Is the only way up?
One of the things that made me consider freelancing was because going up the ladder stopped appealing. I’ve always been quite ambitious. With each job move I’ve sought a better role, and apart from one sideways move, that always meant a better title, better wage and more responsibility. Another step up the ladder. But at some point in my last role, I realised I’d lost the appetite for going further up. The director or even CEO roles friends and family found me held no appeal. Okay, that’s not true, some of the wages were pretty tasty – but that level of organisational responsibility, no chance. I’d already fulfilled a deputy CEO role relatively young at 25 of a small charity so it was based on some insight of the scale of the work.
What’s changed?
Admittedly, a lot of life has changed since my early ambitious career days. I now have a family, and since my first child, I’ve been working part-time to balance work and childcare. Even with the increased flexibility lots of jobs offer now, I think there’s still a challenge to undertake more senior roles while part-time – I know how I struggled even without being part of the SMT in my last role. There are definitely times of being part-time on paper (and in paycheck) but still cramming fulltime ish hours in because of the length of the to-do list. I know I need to take a lot of ownership of that too, and absolutely should have been more boundaried.
The other aspect of being part-time is being able to have a better work-life balance. Now my days off work have been days looking after the kids so actually days off and not necessarily always better for my sanity! But the simple exercise of having half the week at work and half the week not has been a game-changer for my work ambition. It’s taken me out of the rat race, in a good way. It’s got me outside more in the week, catching up with more friends, having adventures, doing loads of those simple things that bring kids joy like trampolines, beach trips and parks. It’s been grounding, and life-affirming. And while the finances take a knock in terms of less income (and huge childcare bills), it’s been the right call for our family.
Finally, it’s also helped because I think we’ve probably peaked for expensive periods in life. The combination of a mortgage in a not-so-cheap part of the UK and childcare bills in the same not-so-cheap area of the UK meant a big chunk of income was ring-fenced. While it’s been painful, it’s also been helpful to know what’s possible on our wages and what our baseline income would need to be.
What is progression?
It got me thinking – why do we default to thinking of progression as going upwards? Is the only way we can progress career-wise to keep rising in seniority? We’ve all experienced managers who may be technical specialists but aren’t great at the wider management role, or those who simply don’t seem comfortable at a senior level. Did they want to make the move, or did they feel they should? I don’t want to fall into the trap of trying to go to more senior levels when my heart isn’t in it. Why chase the title, just for the title’s sake? You might get kudos for the level you achieve, but what’s the point if it’s to the detriment of the other bits of your life?
Does it make you seem unambitious not to chase seniority? And if so is that okay – just not to be ambitious in that way anymore? How comfortable are you in claiming you’ve found the right level for you? Whether or not you’ve tried out the level above? Some people simply don’t want to mange others, or budgets, or be in a position to line up behind corporate messages or have to put their head too far above a parapet in defence of a team/project/organisation. That’s not necessary a bad thing. That’s knowing who you are.
I can’t help but wonder what results you’d get if you canvassed opinions from friends and family. It’s a bit like the default to going into 9-5 Monday – Friday employment which I think is still quite ingrained in us as a society. I think we’re also slightly stuck in believing that we have to progress upwards, that success is upwards, status is upwards, fulfilment is upwards. And maybe a great lesson out of Covid is bringing a different perspective of there being another way, that it’s better to focus on wellbeing, and understanding yourself.
If not up, where?
When I was thinking about my next move, I got stuck. If I don’t fancy going up in seniority – where do I go? Sideways? A new sector? Retrain entirely? Something I hadn’t thought of yet?! I’d made my peace with not wanting senior management. Not right now at least. Possible ever, but maybe never say never. But I still felt ambitious and wasn’t sure how to channel it. Freelance was the magic move I didn’t realise offered what I was after – an opportunity to do a range of levels, chase a higher wage, have responsibility for my own business but sidestepping the extra corporate gubbins that comes with seniority in an organisation bigger than one person. Not only have I not missed employment, at this point, I also can’t imagine doing back.
Photo by Ethan Johnson on Unsplash