3 Key Takeaways on How I Pivoted my Career
As many would know from my previous articles, I’m a designer by trade, and will always remain one for as long as I’m working professionally. The creative spirit in me continuously fuels my growth alongside my personal passions. However, over the years, I’ve also taken a liking to new challenges and most recently, one of the biggest pivots I’ve made in my professional career has been to take on a functional leadership role versus the specialized function(s) I was in.
Has it been easy? Nope. Was it a crazy transition? Yes.
Challenge accepted? Of course.
Since the pivot, here are some of the learnings I’ve had so far in my continuous pursuit of embracing the unknown:
Don’t be afraid to take on new challenges bigger than you
When I first started the transition into the role, I constantly doubted myself. Am I able to fulfill what the eventual role is asking of me? Do I even have the right skillsets to meet expectations? What if I can’t do it? Should I be taking this risk at all?
One thing I’ve come to realize, is that there is nothing stopping us from taking steps forward, but ourselves. Once you’re able to embrace the fact that you are going to be challenged, feel sh*tty sometimes because you are figuring things out, and are still able to say, “I’m willing”, it changes alot of things, especially the mindset that you put yourself in. We may do it right sometimes, fail at times, but every single one of these challenges will allow you to learn, and to gain that teeny bit of confidence that you are looking for. And of course, seek help and guidance where needed, and you’ll be surprised at how far you’re able to push yourself to. It’s not easy, but worth it? Absolutely.
Whatever it takes mentality goes a long way
And this also delves into the mindset I mentioned in the above point where you take on a growth mindset versus being stuck in the same spiral or comfort zone that you’ve always been in. Being a curious individual like myself, I’ve always subjected myself to doing new things, experiencing new dynamics and such. That came about because I always told myself (and my fellow members from across the years), that nothing can’t be done, it’s about HOW you do it.
Sometimes, when needed, we take shortcuts to make things work. Periodically, when we do have the luxury of time, we do it the ‘right way’. But again, is there ever a right way to do things? I do believe it’s all about the mindset and attitude towards what we believe is right, for us, for the customers, for the business. And after that, really, it’s all about figuring out the smartest way to get it done. Hence, I call it the ‘whatever it takes’ mentality and approach to doing things. Right or wrong? No idea, but I’ve been doing okay up till now. You get the point :D
Open your mind and eyes to new ways of working
One of the key things that helped me transition from a specialized function to a functional role, is always adapting to new ways of working and allowing myself to stay flexible to changes around me. Especially coming in from a larger team and managers, into a new team that had a super flat structure with more responsibilities, I had to ensure that I adjusted the way I approached problem-solving, solutioning, and getting things done.
This also meant adopting modern ways of working, ensuring that we constantly learn and allow more voices to be heard and taken into consideration. While we continue to respect and take in best practices from the traditional ways, we need to continue to evolve how we look at problems and solutions from a new perspective of the current generation and ensure we keep up with it. And not to blindly copy what others have done, but also to put in our own flavour and twist to make it better. That’s how growth happens, right?
It hasn’t been an easy journey at all, I must say, but using the above points, it’s gotten me where I am today. As we continue to pursue our personal aspirations, keep on pushing the mind and heart towards what feels right and go 100x!