Stuck In A Career Rut? Find Out How To Set Your Career On Fire!

Reader’s Question:

Dear Fairygodmentor,

I feel so stuck in a career rut. There’s nowhere for me to go in this organization. I feel tempted to take on a different role just to get out of this situation because my manager thinks it would be “a good move” for me. What is your advice on how I can take back control of my career path? 

Best wishes,

Stuck in a Rut

Dear Stuck in a Rut,

Shirley Chisholm spoke about bringing your own folding chair to get a seat at the table. In times where you feel stuck—sometimes you have to build your own darn table! I used to get stuck in a rut all the time, especially when I would get on someone else’s career track and not the one I created for myself.

At one point in my career, I took a voluntary demotion to move onto a different career track. What was supposed to be only a 12-18 month “assignment” turned into what felt like a 4.5-year sentence with no parole. I was bored, unmotivated, and had grown bitter. I kept exploring roles outside of the path that others had put me on and kept coming up with zero movement. So, to liven things up, I started to think of myself as an internal consultant. What needed fixing or attention? How could I improve the business from the inside out?

Sometimes leadership gets so wrapped up in their initiatives that they can’t see the roots or sources of other issues you may see that can be improved upon, ultimately improving the business. I worked in human resources at the time, so I created some employee focus groups. What did they feel needed to be fixed?

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With the data from the focus groups, I created solutions. To gain buy-in, I would enlist the help of these employees to roll out these initiatives. It broke me out of the Groundhog Day-to-Day doldrums. I also created visibility for myself and ultimately my department. Some of those initiatives that I internally consulted on became national initiatives. And this is all because I decided to do something to create some change and shed some light on what I thought was a stalled-out career. My initiatives were getting noticed, and I got a call one day to join a team as a supervisor in a completely different department. I broke out of my rut and kept moving forward. I used that same internal consultant mindset to ultimately drive results for my new team and the business.

If you can’t find opportunities within the organization, look externally through volunteering. There are tons of organizations that need board members with various skills and abilities. You can leverage those skills externally and bring them back inside your current organization. Don’t forget to put those skills on your resume. Just because you didn’t get paid for your work doesn’t mean it didn’t count.

Another career rut buster that I would lean heavily on was being a Fairygodmentor® to others. There’s always someone else who aspires to be where you are. Help them get there. Take the time, listen, share best practices, and build relationships. This action will also breathe new life into a job that you thought was a dead end.

Find the pain and fix it. Build your own darn table!

You got this!

Yours truly,

Your Fairygodmentor®

Joyel Crawford is an award-winning career and leadership development professional and the founder of Crawford Leadership Strategies, a consultancy that develops empowered, results-driven leaders through engaging leadership development coaching, training, and facilitation. She is the author of the best-selling book and audiobook, Show Your Ask: Using Your Voice to Advocate for Yourself and Your Career.

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