Why Most U.S. Workers Feel Unsuccessful

We published "What Workers Want: The State of Work and Career Success" in March to share an overview of our State of Work and Career Success survey results. There’s still a lot to unpack and share. Over the next several months, we’ll be publishing additional What Workers Want briefs diving deeper into specific topics.

And today I wanted to give you a glimpse into what we’re working on now — a deeper analysis of what people are currently doing and why so many are failing to make the desired progress in their careers.

Workers are struggling to make progress in their career, but why?

We live in a world where there are seemingly innumerable resources and paths to help us achieve what we want at work, in our career, and even our life. But, with all these choices available, which ones really matter? What are the actions that move the needle of progress forward?

In our first report, we shared that only 29% of those surveyed consider themselves to be “highly successful.” Most U.S. workers are struggling to make progress in their career, only grading themselves a “low C” on average. But we also learned that there are various dimensions that can impact that grade. 

So, what’s driving that low score?

It’s important to understand that there are six dimensions that contribute to work and career success:

Not only does Planning have the greatest weight, or the greatest impact on your likelihood to report feeling successful in your career, Planning is where people are struggling the most. Those surveyed graded themselves a D average when it comes to Planning versus a C average when it comes to Skills.

This makes logical sense. Compared to the other dimensions, skills are easier to attain because skill development resources are readily accessible. Further, skill development takes less time and is more likely to be supported (or required) by an organization.

But developing a relationship with a mentor, finding a career sponsor, and building a network — the three aspects of Planning that workers struggle with most — is not always that self-directed. One can’t simply choose to have a good mentor or career sponsor. And unfortunately, most workers indicate that their workplaces do not have the key characteristics, programs, plans, or cultural dynamics that are important to their work and career success. In fact, only 11% of those surveyed indicate their workplace has any formal and active mentorship program.

So, yes, those that don’t feel successful aren’t prioritizing the things that matter most — but they also have less individual control and aren’t receiving very much support, culturally or organizationally, when it comes to Planning.

What People & Organizations Can Do to Improve

For individuals, there’s one thing you should do if you haven’t already: make a career plan!

It’s not something that we spend the necessary time doing, but nothing else you can 100% control has that degree of impact on career satisfaction. Just as businesses create strategic plans based on the industry trends, market needs, and customer demands, individuals now need to do the same for themselves. These plans have to be iterative and will require ongoing development; business strategies and the plans to support them never stay stagnant, and neither should your own plan.

After you have a plan, the ability and opportunity to identify mentors, sponsors, and establish a supportive network will be easier because there will be clarity on the end goal. And in the end, you will have a more objective way to evaluate your performance and drive towards a better grade because you will have more clarity on where you are now, where you want to go, and what you need to do next. If you want to hear more about how this works in practice, check out Episode 111 of Strategic Momentum with Tiffany Pham.

For organizations, you need to manage for the future of work, not work in the 20th century. Not only will creating formal structures for mentorship and career sponsors likely improve career and life satisfaction for your workers, and thus their likelihood to stay in and be engaged with your organization, the younger generations expect it; over half of Gen-Zs and Millennials surveyed expect their employer to help them prepare for the future of work.

There aren’t a lot of organizations out there helping employees develop a roadmap that enables them to achieve their career goals and a feeling of greater fulfillment — but there should be!

If you want the benefits of workers who feel successful (people who are likely to stay with your organization, recommend your organization, and remain engaged at work), you have to care about them. And that might mean the roles of managers and leaders within your organization needs to evolve.

The role of managers in human-centered organizations should be delivering support and resources that address the whole person, not just what they do for you at work. Get to know them personally, determine how to motivate them professionally, and leverage the skills and interests they have outside of work within your organization; help them set goals and create a roadmap to achieve them; create a path to mentorship and career sponsorship.

You just have to care.

This article was originally published on LinkedIn as part of Connie Steele’s monthly newsletter, The Human Side of Work. You can find the original article and subscribe to the newsletter at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-most-us-workers-feel-unsuccessful-connie-wang-steele.