The Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPM) has charged employees to continuously improve their career paths to achieve success.

The institute said expanding and building on one’s career has a positive impact on organisational growth.

President and Chairman of the Governing Council, CIPM, Olusegun Mojeed, said this during a conference on the third edition of FITC, where he spoke on ‘Creating the Future: Building the Best People in the Work Environment’.

Mojeed noted that in the Human Resource (HR) space, there is now a shift from an economy, where the employer defines an employee’s career to one in which his skills, experience and ambition are the drivers of his success.

According to him, formal job descriptions and hierarchies are fading and internal job marketplaces, internal mobility and talent marketplace model, among others are now commonplace.

Noting that the bar is being raised, the CIPM chief said it is time for employees to focus on the work and not the job to manage, lead and build their careers.

He said people who are bold to make the move cross-functionally have been found to do better.

According to him, “rather than spend your energy trying to negotiate your way to the top, spend it trying to expand and improve your skill sets.”

Providing quality organisational leadership structure, Mojeed affirmed that irresistible workplaces have leaders, who know how to get the best for and from their people.

Stating that everything rises and falls with leadership, he said this present generation needs the leader as a coach.

He said: “As we provide leadership, we also let them lead.

They have laudable and workable ideas. We must understand the network, we must understand how the company makes money, we must have the influence and followership to persuade people to move in a given direction and we must have a deep instinct for people and performance. We must lead by example, empowerment, and inspiration instead of by position or title.”

Emphasising an intentionality element in pursuing a workforce strategy that elevates employee health, safety and wellbeing, the CIPM boss said irrespective of the mode of work, there should be a deliberate focus on employees’ total experience at work, in addition to work practices and job designs.

He said there is a need for organisations to pay attention to employees’ elements of trust, productivity, inclusivity and belongingness, especially, in the ongoing transition in workspaces

He reminded the audience to be wary of quacks as the institute is the apex professional body licensed to manage, develop and regulate the practice of human resource management in the Nigerian workspace.