Overheard chat about why people don’t progress at work

[OchreCrab]

I overheard a conversation at a cafe about why people don’t progress at work.

Im 40 and was self employed until 32 selling a product with no staff and just myself. I had to move countries to be closer to mum who’s had health issues. I also had a baby so was away from the workforce for a year.

I have a PAYE job and started on £21k and after job hopping a few times I’m on £34k. I hope to progress and I've been placed with a mentor. I have a lot of weakness in my communication.

However I was wondering if a reason why I’ve not progressed is because of ability, how can you tell? I don’t communicate well but I do hope to work on my low self esteem. It’s also hard to get training/support whilst at work due to busy managers. I’ve moved companies and want to stay in this job for a little while longer (due to baby and hopefully learning about the job/industry). Also could get a funded cert via my employer.

i hope when I’m 50 I’m head of something.

Aibu I’m thinking I can’t progress?

Do you mean you think you wont progress because you lack the communication skills? What specifically do you think you lack? Emails? Small talk? Public speaking?

Being clear in when I speak. I panic and get mixed up on words, can’t communicate and talk freely.

if I’m given a task I’m fine, I can plan things. I can understand.

i say the wrong word or don’t pronounce words correctly or explain myself well.

I have a degree, so I don’t have a low level of writing etc.

That not too difficult to improve on! There are a lot of videos on TikTok and yotube on this. A cool and helpful thing I picked up on is the 3 minute challenge. You pick a random topic and record yourself talking about it. Then you listen back and analyse yourself.

Also things like Toastmasters help with this. Activities structured to force you to endure public speaking.It does get muuuuch better with exposure and time :)

I think most skills are learnable. You sound motivated and clear-sighted; I'm sure you'll progress.

Communication is a tricky one, I relate to the issue you describe. Probably you need some techniques to buy yourself time and calm your mind when called on to speak spontaneously.

NB Probably this will never be your strongest suit, but that's OK. You can work to improve it and you undoubtedly have other skills that others don't.

@OchreCrab it depends on what you do really. You say you ‘don’t have a low level of writing’ but that is itself a clumsy sentence construction.

If, for example, you were writing detailed briefing papers which had to convey information concisely I’d be concerned your writing wasn’t up to scratch, but for another job it would be perfectly fine.

One of the most common reasons I see for lack of progression is an inability to drive a business forward and a lack of curiosity.

Are you a person who takes your manager work that’s 80% there or do you take them the finished product? When faced with a new situation are you expecting someone to take you through it? Or do you inform yourself? Are you identifying suitable training and asking to go on courses?

Being keen, engaged and focused will be a real asset in progressing.

I’ve got a degree so I can formulate and write concisely. I find having chats like what we are having hard - getting my thoughts on paper.

I’m sending £32k, I’m not predicting reports, am I.

Producing*. Sorry I’m also using an unfamiliar phone

I have time for this thread but I still can’t formulate my thoughts and written communication concisely. It’s hard .

I’ve got a degree so I can formulate and write concisely. I find having chats like what we are having hard - getting my thoughts on paper.

These things seem to contradict each other though.

Or do you mean you can take facts and knowledge and write/present them adequately but your own thoughts (perhaps relating to ann unfamiliar topic) are harder to condense/articulate?

There is a thread similar on here about how it is not that easy to get a better job. Some very nasty comments on there.

Not everyone can progress, and that is OK.

As explained, I find it hard when put on the spot to talk about my feelings or thoughts.

I’ve not seen any nasty comments

Not on this thread, but the one I mentioned.
But anyway, it is only on MN where you are expected to be earning a certain salary at a certain age.
If you can afford your life, and you are happy, then that is all that matters.

I want to progress. I’ve been accepted to a year long mentor/mentee programme which I’m excited about

I think this just gets better the more you do it, don't let fear of any of this stop you. Even if you do fluff have a few phrases in hand ready 'sorry lost my train of thought there' for example. Watch those you think do this well, they'll likely go have a few phrases you can nick ime long experience those who progress are those not afraid to fail and if/when they do fail, they pick themselves up again, learn from it and keep going. It sounds like you are progressing already.

Thank you

A lot depends on the company you are working for and others in area.
Not all companies have pathways also if Woking in particular industry keep eye on similar companies to know how they structure things. Easier to move if you can align existing roles with what they have also.
Get involved in any networking events going
Use chat gpt to help/tips communicating
Good luck

Yes I need to use chat!

As a senior manager the main things that hold people back from progression are:

• expecting someone else to ‘progress you’. The simple truth is that it is highly unlikely someone is going to hand hold you and offer you progression. You need to actively seek it out, I will support any of my team who want it, who proactively approach me with a plan, with suggestions for improvements, who demonstrate they want to take on leadership, or find a course that will build on their knowledge/skills in a way that brings business benefit. But I’m not going to do that work for someone who isn’t asking for it.
• lack of proactivity and ability to self manage. You mention how good you are ‘when given a task’, are you seeking tasks out? Seeing a need for something to be done and taking on that challenge then presenting the solution to your manager? The people in my team who need me to assign their work in bitesize chunks and wait for me to check in and ask for progress updates are not on my list of people ready for progression. The ones who can see what needs doing, do it and then provide me timely, concise and actionable updates that clearly articulate successes, challenges and next priorities are on my list for progression.
• ’strategic thinking’ it’s a bit of a corporate speak term, but broadly speaking the people I consider for progression are those who have the ability to understand not only their own narrow role in the organisation but also the intersecting roles/department/functions. How do the activities your team are doing impact on other teams, how could changes to technology or structure in a different department change the functions and outputs in your department, are there industry or regulatory changes coming in the future that could bring in an opportunity or threat that you can foresee, plan and mitigate for? Is there a new client being onboarded or product launched that will change the volume of work or SLA requirements in your department in a positive or negative way?

I get what you mean. I can write really eloquent, well constructed reports when I put my mind to it. Yet when it comes to WhatsApp, or mumsnet posts, or general chit chat, I can't string two sentences together 🤷‍♀️ No idea what the answer is I'm afraid

“I overheard a conversation at a cafe about why people don’t progress at work.”

And what were the reasons, according to them? Anything you thought might apply to you?

That they are most suited to that job because they can’t handle much else

Correct.

im on iPhone SE and its slow and I can’t be fucked.