This week at work, a senior manager and I were considering how best to fill a new position (that needs to be filled quite quickly) and whether it should be filled by a successful applicant from a recent generic recruitment round, or whether it was necessary to open the opportunity up to all internal staff first in case an existing staff member was interested in this new role.

This got me thinking (and fuming a little) about how many staff fail to take control of their job options, and instead expect that organisations will serve up potential new roles like they’re at some kind of buffet waiting to peruse the options and make their choice! Now, don’t get me wrong – I support merit selection and transparency in recruitment decisions, but I also believe that staff should be able to (and be expected to) be more proactive about pursuing roles of interest to them without the need for or expectation of formal, organisation-initiated recruitment processes.

I don’t think I’ve seen a staff survey, outcomes from a Divisional planning day, or Divisional ‘action plan’ that doesn’t propose the creation of some sort of job swap/staff mobility program to provide staff who have been in their position for a while and are seeking a change in role, with a facilitated opportunity to move to a different one. That said, for all the proposals I’ve seen, I’m not actually aware of a single program that has actually been successfully rolled out. I find myself frustrated at staff who continually ask for these mobility programs to be created to facilitate their movement. These staff seem to feel stuck and helpless and dependent on the organisation to set out a series of opportunities for them.

People have far more control over their jobs than they believe. If you want to be in a different role in your organisation (regardless of whether or not that role currently exists) you have enormous power to make it happen. How? Really, all you have to do is ask… [Read more…]