The current downturn is certainly reducing the op­portunities available to Senior Executives.

Not only are businesses restructuring to eliminate many middle to senior management positions but also opportunities for professionals to move into existing senior positions are more limited. This causes promotion bottlenecks and, therefore, greater frustration amongst executives as expec­tations are not being met and challenges are not provided.

The deflated executive employment market also means that there are fewer external options.

So what can you do?

The goal is to remain challenged and motivated until an appropriate opportunity can be identified. Let's assume that an internal promotion or external move is unlikely; your strategy should include the opportunity to enhance your skills base to improve your future marketability while also recharging your batteries and increasing your personal interests and motivation.

Redefine your idea of career success: Too of­ten it can be defined by status, title and salary in addition to progression through organizational hierarchy. While you may not be able to change society's perception overnight you must strive to change your own and your family's perception of career success. The new measures should be those of personal satisfaction and fulfillment achieved through your work.

Set personal and professional goals: With this new measure of personal satisfaction in place, set yourself personal and professional goals with the aim of making the most out of your position and your organization. Your first goal should be to de­velop yourself and to achieve higher standards on a personal level.

These higher standards should include better per­sonal grooming, physical fitness, adopting a total quality management attitude to your work, and where appropriate, adding to your skills base.

These standards are important in changing the per­ception of you within the organization. For example there is no doubt that favorable first impressions add to your reputation. Work hard to improve your personal reputation. You generally feel better when you look better. Wearing a tailored suit with silk scarf or tie enhances your feeling about yourself as well as the perception by others.

Improving your personal fitness can also have many benefits that range from giving you a fresh focus or interest away from work to improving your physical appearance in addition to increas­ing your physical capacity for work. As many converts to exercise will tell you, it need not in­volve a lot of time or expense - a brisk walk or cycle for an hour. You will see some improve­ments within a relatively short period of time.

Your personal goal should also include a com­mitment to improve the quality of the service you provide to your colleagues or users of your service. This should involve a thorough review of the way you manage your position and the standards to which you work. It may well be that a fresh approach to your work or a higher performance standard can provide many new challenges without fundamentally changing the responsibilities of the role.

Set performance goals: Finally, set yourself a performance goal to improve, develop or acquire an additional skill every year. One that you will enjoy using and that will make you marketable inside and outside of the organization and which will improve your capacity for performance in your current position. This can include a technol­ogy skill, social skills, or linguistic shills.

If changing your personal approach does not provide you with additional challenges, your third step should be to try and change your role sufficiently to achieve that challenge. This can include adding a project or extra responsibilities or even making a lateral move to a different dis­cipline within the same organization.

Such a move can have benefits for you as it gives you a new challenge. You will have to learn quickly to use different skills. It can also benefit your organization in that it retains a valuable hu­man resource that is motivated and loyal to the organization.

This is only a possible option if the new role can enhance your career marketability and your em­ployer is willing to give you the time to settle in to your new role.

In conclusion, failure to achieve promotion par­ticularly in the middle stages of your career can lead to frustration and the real danger of be­ing becalmed in a career plateau, which in turn threatens your enthusiasm and threatens your internal and external marketability

© Paul Lyons. All Rights Reserved.