Feeling stuck in your job? The only kind of work you get is what you’ve always gotten. Your boss and colleagues have carved an image of you in their minds of what you do well and how they can depend on you. Some call this pigeon-holed.
You don’t necessarily have to change your employer to change your job. Most of us aren’t willing to make a voluntary leap into unemployment right now, but our sanity is driving us to the edge.
One way is to change the way others see you so that you can take on new challenges and learn new skills.
Take a step outside yourself: How do you respond to last minute changes or interruptions? Do you offer solutions or just complain? Are you helping others develop their skills and find solutions? People will avoid us if we aren’t someone that they enjoy being around.
Are you a top-notch performer with your current work? Mastering your current job is usually a prerequisite for doing anything else.
Are your technology skills up-to-date? Are you the go-to person for system or application issues? Can you get the maximum output from your system. Can you share your knowledge to help others be more productive?
Do you know what skills you want to use or develop? What you’d like to learn? If so, then seek out people who have those skills and ask them their guidance for learning them.
What do you know that you’d like to apply to solve a problem? Develop a sample, template or prototype. Describe what currently is costing time, effort, money and how your solution could reduce or eliminate those costs.
Look for a problem to solve. Propose a better way of doing something that will help make others’ work more productive. Volunteer to work on a project or task forces as a way to not only learn, but offer your perspective. Demonstrate your team-player skills.
Do you know how to connect with resources to be the person with the “answer,” especially in a crisis?
These are 7 ways to begin to peck your way out of your box.