3 Strategies for When Your Career is Blocked

Episode Transcript

Hello and welcome to the Daring to Succeed podcast.

My name is Julianna Yau Yorgan and I’m a workplace strategist who helps introverts reach their career goals with personalized strategies that work with their introversion, not against it.

Today, I’m going to talk about what to do when your career is blocked.

If you’ve been in the workplace for a while, you know the story:

You’re finally gaining recognition for all of your work and expertise.

Then BOOM, someone comes along and puts stop signs everywhere.

It could be a jealous coworker.

Or maybe someone new to the company.

…Or worse, your own boss.

I’ve been there and seen that.

Whether it was helping clients figure out what to do about that person who just seems to have it out for them,

Or my own boss years and years ago who actually lied to me outright and told me I couldn’t apply for a particular job

(I applied and got it anyway!).

So let’s get to it.

Before you give up all of the work you’ve done at your current company or team and start exploring options outside, let’s look at the typical situations for someone who is blocking your career.

The first is a coworker.

This is someone who is in the same or similar role as you, or otherwise at the same “level” as you.

Clients I’ve worked with in this situation usually find that it’s someone who is just making trouble for them.

Like one client who was a manager trying to get promoted.

He was trying to get his recommendations implemented across multiple teams to show his impact as a leader…

…but another manager on his team kept finding reasons why they shouldn’t put those recommendations in place.

It felt like everything he suggested, this other manager would shoot down.

What started as a mini venting session at the beginning of a coaching call turned into it’s own strategy session!

We came to the conclusion that this other manager probably wasn’t trying to sabotage him.

This other manager had even told people that he thought my client was a better manager than himself.

But this other manager really didn’t want anything to change, had no incentive too…

…and my client’s boss also had no interest in making that other manager get on board.

So rather than beating his head against a brick wall, I worked with my client to adjust his strategy for promotion to work around this other manager.

This wasn’t in a sneaky way, but by changing how my client would self-promote and get visibility with senior leadership.

Instead of showcasing the types of improvements he could make to teams that were the same, we refocused his strategy to showcase improvements for cross functional teams—teams that were led by people who were more open to change.

So if you have a Career Blocker who isn’t actively blocking you, take another look at your approach to see if you can work around them.

What else can you do to further your career without their involvement?

The second type of Career Blocker I’ve seen are the Office Gossips.

These are the people who go about and badmouth everyone…

…and you end up being on their radar.

Even if people know they’re gossips, they can still damage your reputation and your confidence if you let it go on.

Asking them to stop or trying to get them to empathize with the impacts of their gossip won’t work, because it’s the drama, the shock and the attention they crave.

Trying to disprove them can sometimes backfire too, because you shining brighter could spark their jealousy, which will just make them badmouth you even more.

One thing I’ve done with my clients that has worked surprisingly well is enlisting their help.

For example, I worked with a client who was trying to transfer to another department internally, but a gossipy VP kept spreading a rumor that she was a “flight risk”.

We dug through all of her interactions with this VP, and even everything this VP might be exposed to about her, and the only thing we found that could mark her as a “flight risk” was the very fact that she was trying to change departments.

After trying a few things that didn’t work, my client was ready to try anything to get rid of this label…

…so I suggested she ask that VP for help.

It was counterintuitive and a little terrifying, but she was willing to try it.

So what I suggested she do was share with the VP that she was trying to transfer departments and why, but that she has gotten feedback that she might be a flight risk.

Without saying that she knew that VP was the one spreading the rumor, she asked the VP if there was something she was doing that might make people think this, and what she could do to change the perception.

This worked wonders in three ways:

One, the VP could not actually come up with any reasonable proof of her being a so-called flight risk.

Two, my client shifted the drama from this “flight risk” label to her real desire to switch departments.

And, three, by enlisting the help of the VP, she gave the VP a new piece of drama to focus on—this accomplished, dedicated individual who was trying to switch departments and needed help.

So if you’re at the bad end of an office gossip, ask yourself how you might be able to change the story around…

…and better yet, try to get their support.

Of course, you know your co-workers better than I do, so definitely be cautious with this one.

You’ll want to enlist their support if they’re gossipy because they like a good story—not if they’re actually out to get you!

Which brings me to the third type of career blocker: your own boss.

While people don’t like to believe it happens, unfortunately, it does.

Like my client who was trying to get a promotion, but her boss had already decided that she was in the most senior role she would ever have in her life.

This was a huge problem, because she needed her boss’ endorsement for a promotion, even if it was onto another team.

What I did with her is figured out what her boss thought she was lacking, then put together a plan to show that she could pick up this skill.

In her case, her boss thought she was a terrible presenter.

And, my friends, this client of mine was an extrovert who was always the life of the party.

The problem is her boss kept putting her in situations where she would have to talk to large groups of people about things she didn’t know well…

…which made her super nervous, because she didn’t know the topic well enough to present or answer questions.

So what I recommended was she create opportunities where she could present about topics that she did know well, then very adamantly volunteer herself to talk about those topics.

This worked so well that her boss thought she was taking presentation classes, and her boss convinced herself that she helped her transform and improve her presentation skills.

Because she saw the improvement and took credit for it, her boss wanted to share my client’s success story…

…and endorse her for a promotion!

So if it’s your own boss in the way of your career advancement, rather than trying to disprove their beliefs, just show that you can do the thing they don’t think you can do.

And if you’re dealing with a different kind of situation blocking your career, I’d love to help you with it.

For the next few weeks, I’ll be hosting free career strategy workshops where I’ll work with you to figure out the first steps towards improving your situation at work or in your career.

If you’re interested, go to the link in the show notes to get all the details!

Okay, that’s it for now.

I’ll see you next time!