Change is within the reach of all of us!

This evening, as I was reading all about Management for one of my Swinburne units, I came across the following in the 'Management 6' text book (Robbins et al 2012).  I feel that it sums up exactly what the title of my blog is all about.

"... the individual - not the organisation - is responsible for his or her own career!  You, therefore, must be prepared to do what is necessary to advance your career.  You must take responsibility for designing, guiding and developing your own career."

This was also reinforced to me this week during a lunch with my previous boss and other close colleagues.  They all recognised that I had changed and advanced in my career myself, and through my own actions have pursued my own development and advancement.

Now, this concept, as quoted above, may seem blatantly obvious to most of us, but I still see examples where people just don't do this.  They don't get it.  They are stuck in the same position that they have been for eons, grumbling about how much they don't want to be there and how sick they are of doing the same things.  They grumble about not having anything meaningful to contribute to others in what they are doing, and how they fit into the team.

The attitude that I have seen accompanying this is "you can't teach an old dog new tricks".  Rubbish!  If you have the interest and motivation, you will do what you want/need to do to change!  No-one is holding you in a job that you aren't interested in.  There are so many options available to you to become either more involved, or involved in a different way.

I was once in that position - I was once just like that.  You have to want to change, and you have to want to see that you can change, that things don't have to be just as they always are.

If it's going to be, it's up to ... each one of us!