Is it Time for a Mid-Year Recalibration?
When we get to the mid-point of the year, it can be tempting to look at how we are getting on compared to the goals we set at the start of the year. This is as true regarding progress in the workplace as in the personal sphere. Even if your goal was just to tread water and remain where you are for a while, evaluating your performance honestly can help you recognise whether any changes are needed in the second half of the year.
People typically make most of their lifestyle changes at the start of a new year. Still, there is no good reason why taking stock of your achievements and your position in relation to your goals should only happen once annually. By recalibrating, you may realise that you need to do something different if you want to reach your goals and that the strategy you started the year with is no longer the best one to pursue in relation to this. Being flexible and understanding when changes need to be made is a significant positive and will help you to achieve the things you really want to.
Reflect on the Year so Far
Think about the projects you have undertaken at work so far this year and your interactions with your colleagues and more senior co-workers and managers. How have they been, have they been encouraging toward you, or are you feeling overwhelmed with work and somewhat under-appreciated? Reflecting on the year can give you a chance to process thoughts about work that you maybe don’t take the time to think about otherwise, as you are just too busy to stop and draw breath.
You may realise that there is room for improvement in your interpersonal relationships at work, or you may come to understand that some of the comments that were made to you throughout the year to date form a pattern that adds up to bullying or sexism. It is essential to be able to take the chance to view your workplace from a place that doesn’t just exist “in the moment” and that you can analyse both the broader picture and where you fit into it.
Decide on the Changes to Make
This can be the hardest step to take, as the easiest choice isn’t to make any changes at all. Nothing worth having is won easily, and this is as true in your working life as any other aspect, so make that difficult choice and change something about the way you are doing things in the second half of the year, and push yourself toward achieving better and more satisfactory results. You will feel more fulfilled for having taken this time to look closely at where you are vs where you want to be, and this seems like a logical point of the year to make the necessary changes.
Asking for Training Opportunities
If you aren’t happy about how you are developing at the company you currently work with, you can choose to take a positive step, such as asking for the training that you think you need to reach the next step. Remember that the worst they can say is no, and it will never cost you something to be seen as ambitious and someone who wants to get ahead. Indeed, it may help you to cultivate this image and remind your managers that you should be on the fast track to promotion. There are very few disadvantages to asking for what you want when it will also improve your value to the company at the same time.
Start Looking for Another Job
If, on reflection, you feel like you are stagnating at your current job and don’t have a route to career advancement within it, then it may be worth considering whether it is time to move on to pastures new and different challenges at another company. Sometimes a company just doesn’t have any clear routes to advancement at the kind of pace that an employee is looking for, and this isn’t necessarily anyone’s fault. They may have a low turnover of staff, which is something that companies aim for, but this also leads to stagnation if there is no room for upward mobility in the workforce.
Take your time deciding whether to move and where you would like to move to. Make connections on LinkedIn with others in your industry and ensure that you are well-placed to accept a move on your own terms. Looking for a new job while you still have one and your current employer isn’t aware that you are looking is the most powerful position to be in. When you do secure a better post at another company, your current employer may offer you more money not to leave. The ball is then in your court whether you accept or leave for the new company.
Increasing Your Productivity
Maybe you feel that you are underperforming at your current job and want to improve upon your performance in the first half of the year. This is an excellent time to sit down and look objectively at how well you were hitting your key performance indicators. You may have been doing just enough to get by and would like to improve your productivity going forward. This is as good a time as any to start looking at techniques and tips that can help you to deliver a better second half of the year.
Some of the best techniques to help with productivity include the Pomodoro method, which involves breaking time into smaller chunks of hyper-focused activity, completing and checking off particular tasks from your list. There are also some excellent to-do list checklists and task-tracking software solutions that can help to keep you on top of things. Some people even find that it helps them if they write down each task they have completed during the working day as they complete them. This way, they have a comprehensive record of what they have done on a particular day.
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