Credit Silvia Zamboni
*By Mariane Guerra
In Lewis Carroll's classic book Alice in Wonderland, there is an even more classic passage. It happens when Alice asks the Cheshire Cat which way to go, as she says she doesn't know where to go. The feline, with all the wisdom of its race, predicts: "Any path is good when you don't know where to go".
This advice makes a lot of sense in the world of work these days. Do people – I mean, the average employed population – have a career plan, even if only sketched on paper or sketched in their heads? Something simple: “Today I work at company x, in department y. In five years, I want to become director of my department. For this, I understand that I need to qualify in subjects a and b, in addition to improving my results in areas c and d.”.
It sounds silly, but it's not. Those who don't know where they want to go don't look for the tools to improve themselves. Just follow the rhythm of events. It is very important for the executive to reflect on his corporate future, otherwise his career will be defined by others, not his own choices.
Encouragement came from the latest People at Work 2022: A Global Workforce View, conducted by the ADP Research Institute. According to the survey, which heard about 33,000 workers in 17 countries, including Brazil, professionals are increasingly aligned with the needs of the job market. They are people who understand the changes and, as far as possible, try to anticipate what may be making more or less sense in the corporate environment.
According to the survey, four out of five Brazilian respondents (81%) have considered career migration in the last 12 months. That is, the person who noticed this movement and started their migration early had an advantage over those who took longer to notice such changes.
Entrepreneurship has never been so on the minds of professionals as it is now, in the post-Covid-19 pandemic. This is due, among other reasons, to the perception that the home office has brought, that technology can be used in our favor, in the most different ways. For this, nothing more obvious than looking for innovations, whether instrumental or disruptive. The pandemic has created an opportunity for people to rethink a lot about life, as a whole. I believe that moments of rupture like the one we have faced in the last two years provoke such reflections. “What is most important to me” sums up this moment well. It is necessary for the employee to reflect a lot on this point. It is important to keep this in mind, not only to seek to achieve and exceed the goals that we all have on a daily basis, but mainly to know its value within the company. Remember Alice's question?
Professionals have never been more in control of their careers than they were in 2022. It is they who set the pace for innovation in the company, as they are also consumers of these or other solutions. As highlighted in People at Work 2022, he is the one who defines where and when to work. If you are not happy in the corporate environment, nothing will stop you from opening your business or even seeking satisfaction in another company or area of activity.
It is worth noting that Alice's story ends with an order from the Queen to behead her, as she does not agree with the direction that the tyrant is giving her kingdom. A simple exercise: in the previous sentence, replace the words 'queen'', 'behead'' and 'kingdom'' with 'manager/manager'', 'dismiss'' and 'company''. That is, if the employee does not agree with the direction that the top management wants to give the company, his place is no longer there. Does it make sense to you? Know that, for four out of five Brazilians, it makes a lot of sense.
*Mariane Guerra is Vice President of HR for Latin America at ADP
Notice: The opinion presented in this article is the responsibility of its author and not of ABES - Brazilian Association of Software Companies
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