When thinking about career opportunities here at Spectrum Health I reflect on the immense growth and change we have experienced here over the last 18 years I have worked for this organization. I often tell my own story starting in 1999 as a full-time temporary project manager for Y2K, becoming a Manager with the implementation of a new EMR and then serving many different Director level roles across the Information Services team. Each change was driven by two things: (1) my readiness for the challenge AND (2) a role needed to be filled. Preparation meets Opportunity.
Promotions are determined by not only a person’s preparation for the next level but there also needs to be an opportunity/need for the role in the organization. Some organizations promote people when they were ready, not really considering that we might not need that level of skill on a team. As a result, some teams might have all highly skilled people even if the work really did not require that skill mix. When the skill balance does not match the work, this was not very satisfying for anyone. The other impact is that we can miss the opportunity to develop new talent by not having spots for entry level team members.
This is the time of year when our leaders start to prepare for the budgeting process for the upcoming fiscal year. As a part of that process there is a discussion about the work, the number and skill level and roles that as needed to do the work. This helps us plan and budget now and into the future.
The thing in the equation that we each can control is our own readiness for the next opportunity. We do this by learning and developing ourselves, taking on new challenges and doing solid work. Sometimes we are qualified to move to the next level and the opportunity is just not there yet. This is not the time to back off of our development plans; this is the time to double down. Each of us has so much capacity to learn new things, take on new challenges and prepare ourselves for what is next in our career. This is really what makes our careers fun and challenging.
