How to Build a Kick-Ass Career Development Plan
Career advancement rarely ‘just happens’ because you’re in the right place at the right time. You need a strategy to work towards the career positions to which you aspire. Developing this plan is up to you. It is no-one else’s responsibility!
As an Operations Executive, I’ve helped dozens of people through this process. Most people weren’t sure where to start and very often they could not answer basic questions about their aspirations - yet they were frustrated by their self-perceived lack of career progress. They needed to make some fundamental decisions and create a plan! Below is how to do that!
Remember that regardless of where in your career journey you happen to be, you always need a plan as the world around you will not stand still. You need to continue to develop! Follow this same process below to reinvigorate your career plan and progress.
1. Determine where you are going
If you don’t know what you aspire towards, no one can help you get there!
You don’t go on vacation without knowing where you’re going. You need to figure this out first before someone can help you map the course. Indeed where you want to go will be the first question that the map program asks you!
Figure out what you’re passionate about so you can imagine that destination. If you really don’t know, either seek help to sort this out, or be content where you are. The sooner you figure out where you want to go, the sooner you can get assistance to start on your path.
You wouldn’t believe the number of times someone has made an appointment with me to talk about career advancement and when I asked them what they aspired towards, said they didn’t know, but ‘are open to lots of different paths.’ This is counter-productive to getting anyone to help, and really says ‘I’m not ready to work towards accomplishing a specific goal, I just want to move up.’
As a leader and career influencer, the more specific you can be, the more I can assist. Generally, the conversations were over if the individual did not have a clear aspiration. Figure this out first!
2. Develop a simple objective statement
You must be able to clearly communicate what you want!
There are a lot of things that your managers can do to help you advance, but they need to know what you want, so they can figure out how to help you. Create your objective statement, and make it simple so that people clearly know what you want. “Hi, I’m Jeff Lasselle. I want to be a plant manager someday.” As you progress through the steps below, you will beef up this statement into an actual elevator speech – but initially, it just needs to be a clear statement of objective.
3. Assess the skills needed in your Target career objective
Watch people in similar roles. What skills do they use? Read about what skills might be needed in such a role. Talk to people - ask them what skills they rely on to be effective.
Do not skip this step! Ultimately you will be competing with other candidates for advancement and you need to make sure that you identify all the critical skills and experiences, so that you will be able to mold yourself into the best candidate for the role. Remember, it is not going to be enough to be ‘qualified.’ Most ‘qualified’ people will never get the opportunity to advance. You need to make yourself the OBVIOUS choice, and that starts with identifying everything that is needed!
If it appears that an advanced degree is needed for your path (like an MBA), first validate that conclusion as it will be a very large gap to fill, and see what support might be available. If it is required, just start! There will never be a good time to start a degree program – it will always be inconvenient. Often, having a degree in progress will signal to influencers your seriousness and largely mitigate the fact that you haven’t completed the degree yet. Also, choose a program that is the best fit for your schedule. The local university is often going to check that skill box as effectively as the university 100 miles away with the more flashy marketing materials. But really, just start…
4. Do an HONEST skills assessment against the skills needed in your target career path
This is hard. Where do you need the work? Consider a 360-degree review to help with this assessment. Seek people who will give you constructive criticism (and take it with thanks).
It is hard for people to give you constructive criticism. Many people will shy away from this request as it is uncomfortable. When you ask someone, give them time to prepare, then give them room and understand they are trying to help you. Listen without reacting and really try to digest and apply their input. Ask only clarifying questions.
Constructive input is a gift; treat it as such. If you don’t like the feedback and react to it by hurling it back at the gift-giver, you can guarantee it will be the last time that person tries to help you. Worse yet, they may take that as evidence that you are un-coachable and poorly suited to take on higher responsibilities.
Consider working with a leadership coach to identify your blind spots and to get additional perspective.
5. Put together a plan to address the skills gaps you identified
Build the plan intentionally, purposefully, and systematically. It’s hard to have meaningful discussions without a drafted plan. Your plan should include training, actual work experiences, and coaching to address your identified gaps. Typically, the lion’s share of the activities, like 70%, should be actual work experiences. The remaining 30% can be split between coaching and training.
If for example, you’ve identified that you need Project Management skills, you might take a course in Project Management but then you must find a way to deploy those skills in leading an actual project (even if it’s a small project - you need to use the skills for them to develop and grow!).
Be prepared to adjust the plan as you learn more – the plan will become a living document to help refine navigation as you progress. The plan must be formal, written, and include SMART objectives (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound). If your company has a system for tracking development plans, get this plan into the system so that career influencers can see how dedicated you are to your path! Show them that you’ve got your sh*t together!
6. Develop an elevator speech
“Here’s what I want to be, here’s what I’m doing to get there.” Practice it until it is natural. You never know when you will get the opportunity to introduce yourself and to make an impression. Keywords from the elevator speech will likely be all that the influencer remembers – so make it count! Include a catchy hook if possible to make it stick!
The elevator speech informs them of your desired destination and helps them understand how they might help in the future. This is a great place to seek expert advice to construct the best elevator speech possible.
7. Now you’re ready to talk to career influencers with confidence!
Remember that before an influencer is going to help you, they need to WANT to help you. See my article Demonstrating Key Attributes for Advancement into Management for how to demonstrate the key prerequisites of aspiration, coachability, empathy, and resilience in your everyday work.
After you’ve talked to an influencer, do not get discouraged if nothing happens quickly. Just keep working according to your plan and periodically reassessing and adjusting! Just like an airplane pilot needs to constantly make minor adjustments in trajectory to compensate for variables like wind to stay on course, you will need to adjust your action plan to keep moving toward success.
Contact me if you want an experienced coach to assist you in fulfilling your career ambitions.
Do you want more tips or guidance to improve your leadership skills? Take the Executive presence course or get an experienced coach to assist you in fulfilling your career ambitions.
