It Is Time To Redefine What We Mean by Success
by Deanna Berg, Ed.D

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This article was the fourth in a series discussing the phenomenon of the large number of baby boomers peaking in midcareer and the impact it has on the American workplace and employees.

Last week we examined the effects of the growing number of midcareer workers on tension between the genders in the workplace. This week we will look at ways to decrease the negative impact of large numbers of people "topping out" by redefining our definition of career success.

The traditional American dream of rising from the mail-room to the boardroom on sheer talent, loyalty and sweat is dead. The regularly expected increases in pay and status that used to accompany progressively higher job levels are also becoming relics.

Companies that succeed in these turbulent times realize a company full of corporate climbers may neglect to pay sufficient attention to both their external competitors and to customers who determine an organization's ultimate success or failure.

Successful companies look at work, customers, career paths, and management practices in new ways. This ability to reframe perspective is key both to individual and organizational success for the foreseeable future.

REFRAMING

What is reframing and how is it helping people and organizations succeed?

Reframing is the ability to see things from different perspectives; to view problems as opportunities to develop the flexibility to find new alternatives. Just as organizations have benefitted from reframing definitions of success to include the customer's perception, individuals can benefit from broadening their picture of success to include more than just getting to the top of an organization. Less traditional (but more productive) ways to define, recognize and reward success in organizations might include:

• Focusing on actual contributions to company success, rather than on achieving a particular level in the organizational hierarchy. In this type of work ethic, everyone should be (and feel) respected and valued, no matter what their specific contribution.

• Recognizing and supporting people who cooperate with each other to achieve company goals, rather those who compete with each other for organizational resources.

• Rewarding those with years of service and skill mastery who can teach, coach and mentor others.

• Increasing the professionalism of people in all areas providing time, resources and financial incentives to continue their education. Put people in charge of their own career planning and development; stop giving the message, directly or indirectly, that the company will take care of them. Yesterday's single-organization, long-range career paths are not relevant in today's flattened and increasingly volatile business world. Futurist Charles Handy predicts that full-time work in organizations will be the minority option. The concept of being on top doesn't have much relevance for a one-person company.

NEW DEFINITIONS

If you are feeling topped out, don't become depressed or cynical until you question what success means to you personally. Don't blindly accept society's outgrown assumption that identifying with your work is the only way to succeed. There are many ways to be on top, and it may be more helpful to change the definition of success rather than regarding one's self as a failure.

Make increased knowledge the measure of success. Focus on improving skills, rather than climbing to the top of an organization, which could be gone by the time you get there.

According to Bud Carter, regional manager of the business think tank The Executive Committee, "The era of womb-to-tomb employment is over. The message for the smart worker is to learn as much as you can, about as much as you can, as fast as you can and increase your value to your employer, as well as your own career marketability."

The winning strategy will be to expand the ways in which your knowledge and skills contribute to your organization's success. Even if your firm hasn't adopted this expanded view of the successful employee, you'll be ready when it does.

SEEK NEW CHALLENGES

In the futile pursuit of perfection, many people avoid putting themselves in situations where they can't succeed. Consequently, they stay within a comfort zone, getting little experience learning from mistakes.

Seeking the illusion of control in times of rapid change deprives you of the ability (and willingness) to continually reinvent yourself. That flexibility is a key to future success, no matter how it's defined. The appropriate attitude might be best described in the words of Oliver Wendell Holmes: "All life is an experiment."

Copyright 1994 Deanna Berg