Meet Cindy Elizabeth

I attended a session recently at a development day conference at work. This development day was part of an affinity group that caters to women (which, is another blog post in itself.) But, back to the session. The session was about career planning. I was really excited since I don’t think about my career much, so I’m certainly not planning for it. I am a, “just live life and let’s see what happens!” kind of woman. There are pros and cons to this method. I had a moment in the session when we were talking about how we tend to move people too fast through organizations. Generally before they are truly ready to move and we don’t necessarily always set up our talent for success by doing this.

So here is my theory. And this is what I think; take it or leave it. We spend a lot of years of our life learning. Soaking in information, working on projects, research. We are really excited to put this great knowledge to work. Quite frankly, I don’t really go back to any of this school knowledge. Except maybe my Spanish skills, because well, you can’t speak Spanish without using what you learned.

So, let’s talk about moving young talent through organizations. The amount of time one spends in a certain role can vary. Sometimes it’s 6 months, sometimes a year or two, or more depending on the role. What is the motivator of moving someone into a new role before they are ready? To keep them engaged? To overwhelm? They say they are bored? Well, what happens when they are 35 years old and a Controller for an organization? Now what? How do we keep them engaged?

About two years ago, I was constantly in a tizzy trying to figure out what my next move was going to be. What was my 5 year or 10 year plan? How would I execute this? Then, I started comparing myself to all my college buddies and the people around me. Eventually, I had to talk myself off a ledge. I was stressing myself out trying to figure out how I was going to get from point A to point B and be really successful by the age of 25.

Give me a break.

When I finally took a step back and started listing off my accomplishments and looking at how much I had grown personally and professionally, I was really proud of myself. People that I respect very much call me for HR advice. I finally figured out that my job title doesn’t tell me what I do. But while in a current role, I’m working towards my next one. I am becoming an expert at what I am doing to prepare for my next step.

Hell, never in a million years did I think I would be 28 and developing a strategy to educate our entire HR organization on culture & inclusion. This came because I saw what I wanted and went after it. Just because I wake up tomorrow and say, “Hey, I want to be an HR Manager now” doesn’t mean it will happen. Timing is also everything. Oh, that and headcount and budget and all that good stuff.

My message in all of this is just to slow down and enjoy the present. It’s important to be happy and satisfied in what you are doing, but it isn’t going to happen the way you want it. Take the time to learn and educate yourself in what you are doing now. Stop stressing about the “I wants” and the “I wish” and the “OMG I CANNOT BELIEVE S/HE GOT PROMOTED AND I DIDN’T.”

As my mom would say, “Just worry about Cindy.”