The topic of responsibility as related to personal job growth and success is timeless. Regardless of the organization in which I work as a business leadership coach, it is inevitable that I will encounter some individuals who express frustration with the lack of effort that their boss or their company makes toward helping them advance. We’ve addressed this previously through our blog entitled “Whose Job Is It Anyway” wherein the message relates to us as individuals taking charge of what we want to achieve. Although originally written a few 
years ago it still continues to attract readers today.
In order for more of us to individually view our advancement and ultimate success as OUR job the degree of ‘employee engagement’ must improve.
Marshall Goldsmith, a renowned business coach, recites some rather surprising statistics related to this. Only 13% of employees world-wide are actively engaged at work.
And … 24% are actively disengaged meaning they are admittedly very unhappy or unproductive or both.
Okay. The message is clear. If we want to advance and ultimately be more and more successful, we have to view that as our job and our job alone. And yet … what do we do to accomplish that job. Goldsmith puts forth six straightforward and simple steps as questions to ask ourselves as follows and they all begin with “Did I do my best …”:
- To set clear goals? … do I know what I’m aiming to achieve in a clearly understood way?
- To make progress to achieve my own goals? … are you successful moving toward them or do you find yourself stuck at some point?
- To be happy? … as a result of the satisfaction I feel in moving toward my goal?
- To find meaning? … Is the work I’m doing providing a sense of satisfaction through progress I am making in getting closer to achieving my goals?
- To build positive relationships? … developing relationships with others to whom I can turn for desired help or provide help as needed?
- To be fully engaged? … to the degree to which I commit to being conscientiously engaged will have a very positive impact on the results I can anticipate
Whether the economy is strong or weak … whether the business or industry you’re in 
is soaring or stagnant … being willing to view our personal growth and success as our individual responsibility is the one thing that we can count on. Accepting it as our job gives us the best chance of accomplishing whatever we want to accomplish. Goldsmith’s questions are not complex whatsoever. Rather, they help us to stay the course that we have for ourselves by serving as foundational elements that help to maintain our focus and drive to wherever we decide we want to go. Why would anyone want to give that power to another? Not me!
Mike Dorman
I like you artistic rendering of your portrait. Good work Mike. Your suggestion that employees are responsible for their growth and development is obvious to an executive coach but good information for the typical person who finds themselves disengaged with their work or maybe even hostile to their boss. You are doing the right thing to encourage readers to chart their path and to do the work required to move ahead. When I was an Assistant Dean at University of California Irvine I told my dean that my goal was to “work myself out of a job.” I explained to him that I wanted to become so competent at what my responsibilities were that I could easily perform them and would have to discover new challenges in my department. When I left UC Irvine eight years later I had achieved that goal and it was time for me to leave. I enjoyed every day of the eight years at UC Irvine, and I continued to take classes, study and improve myself so I would be prepared for the next challenge. Keep up the good work Mike.