Career Growth Sometimes Comes From Discomfort, Not Strategy

We describe the idea of career growth as the result of planning and strategy; however, many career paths have been influenced by unplanned events. Taking on difficult projects or jobs that are slightly out of reach has been common. “Stretch assignments” played a big role in the development of skills, even when the person didn’t feel ready, according to research in the Journal of Applied Psychology (2018). Uncertainty has been described as uncomfortable but also a growth accelerator.

There may be the assumption that discomfort equates to misalignment because feeling uncomfortable equates to feeling challenged. Yet, moderate levels of discomfort equate to increased levels of learning and flexibility, as indicated by research in Harvard Business Working Knowledge (2019) indicates. The main difference between the two concepts is the nature of the discomfort. The situation may be unstable when new skill sets must be learned or new perspectives must be considered. It provides exposure that is not available in routine work. It eventually leads to an overall understanding of one’s capabilities. The reason why discomfort is significant is not so much because of the skills it helps develop, but because of the perspective it provides. Familiar environments help in reinforcing familiar patterns as a general rule, while unfamiliar ones help break them up. This, in turn, helps facilitate a period of reassessment in which assumptions about capability and direction are questioned. Reflective learning is often the result of challenging situations rather than ones in which everything goes according to plan, as noted by a study in the Academy of Management Learning & Education (2020). This helps people engage more actively with their work, rather than going through it on autopilot.

The process of career development is not seen as a linear process but as a process of adjustments depending on the context from this point of view. It is not able to address the issue of uncertainty in real-life experiences, even though strategy is still involved in the process. Discomfort is seen as the factor that introduces variety in the otherwise structured process of career development, which enables one to encounter opportunities not previously considered. It is seen as the process of discovery in the journey of career development in situations that were not certain at the beginning.