Forget ladders, think of your career as a river
Career rivers: A better framework for your professional journey
Finding your flow
A secret I only fully realized recently: I am not a robot. Some days I have more energy than others, or I’m better able to think of the big picture. And my work history also has periods of great change and some slower spells. Could it be that I don’t need to move through my career at a steady pace, rung by inevitable rung?
Instead, I’ve come to accept that everything happens in its own time. Rather than feeling stuck on a career ladder when I haven’t shifted roles for a while, I can rest secure in the knowledge that a river always flows, no matter how slowly.
As long as I’m learning, I’m moving toward my ultimate goal, or ocean. For me, it’s not about climbing to the top. We can each define our own destinations. Once we do, it becomes clearer which choices will help us reach that ocean.
This also helps with career changes. On a career ladder, you might “lose” a rung or have to start climbing again at a new organization. It feels like a step back. A river’s curves and changes in direction are all part of the journey. What came before informs what flows after. This takes some of the pressure off job-hunting decisions, too.
While a career ladder has only one direction, a career river can create a delta of many different paths, all equally valid to pursue. Not only is it ok to shift directions, it’s expected. We need to give ourselves the freedom to explore what matters to us instead of locking ourselves to one inflexible path.
Navigating obstacles
When Ifirst tweetedabout the career river, one of the commenters shared a therapeutic method used in occupational therapy calledthe Kawa Model. This model uses a river metaphor to see how clients want to live their lives, and includes considering the circumstances that block your progress as rocks in the river.
If you embrace your career as a river instead of a ladder, you’re better able to confront these obstacles. When you reach a ceiling on the career ladder, the only way you can keep going is to shatter it.
When your career river encounters an obstacle, you can go around it, or over it, or carve through it. You may be able to get past what’s blocking your way quickly, or it may take some time, but in either case, you have several ways to get where you’re trying to go.
Not only does this give us more options when our progress becomes blocked, but it also acknowledges the effort and time it takes to break down barriers — and how beautiful the results can be. After all, there’s no Grand Canyon without the Colorado River.
Importantly, too, this reminds us that it’s possible to keep progressing even when we’re stalled or in free-fall. A career ladder that falls is broken. A river becomes a waterfall, and then keeps flowing.
Cooperation, not competition
I’m not the lone wolf journalist you see in movies. I wasn’t interested in winning Pulitzers or breaking the big investigative story solo. (Nor was I one of those rom-com heroines working at a magazine who never seems to file a story.)
In fact, I only became a reporter so I could one day be an editor. What I was most interested in was working with others to make our entire newspaper better. Today, I work on collaborative projects among many newsrooms to create more meaningful and impactful journalism.
So a career model that celebrated stepping on others or pushing them aside to reach my goals never felt right to me. Working with others is central to what I do and what I care about.
No river is truly alone: it’s fed by many tributaries along the way and contributes to other rivers in turn. Every time rivers join together, they become stronger.
My career is richer — not weaker — for having others contribute their expertise.
Ready, set, flow
The stories we tell ourselves matter. If, like me, you need a better framework for describing what you value in your work, here’s how you can begin pursuing your own career river:
A career ladder creates no value except for the person climbing it, while a career river feeds an entire ecosystem. I’d rather live in a professional world of rivers, where we all can go with the flow together.
This article by Bridget Thoreson was originally published on theZapier blogand is republished here with permission. You can read the original articlehere.
Story byBridget Thoreson
Bridget is a journalist and consultant specializing in collaborations and audience engagement. She has supported 113 news organizations on d(show all)Bridget is a journalist and consultant specializing in collaborations and audience engagement. She has supported 113 news organizations on developing strategies to better reach and serve their audiences.
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