Up Is Not The Only Way: Rethinking Career Mobility

This deceptively light and easy-to-read book will likely give you pause for thought, whatever career path you're pursuing. It delivers a liberating message: to follow your own interests and passions as best you can within your own individual circumstances. You may find that moving sideways, downward – or not moving at all – can give you more choice and more job satisfaction than moving up.

The lead author, Beverly Kaye, is a workplace performance coach, best-selling author, and the founder of Career Systems International, or CSI. You can hear an Expert Interview with Kaye on the Mind Tools site. Co-author Lindy Williams is a designer and senior consultant at CSI, while Lynn Cowart is CSI's vice president for quality delivery.

So keep listening to find out about the "kaleidoscope view," how to achieve career mobility, and how a lateral move can promote personal growth.

This practical guide is divided into 10 chapters. Each concludes with a section titled, "Think About It" – a set of questions to ask yourself and discuss with others. The book is also enhanced by brief but thought-provoking case studies, termed "mobility moments."

From the get-go, the authors clearly want to challenge readers to look at career progression in new ways.

They point out that career mobility depends on professional growth, stretching and learning. It's not necessarily about promotion, changing roles, departments or companies. It's achievable without moving anywhere, but taking action is key.

The authors present the kaleidoscope as the ideal metaphor for visualizing career mobility. Made from three mirrors, a kaleidoscope is surprisingly simple in structure. In the metaphor, each mirror represents one of the three foundations of every career: skills, interests and values.

You acquire skills throughout your career, so take a moment to think about what's in your collective toolkit. What are your passions? What do you wish to invest more in? What's important to you? The answers to these questions will be uniquely yours, and they'll help you choose roles that are a good fit with your three foundation mirrors.

We learn there are four basic rules to adopting a multifaceted – or kaleidoscopic – view of your career.

First, learn to appreciate patterns. Even if a job change is imposed on you, and beyond your control, every twist can provide new and exciting options. The kaleidoscope gives you a flexible view that can reveal new opportunities.

Second, encourage optionality. This means always having multiple options – a plan A and B, maybe even C – so that you're never stuck or disappointed when one plan gets taken away from you.

Third, balance money and meaning. The authors point out that younger workers – the Millennials – tend to look for more than financial reward. Fulfillment and a sense of purpose are just as important for them when it comes to career development.

The final element is orbiting. The flattening of hierarchies in organizations has enabled a freedom of movement across teams, roles and departments. Moving expertise to where it's most needed, on a project-to-project basis, enriches the careers of those involved.

So if up is not the only way, what are the other options? Chapter three introduces six alternative career experiences that can lead to fulfilling progress at work. These are: enrichment, exploratory, lateral, realignment, vertical, and relocation, and they each get a chapter to themselves.

The first, enrichment, is explored in chapter four. Here, the authors show us how we can develop and grow in the job we already have, by starting to think of your desk as a learning hotspot, where you can deepen your understanding of the role and cultivate your expertise.

Ask yourself, "What have I learned this week?" The answer may surprise you. By shifting your mindset you may become aware of enrichment opportunities already being offered to you. For example, when a mentor invites you to undertake a new challenge or your boss delegates a task, don't dismiss it as "extra work." Seize this opportunity for stretching and developing. You could also volunteer to take on new tasks, or mentor someone else in your area of expertise.

Chapter five advocates an exploratory "try before you buy" experience. After all, it's easy to think a job looks good from the outside, but you might feel very different when you're actually in that role. Shadowing someone in a position you're thinking of applying for, or taking on a short-term project in that department, gives invaluable insight into the realities of that role before you commit.

Enrichment and exploratory options both carry little risk, because you're learning and growing on the job. For this reason, they should be used as starting points for thinking about career change and mobility.

The following four experiences require greater change, and are therefore more risky. But remember, the authors tell us, most regrets in life concern things we didn't do. So, if an opportunity matches your skill set, interests and values, their advice is to go for it.

Lateral or sideways career moves are the focus of chapter six. Because organizational structures are becoming flatter, lateral career moves can offer some great benefits. These include generating or reinvigorating a passion for your work, increasing your visibility across the organization, and expanding your network of connections.

Sideways moves may not come with more money, but they can offer a wealth of personal growth opportunities. They can build the depth and breadth of your expertise, which may help you catch the eye of senior management. This may open the door to promotion in the future, if and when that feels right to you.

How do you know when you've reached that point? The authors address that question in chapter eight. Promotion is a highly visible step, so it's important to ensure it's the right move at the right time for you. Are you ready for more responsibility? Would it be better to wait for a more appropriate time or role?

The authors warn against getting dazzled by the glitter on offer, such as an increase in status and salary. Of course, vertical moves come with upsides, but they also come with trade-offs, so ask yourself if the role fits with your passions and values, and consider how it will affect your work-life balance. Then talk to others about their experience of moving up.

