Most people see their career as important yet many get stuck. So what steps can you take immediately to accelerate your progress?

1. Take some time to self assess what you do well and what needs developing.
2. Get some feedback from others who you have worked with.
3. Make a file of your key career achievements.
4. Draw up a 90 day fast track personal development plan where you do one thing, no matter how small, each day to build your skills, knowledge or competency.
5. Stop making money your motivation for progressing your career. If you deliver, money will follow.
6. Step up and volunteer for special projects.

The truth is doing some simple things can make a huge difference. So when will you get started?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

Block 1
• Clinging on to the past and refusing to move forward.

Block 2

• Treating people differently and having favourites.

Block 3

• Not listening to the feedback that you are consistently getting.

Block 4

• Not investing in your personal development and growth.

Block 5

• Not being honest with yourself.

What else would you add to the list of 5?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

Habit 1
• Not knowing what to stop doing.

Habit 2

• Not pushing yourself and simply cruising.

Habit 3

• Not giving recognition to others.

Habit 4

• Making excuses more than delivering results.

Habit 5

• Passing the buck and not taking responsibility.

One of the biggest transitions that you will face in your career is successfully transitioning to a leadership role.

In this short video I will be sharing my tips on successfully transitioning to leadership.

If you have some great tips to add to make the transition successful please go ahead and leave a comment.

A recent survey that I invited those on my mailing list to take identified that getting promoted was a key area of importance. So if you are in this group, what can you do to get promoted to the next level?

1. Find out what it takes to succeed at the next level.
2. Make a long list of all of your achievements to date in terms of your career.
3. Target your applications to roles that you have the greatest chance of getting.
4. Give your CV a makeover so that it really sells your achievements.
5. Get your interview skills honed so that you perform exceptionally well.
6. Get the support you need to get the result you want. A small investment now might just make a huge difference to the long term return that you get.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

If you are a manager, aspiring manager, leader or aspiring leader, I am guessing that you are always on the lookout for your next career progression opportunity.

On the other hand, you might find that you are not getting promoted to the next level even though you think you are ready.

So what might be stopping you?

You are applying for the wrong roles
• It is tempting when you are ready to progress to the next level to apply randomly for posts. A much better strategy is to be highly targeted with your applications.

You are not showing the relevance of your experience to the job

• Employers are seeking evidence as to how your experience fits the role. Try to use examples to illustrate this.

You are not highlighting achievements

• Too often I see CVs that talk a lot about the job and very little about achievements. Focus on highlighting your achievements.

You don’t sell yourself

• Most of us don’t like to blow our own trumpet, especially us folks in the UK. At the same time, if you don’t sell what you have to offer, how can you ever expect to land the job?

You don’t prepare enough

• Having interviewed hundreds of people over the years, what surprised me most was that people are so ill prepared. If you are not willing to invest a sizeable block of time in preparing for your next role, it may be that you just don’t want it enough.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

If you are reading this blog post, the chances are you are ambitious and want to progress your career. So what might be stopping you from progressing your career?

Lack of clarity
• Are you really crystal clear on your next role? Do you really know the type of industry or geographical location you want to work in? Getting clarity about these key questions is vital to you progressing your career.

Lack of strategy

• You need to approach your job search systematically rather than just randomly. Make really clear choices about the types of roles you want to pursue, how you are going to find them or how you will create the opportunities you are seeking.

Out of date skills

• The pace of change is extremely fast these days in organisations so you need to make sure that your skills reflect the market needs. Make a point of taking stock of your skills and what needs developing.

Not selling yourself

• Whether you like it or not, you have to sell what you offer in job applications and in interviews. Start keeping track of your achievements and results so that you can sell these effectively. Don’t be afraid to share your successes.

I wonder what else you would add to the list? Why not leave a comment with your suggestions?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

When it comes to career, you obviously want to try and get as much clarity as possible about where you are heading.

At the same time, before you can start to make progress, you need to be clear about where you are starting from.

So how can you find out where you are starting from?

1. Review your career to date.
2. Identify what experience you have got so far and what’s missing.
3. Look at the feedback that you have received from appraisals or performance review meetings.
4. Think about the type of work that you are usually seen as the go to person for. This is an indication of an area of real strength.
5. Ask for some feedback from those you work with now or have worked with in the past.
6. Do some form of self-assessment.

The Bottom Line

If you are going to get choices in your career, you need to get clear on the start point.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

Working as an accountant in major organisations for over 25 before setting up my own business in 2006, what I consistently noticed is that it was not the most technically gifted people who got to the more senior level posts.

I know that even though I climbed the career ladder from a Payments Clerk to Finance Director, I was not the most technically gifted accountant.

On the other hand I was always interested in the organisations I worked in, was able to build relationships and take on challenges. Contrary to many people I found having the opportunity to manage and lead people and be involved in key projects really rewarding.

Of course like most people I made mistakes and tried to learn from them.

So I am wondering what other people find it takes for people to break through into senior management?

Would love to hear your views and insights, so why not go ahead and leave a comment.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants make the breakthrough from highly regarded technical professionals to highly effective managers and leaders. To sign up for his Weekly Leadership and Management Tips click here

Many professional people get qualified in their chosen field, ready to fulfil their promise, and somehow end up getting stuck.

While there might be no blueprint that will provide you with the sure-fire way to achieve career success, there are some things you can do to boost your chances in my experience.

Get a breadth of experience

While it might be tempting to be known as the expert in something, the truth is that, if you want to get to a more senior level, you need to get a breadth of experience. This can be achieved in a number of ways:

• Taking a secondment
• Running a project
• Moving between sectors
• Covering a maternity leave.

Don’t become too comfortable

We all like to enjoy our job but in every post the first 18 to 24 months are in my experience the most fruitful in terms of personal growth. Be alert to when you start to plateau and do something to get yourself a new challenge.

Make time for continuing professional development

This is a big one and yet so often I come across people who see getting professionally qualified as the end of the journey. In reality, it is just the start. Employers look for people to have invested in their personal development. If you are serious about your career, so will you.

Get a mentor

The fastest way to progress is to find mentors who have achieved what you want to achieve and learn from them. Despite what most of us think, successful people love to help others achieve success.

In truth, many want to achieve career success but few make it a reality. What tips would you add to the list to help others achieve career success?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here