In my coaching practice, about two thirds of my clients that approach me for advice do not have a career plan. They let someone else decide for them how they should move in their career, waiting for it to happen! As is often the case, it does not. The remainder of the clients in the pool have a plan, but do not know how to make that plan work for them, and what they need to do to make that plan come alive!
This blog is about what I have learned over the years and is about sharing with my readers what works and what does not when it comes to career planning:
1. One of the common myths about career plans is that such a plan requires you to anticipate how the future is going to bring changes to technology, economy, business, and the world. Change is constant, and so is the pattern of how such change must be used to leverage your future. So, do not be overwhelmed by the speed with which you are seeing the current flux of change.
2. A career plan is based on your own growth and on creating increasing value to the business in which you are employed (this also applies to entrepreneurs, solo professionals, and business owners). It is not always about making more money and having more power with an increasingly more imposing job title! So, making a growth plan is the foundation of a solid career plan. A growth plan requires a growth mindset, not a reactive/passive mindset (Read Carol Dweck’s, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success)!
3. Have a clear vision about what you want to do. Many clients, who come to me, are clear about how they see themselves as a successful professional. For example, there are those who do not see themselves as a manager running a group or a department, but see themselves as an individual contributing to the greatness of their company, community, or organization without having any direct reports. This vision requires a different career plan than a one that is steeped in having a different vision that one holds about having many direct reports, a budget, and line authority.
4. Once you nail down your vision then break that into a time-based action plan. For example, if you are an individual contributor and want to become a general manager of a business in your company, look at the careers of those in your company and those of their peers to learn how they got there. Look at their LinkedIn Profile to see the patterns of their success and what they did to get there. See if a similar plan can work for you.
5. In a previous blog I wrote about the seven points of inflection in one’s career. Each point of inflection requires a specific mindset and an intervention. For example, going from an individual contributor to a manager requires, not just doing great work as an individual contributor, but also an ability to fundamentally shift how you pivot around that success to become a people manager/leader and an ability to get work done through others. I wrote about this in one of my recent blogs (Google’s Quest: Understanding the Managerial Challenge). Learn about how to complement your high IQ with the four other “Qs” I wrote about in yet another blog, if you want to accelerate your career as a manager, going from being an individual contributor.
6. Find mentors, who can work with you to help you in your career and share your plan with them. Learn from their experience to accelerate your own growth. Be a mentor to someone else. Find a good career coach as a proxy to a mentor.
7. Volunteer your time to some cause that is important to you. In many volunteer organizations it is easy to be working alongside with someone, who has already made a name for themselves in their field. Become visible by doing great work in your own area of expertise, or use that platform to professionally grow in a direction that is new to you. Volunteer organizations rarely ask to see your résumé, but that experience can be showcased in your résumé for your own growth!
8. Learn and acquire some of the basic skills that are expected in your position of increasing responsibilities that come from your career-growth plan. For example, as an executive you are expected to have excellent communication skills and executive presence. These are learned skills and not nature-given!
9. No matter where you are in your career and on your growth plan, never assume what the next stop is for you. Do great work by first stating what you are going to do, exceed the expectations, and then claim your prize. Do not assume that you are going to get it just because you did great work!
10. Above all, be nice to others, respect them as you respect yourself, and have fun!
Good luck!