Timestamps

00:04:10: Downsides of moving too soon
00:08:04: Letting your manager know you want to stay
00:09:52: Ideas for action...
00:10:05: ... 1: focus on your in-role impact
00:16:37: ... 2: grow yourself by growing others
00:21:09: ... 3: practise your positioning
00:26:24:  Final thoughts

Interview Transcription

Sarah Ellis: Hi, I'm Sarah.

Helen Tupper: And I'm Helen.

Sarah Ellis: And this is the Squiggly Careers podcast.  Every week, we talk about a different topic to do with work, and share some ideas and actions so that we can all navigate our Squiggly Careers with that bit more confidence, clarity and control. 

Helen Tupper: And one of our values in our company is to be useful, and so in order to be as useful as possible to you, we've also got lots of extra resources to help you in your Squiggly Career.  So, as well as the episode, there is a one-page summary, the Squiggly Careers PodSheet that you can download; and we also have Squiggly Careers in Action, which is a weekly newsletter that has all the links you need related to this podcast, but also lots of other things like Sarah's Borrowed Brilliance, Helen's How-To's, and also some Squiggly Careers' behind the scenes stuff, which is probably just for the people that really like Squiggly Careers, but this is like an insight into our world. 

Sarah Ellis: So, today we're talking about why staying where you are can be really good for your growth.  And I think this is probably a topic that is relevant for all of us for most of our Squiggly Careers, because most of the time we're not moving roles and we don't want to do something different.  We are staying in the jobs that we're in, but what that doesn't mean is being passive or just waiting for the next moment to do something different.  It means creating, not waiting, and actually being really intentional.  Because when you actually ask people what motivates people in their jobs and why people leave, it's not necessarily always, "Oh, I've not been promoted", it's, "Oh, I don't feel like I'm learning and growing anymore".  So, I always feel like that's everybody's first priority.  When you're thinking about the job that you do, how are you going to learn; how are you going to grow?  And there's also this sort of funny challenge that I think we can hold around, is it okay to stay where we are?  Is that okay to say out loud?  What will other people think of me?  Is there some judgment around that?  What if other people are progressing? 

So, we were talking about how comparison can sometimes make us think that staying where we are is not a good thing.  Maybe you see some of your colleagues or your friends moving onwards and upwards and you're like, "Oh, but I'm staying still".  This idea of staying still, you're like, "Oh, that doesn't feel like a positive thing".  Or maybe it might just be some of the questions that we get asked.  Like Helen and I were saying, in career conversations, your manager might ask you something like, "What's your next step?" one of those classic ladder-like career questions.  And then as soon as someone says that, we feel pressure to think, "Oh, well, I feel like I should be talking about I want a promotion, I want to progress, I want to be doing something more than I'm doing today".

Helen Tupper: I've had a few conversations with people over the past couple of months about the podcast where they're like a regular listener and they'll say, "Oh, I really love the podcast, but sometimes I get a sense that I always need to be like doing more".  Let's be honest, if you listen every week, we do cover quite a lot of tools.

Sarah Ellis: Yeah, probably quite a lot of actions!

Helen Tupper: Yeah, quite a lot of actions!  And we're definitely not saying you need to do everything.  But they were like, "Oh, actually, I'm quite happy where I am.  And that doesn't mean that I'm not ambitious for myself and my career.  It just means that I don't necessarily need a new job right now.  This is actually working quite well for me".  But I think the common narrative is that success means seniority, and that's a very ladder-like thing, isn't it, success means seniority.  And therefore, to be successful, you need to be constantly asking, "What's next; what's my next more senior position", and actually I think what we're trying to say is that doesn't need to be your narrative.  Actually, your narrative can be, "How can I stay successful in the job that I'm in today?"  If that job is making you happy, if that job is helping you learn, if that job feels like one you want to stay in a bit longer, that doesn't mean you have to move from it. 

I think it does mean you still have to learn, grow, develop, which is what we're going to talk about, but we want you to be confident in that decision, rather than feel that risk of comparison or that fear in a career conversation that you're going to look unambitious.  So, you do not need to apologise to anybody, if you want to stay in the job that you're in and just succeed where you are.  We're going to try and help you with, well, how do you show people that that is a really good thing?  And how do you confidently talk about that so that you don't feel like you have to say sorry for not wanting to become more senior?

Sarah Ellis: And I think I really remember talking to Carolyn McCall, who is now the Chief Executive of ITV.  And I think at the time, she was at EasyJet, but before that she'd worked for The Guardian, so very shiny and successful person. 

