Themes discussed in this episode

• Taking ownership of your career instead of waiting for someone to promote or recognize you
• Why employee disengagement can quietly damage long-term career prospects
• How economic uncertainty makes engagement and performance even more important
• The three things professionals often wait for that rarely come: recognition, opportunity, and permission
• Developing an entrepreneurial mindset and becoming a continual learner in your field

Episode Highlights

Time-stamped inflection points from the show

00:11 — Lori explains why the idea that “no one is coming to save your career” is actually empowering and why professionals must take responsibility for their own growth.

01:14 — Why disengagement is rising in the workforce and how employees who simply wait for assignments put themselves at risk during layoffs.

04:09 — Lori shares a real example of an “actively disengaged” coworker whose lack of effort quickly led to losing his job.

06:13 — A personal story about asking for authority at work — and how advocating for herself changed the trajectory of her career.

14:02 — A critical question every professional should ask: are you showing up as an asset or a liability to your organization?

Top Quotes

00:11 — “No one is coming to save your career. You get to do it yourself.”

05:46 — “There are three things that young professionals sometimes wait for that never come. And those things are recognition, opportunity and permission.”

14:02 — “Right now, are you being an asset or a liability?”

16:00 — “Be curious. Don’t be anxious. Be curious.”

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Transcript

00:11
Hello, I’m Lori Jo Vest. Thank you so much for joining me for this episode of Work Mom Says, Don’t Be an Idiot, where I teach young professionals how to play the emotional contact sport of business so you experience less drama and a whole lot more success. So today we’re going to talk about something really timely. It is a bizarre time right now in the world. I know things are really expensive. AI is coming for our jobs. May or may not be, we don’t really know. We are in an economy that seems to be suffering. Unemployment is up, tough times.

And during these times, it’s really easy to get worried about your own job. So what I want to talk about today is the fact that no one is coming to save your career. You get to do it yourself. And I know that sounds Pollyanna, but you get to create your career, especially if you’re young.

01:14
So right now, worker disengagement is at a historic low. So people are quietly quitting or job hopping, or they’ve gotten laid off, and maybe they’ve had a long, extended time period being laid off, and they’re trying to freelance, or they’re working outside of their industry just to put food on the table. But a lot of people that have the jobs that they like, in career positions right now are still waiting for somebody else to promote them or make them irreplaceable.

A lot of young professionals don’t know how to create a reputation for yourself, how to generate a work pattern that people really like that gets you that seat that is still remaining when the layoffs happen. Layoffs will happen. We are in a position right now where we don’t know what the economy is going to do. And I’ll tell you one thing — as the owner of a small digital marketing shop, the employee who is on it, who is taking care of business, doing everything that they know needs to be done, volunteering for extra assignments is the one that I’m going to be sure doesn’t go anywhere if I do have to do layoffs.

Now the person who waits for assignments, who maybe makes mistakes and repeatedly doesn’t solve what’s causing the problem, maybe doesn’t show up on time, maybe just isn’t as invested in the company as the other employee — they’re the one that’s at risk. So what you want to do is put yourself in that position of being that engaged employee.

02:50
Some statistics here that I think are really interesting. They define employee engagement as people who show up ready to do the job, give it their full effort and do their best, and that is a certain percentage of people in the workforce. Employees who are not engaged may be spending more time on social media. Maybe they’re taking a few extra minutes in the coffee room while they’re chatting with their coworkers before they get started.

And they’re coming back late from lunch and they’re just kind of skating a little bit. And there are a lot of positions where you can skate. It’s never, ever a good idea. Just because you can does not mean that you should, because when times get crazy or a little dicey, like they are right now, the ones that go are the ones that are disengaged. We actually had a couple of years ago — we had 88% of people who described themselves as engaged. Now we’re down to 64% of people saying they’re engaged, and there’s actually a category which I think is crazy. There’s a category called active disengagement.

04:09
Now I don’t know what that is. I don’t really know how they describe active disengagement specifically or what the percentage is right now, but I sat next to a guy when I worked in big agency land that was definitely disengaged. And he was a young guy. He had some talent, but he showed up late, left early. He was always away from his desk.

He might leave his jacket there, his lunchbox or whatever, but he was never there. And that wasn’t because he was in meetings, because people were always coming by and saying, “Hey, where is Jake?” Wasn’t there, and he often came back from lunch smelling like alcohol, and he just was kind of phoning it in. Trust me, he didn’t last very long. That is an actively disengaged employee. You definitely don’t want to be one of those if you want to have a successful career or make a lot of money because people who are actively disengaged don’t really make a lot of money because they never get promoted.

05:06
So look at this as an opportunity to be a little introspective. Where are you not engaged in your job? How can you be more actively engaged, not necessarily spending more time on the job, but paying more attention, truly giving it your all? That is what is going to make you successful.

So disengagement isn’t just a feeling — it’s an active attitude toward your workplace, and it’s a career killer in slow motion. Trust me, Jake lasted probably six months and then he was gone, and I did change his name to protect the not so innocent, so that’s not really his name.

05:46
So the other thing that I want to talk about during times like these is there are three things that young professionals sometimes wait for that never come. And those things are recognition, opportunity and permission.

And I’ve got to tell you, you can wait for someone to give you recognition, or you can ask for what you want. And I’ll give you an example.

06:13
Now, I was in my 30s, and I thought I was something, I guess, you know, when you get to a certain point in your career and you’re doing great, you’re really happy with it, and you’re performing at a high level. Well, the studio I worked for, I was sales director, and we went through a little bit of a hiccup in the economy. The economy got pretty bad in Metro Detroit back in the 2000s and so we had to cut the payroll budget, and the owner cut the operations guy.

