Managing an Intelligent Career | Career Management

Change, ambiguity and shifting relationships are recurrent themes in contemporary career development. In turn, personal success in the knowledge economy calls for self awareness, adaptability and the ability to work with others. A challenge for today’s employees is to better develop these skills and and contribute to the comtemporary knowledge driven organisation.

Organisations in the knowledge economy need to broadly practice ‘intelligent enterprise’ through the application of distinct knowledge-based competencies. These organisational competencies could be grouped into three broad areas: culture—reflecting the organisation’s overall sense of mission and purpose; know-how—reflecting what the organisation has the ability to do; and networks—reflecting the organisation’s overall links with suppliers, customers and other business connections.

The Intelligent Career Model

The three areas of organisational competencies are interdependent. Organisational culture may drive or inhibit the application of effective know-how, for example through the collective efforts of a project team. The development of new know-how may contribute to the development of new customers, and thereby the organisation’s networks. Those networks may also influence the overall culture of the organisation through the kind of work they expect it to perform.

The concept of the intelligent career responds to the three broad areas of organisational competency outlined above. Accordingly, intelligent career theory posits three ‘ways of knowing’, called knowing-why, knowing-how and knowing-whom. Specifically, knowing-why connects with company culture, knowing-how connects with company level know-how and knowing-whom corresponds to the company’s networks, as described below.

Knowing-why involves themes of individual motivation, the construction of personal meaning and identification. As such, it incorporates traditional career development concerns about individual uniqueness, reflected in constructs such as personality, aptitudes, values and interests. Knowing-why further incorporates attitudes to family, lifestyle, and other non-work factors that affect career choice, adaptability and commitment.

Knowing-how reflects an individual’s repertoire of job-related skills and expertise. These may include formal qualifications and training, as well as informal and tacit knowledge that emerges from work experience. People may have, or may wish to develop, a broader set of knowing-how skills than their present job demands, and, therefore, may seek to expand or change their work arrangements to enhance career opportunities and employability.

Knowing-whom involves a person’s work relationships and includes supplier, customer, industry, occupational and internal company connections that can support his or her unfolding career. Knowing-whom also incorporates broader contacts with family, friends, fellow-alumni, and professional and social acquaintances. Any of these contacts can enhance a career by providing support, transmitting reputation or affording access to information.

The three ways of knowing not only correspond to unfolding organisational competencies, but also are interdependent with one another, as the following section illustrates.

Intelligent Career Development

Although intelligent career theory is grounded in the three ways of knowing, most career development occurs through the interaction among them. Specifically, there are six uni-directional combinations that may be considered.

Knowing-why to knowing-how: A link in this direction occurs when a person comes to understand how his or her values and interests (knowing-why) can lead to the application of specific skills and job-related expertise (knowing-how). Much like traditional vocational guidance theory, intelligent career theory suggests a range of exploratory knowing-why topics, including values, interests, identity and the balance of work and family, that may influence a person’s choice of education, occupation or work experience.

Knowing-how to knowing-whom: A link in this direction reflects how the application of individual skills (knowing-how) may result in new contacts and relationships (knowing-whom). In the work environment, successfully drawing on specific job-related knowledge and expertise may also promote reputation among colleagues or customers. In situations involving teamwork, an individual contribution may add to the effectiveness of the team, as well as to individual or shared reputations.

Knowing-whom to knowing-why: The relationships that comprise an individual’s network (knowing-whom) may be influential in affirming or challenging a person’s identity and self-image (knowing-why). Links in this direction may reflect the impact of specific connections such as mentors and friends. Other links in the same direction can involve colleagues either reinforcing or dampening a person’s motivation to engage in shared activities.

Knowing-why to knowing-whom: The directions between the three ways of knowing may also move in an anti-clockwise direction. Someone motivated to interact with certain colleagues (knowing-why) would be likely to seek new career opportunities to work with them (knowing-whom). This can include seeking out new opportunities to learn from other people, for example by volunteering to work in a particular team, or under a particular mentor.

Knowing-whom to knowing-how: An example of a link in this direction is when collaborations with colleagues (knowing-whom) lead to opportunities to apply job related skills and expertise (knowing-how). Reputation within a social group may bring referrals for work in other areas in which the individual is unknown. Another way to benefit from a group is to seek feedback that may contribute to enhanced competence, as is reflected in models of ‘360° feedback.

Knowing-how to knowing-why: A link in this direction occurs when the results of formal or informal performance feedback (knowing-how) have an impact on an individual’s motivation to work (knowing-why). Simply, the perception of one’s performance (perhaps stemming from a lack of feedback), or the direct experience of a work assignment, can have an impact on self-esteem and in turn impact on subsequent attitudes towards further work assignments.

In sum, the complexity of career development can be organised into a series of six links between any two ways of knowing. If you want to think about and plan your career as a whole, it is important to consider all the elements outlined above.

Sources and references: Sandbox Advisors, Intelligent Career Card Sort, Australian Journal of Career Development