Career Development
Who Changed All the Rules?

By John Lankford

A new emphasis on employability is increasingly replacing the traditional career development map. Instead of an orderly trajectory that has an employee stepping from rung to rung on a corporate ladder, individuals are increasingly expected to seek out and recognize stepping-off points.

Despite the newly prominent expectations, meaningful career change is very hard to orchestrate and sustain. Even a linear career change involves a fair amount of personal reinvention and, to many people, represents a high wire act without a net.

Mastering Change

Every manager needs to learn how to facilitate a career discussion with each staff member. The employee's responsibility, in turn, is to personally manage his own development and ongoing learning using these six principles:

1. PLANNING IS KEY. You have to know who you are, what you want to do, your values, your style, your skills and the opportunities that are best for you. Leverage your personal network.

2. CONTINUOUS LEARNING IS A MUST. The world changes quickly and no one can afford to become stagnant. You have to keep learning.

3. WE EACH HAVE TO OWN OUR SELF-DEVELOPMENT. You need to take 100% responsibility for the skills you need to thrive. Nobody else is going to do it for you.

4. SELF-DEVELOPMENT IS A SYSTEM. There is a systematic, proactive way to constantly develop and improve in order to set you up for attractive opportunities.

5. YOUR ABILITY TO EXECUTE YOUR PLAN REQUIRES ACCOUNTABILITY. You need to tap into whatever it takes to get up in the morning and execute your career plan.

6. JOB MATCH. Use your job knowledge and skills to research as many jobs or fields as you might truly enjoy.

 
The Sweet Spot

Remember Venn diagrams? You probably learned about them in high school algebra as a visual explanation of elementary set theory. Here's one that will probably make a more lasting impact on your life going forward. 

One set here includes the “stuff” that make up your essential self: your dreams, aspirations and passions. The other includes the mechanics of who you are: your talents, and the tangible self you “put out there.” Where these intersect is the sweet spot. When you operate from there, long-term success and happiness are the natural consequence. The challenge most people face is in developing a plan to help connect their past experiences with their future success. To assist you on your journey, I have created a self assessment for you.

The only rules are these: Write all of your answers in a journal. Be honest with yourself and have fun. Self-examination is the tool to help you design your ideal career.

Portfolio Of Your Past:

List 5 past accomplishments, each on its own sheet of paper, with a short summary of each.

Answer the following questions in each summary:

1. What did you do?  How did you do it?

2. Why is this important to you?

3. Break the path into a timeline and record how each step felt. Did you have obstacles?  How did you overcome them?

4. What did you learn on this journey? Was your life changed in any way by either the process of achieving your goal, or the result of the achievement?

Once you have completed all of your stories, select two to three common themes.

Leveraging Your Strengths In The Present:

Clearly define each of your core values and list what you consider to be a violation of these values.

1. What motivates you in your current career?

2. What are the characteristics of a great leader?

3. What leadership characteristics do you see in yourself?

4. As a professional, what are your strengths?  How and when do you leverage them? 

5. What have you done to develop yourself in the last three years?

Taking Charge Of Your Career:

Complete the following exercises in your journal and be specific in your answers:

1. How do you prefer to be managed? 

2. Are you wired to be an employee in a company, or to be an entrepreneur?

3. What is the best way to build a successful working relationship with you?

4. What kind of people do you want to work with?

5. What is it about your dream job that you most yearn for?

6. Describe at least three people in the world of business that you like, admire and respect. What is it about them that you would like to emulate? Compare and contrast your personality.

7. What is the required skill-set, education, and job experience of a candidate for your dream job? Find or create a job description.

Imagine a workplace where everyone loved his job and gave 100 percent every day. Engagement and productivity would soar. It's not a fairy tale scenario. It's not only possible, but it's the best way to meet the needs of a company in a changing world and develop the needed strengths in its employees – and a nimble response to change for both employee and employer.

About the Author
John Lankford was recognized as the 2007 and 2008 Associate Business Coach of the Year in North America. His business expertise has been tapped by prominent business media such as the New York Times and CBS. John’s keynote speaking has landed him on the elite team that trains and certifies the new Executive Coaches joining the worldwide coaching community. John has recently been named the Chief Executive Officer for the Innisbrook Leadership Institute.  John.Lankford@ThinkInnisbrook.com