2020 has been a really tough year due to COVID-19. Nearly all aspects of our lives have been disrupted…social, family, study, leisure and work.
Chances are that you are exhausted, frustrated and willing yourself to get across the 2020 finish line. Hopeful that a vaccine becomes available soon, it is tempting to simply write off and forget 2020.
But that is probably a big career management mistake.
If you’ve been lucky enough to work across 2020, I’d encourage you to reflect on 2020 and audit and document your achievements. I always encourage clients to use the following words to stimulate their reflections:
The Five Cs
Challenge
Change
Chaos
Crisis
Complexity
It strikes me that the COVID-19 pandemic has inflicted all of these words on individuals, organisations, and nations!
Think back to the “steady state” that existed just before COVID-19 impacted in your part of the world. Now, think about the current state of your business, division and team.
As an executive, manager or professional, how have you helped shape your business’ response to the challenges presented by COVID-19?
Perhaps, you have:
- implemented structural change to the business or operating model
- dealt with the chaos of staff members stranded overseas or interstate
- averted a cash flow crisis by repurposing assets and resources to generate new sources of revenue
- adopted new, complex technologies to ensure continuity of product and service delivery
Remember, too, that you do not need to have enjoyed executing these business strategies and tactics in a COVID-19 affected 2020.
The key, from a career management point of view, is to harvest your successes from a train wreck of a year, while they are fresh in your mind!
You can then leverage knowledge of your 2020 achievements to bolster your professional brand and self-marketing collateral (e.g. CV, LinkedIn profile, professional biography, consulting profile, application cover letters).
2020 will long be remembered as a year of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity.
Your ability to clearly articulate the value you added to your organisation during COVID-19 times will resonate strongly with key decision-makers you seek to influence.