Inspo’s last blog focussed on the importance of the front and back offices. Both for business and ourselves, and our career.

Another key concept that has emerged in more recent times in business is the concept of the ‘mid-office’. The mid-office is responsible for areas such as strategy formation and execution, and product development. The Financial Times describes the mid-office as being the catalyst to drive growth in an organisation.

As individuals we too have our own mid-office. This is our ability to define and drive our own career direction (i.e. our strategy formation and execution). For us as individuals, the mid-office is the one we leverage least for ourselves. I write this as so many people comment to me that they find it hard to work out their own career direction. And therefore, they tend to shy away from this space.

And yet from my experience, the people who light up their own world are those who actively engage their mid-office. They are those who’ve invested in understanding the direction they want to travel in their career.

To find that answer requires time. For a business, it requires numerous brainstorming sessions by the mid-office to create the right strategy. It is no different for us. We have to afford the time and energy required to get clarity on the right direction for our career. This reality brings to the fore one of the greatest truths I have learned about life and business in the last two years.

That is that we feel the burden of effort before we experience the gain of that effort. Never is this more true than when it comes to trying to work out our own career direction. Because of the effort required to get to the bottom of this conundrum, so many peoples’ stores of motivation can fall away mid-pursuit. It’s understandable, but it’s not right.

Why? Because you are going to spend a third of your adult life at work. Only sleep competes with it in terms of an activity that consumes your time. Therefore, the burden of effort is so so so worthwhile when it comes to the work of your own mid-office. Because the payback is a career direction you can be happy with today. And that you’ll be happy about when you look back on your career in the future.

If you would like further information on Inspo, please contact john@inspo.ie.