How to Manage your Ambition
Although I have Gen Y in mind when writing this blog, it applies to everyone (as most of my blogs typically do). It was actually sparked by a chat with R. Stavros Bezas (@stavrosbezas on twitter). He was looking for feedback for his blog (www.Bezas.com) on how to navigate negative individuals when you are trying to get ahead. I encourage you to view his video blog for some great tips. Ambition is something that has to be nurtured but at the same time managed, as it can destroy a career as much as help it. Following are some tips to consider to guide this mighty power and come out on top.
- Make team success your first priority, your ambition your second: If your priority is anything but team success, your ambition is misplaced. Progress is achieved through the advancement of the community not the individual. Ambition should be rewarded when the team is successful. If the team failed then all fail and reward should be delayed.
- Build advocates to share in your ambition. No one gets to the top by doing it themselves. If you want to succeed you have to do it with the assistance of others.
- Share in other’s ambitions. The best way to build advocates is to make friends first. If others know you are behind them, they will likely take an interest in your goals.
- Fuel your ambition with realistic goals. Few will support you is they know that you are not being realistic about your goals. No one wants to fail and most try to avoid it when possible.
- Realize it is not always about you. Those that make decisions do so to accomplish their goals. Your ambition may not be a consideration in every decision. Despite this it is no reason to take it personal when another person is chosen to do a task.
- Learn from adversity. Every challenge we confront either kills us or offers a learning opportunity. When your ambition is threatened learn from the experience, identify why it happened and then change.
- Earn respect by giving respect. Support the actions of others through debate first. Once a decision is made commit to action despite your opinion.
- Discover what motivates others. If you know the secret to fueling their performance take the opportunity to do so. Find the voice to motivate others and many will follow you in return
- Leverage your talent to prove your value. Expect nothing until you produce a tangible, measurable, and relevant result directly through your abilities.
- Align your ambition with organizational goals or find an organization that aligns with your ambition. If you find that the organization is heading a certain direction that is difficult for your to follow, it may be courageous to align yourself with a different organization. If you can, use the synergy of collective focus on an organizational goal to thrust your ambition to results.
Ambition is a quality most managers have. It is transient with time and malaise. It can grow or disappear. If you have it you should protect it. To do so, you can follow these ten steps and watch opportunities present themselves and fuel your career.
You can follow me on twitter @terrencewing and @liquidlearn
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by TerrenceWing: @stavrosBezas Here’s an elaboration on our chat: How to Manage Your Ambition http://bit.ly/dxpomY...
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