Matt Verderamo is a consultant at Well Built Construction Consulting, a Baltimore-based firm. Opinions are the author’s own.
Many employees stunt their own career growth because they believe you must wait for your boss to give you the right opportunity.
Meanwhile, a very small minority of employees know that if you want to grow fast, you can’t wait for the right opportunity: You have to create it.
But how do you create the right opportunities?
In my experience making it to vice president of preconstruction and sales at 28 years old, there are opportunities everywhere. And you can create the right ones — for yourself and for your company — by asking three simple questions. These work no matter how old or how experienced you are. Let’s talk about how you can get to the level you want fast.
Question 1: Where do I want to go?
You can’t create opportunities for growth if you don’t know where you’re going.
So, a compelling vision of your future is an extremely important starting point. This vision must accomplish two things:
- Define your “north star” — What career/position/etc. you are going to chase?
- Get you excited to make the journey worthwhile
With a compelling vision for yourself, you will start to see what you need to do and learn in order to be ready. The more excited you are about that vision, the faster you will work on the knowledge, skills and attitudes you need to get there.
Question 2: Where is the business going?
It’s likely that your owner or executive team has some vision of the future for the business. They may even have an idea of where you fit into that vision. If you really want to create opportunities for fast growth, then you must take an interest in all of it.
Go to your owner or executive team and ask them questions like:
- What are our long-term goals?
- Where do you see us in five years?
- What is our strategy for getting there?
- What are our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats?
- What do you need from the next generation of leadership for us to succeed?
- Where do I fit into that plan now? How can I provide the most value?
Not only will they be amazed at your devotion to the business, but you will also get a clear picture of where you could fit into the business’s future. The more you understand the business, the more you can position yourself around the right opportunities.
Question 3: How can I align my plans with the business’?
Your personal goal is great, but does it align with the business’ goals? Does it align with the opportunities that are going to be available in the short term? With some slight adjustments, are there opportunities you could create for yourself right now?
For example, you may see yourself in an operations role over the long term, but upon talking to your owner or executive team, you find out that the head of estimating is going to retire in the next five years and they are looking for her replacement. Does that interest you? Is that an exciting opportunity?
Or, imagine the long-term plan is to open additional offices in new markets. Could you be the person to lead that charge? Are you willing to move and grow as each new office does?
Only you know the answer to those questions, but the point is, without knowing where you want to go and where the business wants to go, you can’t plan your path to growth. In other words, you might be chasing the wrong opportunities. Once you align your current efforts with long-term opportunities, you put yourself in a position to grow quickly — much more quickly than your peers.
Creating opportunities
Once you do decide which opportunities you want to create, make sure you go tell your boss. Don’t be cocky, but rather excited and open to feedback.
“I thought about what you said and I would like to find a way to take over the head of estimating position in 5 years. What do I need to do to get there?”
Or, “I am excited about the idea of helping to open new offices in the future. Can I be a part of your plans? If so, I want to start working on the skills I need — in addition to my normal workload — right away. Could we talk more about what that would look like?”
You will position yourself for fantastic growth just by stating your intentions and demonstrating a commitment to getting there.