Helen Tupper: Yeah, cool career!

Sarah Ellis: And she's done loads of amazing things.  And I actually really remember her telling this story about some advice she got, which was essentially like, "Stay in roles a bit longer", because there's almost this tipping point when you've been in a job for a while, where you've gone up the steep learning curve, you're starting to be really confident, you've got lots of capability, you know a lot, and then actually your contribution and the impact that you have goes into overdrive.  So, there's almost this crossover point where you're probably gaining a lot and learning a lot when you first start a role, and then there's probably a point where you just start giving a lot.  And often, that's where you can really make a difference, work on those big, exciting projects, put your hands up for things because you're like, "Well, I know what I need to know, I know the basics, I'm good at the brilliant basics, and I can now go beyond that".  And that was some of the advice that she'd been given.  She was like basically, "Don't move on too soon", because you almost miss the opportunity to show what you've got.

I think there's probably a couple of times where I've moved a bit too soon.

Helen Tupper: I think so too; not you!

Sarah Ellis: You're like, "Yes, Sarah, you have"!

Helen Tupper: "Yes, you did"!

Sarah Ellis: You're like, "Do you want me to leave?"  She's like, "Move on now!"  So, I think there were a few times where I was so keen and curious to do different things, and I am really attracted to newness.  Probably I think staying for a bit longer, I would have learned more as a result.  And then, I have also had pressure to progress from organisations, actually only ever with good intentions.  So, when people or leaders were trying to support my progression, maybe they'd got a pathway in mind that they thought I should follow.  And so, they were almost talking to me about it like, "Basically, this is what we want you to do".  And I remember thinking, but actually at that time, I did really enjoy the job that I was in, and I'd got my eye on a few other things that were probably more what I wanted to do.  And so, I really remember having to have one of these conversations where I had to say no to something that they definitely were thinking.

Helen Tupper: I remember this conversation! 

Sarah Ellis: Not like doing you a favour, but it did definitely -- like, you should be shaking my hand and saying, "Yes, please", and I was going to have to figure out a way to nicely say, "No, thank you", but without being judged.  I also then didn't want to be ignored.  It wasn't like I didn't want to keep progressing and learning, just not in that way.

Helen Tupper: I've definitely had those moments.  Well, I think for myself, for a long time, I thought that advancement, as in a more senior role, was achievement, and actually I've had to redefine that as more of, like, achievement is impact, and that actually having an increased impact in where you are, rather than always meaning doing something else.  But I have felt the pressure.  I think sometimes I've pushed for that, but I have felt it where a manager has assumed that bigger is better, as in managing more people, having a bigger budget, "Helen, that's going to be the thing that's best for you".  Whereas I've thought, "Oh, I don't know.  That's not the thing that I enjoy.  Bigger isn't always better for me".  And then, I remember when I started at Microsoft feeling really daunted.  I'd been there maybe a week, and I'd never worked in technology, so I didn't understand the company, any of it.  And people were already talking.  They have a premise called the slate, which is like succession planning, because they so proactively manage people's careers.  It's a brilliant thing, but it's quite daunting when you don't know what you're doing in the job that you're in. 

Sarah Ellis: And you're already like, "What now?  What next?"

Helen Tupper: Yeah, "Where else would you like to grow in Microsoft?  We have so many amazing opportunities", and I'm like, "I don't even know who's in my team.  I'm not ready for this stuff!"  And I do remember thinking, "Do I need to look really ambitious?"  And I am really ambitious, but do I need to look ambitious in that way?  Can it not be okay for me just to do this and be good at this for a bit?

Sarah Ellis: And one thing I think we do sometimes forget, and I've had a few emails with this dilemma, really specifically someone saying, "I really want to keep doing my job and I don't know how to say it, so I don't know how to articulate that to someone else".  And one of the things I always go back to those people with is, "Just put yourself in your manager's shoes for a moment".  Imagine you were your manager, how would you feel if someone in your team came to you and said, "I really enjoy the job that I do, I think I'm good at it and actually I want to be even better, I want to increase my impact, I want to keep learning and growing.  This is what that looks like, but at the moment I am where I want to be".  As a manager, I'm just going, "Dreamy".

Helen Tupper: "I am where I want to be".  I'd be so happy!

Sarah Ellis: I would just be like, "Well firstly, you're obviously enjoying it, so I'm doing a decent job as a manager".  Secondly, obviously people leaving is going to happen, but as a manager, it does always create work.  You're like, "Right, I've got to find someone else". 

