Over the years I have become tired of hearing employees tell me that either they’ve not had a performance review for years, or they never get offered any training.

Why? Because the days of employers “doing” that stuff to its staff are long gone.

If you want a performance review from your manager and haven’t had one for a while, or you just want some feedback on how you are doing, ask!

If you want some training and development that is related to your work and aren’t getting any, ask!

Own your own performance and development if you want to get on and want to be better at what you do. You might be lucky and have a manager who does that for you without being asked, or work for a business that does that stuff very effectively, but most of us just aren’t that lucky.

“If not us then who, if not now then when.”

A quick search of the interweb threw up lots of different names of people who apparently uttered those words first. I don’t actually care but I heard Simon Sinek utter them last year in terms of changing the HR game. He’s right and they fit this context perfectly as well.

In this connected, fast moving, ever changing work landscape no one has time to manage your career but you. Be assured – if you don’t invest the time, no one else ever will.  So own it. It’s your career. And if you aren’t sure, just ask.