The Inverted Pyramid Model of Career Progression.

© GC Diaries

The year was 2013, the time was 11pm and I was about to go to bed. 

As I switched off the TV, I began to think about my career. I stood up from the couch, took my note book and sat on my "thinking chair" until my wife came to see if I was okay. To my surprise, it was now 2am.

What follows are my reflections and a model I developed to capture the reality of career and career progression...as I saw it that night.

A typical career has a path. 
Each one of us can shape their own.

A typical career has a pace.
Each one of us can influence their own.

A typical career has stages.
These stages are there but often, we fail to acknowledge their existence at our disadvantage.

I looked at what I observed when I spent some time doing my internship at a Coal Mine.
I looked at the people around me's careers in different industries.
I looked at my own career.

I saw trends, obvious trends because organisations are typically a hierarchical structure.

I knew this, everyone does, right?
But I began to see some insights most of have often missed.

All along, I had thought that a career and its progression structure was a pyramid:
- you start off at the base, with many of you.
- you rise up and up to the elite
- ultimately the blessed one filters through to the top tip

But this was a very simplistic view.
Without scope considerations, we miss the insights that can help us navigate the journey.

In fact, I realised that career and career progression was not just one pyramid; 
But two (2):

The first pyramid (Pyramid 1) sits upright on its base,
Its base is only as wide as necessary to develop experise in a particular area.


The second pyramid (Pyramid 2) sits inverterd on top of Pyramid 1 and represents an inflection point where the objective is to build a competent cross-functional generalist with a broader understanding beyond the immediate functional area "home base".

Let me explain a little bit more.
I will start from with Pyramid 1 at the very bottom.

At the beginning of your career.
You have to do a lot of things.
But these things are primarily within your area of technical training.
Thus a broad base to give you a leg for your career in a given field to stand on.

If you are an Electrical Engineer,
This captures your graduate Electrical Engineering training for example.

As time goes on,
You slowly focus on fewer and fewer aspects of your field.
But in much greater depth than before.

You are becoming a specialist.
In a very specific limited area.
You are acknowledged because you make things happen.

Soon, you hit the tip of the bottom pyramid - Pyramid 1.
You are the expert and Rock Star.
You are given a chance to manage other technical specialists.

You are excited but you still want to keep your hands dirty.
Afterall, this is what you love 
This is what you are good at
And this is what got you here.

Then you realise you are not progressing anymore.
Everything has slowed down, 
And you wonder why?

Yes, there are now more people,
 And fewer positions.

But there is something more important:

The rules that applied in the lower pyramid,
Do not apply the same way in the upper pyramid.

In the Pyramid-1,
The hero knows so much about so little.

Yet in Pyramid-2,
The hero knows a little about so much and puts it together.

This is a hard truth.

Your previous success habits which you have mastered for more than a decade,
Become your greatest weaknesses that hinder your progress.

What you have built your identity and reputation on,
Can no longer stand but stands between you and the next promotion.

This is much more difficult for Engineers but applies to everyone.

To break into the upper Pyramid-2,
Requires you to start looking,
Not only straight ahead, but left and right.

To break into the upper Pyramid-2,
Requires you to start caring,
Not only about you area of expertise but others.

To break into the upper Pyramid-2,
Requires you to start learning,
Not only about your area but the entire value chain.

In other words,
YOU NEED TO START BROADENING YOUR SCOPE AGAIN.

Here is the trap:

At first it may seem as if you are taking backwards steps.
Afterall the breadth of the upper Pyramid-2 just above the expertise tip, is comparable with the breadth of the lower Pyramid-1 below.

Seek and embrace opportunities to create and add value beyond your traditional boundaries.

It will be painful and uncomfortable.
You have to ask of it is worthy it.

You need to know where you are.
Broadening your interests too early may keep you in the lower pyramid for longer.

Yet mantaining a sharper focus for too long may hinder you from moving on ahead.

The Senior Manager, has to think and act a little more broadly than the functional team leaders sitting at the tip of the lower pyramid.

The Division Head, Chief Technical Officer and Executive has to think and act a little broadly than the Senior Managers.

Ultimately, the CEO needs to think about the entire company and the scope is much wider than when the career journey started.

This is why the base of the top inverted pyramid is much wider than the lower pyramid.

Using this model,
Take time to reflect on you career.
Correctly determine where you are.
Understand what is required.

Proactively go above and beyond your official scope of duty to sharpen your technical expertise.

Proactively go above and beyond your official scope of duty to broaden your understanding of other areas of the business.

An MBA was designed to help you do this.
But it takes more than academic training.
You need to start caring more and living it.

Afterall, career progression and responsibility is not about ego,

IT IS ABOUT MAKING A DIFFERENCE!

© GC Diaries