Helen Tupper: "Here we go again". 

Sarah Ellis: "And I've got to upskill that person".  And managers get very used to that, but they also need a mix of that.  Because I mean, I have sometimes led teams where everybody wanted to progress in a way that I couldn't make happen.  So, it'd be like, "Well, can you promote me?"  I'd be like, "Well, no, we haven't got enough roles".  Or then, also people are maybe looking in other teams for more senior jobs.  And if we all wanted to do the same things in the same way, it's an issue.  It's not, like, you're not going, "Oh, that makes my life easier".  So, I think this is about both being really intentional for you as an individual, so staying still shouldn't mean standing still in your learning and growth; but also thinking about how you say this to someone in a way that feels confident and just doesn't feel like you're, like you say, being passive or waiting or opting out.  I actually think it should feel really good for you, but also really good for your manager.

Helen Tupper: So, we've got a couple of different ideas for action, which are all about how can you succeed in the role that you're already in so you can feel good about staying where you are, and you can also make an impact in your role as well.  So, the first thing to do is to focus on your in-role impact.  And this is looking for small ways that you can increase the value of the work that you're doing.  That might be you're a manager, that could be for your team, that could be for the business more broadly, but you might want a few prompts to help you to do this.  So, we tend to think about, 'people, projects and processes' are some good prompts to start with.  So, if I was to think about, like, I'm quite happy where I am by the way. 

Sarah Ellis: Are you?

Helen Tupper: I love my job.

Sarah Ellis: I'm going to pressure you to progress so that I can get rid of you and dominate and rule the world!

Helen Tupper: I mean, it sounds like a joke, but she might be serious! 

Sarah Ellis: No, because then I'll just have to post on LinkedIn every day like you do. 

Helen Tupper: That's true!

Sarah Ellis: So, I need you for that.

Helen Tupper: That's the value that I add!  Okay, I'll come back to that point in a minute with that understanding.  So, if I take my job, happy where I am, want to grow in the job that I'm in, want to contribute to the company that I work in, if I take 'people' and think, "How can I increase my impact with the people that I work with?" actually that could be, "Well, what I'm going to do over the next six months is I'm going to help people live more of their values at work.  I'm going to ask them what their top priority value is.  I'm going to work with them on sort of coaching or mentoring them to do more of what gives them fulfilment".  So, that would be one way I could increase my impact in managing those people.  If I think about 'processes', it could be the process for how we work on the podcast.  I'm going to increase my impact by creating a process that helps us to be more efficient with how we record the podcast and help people with the content.  And I think about 'projects', I'm going to increase my impact maybe by starting a project or prototyping a project, which we've been talking about for a while. 

So, literally just using those three prompts is a really good way to think, "Well, what could I do that just builds on what I'm already doing and the job that I'm already in, but just helps me to increase my impact a bit more?"  So, this can feel quite close to you.  I think this is a very easy starting place of increasing your impact.

Sarah Ellis: And this is really nice as well, because it feels very continual improvement, growth mindset, very work in progress.  And it does show that you have that appetite to just go, "Well, how can I make this better?" and I'm not just going to do things on repeat and not have too much sameness, or I'm not stuck or set in my ways.  I think sometimes that's a fear, isn't it, of like, "I'm just going to do the same year again".  Whereas actually, I think just by doing what you've described, it keeps pushing you to be like, "Oh, is there another way of doing this, or could I experiment with this differently?" 

Helen Tupper: Well, I don't think you want to look passive, that's the thing.  I think if you decided, "I'm happy where I am, I love what I'm doing, I think the moment that you are a bit passive is the moment that other people start probing and going, "Well, Helen, I think, could you pick up this?  Could you maybe do this?" and you lose a bit of control over it.  Whereas I think if you're proactive, it's a bit like with feedback, you go and ask for feedback, then it's less of a surprise.  So, by doing this, you're staying where you are and doing the thing that you enjoy, but you're just being proactive about how you do it, and I think it keeps other people at bay.

