Where Has the Go-getter Gone?

Do you ever look around at younger employees and think – “when I was their age, I was killing myself to get attention from senior management!”? Where there was a line of people with ambition competing to reach the top first, many leaders now feel like the go-getters are… gone.

But are they? It may be that there are still many go-getters within your organization, but how they pursue their ambitions may have changed.

Recognizing a New Type of Ambition

What we think of as the traditional go-getter are the people who look to achieve no matter the setting or the challenge. They are naturally competitive in the office and in their personal lives, and they know not only where they are going but how they’ll get there. And they are always looking for the next challenge.

Leaders love this kind of ambitious employee. It’s obvious they are interested in growth, and they put their skills on display for all to see. But what has become apparent is that not all rising leaders behave the same. Many in the younger generations see their platform for growth and goal attainment in front of them immediately. There is nothing to climb. They believe they can begin contributing from day one, which is the embodiment of leadership at all levels of your organization. So if senior management can read the signs, everyone benefits.

Putting Ambition to Work

Aligning ambition and your leadership development initiatives stems from a tried and true employee engagement approach.

Clarify and communicate the goals and expectations within the organization. Understanding the “why” behind what the company does is the first step in helping employees who aspire to something larger to harness that focus and apply it to their work.

Illustrate how individual roles contribute to the company’s goals. An employee being eyed for a leadership role doesn’t need to be ambitious in every area of their life to be a success at work. Sometimes the key to activating a leader is in understanding what they aspire to and showing them how they can attain those goals.

Use more customized motivational methods. How do you reward employee and leadership excellence? Are you a carrot or a stick motivator—do you provide appealing incentives or threats of punishment? What works for one may not work for all. There are different methods for inspiring the best performance out of different people.

Create Known Career Pathways. To attract ambitious people, you need to work on leadership and career pathways, training programs, and other ways to make your competitive, ambitious employees feel like there is somewhere to go. Without direction, competitive people might apply their ambition with a heavy hand and negatively affect the team around them. The go-getter benefits from a plan to balance performance, growth, and achievement.

If you’re disconcerted by a lack of ambition at your company, remember that ambitious people don’t stop being ambitious if their drive isn’t recognized. If your organization doesn’t help them meet their career path goals or address their need for a challenge or upward mobility, your talented people will find somewhere else to work. The second most common reason employees quit in 2021 was lack of advancement – second only to low pay. It’s impossible to ask where the go-getter has gone if there is nowhere (or nothing) for them to “get.”

Value of a Leadership Development Program

Creating pathways to future leadership development is critical to your company’s success. Liddell Consulting can help align your overarching business goals and strategies and navigate your current roadblocks. Our customized leadership development programs provide rising leaders with perspective, skills, and tactics to mobilize ongoing organizational success. Contact us today.