By Poornima Vijayashanker
Earlier this year I met up with Rachel, a mentee of mine. Rachel wanted some guidance regarding the direction of her career. She had been with her current company for 3 years, and really wanted to lead their new mobile initiative. She wanted to be challenged, but instead of giving her the new mobile initiative, her boss kept handing her projects that were uninteresting. Furthermore, Rachel wasn’t being allowed the chance to even propose a project.
I started out by asking Rachel if she had experience in mobile. Rachel responded, “I’ve been building apps on my own for the past year at hackathons on the weekends, both Android and iOS. While I haven’t done a huge project, I do understand the technologies, and how to put out a prototype quickly.”
I followed up by asking Rachel what the new mobile initiative entailed, and she told me, “My company wants to start with a prototype for a select customers, and go from there.”
Then I asked her if they were stuck on anything, and she responded, “Yes, we’re a pretty small company, and no one has mobile development experience, so we don’t know whether we should build Android or iOS.”
Finally, I asked her, “Rachel given that you’ve been working on both platforms for the past year, would you be comfortable guiding your company in choosing a platform, and then teaching your engineering team how to build?”
Rachel responded, “Yes I can do that!”
“Great! Why don’t you lay out a plan, then setup a meeting with your boss to explain to them how you can help with this mobile initiative.”
Rachel followed up with the question, “But what will happen to the projects I’m currently responsible for? Won’t my boss tell me I need to finish them first?”
Great question! My response to Rachel was she also needed to create a transition plan for how she would hand-off her current projects to a successor. Since Rachel had never done something like this, I spent time guiding her plan.
I started out by having Rachel list out all the objections her boss or someone in the company would bring up like:
Why don’t we just hire someone who has more experience than Rachel?
What happens if we choose the wrong technology platform?
Together we put together a proposal for why she was the most capable person in the organization to lead the mobile initiative, and a transition plan for her current projects.
In the following week, Rachel reached out to her boss, and setup a meeting to propose a project she was passionate aboute. After the meeting I checked in on Rachel, and she told me that her boss was really excited, but needed to run it by a couple more people. Her boss also said, “Why have you been holding out on us?”
Rachel realized that she had needed to speak up to get what she wanted!
A couple months after her initial meeting with her boss, Rachel went on to lead the mobile initiative at her company. It wasn’t all smooth sailing. There were a number of challenges, including ones that Rachel hadn’t included in her original plan, but she was still really excited and her resourcefulness helped her deal with the challenges.
If you’re in the same position as Rachel; stuck working on projects where you feel like you’re just pushing papers, and want a new and exciting challenge, then here are some things to think about:
1. Start by keeping an ear to the ground on what’s going on in your organization. Are there projects coming up that you’d like to participate in or even spearhead? If so, think about how you are uniquely qualified to help out.
If your organization is resting on its laurels, then can you spot any projects that you think would be beneficial to the business? Keep in mind that they will need to aligned with the current business goals.
2. Propose a project. To come up with a proposal, start by listing out any objections you think people may have regarding the project or you spearheading it. If you’re not sure what they are then don’t be afraid to ask some of your co-workers. Next, write down why you are uniquely qualified.
3. Plan out what the project will look like, and include a transition plan for the projects that are currently on your plate. It’s OK if you cannot anticipate every challenge, you may in fact want to highlight that, and ask other people including your boss if they foresee any challenges that you haven’t thought about.
4. Before you propose, practice! Find a co-worker or confidante, who will hear you out, and provide constructive feedback. This will help you quell those nerves when you do the real pitch.
5. Rejected or no room for new projects? It’s very likely that your company may not support your desire for a new challenge. They may be concerned about taking a chance with you especially if you’re new, haven’t successfully completed any projects yet, or have a habit of dabbling and not finishing up projects that are on your plate. Take the time to find out their concerns, and if you can address them.
If they’re still not willing to take you up on your proposal, or just feel like there is no room for new projects, then you may consider polishing up that resume…
Part of staying happy and productive is doing work that challenges you, and working in an environment where people want to present you with healthy challenges and rewards.
Now I want to know is there a project that you’ve got your eye on or that you recently undertook? How did you go about getting it? Let me know in the comments below!
