that you have left out of your CV or haven’t referenced when you are pitching yourself in an interview that may be the deciding factor to whether you get the job or not; and also differentiate your candidacy, if you are shortlisted against another strong candidateTo create a systematic approach to your journal entries, label them according to magnitude and measurable capability. For example, an achievement that can be measured tangibly, such as revenue generation, is something that should be included on your CV. Achievements that are measured in percentages are intangible unless it’s compared to previous results that shows an increase or a decrease; so when writing or speaking about these achievements, it’s essential to discuss the “before and after”. For example, “I reduced the influx of wasted resources from 60% to 25%” and “increased the sales revenue from 2 Million dollars in Q1 to 14 million by Q3.”
You are accountable for your own growth, do not leave your professional progression in the hands of an organisation because their measurement of success has nothing to do with your competency, it is solely related to your ability to achieve their overall objective.
