What’s Waiting Outside Your Comfort Zone?
Most highly competent people don’t spend a lot of time boasting about how good they are. These people are generally a delight to work with, but their modesty can be a barrier to getting the credit they deserve. Whether you are looking for a new position or seeking a promotion or internal transfer, it’s essential that you make sure that people know how much value you can bring to them.
My client Marina, with whom I have worked through a number of job changes and employers, wrote me last fall with an update on how she has been navigating at the social service agency where she has worked for nearly five years
I loved what she had to say: “I wanted to share with you that I'm starting a new position at San Francisco Wellness as the development coordinator for the Major Gifts department. I start on 10/1.
“Since the announcement last fall of the closing of our program next year, I've been exploring networking and getting myself out there within the organization. I set up a few informational interviews, I had multiple check-ins with both my director and senior director about what I was looking for. I've also been posting regularly on our internal Teams channel about happenings at our sites. Not everyone at SF Wellness knows what's going on in our public-facing activities because not everyone comes out to volunteer. It was awkward to post my first posts. But eventually I figured out what I wanted to say and then I developed my own style especially with videos.The volunteer management department loved it because they were being appreciated regularly in the posts!... I also participated in a post for US Wellness, our national umbrella organization, where they featured my story. As a result, they now use my picture regularly in their newsletter!
“I participated in two organizational committees where I've been able to contribute regularly. I was pleasantly surprised that I actually enjoy it tremendously. After being on one committee for over a year, the facilitator reached out to me and asked if I would co-facilitate on the 2nd committee. So these cross-functional committees have become a way of learning new skills while interacting and receiving feedback from others at SFW that aren't on my team. I've learned a lot about facilitating meetings and probably have more to learn. But it challenges me in a positive way….
“I'm proud of myself for going out of my comfort zone to get to know others at the organization and just chatting with others. Sometimes our internal teams come out to volunteer so I'm usually welcoming and chatting with them. It turns out one of the members of the Development team remembered me from that interaction. He agreed to chat with me when an opportunity opened on his team after my senior director made an email introduction for me. (She had so many kind things to say about my accomplishments!) We were only supposed to have a 30 minute informational interview which turned into an initial interview. When I had my panel interview with the team, I felt very comfortable with them. It was the most comfortable I felt probably ever. I had a follow-up chat with senior management who had additional questions I never thought that I would ever have to talk about my [corporate] data/spreadsheet experiences but I did! It was just fine!
“I am excited to start this position because it seems interesting to me and will be another arm of SF Wellness that I get to learn about…I feel joy working [here] which is a feeling I hadn't had in years.”
There are several things about this email which give me great satisfaction.
Marina had once felt most comfortable in back office roles and had avoided speaking up even in small groups. Now she is comfortable talking to a wide range of people in settings small and large, formal and informal.
Marina found ways to make herself visible while serving the organization's goals. Her posts and videos served the agency by sharing information and building connections across departments and functions, while at the same time making her visible to colleagues and leaders across the entire organization. While she was building the agency’s image within the national organization, she was also building her own visibility inside her own organization.
She trusted herself to experiment, which means she trusted herself to learn, both from the successes and from the errors that are inevitable when we are learning something new to us. She was willing to step out of her comfort zone to learn new skills and meet new people, and in the process she learned to trust and enjoy herself in roles she hadn’t seen as being “for her” before.
Marina had always been eager to learn, but for a long time her definition of learning was that she needed someone to train her. Now she is also able to learn by observing others (and probably asking them questions about why they do things a certain way). She’s enjoying these challenges, and she’s looking forward to more of them. Clearly the chance to learn and to stretch is one of the reasons she is enjoying her work so much.
She has developed skills which are profoundly transferable, so she will be able to continue to use and develop them in the roles she takes on in the future. Facilitating meetings, communicating through internal channels and informal conversations, and seeking out feedback from knowledgeable managers are all skills which matter in any role with any organization. Such transferable skills are the best “job security” anyone can have, because they have value everywhere.
Of course I also take great satisfaction in knowing that I had a role in guiding Marina when she was unsure of herself and afraid to speak up. It’s a real pleasure for me to help people recognize their strengths and learn to advocate for themselves. It’s sometimes an even greater pleasure when someone lets me know that they have been able to land the next job or promotion without my direct coaching, using skills and self-knowledge I have helped them cultivate. When they take the time to share such successes with me, that’s truly the icing on the cake, because I know that a client has taken what she learned with me and made it her own.
Photo Credit: Andre Furtado via Pexels
I wish I knew whom to credit for something I often quote to clients, friends, even myself: “Most people occupy comfort zones several sizes too small.” When I think about that wise statement, I get physically uncomfortable, as if I were squishing myself into a cramped physical space. When I am physically confined, I will usually seek out a way to give myself a little more room. I might move a chair to give myself more leg room, or I can loosen a shoelace or collar. Even such small acts can help me realize that I’m not as physically stuck as I felt, that I have room to expand or explore.
Similarly, when we are in a tight spot professionally, it makes a big difference to find a manageable first step to give yourself more maneuvering room. Marina started with her director and senior director, who already knew how much she contributed and also knew people in other departments. Then she stretched by posting both internally and externally, even though she felt awkward at first. Of course it took her a little while to become comfortable and to develop her own style, but she persisted and gained confidence. At the same time, she accepted opportunities to join cross-functional committees and then to start co-facilitating a committee. Each step took her a little farther outside her old comfort zone, and by the time she interviewed for the new position she was “the most comfortable I felt probably ever.”
What can you do to expand your professional comfort zone, even if you don’t yet feel that it’s gotten too small for you?
Here are a few ways to get started:
Have a conversation with someone you don’t know well. Ask them how they got into their current role, what they like about it, what they are learning in it. If the prospect of those conversations feels comfortable to you, stretch yourself further by reaching out to someone you don’t know at all to start a conversation about something they have published or accomplished.
Dip your toes into a new skill. Offer to help on a project that’s a departure from your usual activities, or attend a demonstration or introduction to something where you feel like a beginner.
Expand your personal comfort zone. Attend a cultural or civic event that’s new to you or visit someplace you’ve passed many times but never actually stopped to investigate.
Talk to trusted colleagues or friends. You can ask specifically for their advice on what to study, read, or view, but I would also encourage you to be a little more adventurous and take advantage of the fact that sometimes other people see possibilities in us that we don’t notice - ask them what potential they see in you.
Marina’s experience demonstrates that taking the first few steps usually opens many new doors. Don’t wait until you actually feel stuck or confined, but instead make a practice of exploring beyond your current comfort zone. Your life will be more interesting and your professional path more rewarding when you do.