This is a short one, but an important one, particularly for those in the later stages of their career, though it can just as easily catch people at the midpoint too.

The No Man's Land Problem

I've spoken to a number of individuals recently who share a common predicament. They've stopped doing the day job. They're no longer on the tools, so to speak, whether as a quantity surveyor, project manager, engineer or otherwise. But at the same time, often because they've gone client side, moved internationally, or taken an internal role within a business, they've also stepped away from the strategic director level role. They no longer have a P&L they're responsible for. They no longer own a portfolio of clients. They're no longer responsible for business development in their location or their business.

They find themselves stuck in the middle, in no man's land. A minister without portfolio, to borrow a phrase.

They can't do the day job anymore, but equally they've relinquished the strategic role and the client relationships that could serve as a power base where they are, or that they could take elsewhere if they left. Suddenly they've become a very expensive resource for the marketplace. They're not an associate grade professional who can manage a team while still delivering, and they're not a strategic leader with a client portfolio and sector specialism either. Frankly, they end up almost unwanted by the market.

And that's a genuinely sad place to be. These are people who've given 30 or 40 years to the industry, developed countless younger professionals, added millions of pounds of value to their employers over the years, and often genuinely held those strategic positions in the past. But for whatever reason, they've chosen, or been convinced, to give them up.

The Advice: Be One or the Other

Don't get stuck in that middle ground. Be one or the other.

Either remain someone who's still on the tools, who retains the capability to do the day job. You will always earn a living that way.

Or become genuinely strategic. Develop a number of clients you work closely with and can call your own. They give you authority and power, both within the business you're in and as something you can take to a new organisation if you ever move.

What you must not do is drift into that horrible situation where you can no longer do the day job, yet have nothing tangible to bring to a new organisation either. Don't get stuck in the middle.