Sarah Ellis: So, if you've begun by thinking about some of those prompts, that's very much building better from where you already are.  You could also then try what's called job crafting.  So, job crafting is being really intentional about your role and responsibilities.  And it's not a word actually that's that common.  So, actually, when I say 'job-crafting' in workshops that we run, people are often really intrigued.  They're like, "Oh, what is that?  How does that work?"  Because it sounds quite interesting, doesn't it?  "Oh, how can I craft my job?"  I think job-crafting is hard to do by yourself, because usually your role impacts other people's roles too.  But this is definitely how you could stay in the same role and think a bit more about, "Well, what would need to change in my current job so that maybe I do get some new experiences, I could stretch my strengths, use my strengths in new situations, I do a bit more of A but a bit less of B?"  And actually, talking about that together with your manager, that's really proactive.  I don't think that many people do that.  But people's jobs do change, but that change often happens to them or accidentally or organically. 

Your job today, I bet you hardly anybody's job today is where it was 12 months ago, but how much of that was determined by you and how much of that happened to you?

Helen Tupper: I think if you need a few ideas for job crafting, because I think sometimes people just sort of know what they want to do and they can do it, but I sometimes find looking on LinkedIn at jobs that are very similar to the one that you do at the moment, and just reading through, you know when it has like the bullet point of responsibilities, and being like, "Oh, that's interesting that they've put that into that job".  Sometimes it can spark an idea of, "Well, how could I evolve my role a little bit more?"

Sarah Ellis: Yeah, or maybe other people that you work with across other teams, "Oh, they get the opportunity to do these big cross-functional projects.  I wonder if that's something I could get involved in".  Sometimes I think as well, we assume that we can't get involved in things, or that can't be part of my job, but we haven't actually ever said it out loud.  Sometimes, I think when you talk to managers, I've done this quite a few times, I think this comes quite naturally to me because I like creating, so I'm very happy to craft my own job.  I actually don't need any external stimulus, I will just make it up. 

Helen Tupper: That's so true!

Sarah Ellis: But I really like a blank piece of paper, so I'm just like, "Well, I can just do this out of my own head".  But when I have done it, I think just don't expect to get all yeses straight away.  I feel like sometimes there are some easy wins that you can talk about with your manager and straight away they can be like, "Yeah sure, get involved in that, you can do that".  And then there are often a few that might take a little bit longer to materialise.  Or, your manager then can be on the lookout on your behalf.  So, there might not be something right here and right now, but if they know you want to do more cross-functional work, the next time a project is being talked about to them, they'll think, "Oh, Sarah said she wants to do that as part of being intentional about her job and building in her job today", and suddenly you pull those possibilities towards you. 

Helen Tupper: Well I think it's why the 'start by' thing works well though, right, because if I start by thinking about, "How can I increase my impact in those areas?" then I'm going to be doing a better job for you, and you are way more likely to say yes when I say, "Actually, there's this other area that I'd really like to spend a bit of time in".  And you're like, "Okay, you're doing a really good job at the moment".  Whereas I think if you're passive in a job and people aren't seeing that, they're probably less likely to let you go do something a little bit around the edges of your role. 

Sarah Ellis: I was just thinking about how many times I've written my own job description. I think it's quite high! 

Helen Tupper: Yeah, "I think I could do something that looks like this, exactly this"! 

Sarah Ellis: I've had that conversation!  If any of my managers, I think a couple of my previous managers do listen, they'll just be like, "Oh yeah --"

Helen Tupper: "I remember that conversation"!

Sarah Ellis: "-- I remember Sarah turning up and being like, 'Oh, how about this?'"

Helen Tupper: So, the next idea for action is to grow yourself by growing others.  And I really like this one because sometimes I think, I don't know, sometimes making your career -- your career is all about you, but sometimes that can feel a bit selfish, it's not always the most motivating thing.  I'm much more motivated if I think, "Oh, how can I help other people grow?"  I find that a much more motivating starting place.  But the benefit is that by growing other people, you can grow yourself, and it's a bit of a career win.  In fact, it is a triple career win if you grow yourself by growing others. 

The first thing is, if I'm going to, let's say, I'm going to help Sarah grow.  Would you like me to help you grow? 

Sarah Ellis: Sure. 

Helen Tupper: I'm going to help Sarah grow.  So, maybe I'm going to act as a mentor to Sarah.  So, my first win in helping Sarah to grow is that I'm going to develop that skill of mentoring.  And mentoring is such a useful career skill.  To be a good mentor, first of all I need to be good at listening.  I might say to Sarah, "What's going on at the moment?"  I need to be very good at asking questions, so, "How can I help you?  What else have you thought about?  What have you tried?"  It's also quite a good coaching skill as well.  And then, the other thing is that ability to give advice, to think about not just what do I think is useful, what do I want to say, but actually in hearing Sarah's situation, thinking about, "What's the most relevant insight I've got for you?"  So, mentoring is such a useful career skill and helping somebody else by being a mentor also helps you develop that skill.  So, that's win number one. 

