90 Day Sprints Can Radically Improve Your Career
With millions of people hopping jobs every month, you’re probably seeing a lot of new faces at work (or perhaps just new names, if you’re still working remotely). They all have fresh perspectives and different skillsets that can change your place in the big picture. Before the pandemic, if you ever felt edged out by an impressive new hire, at least it only happened once in a while. But now that talent is shifting at a much faster rate, it’s more important than ever to stay at the top of your professional game.
If you’ve been worrying about keeping up with the cutting edge in your field, you are not alone. Some 77% of workers want to reskill, and 46% say they believe their current skill set will become irrelevant by 2024. As qualified as you are, you probably fall into this group—with at least one critical skills gap that is hindering your success.
Upskilling equals innovation, and innovation equals promotability. As you learn new things and integrate them with your current knowledge and skills, you generate the new ideas companies need to stay competitive. Executives on either side of the hiring process know this: 84% of them consider their own future success to be very or extremely dependent on innovation.
So, if reskilling is great for employers and employees alike, why isn’t everyone doing it? Basically, employees have been looking for opportunities at work that may not exist. MIT and Deloitte reported that only 34% of workers they surveyed feel supported by their organization’s skill development opportunities. And PwC Global found that 46% of people with postgraduate degrees say their employer gives them opportunities to improve their digital skills, but just 28% of people with secondary education say the same.
You Can Be an Expert
As they say, if you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together. When it comes to upskilling right now in a quickly evolving marketplace, it’s a good time to go it alone, so you can quickly gain the skills you need for a job search or your current role—and then you and your chosen organization can go far together.
Since the beginning of the year, I’ve been challenging my coaching clients to become an expert on a single subtopic within either their current or ideal profession—in 90 days. For example, if they’re in clean tech (or wanting to be), I might have them take a deep dive on carbon capture. If they’re in marketing, I might suggest they become a TikTok expert. Why would I put this task on busy executives juggling multiple priorities?
For starters, mastering a subject boosts your confidence. Confidence is a soft skill that changes over time. Almost all the respondents (99%) in an Indeed survey said confidence was vital to conducting a successful job search. Whether you’re looking to get a new job or simply get ahead where you are, it’s important to monitor your confidence levels and flex those muscles with learning.
If you become a fan of something, people will become a fan of yours. People love to see your energy and enthusiasm for a topic and will give you more help if you have skin in the game. It takes specificity and dedication to become a fan at this level. The narrower the subtopic you choose to master, the more confidence and credibility you will have when you talk about it (even if it’s an area you’ve never worked in!), freeing you up to let your enthusiasm shine through.
When you give yourself a concentrated time to focus on one core skill or theme, you can see real gains in your knowledge—and so can the people around you, like potential hiring managers, your boss’s boss, and your team. They will see the transformation, cheer you on, and open doors. Don’t be surprised if they become inspired to follow in your footsteps.
When you bring in-depth, recent industry knowledge to career conversations (interviews, performance reviews, networking conversations), you come in with something to offer versus a loose ask for general help. The result? More confidence—there it is again—and better leads
Your DIY Learning Plan
Here’s what I suggest for you as you research an industry niche or emerging topic:
Who are the major movers and competitors in the space?
Where is venture capital or private equity being funneled in and what is it going toward?
What innovation is happening in your chosen topic?
What early-stage companies are coming to the table?
Who are the thought leaders in this area and what are they talking about?
What are the problems being addressed?
By the end of your 90-day learning sprint, you should be able to write a white paper or give a webinar about the topic and what’s happening in the space. Even though the idea is to simply be able to do either of these activities, maybe you take it a step further and actually do them!
As intimidating as it can be to learn new skills, it’s nothing compared to the intimidation you feel when someone new shows up at your organization with them first. Like so many people, you most likely want to grow your knowledge to advance in your career, but you’re not sure where or how to start.
Reskilling or upskilling doesn’t have to be complicated—you just need the internet, a focus, and the right questions. Once you embrace a continuous learning approach not bound by any single program or platform—just you investing in yourself—the people around you (your boss, potential employers, peers, networking contacts) will respond to your energy and invest in your career success as well.