If a vertical move is in the cards, in your own career or for someone you mentor, we highly recommend reading this chapter.

The fifth option presented in this book is a well-considered and voluntary decision to step back or down from your current position. "Really?" you may be thinking. Won't this be perceived as a demotion or failure to cope? The authors acknowledge this challenge, and are keen to point out the benefits of such a move.

They discuss the common, but misguided practice of rewarding talented employees with a promotion to management. Even when it's well meant, if a position doesn't fit with someone's interests, values or skills, they'll soon feel compelled to jump ship. It's much better to create an environment that supports realignment and allows highly valued employees to switch down if they want to.

The authors advise that realignment should either be for a season or a reason. If it isn't a short-term breather to reassess your career, then it should be part of a long-term plan that enables onward mobility. For example, taking a lower-level position can help you acquire new skills or expertise. And a switch to a part-time or job-share arrangement can provide a better work-life balance and the chance to pursue other passions or commitments.

This is all very well, but how can we begin to alter negative perceptions of moving downward? First, it's important to emphasize that, usually, individuals decide to realign this way, not the organization.

Second, changing how we think and talk about realignment is vital. It should be seen as a positive choice to refocus, shift, adjust, or switch our career path.

Nevertheless, realignment needs to be well-managed. Mentors and leaders should play a key supportive role. If you're the one moving down, talk to your manager about how your move will be communicated, so you can both prepare responses to likely questions from your team members, such as: "Why are you doing this?" "How does this impact on us?" "What happens to your existing role?"

Once the move's been announced, leaders should be ready to step in and help reframe the way co-workers view the change – and the colleague involved. This will also pave the way for anyone else who wishes to step back and refocus their career.

Chapter nine considers the sixth and biggest career transition: relocation. It's important to point out that, in this book, relocation means voluntarily walking out the door. This section is mainly about helping leaders and mentors advise and support a colleague through this transition. The authors urge leaders to explore the reasons behind someone's decision to relocate and, where possible, seek and suggest solutions that would persuade them to stay.

We're told there are three root causes behind most decisions to relocate. The first common trigger is a sense that you're stagnating in your current role. As you heard earlier, career development is crucial to career satisfaction.

It may be possible to find a whole host of growing experiences you weren't aware of within your organization. So, if you're the one thinking of leaving, make sure you've checked that out. If you manage the person who's thinking of leaving, be proactive about exploring solutions with him or her.

The second reason for moving elsewhere may surprise you. It's the attraction of working with friends. Friendship among colleagues is extremely good for business. It boosts retention, productivity and profitability. But the flip side of this loyalty is that when a friend goes elsewhere, it's likely others will want to follow.

If you feel this pull, it's important to keep your head. Ask about the real professional benefits of such a move. What opportunities does it offer? How will you go about making a new set of connections? How long will it take to gain a status that has influence? What about salary and benefits? Posing these questions will likely reveal that the grass may not be greener, or that there's a mountain of research still to be done before you can move with confidence.

The third and final factor is simply that the time for a new chapter has come. This is usually a done deal. The good news is that the decision to move to a new organization is no longer what it once was. The door needn't be locked firmly behind you.

An "elegant exit" can pave the way for a possible return. Indeed, so-called "boomerang" employees have a lot to offer. They've got the advantage of already being familiar with your organization, with the added benefit of newly acquired experience, knowledge and skill sets from outside.

Once the decision to leave is final, leaders should support well-considered moves and make sure their colleague receives a positive and encouraging send-off. This is especially important given that most notice periods start months before departure. A lot of work can and should continue to be achieved in this time.

If it's appropriate, this might include sowing the seeds for a possible return in the future. Even if a return isn't in the cards, remember that alumni can serve as powerful ambassadors for your organization. Former colleagues may prove your greatest recruitment ally.

So what's our last word on "Up Is Not The Only Way"? Are the authors applying rose-colored glasses to a failure to gain promotion?

In our opinion, the answer's a firm "no." There's a lot to be gained from reassessing the way we see and navigate our career opportunities. The authors tell us that shifting from a telescopic view to a kaleidoscopic approach has helped numerous people find a career option they hadn't even been aware of, much less considered, before.

This book sets out to change professional mindsets from a "do or die" approach, to a "do or do" approach that leaves us open to, and ready for, new possibilities. It urges us to start conversations that will help us create our own uniquely complex and intricate career patterns. We believe this approach has the potential to deliver a richer, more fulfilling, more enjoyable work life – so let's get talking!

"Up Is Not The Only Way" by Beverly Kaye, Lindy Williams and Lynn Cowart is published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

That's the end of this episode of Book Insights. Thanks for listening.