Second win is that by sharing what I know with Sarah about a situation I've been on or a skill or some expertise that I've got, is a really useful way to reinforce your learning.  So, the best way to learn is to teach somebody else.  So, maybe I'm helping someone out by doing a five-minute presentation in a meeting, or maybe I'm helping somebody else by writing a how-to guide of how to, I don't know, write a book or start a side project.  These are things that we could do.  That is the best way for me to learn, because I have to go through that experience and articulate it in a clear and useful way, and it reinforces that knowledge for me.  So, second win in helping someone else is going to help you learn by articulating what you know. 

The third is, this is going to feel really good.  Because when you help other people, what happens is this thing called the 'helper's high' that psychologists have found.  Our brain gets a bit of a boost.  So, I come away from a situation where I've helped somebody, and I just feel useful, I feel valuable, and that's just in the job that you're in.  You're not really doing anything dramatically different, you're just mentoring, you're teaching someone what you already know, and you're helping someone grow so that it feels good for you.  So, grow yourself by growing others is a pretty smart strategy. 

Sarah Ellis: It's such a good example, isn't it, of what Adam Grant would say in terms of 'givers gain more', because actually this is all about having a giving mindset.  So, what you've just described is, "Well if I figure out what I've got to give, who I'm going to give it to, and how I'm going to give it, and then actually I sort of gain more as a result".  And it's almost being back to your point about being intentional, we're not just saying, "Oh, just help those more people to grow".  We're actually saying, be really thoughtful about how you can be helpful.  So, maybe it is you've got a technical skill that you can teach to other people that actually can be really helpful.  Maybe it's that you know your organisation really well.  And I always think, if you're someone who can say navigate a big company because you've been there for a while, you understand how it's all connected, I talk to so many people where they say in their first year, that's what they feel like they're just trying to navigate like, "How does this place work?"  All the unwritten rules or the things that are hard to see. 

So, if you're someone who knows, actually maybe you could offer to support with things like inductions, or with people who are in their first 100 days, and maybe you become that go-to person of almost like you're the ChatGPT for your first 100 days in your company.  Imagine if you had like a message board and you're just like, "I now need to go to something", and there'll always be an acronym, "I've got to go to the WIP.  What does WIP actually mean here?"  I think you can just be really useful.  And again, it's not loads more effort and energy.  It's probably just kind of, again, a build on where you already are.

Helen Tupper: Well, so you know like the frequently asked questions, just thinking about the ChatGPT thing? 

Sarah Ellis: Yeah.

Helen Tupper: I think that's another thing.  You can just start spotting, "What are the frequently asked questions that are coming my way or are coming the team's way that I could create some useful summaries that I've always got.  I know people have got these questions and I'll just be the person who's really helpful in responding to them".

Sarah Ellis: And so, the final idea here is to practice your positioning.  So, I think sometimes we do know that we want to stay in the jobs that we're in, but we just don't know how to say it.  We're mindful of some of those challenges around going, "I don't want to be seen as somebody who doesn't care or someone who isn't committed, and also I don't want to be disregarded.  It doesn't mean that I'm never interested in opportunities, it just means in this moment, I'm sort of where I want to be".  I know it always feels hard and it is always a bit cringy, but I think you learn a lot by saying something out loud.  And actually, I was reading some research recently about this skill of self-explaining, and how when you explain to yourself just in front of nothing, you could just stand up and say something or you could record a voice note, if you're just trying to create a moment, actually you realise the gaps you've got, the words you want to say, what doesn't feel quite right.  Very rare that you'll do this in one take, I reckon.  But we had a go at writing one down. 

So, I could imagine just saying, if Helen was my manager, "I'm really enjoying the job that I do today, and I want to think about how else I can increase my impact.  I've had three ideas because I've been having a think about this.  So, I want to run those by you, and then you might have some more ideas, or just to get your point of view and perspective".  For me it wouldn't be any more complicated, or I don't think I would want to explain any more than that.  What I would want my manager to know, I wasn't expecting them to come up with the ideas, but that I was involving rather than solving.  So, I wasn't also just going, "Well, I've done all the thinking, you just need to accept it and I'm not expecting you to do all of the make it happen".  I suppose if you were going to be really good about this you might have thought about the help that you need from your manager.  So, you know, is there anything specific that your manager can help you with to learn and grow in your role?  So, for example, "If you do spot any opportunities to work on these projects, that's definitely something I'd be keen to get involved in".  Again, let someone know how they can be helpful for you, and I don't think it would be more than that for me.  And then, I think I would just want my manager to know that I'm really caring and committed. 

