Stretch Projects
Over the next few weeks we’ll be discussing the value and how to execute a great stretch project. In our opinion, aside from nailing your day job, nothing is more critical to growth than stretching yourself. These can take many forms like running a team meeting, sharing best practices with external teams, to taking external courses to contribute something to yourself or the business. Before you get started, it’s incredibly important to make sure you’ve got your business in order. Taking on something extra with a messy schedule or unbalanced workload is a recipe for failure. Not only will you need to build a great “product” with this stretch project – you’ll need to deliver it as well. How you deliver is just as important as selecting what you take on.
Not sure what to take on? We recommend deciding it through a couple lenses. First, what are your mid-term goals and how does this contribute to earning you a badge? Second, how does it line up with what your company believes to be important? If you can find balance – you’ll have a project that you are both passionate about and find internal support for sponsorship. If your aim is to be a sales manager, taking on team meetings, forecast calls, covering for your manager while she/he is out – both line up with your goal(s) and show the business that you are (or aren’t!) ready to take it to the next level. So again, it’s worth making sure you’ve got your business in order before you start taking on more work.
Jo Miller wrote a great article in 2017 on stretch assignments in Forbes (link). In our next episode, we’ll talk about her 4 approaches to execute like a Rock Star. And in our final episode, we’ll share projects that we’ve led successfully (and unsuccessfully!) and give you a few ideas on projects you might consider based off what you are looking to achieve professional/personally.
How do you look at stretch assignments? Which have you taken-on that have helped you professionally? Any advice you would share?
We’d love your feedback on the Series, or any general questions that you might have – please reach out to us at info@techsalesshow.com!