Guest Blog - Gary Duncan

Is your career going round in circles?

If you are reading this and you’re an Olympic cyclist then of course the answer might well be yes!  I typed that heading and it instantly made me think of the importance of clear communication - demonstrated perfectly by a simple one liner which could have 2 meanings which you may well have heard before… ‘Franz Klammer’s business is going downhill fast’. For those of you who are not familiar with Mr Klammer, he is regarded by many as the best downhill skier of all time, but you may well have thought of him as a struggling businessman.  Anyway I digress…   

We’ve all been asked the question at one time or another – “where do you see yourself in a year? 2 years?  5 years?” and there are usually 2 responses from different types of people. Those that have carefully planned and mapped out their careers and those that have not and leave it to chance.  

Personally I tend to fall into the first category.  Since I started my career in Financial Services in Edinburgh way back in 1988, I have always had a plan and worked towards the next step, the next rung on the ladder, knowing what I had to do to become ‘the future Gary Duncan’…you never know, someone might just copyright that one day and take it forward as a great business idea! ☺ For me, this always involved knowing what my options were - I’ll give you an example. When I was a successful Customer Advisor at RBS, I knew like several of my peers my next role could be a Branch Manager or a Business Manager and stay working within the branch environment. I also knew I could spread my wings a bit further and look to move into a support role within Head Office, which I did in 1994 – a move which ultimately led to me meeting Andy.  That was very early in my career but this approach has truly helped me over the last 32 years.  

I have always encouraged family, friends, colleagues, and mentees to think about their future careers also and how they plan to get there. I came up with a really good way of explaining this to them in terms of a driving analogy. It’s a simple concept with 2 options...

1. When out driving, do you approach a roundabout ignoring everything around you and leave it to chance that when you get there you’ll take the correct road? or
2. Do you plan ahead? Look at the route before you leave to know where each of the roads lead to. Do you ask people for directions / help?  Then when you are approaching, check the sign a couple of hundred yards ahead of the roundabout to confirm what your options are. 

Career planning, just like driving, can be a complicated activity but it really doesn’t need to be. Knowing your options, seeking advice / guidance and understanding what ‘roads lead to where’ is something we can all benefit from.

Gary