Now the director of operations was the guy that everybody went to when something was wrong, when a customer was acting up, when somebody was complaining about an invoice, when somebody scheduled time and didn’t show up, or two different clients showed up at the same time to work with the same person. Those kinds of problems that will happen in a production studio. And when he was let go, what happened was everybody was lining up outside my door because the owner was kind of off campus most of the time. He really wasn’t around that much.

07:31
And what happened was, over three to six months, I ended up having no authority, but a lot of responsibility, because if somebody came to me with a problem, I didn’t just go, “oh well.” I’d go, “oh God, now what are we going to do?” and I’d be the one trying to figure it out.

So what I did, because it really kind of bothered me over time, and I ended up spending so much more time doing that, is I asked him, “Can I take you out to lunch? I want to talk about what’s happening at the company right now.” And I set him down and said, “I’m really struggling right now because I feel like I am keeping the place running, but I don’t have the authority to do the things that I need to do.”

09:19
But when it comes to leading a project or suggesting an idea or volunteering, you don’t have to wait for permission to do those things.

So I really think that by asking for what you want, by advocating for yourself during this kind of an uncertain economy, you will do better than someone who’s just coming in every day, sitting at their desk and not having a lot happen that has management looking at them in a positive way. That’s what you want to do. It’s not manipulative. You want to perform at the highest levels all the time and during times like these it’s even more important.

10:14
So the other concept I want to introduce here is ownership. If you are sitting back as an employee waiting for your employer to recognize you, give you opportunity, train you, make you a better account executive, a better musician, a better teacher, a better auditor or accountant — whatever it is — take ownership of your career and whatever it is you’re managing.

You’ll hear people say that having an entrepreneurial attitude at work is a really good thing. And here’s why I say that: if you’re an entrepreneur, you know that the buck stops with you. Everything stops right here.

11:37
And you don’t need a budget, you don’t need a formal mentoring program. You need to make a decision that you are going to take ownership. Start asking for stretch assignments. Find a mentor, ask someone if they’ll be your mentor, and go out there and find opportunities to learn.

And I’ll give you one example: if there’s a trade association in your industry and they have regular events, go to those things. Because over time those events contribute to your knowledge base, and you’re able to listen to people who are at the top of their game talk about their field.

13:03
So next up I want to talk about how to stop waiting and start moving, how to make sure that you stand out. And one way to do that is to have that conversation with your boss that changes everything.

It can be anything from “Hey, I have this responsibility now. I need the title.” Or “I really don’t like being a copywriter anymore. I want to see if I can learn graphic design.” Or “I’m in sales right now but I’d like to do something different.”

14:02
And one thing to consider — this is a really great question to use with your coworkers, your team and yourself — is right now are you being an asset or a liability?

Are you an employee that comes in, does the bare minimum, gets paid? Then you are a liability. Now if you’re the high performer giving it your all, you’re the asset. They won’t want to let you go because if they do there will be a big missing piece.

15:03
So how do you make that mindset shift? It’s not easy because we all come with our habits. We come to the workplace with our life habits. We may have gotten them from our parents.

My mother was one of those people that, God love her, when it got hard she quit. And because of that she was always kind of at a clerical or admin level even though she was really smart.

16:00
The decision to say “I am going to be an asset” and do everything I can to be that employee that is hard to replace doesn’t happen overnight. Be the one that’s a lifelong learner. Be curious, be humble, and don’t worry about being a rookie.

Honestly, I don’t think any of us really know what’s going on. We may have wisdom, but we’re all just kind of making it up as we go along.

17:06
So that’s what I’ve got for you. I really appreciate you listening today, and please take a minute to go to my website at workmomsays.com. You’ll find transcripts, blog articles, and the archive of past episodes there.

If you are watching on YouTube, please hit that subscribe button, give me a like and even a comment. I would love to hear from you.

I’m also an open networker on LinkedIn, and I’m Lori Jo Vest there. Please get in touch with me if you’d like to connect — just let me know that you’re a podcast listener. So again, take care, and I’ll be back soon with another episode of Work Mom Says, Don’t Be an Idiot.

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Who is our ideal listener?

This podcast is for young professionals who want to learn to play the emotional context sport of business and experience less drama and more success.

How can you be more logical and less emotional? Be strategic, and Work Mom Says can help you.

“I tell people to back up, put down the magnifying glass, and look at the big picture when you’re responding to something,” said Lori Jo Vest, Work Mom. “In doing this, you will understand that what’s really upsetting you right now will be something you don’t even remember next week.”

What value can people get from listening to this podcast?

Listening to Work Mom Says can help you grow your mood management skills, grow your ability to reframe situations, and look at things from a strategic point of view. This makes it easier to go into a work situation and get the most positive results.

On Work Mom Says, we also offer tips and tricks for creating connected positive relationships that last over time. People will want you on the team if you can create connected positive relationships and work environments. You become an asset, and you will be more successful when you’re an asset.

“I also like to talk about developing traits like optimism, persistence, tenacity, stick-to-itiveness, sticking with things, and approaching every project with a curious mind instead of a fearful mind,” said Lori Jo Vest, Work Mom

                                                                                                     

Why do I do this? A few more words from Work Mom

I do this because I naturally fell into the Work Mom role when I worked in the ad agency business and had so much fun with it. I also realized I had made just about every mistake there was to make. I don’t hold myself as a stellar example of truth and how you should be. I hold myself out there as someone who has been bruised, battered, and beaten up and learned some important lessons. I’d love to share these lessons with young people, so they don’t have to make those same mistakes or be the idiot I was.

I also want to help young professionals realize that many things our culture prioritizes aren’t really important. We talk a lot about what should be important and how to present your best face at the office so that you can succeed.

I’ve learned so much throughout my career, and it’s gratifying to share that with young professionals and help them avoid some of those mistakes and get to that success sooner.