Should a Career Be a Group Effort?

Andy Jordan is President of Roffensian Consulting S.A., a Roatan, Honduras-based management consulting firm with a comprehensive project management practice. Andy always appreciates feedback and discussion on the issues raised in his articles and can be reached at [email protected]. Andy's new book Risk Management for Project Driven Organizations is now available.

  Career Development  

I became a project manager by accident. The company I was working for needed a PM at short notice and I was the one they chose. At the time, I thought it was a temporary detour in my career—and as the company I worked for had never had project managers before, it didn’t occur to me that I could be starting on a new career path.

But then my circumstances changed. I began working for a new company, on a new continent—and I soon found myself as one of more than a dozen project managers. Suddenly, project management was my career.

And it was a highly competitive career. It seemed as though all of us were competing for the next high-profile project, trying to secure that next promotion or move up to the next employee grade. We were all chasing certifications, trying to secure spots on different training courses and development programs. In short, we were all trying to succeed at the expense of our colleagues. For us to “win” in our careers, others had to “lose.”

That was a long time ago, but I’m not sure that things have changed that much. Careers are still viewed as competitive—and with multiple candidates competing for all opportunities, the need to try and “one-up” colleagues is at least somewhat understandable. But I’m not sure that’s the right approach. In fact, I’m sure it’s the …

Please log in or sign up below to read the rest of the article.