Episode 26 / 22 August 2024

SHOW NOTES

Is Your Lack of Prioritization Damaging Your UN Career?

Many of my clients contact me because they’re not progressing in their career and their professional development as they would like to. Maybe you recognize this?

The days race by and suddenly there went another week, another month – maybe even another year – where you did not sign up for the certification training you planned to do; you did not reach out to the mentor you wanted to; you did not apply for new jobs in a consistent way, and so on and so forth.

You thought about doing something about it. You meant to do it. You just didn’t get around to it. Because you were busy.

The problem is you will always be busy!

Are you drifting?

When you don’t prioritise, you’ll experience something called “drift”. I’m inspired by the American writer, Gretchen Rubin who talks quite a bit about this topic.

Drift is what can happen when you’re taking the path of least resistance. It doesn’t necessarily mean that what you do is easy, but it’s what you do because you haven’t thought a lot about what you really want or what’s right for you.

So you do what others expect from you or you “flow” with what everybody else around you are doing. You could say that drift happens when you don’t make active choices yourself.

So, what to do?

People who are successful – in whatever it is they are working with, whether it’s their professional career, hobbies or sports – are the ones who persist and who can stay focused in the long term.

To do that, you need to be clear on what your priorities are. You must choose some things over other things. And you need to be able to find the persistence to stick to them.

Because when you don’t actively make prioritisations, when do you don’t make clear choices, somebody else will do it for you. And you’ll be working for their goals and their plans – not your own.

So, if you have dreams for your career, you need to prioritize the time to actually work on them – and not just think about them.

Are you working IN or ON your career?

As a professional in the UN, there are two ways, or two levels, of working in your professional life:

– working IN your career, and

– working ON your career

Working IN your career is about everything involved in doing the job you’re hired to do. The meetings, the emails, the report writing and whatever else. All the things that happen almost automatically because you get sucked into them as soon as you open your inbox or enter the office in the morning.

Working ON your career is not about doing your day-to-day job, but about doing the things that will further your career and your professional development. (Of course, doing your day-to-day job is part of this, but it’s not enough!). Working ON your career is about all the things that you probably know you should be doing but are struggling to find time for.

Lack of prioritisation damages your career

1. If you’re generally not good at prioritizing your work and resources, this will probably make you less effective IN your job. Which will be a hindrance in your career in itself.
2. When you don’t prioritize working ON your career there’s a very big risk that you won’t achieve your career dreams. Because you don’t make the decisions or take the actions needed for you to create the career you dream of.

This is of course not a deliberate choice, but nearly always because of lack of commitment of your time and resources. You don’t prioritize spending time on these things in the same way you prioritise spending time on, for example, your email inbox or your work meetings.

The thing is the world is full of people who want something from you.

But the only person who really cares about your career, and the only person who will make something happen for your career, is you. So, if you don’t prioritize your professional development and career progression – basically, nobody will!

You prioritise all the time, even when you’re too overwhelmed to make priorities. Or said in another way, not choosing is also a choice.

If you don’t have a clear plan yourself, you end up responding to other people’s requests and thus you’ll be working on their plans. So, the prioritisations are made, just not by you.

3 simple steps to get you back on track

Fortunately, there are concrete and tangible steps you can take to solve this problem.

Step 1: Make a plan.
Without a plan, it’s hard to find your direction. Or follow it.

“A plan” means: do you know what you want from your career or the direction you want to follow?

Have you thought about what action steps are needed to take you there?

If you haven’t yet listened to Episode 16 “What Will Your UN Career Look Like 10 Years from Now?”  I recommend that you go and listen to that episode at: www.barbarakandersen.com/16.

Step 2: Put it on the agenda.
That means putting it in your calendar!

You action plan is not going to help you progress if you don’t set aside time to do the actions needed.

So, if you want to reach out to someone about mentorship, don’t plan it for “someday” – put time on your calendar for this. Why not this week?

If you want to move to a new job as part of your career plan, don’t think that you’ll find time for job search and CV writing “next month”. I can almost guarantee that you’ll be as busy next month as you are this month.

You have to put time on your calendar for looking for vacancies, researching organizations, writing applications. Otherwise, suddenly a year has passed by where you have dutifully looked after all your responsibilities in your current job but done nothing to progress to your next job.

If you haven’t yet listened to Episode 7 “Are You Ready to Take Action in Your UN career? (LINK) I recommend that you pause here and go and listen to that episode. You can find it at www.barbarakandersen.com/7.

Step 3: Get help.
You don’t have to do it all on your own.

This is very much my own lesson. I have always tended to think that I should somehow be able to know everything myself and work everything out on my own. That it would be a bit embarrassing even, to have to ask others for help.

But so many things are easier when you ask for help. Mostly the results are also better – and it may even be more fun! I, myself, am learning this again, and again!

• • Help can mean concrete help and information from your supervisor, colleagues or people in your network. For example, support from a friend on proofreading your CV.
  • Or maybe you need an accountability partner, such as a friend or close colleague who also wants to take their career growth and professional development to a higher level. You can help each other keep deadlines and commitments to get applications done, for example.
  • And, of course, help can also come from a coach or mentor. In fact, this is the essence of the work I do!

And let’s be real about this. Nobody is going to give the time to you. It’s probably not very likely that your supervisor will call tomorrow and say: “Hi – let’s book a meeting so we can talk about how I can help you in your career growth”.

Hopefully you have a friendly and supportive supervisor, but it’s still your responsibility to initiate the conversation. You have to make a plan for how to approach your supervisor and ask for this. Even if it makes you feel a bit uncomfortable.

So, focus and persistence is the name of the game!

Take action today with 3 simple steps!

I invite you to take time, already today, to make a plan for how you can get back on track with setting and keeping priorities for your career.

1. Make a plan. Work out what your priorities are for your career development. What are your choices?
2. Schedule time for taking action on your priorities. This means putting it on your calendar!
3. Get help. If you know you’re challenged to get this done, enlist help from others to create the accountability that will make you take action.

This may all sound a bit daunting (and that may be why you have pushed it in front of you for some time), but it really is the way forward.

You don’t have to spend a ton of time on this. But you have to spend some time, on a consistent basis, working on your priorities.

Good luck with creating your plan and working ON your career!