Your Career Plan is an Investment in YOU!

I’m a planner. I like planning vacations, weekend activities, my new kitchen renovation, what I’m planting in my yard every spring and fall. And I plan my career. I always have.

Creating and adjusting your career plan throughout your life is one of the most important and useful investments of your time. It’s exciting to know where you’re heading and adjust accordingly when you’re ready.

You’ve probably heard the saying, “If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll probably get there.” There meaning nowhere or anywhere or somewhere. Who wants that … especially when it comes to your career?

What is a Career Plan?

Most people approach career planning as a way to get the next promotion, fix their weaknesses, or compete against their peers. They hope they’ll somehow be noticed and rewarded for how many hours they’ve worked, courses they’ve taken, degrees they’ve earned, or projects they’ve led.

Countless organizations treat career planning as an HR process. They use words like talent development, succession planning, and key resource identification. I suspect (hope) their intentions are good, but what usually happens is you are put into little boxes that get you nowhere.

I believe there’s a better way … a way that elevates people AND the organization. A way for people to show up fully engaged and guiding their career plan and a way for organizations to genuinely maximize their talent.

Your work is your art!

I see work as your art … a creative expression of your talents, skills, abilities, experience, passions, values, perspectives … your own masterpiece. I’ve seen it over and over again whether I was a leader or a coach. It is so cool to watch people get into their groove and create some magic. And anyone can do it.

Your career plan is the process you use to create and expand your version of art.

You career plan is cyclical, strategic and evolutionary. It keeps you energized and focused on being your best and brings extraordinary value to everyone – yourself included.

What You Can Expect from a Career Plan – via IAMX*

Imagine how your life would be different if you approached your career this way…

• Leading Your Career. Success is rarely created by simply falling into a job, being pressured, or doing what everyone else does. Those who lead their careers based on who they are and what they want for their lives create fulfillment and success.
• Focused on the Big Picture. When you have a vision for your career, it’s easy to focus all of your goals and strategies on getting you there. Knowing what you want helps you to make decisions about staying on your path or perhaps taking a little diversion … knowing all along that it’s the journey and the destination that creates happiness.
• Empowered Personal and Professional Development. Your career plan isn’t a static document. It evolves as you do. Use it to build on and expand your strengths, not fix your weaknesses. Get support from others (coaches, mentors, advisors) to help you grow. Become a lifelong learner.
• Courageous. It’s normal to be afraid at times throughout your career. Most of what I see people struggle with is “the unknown.” It takes courage to step out of your comfort zone, so you may feel some anxiety. That’s when you consult your career plan to remind you of where you’re going, confront your fears, and get back on track. Like a powerful lion…
• Prepared. Opportunity knocks and you’ll be ready to take advantage of it. You’ll rarely be surprised by what’s going on around you because you’re consistently reviewing your career plan for alignment with your True Self and what you want.
• Focused. Most of us would be good at a thousand things, but how do you choose? Your career plan guides your decisions and curtails distractions.
• Creative. The process of developing a career plan is very creative. Set yourself free from “what is” and imagine, dream, explore. You might be surprised at what you cook up!
• Life of Integrity. Crafting a career that is rooted in your values means that your career is one in which what you say and what you do matches up. It will be easy to make choices that align your values to the values of others to create harmony.

*If you want to know more about IAMX, Karen captured it in this blog post.

Planning your career is easier than you think. You just need a framework that guides you along your journey.

What Happens if You Don’t Have a Career Plan?

Throughout my career and life, I’ve met scores of brilliant people, but for some reason many of them are languishing in their jobs or businesses. They seem to be stuck. And some of them are bitter.

I’ve wondered many times why these awesome people were overlooked or underutilized while other people were blowing past them? Were they missing secret powers? Were the other people just really good “brown-nosers” … or blackmailers?

Truth Time: The number one reason why these awesome people aren’t getting the results is because they don’t have a career plan … or their career plan isn’t getting them the results they want.

Here’s an example (true story but edited for confidentiality): Sara’s colleagues viewed her as the boss’s “pet.” She got the projects she wanted, was frequently seen in the boss’s office, and before long was promoted into a senior leadership position.

Sara’s colleagues were livid! “Favoritism is rampant around here. What does she have we don’t have? She’s not any smarter than we are. I work harder than she does,” they cried.

What Sara’s colleagues didn’t know is that Sara has a career plan. She shared her ideas with her boss, and they worked together to implement her plan. It wasn’t all “sunshine and roses” either. Sometimes Sara stumbled. Sometimes her boss didn’t agree with her. But eventually they came to an understanding of how to unite Sara’s goals with the organization’s goals.

When I talked with Sara’s boss, I asked, “Did any of those other people talk with you about their career plan“? Unfortunately the answer was what you might expect, “No, not one.”

Career Planning is Not for the Birds

Our career plan is to sit here & wait.

If you want a career you love, you can’t be like baby birds waiting for their mother to drop food in their mouths. That only gets you what other people think you should have.

Who wants that? I’d rather decide for myself who I am – at my very best. And then create a career plan that fits me AND creates value for everyone.

Now is the time to start (or get better at) treating your career like a savvy business owner. Today’s volatile and global economy requires you to.

Invest the time now to get clear about where you want to go, how you’ll get there, and what help you need along the way. It’s not a huge “time suck” either. Your return on investment (ROI) will be greater than you ever imagined.

So what about you? Are you ready to get started?

We’ve got a phenomenal program that has been carefully crafted and implemented at organizations like Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina and ATW Companies, and delivered to hundreds of individual private clients that is now available to the public. Leadership and Career Essentials is an online development program where we guide you to create a career plan so you can love what you do and start getting a life you love.

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