by Melissa Janis, Senior Director of Learning & Development for McGraw-Hill Education. The views expressed are my own and are not those of my employer or my husband (who happens to be the owner of this site).
In a recent New York Times interview, Annette Catino, CEO of QualCare, Inc. said “Early on, it was clear to me if I was going to build a successful business, it was going to be about building relationships. I figured out that relationships were built in business on the golf course.” The only problem: she had never played a single sport.
And so Annette took golf lessons. As she learned the game, she realized that if she played from the forward tees (aka the “ladies’ tees”) she would miss out on the conversations the men were having from the tees behind her. So, she literally moved outside her comfort zone by teeing off further back. By taking on greater risk and making herself more vulnerable, she succeeded in building relationships with key business contacts and improved her golf game as well.
As this CEO experienced, stretching outside one’s comfort zone is the path to improvement. Professional and personal growth lies in taking on new and greater challenges.
Ironically, it is in times of organizational change, when uncertainty heightens feelings of vulnerability and causes us to crave the status quo, that stretching outside our comfort zones can have the greatest career payoff. Uncertainty creates gaps in understanding what should be done, how it should be done, how decisions should be made and who should make them. These gaps offer unique and significant growth opportunities as we figure out how to make things happen and move forward effectively without the roadmap to which we are accustomed. Learning through change gives us powerful stories with compelling scenarios to tell about how we managed and succeeded when faced with significant challenge. It gives us breadth and depth and substance. It is how we develop skills, knowledge and abilities needed for the next level – and beyond.
Challenge yourself by choosing your equivalent of tougher tees and you may just find yourself achieving more memorable outcomes. Those conversations from the back tees paid off for Annette – not only has she built a business successful enough for the New York Times to feature her in their Corner Office column, she is now a skilled golfer with a 13 handicap. Which tees will you choose to hit from today?