subject career management

CASE STUDY

Michele is a 45-year-old assistant vice-president of marketing services at Federal Bank (fictitious name), a medium-sized financial institution. The fact that some of the staff she once hired have been promoted above her in recent years is a daily reminder that Micheles longtime ambition to become an executive vice-president at Federal Bank is not likely to be fulfilled. Her recent performance appraisal meetings with her 40-year-old superior, a senior vice president, left no doubt in Micheles mind about Federals plans: she will most likely retire at her current level.

In fact, the handwriting had been on the wall for more than five years. During this time, Michele reexamined her original goal. How important was it for her to become an executive vice-president with Federal or some other commercial bank? Her conclusion was that it was still a personally important goal. As a result, Michele had at least 15 interviews during the past five years with other banks. In each case, she got a polite but negative response. All of the institutions were hiring MBAs, and Michele had only a bachelors degree. More important, Michele was competent enough but did not have sufficiently varied experiences in the financial services industry and did not seem to project the image of a higher-level officer, let alone an executive vice president. In a state of dismay, she also spoke with officers of other institutions in the financial services industry. The reactions to these inquiries were all similarly negative.

Last year, several conversations with Federals senior officers and her husband convinced Michele to give up her dream of becoming an executive vice-president at the bank. It was simply out of the question. Although there was a chance of further advancement, Michele concluded that it was slim. In the meantime, Michele reexamined why she always wanted to become a senior officer at the bank. In addition to money and status, she wanted the opportunity to affect broad policies as a way to make changes in the services that banks provide to the community. Therefore, she concentrated on broadening the scope of her current position by looking for ways to influence the banks approach to community reinvestment. Michele enrolled in several training seminars on community reinvestment and convinced her boss that she should chair a task force on new market development. She also began to serve as a mentor to several of Federals younger managers, helping them get their careers established and perhaps avoid some of the mistakes she may have made earlier in her career.

On the home front, Michele seems more relaxed than she has been in quite some time, and she is better able to enjoy her family. She has encouraged her husband to switch to a more personally satisfying career field, has freely given him advice and support, and seems to enjoy the success her husband is beginning to experience in his rejuvenated career. Michele is also spending more time with her children and her infant grandchild and has rekindled her interest in the local political scene.

Micheles most recent performance appraisal was outstanding. Although she doesnt put in nearly so many weekends and evenings as she had in the past, her job performance has not suffered. On the contrary, her marketing group is working on several innovative projects, the task force she heads is making real progress, and she is deriving great satisfaction from her mentoring relationships with several of the banks younger managers. Although Michele is periodically frustrated over her lack of advancement, she is a respected contributor at the bank and, little by little, is coming to terms with her disappointment.

Considering that Michele was unable to materialize her dream of becoming an executive vice-president of a bank, what self-assessment in terms of her skills, interests and values do you suggest she should focus on for better career decisions?