A community is a group of goal-oriented individuals with similar beliefs and expectations. As humans, we have the desire to belong and that is what connects us in many relationships. Community involvement is also an essential part of career development. In this episode, you will learn how community support can help professionals and executives grow their careers.
Community support can help to facilitate career growth in more ways than one. According to a 2021 study by Deloitte Consulting, having a strong workplace community and feeling like you belong can lead to a 56% increase in job performance, a 50% reduction in turnover risk, and a 75% decrease in sick days.
Our host and CEO Porschia will be sharing some useful insights on this topic and also discussing the importance of community support in career development.
What you’ll learn:
- Why you should be a part of a strong, career-focused community
- Importance of cooperation and collaboration for career growth
- 3 ways a community supports career success
As a thank you for listening to this episode of the Career 101 Podcast, we are sharing our FREE master class – Career 911: Solving the Top 5 Challenges Executives and Professionals Have! It’s a training based on solving the common problems our clients have experienced to reach their goals. You can get access to the master class here!
Episode Transcript
Porschia: [00:00:00] How do you feel when you hear the word community?
What are the first thoughts that come to your mind? There are different opinions on what a community is and what the purpose of communities are. One definition of community is a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common. Another definition of community is a feeling of fellowship with others as a result of common attitudes, interests, and goals.
I really like both of these definitions of community, because I think they get to the essence and meaning. There is an African proverb that says, If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. [00:01:00] That proverb highlights the importance of a community. Yes, it is possible for you to make strides and get things done quickly by yourself.
But if you want to go far, you will need the help, support, and resources of others. I think one of the things that attracted me to coaching is I truly believe in our clients. But also understand that most executives and professionals don’t have a supportive community. So, this episode is on Community 101.
Three ways a community supports career success. I’ve seen many executives and professionals resist the idea of being in a community. I’ve been told a lot of reasons why a community is not a good fit for them. Some people are lone rangers [00:02:00] who prefer to work alone as opposed to in groups.
Others are fearful that people in a community might steal their ideas or sabotage them in some way. I’ve also heard professionals tell me that being in a community takes too much time and energy. And one of the most common things I hear is that people say they have friends and family, so they don’t need another community outside of that.
In our last episode, I discussed support system 101 and went into detail about why you need a career support system that does not include your close friends and family members. There are many benefits to being in a community and getting meaningful support is one of them. In this episode, I’m going to share three ways that a [00:03:00] community supports your success.
The first way that a community supports your career goals is through connection. Being connected allows you to be a part of a group. If that group is in alignment with who and how you really are, then you will probably find that it is easy to connect with others in the group. For example, our clients are generally ambitious or high achievers.
When I introduce one of our clients to another client, they usually find some common ground quickly, just based on those characteristics. As humans, we naturally form relationships. That is a way for us to connect with others in a healthy way. Before the pandemic, three in five Americans reported being lonely.
After the [00:04:00] pandemic, that number increased, especially for younger people. There are countless studies that you can find to reinforce how connection can improve your mental health. Increase your lifespan, improve your quality of life, and lead to a greater sense of fulfillment. How do you feel about your sense of connection with others regarding your career goals?
What I’ve seen after working with hundreds of clients is that Looking for connection at your current job is not enough. With the massive amounts of reorganizations, layoffs, and disruption globally, you can’t just count on your employer for connection. Other people are working in an extremely negative or toxic environment, so even if they have a job, um, [00:05:00] It’s not healthy to cultivate a connection there.
We help our clients be part of a strong community with a focus on their career goals.
The second way that a community can help with your career success is through collaboration. The truth is, no matter how smart or experienced you are, you don’t know everything and you can’t do everything yourself. I often see clients who are teetering on the line of burnout because either they don’t know how to collaborate to achieve their goals.
Or they are unwilling to collaborate. Collaboration involves many aspects, including brainstorming, knowledge sharing, and working together. Cooperation is another similar concept to collaboration that can be achieved within a community. [00:06:00] Do you really know how to work with others as part of a high functioning team?
Being a part of collaborates on projects and goals can lead to career success. Sometimes I see clients who are part of a professional organization or association that collaborates to achieve goals. I often see that the collaboration occurring between numerous executives and professionals far exceeds what any of them could do individually.
I also see clients who have collaborated as part of a community through a volunteer organization that they are a part of. Those types of experiences can also be beneficial to mention on your resume. Are you part of a community that regularly collaborates?[00:07:00]
The third way that a community can help with your career success is through accountability. Accountability is the state or condition of being accountable or responsible. Utilizing the support of a community can help hold you accountable to yourself and your commitments. Which is important for reaching your goals.
I like to think of meaningful communities as accountability systems. Because there is already a sense of connection and collaboration, the members of the community can be valuable accountability partners. Group coaching is another resource we’ve used to help clients with accountability. Group coaching can be very effective because there is a sense of community and culture that develops among members.
There are [00:08:00] countless research studies out there about accountability and how important it is for goal attainment. Everyone is different though, so you want to use the style and aspects of accountability that work for you. A community can be a seamless and natural way to do that. Do you hold yourself accountable?
Do you actually do what you say you’re going to do? How do you think being part of a supportive community could help with your level of accountability?
After I explain more about why a community is so important and the three ways it can support your success, Many clients tell me that they don’t have a career focused community for support. I want you to win. I want you [00:09:00] to achieve the resolutions or goals that you have for yourself this year. With that in mind, and after talking to many of our clients, we are putting together a new way for you to be a part of our community.
I can’t release all of the details yet. But know that we are putting the finishing touches on something that will help executives and professionals to have the resources, training, community, and support for their career growth, development, and change. If you want to be the first to know about this new service, then you can send our team an email at admin.
At Fly hi coaching.com. So that is admin at Fly, F l y. Hi, h I g h coaching.com. Just mention new service in the subject line. And [00:10:00] that’s it. We’ll send you all of the details soon.