I perhaps would talk about learning goals, that might be the other thing, because we never want to stop learning and growing in the jobs that we do, and I still see that lots of people don't have learning goals.  So, this might also be a good moment to connect the dots and say, "One of the learning goals I've got for this year is… to stretch this strength, to be in beginner mode when it comes to the new technology that we're experimenting with around AI in our company".  What are one or two of your learning goals?  Learning goals can be around strengths, they can be about gaps you've got, about being a beginner, or following your curiosity.  Maybe pick one of those and again involve your manager in going, "Well, how am I going to make progress on that goal?" 

Helen Tupper: I was thinking when you were talking then about less about a job, more about -- I was thinking, "Oh, actually, I do feel this at the moment".  So, I have lots of conversations with people about our company's growth.  And sometimes I feel a pressure, like they will say --

Sarah Ellis: "Why are you not growing more?"

Helen Tupper: "Well, they'll kind of be like, "Oh, what are the goals of the business in the next ten years?" which is kind of the equivalent of the career progression pressure.

Sarah Ellis: Actually, I get asked that quite a lot.

Helen Tupper: And I think the assumption is, just like with ladders, that you want to become more senior, I think the assumption I feel from lots of people is that you need to 10x your business in order to be successful.  And so, I'm sort of practising, I haven't quite cracked it, you know this positioning statement, I'm just sort of practising at the moment where it sounds like I love the job that I do and I love the impact that we have and I love who I get to work with, and I basically want to get a bit better and become even more useful, but I'm really open to what that looks like.  I'm sort of trying to practise that statement so that I feel really confident in when people say, "But when are you going to exit?  And how much investment do you want?"  I don't want any of that stuff.  I just want to do more of what I'm really enjoying and do it a bit better.

Sarah Ellis: Yeah, you're right.  That's probably our equivalent for that now, because we do different jobs. 

Helen Tupper: Yeah, I get that a lot.

Sarah Ellis: Yeah, someone said to me, "Yeah, so what do you want to happen in seven years' time?"  I don't know why they'd gone for seven years, but it felt like it was something they asked, I reckon, a lot of people.  So, she was like, "Yeah, in seven years' time, what's going to be different?"  And I was thinking, "Oh, I quite like what I'm doing.  More of this?"  I was like, there's nothing I'd take away.  Obviously, you still have ambitions and things you want to try out.  But I mean, obviously that's good credit to we do jobs that we like, but like you said, I felt a bit stuck.  And then, I actually I felt a bit embarrassed that I wasn't saying some of those things and you're not talking about, like, how big you want your revenue to be or how many people you want to employ, just because I think we're just sometimes a bit trapped in our own thinking.  But until you start, this is why I think you have got to practise it.  And then, like you said, you even then saying that to me, I was like, "Oh, yeah, that sounded good.  I'll just say something a bit like that". 

Helen Tupper: Yeah, you say it out loud and I think I feel easier practising it now, because obviously sometimes at the moment I'm just saying it with people and I'm like, "What does this sound like?"  So, I do think practising the positioning statement is a really useful thing, because you want to feel confident in that conversation.  I don't want to feel like I'm apologising for loving what I'm doing and wanting to stay doing it. 

Sarah Ellis: It would be ironic, wouldn't it? 

Helen Tupper: Yeah, "I'm so sorry I don't want to sell our business"! 

Sarah Ellis: So, quick summary for you.  Three ideas for action today.  One: focus on your in-role impact, begin by thinking about projects, people, and process, how can you make all of those a bit better than where you are today, that continual improvement mindset?  And then, try some job-crafting, being even more intentional about your roles and responsibilities.  Two: thinking about growing yourself to grow others, that 'givers gain more' mentality and mindset.  So, who can you help and how can you help?  And then finally, practise your positioning.  Just be confident in saying out loud what you want to happen.  And just remember, your manager is probably going to be quite grateful for it. 

Helen Tupper: So, that's everything for this week's episode.  We hope you found that useful.  Don't forget, all the ideas are summarised in the PodSheet.  So, go to amazingif.com, sign up for Squiggly Careers in Action, and you'll get those really easily to your inbox. 

Sarah Ellis: That's everything for this week, thank you so much for listening and see you again soon.