How to Create Individual Growth Plans

You are probably familiar with Amazon's "Start with the press release" or working backwards method for product releases (link in comments below). This week I had the idea to do that with my career development. Almost certainly, I am not the first to think of this, but thought I would share my version. 1) Start with the announcement - write the announcement of your next role no matter how far out that is. Include the unique strengths, skills, and experiences you are bringing to the position. 2) Create your future resume - write the resume/CV that got you the next role. What is in that future version that you don't have on your resume today? 3) Use the announcement and resume as guiding principles to get clear on any gaps and to make informed decisions on where to invest your time next 4) Start collecting the experiences you need with intention 5) Continually reflect and adjust as needed, career development is never a straight line and you don't know what you don't know yet. I am a fan of prioritizing growth and development even (especially?) when you are enjoying where you are today. Today is always the best day to do anything, so am off to write my future resume. 😃

What advice do you have for someone focusing on career progression? ✏️ I worked with someone who had a five-year plan, and she was able to make her career decisions by whether or not they aligned with the plan. I was amazed, having never had a one-year, much less five-year plan for my own career. Having grown my own career "organically" rather than to a plan, and having worked with many who have a plan, I can attest to the value of having a plan, if you are focusing on career progression. But remember - it's okay to not focus on career progression. When making a career plan, it's important to break it down into big picture, long term objectives, which then get refined to specific "SMART"* goals for short term, measurable steps aligned with the objectives. Think about it like this: 1️⃣ What's my 5-year vision? High level, where do I want to be? 2️⃣ What's a key growth metric I'd like to "level up" in this year? 3️⃣ What am I doing this quarter (SMART goals)? 4️⃣ What are the activities I'm working on (daily/weekly) to meet the goals? 5️⃣ How am I making sure I have time for everything on a daily basis? By going from big picture to small details it helps not overwhelm yourself with everything you must do to meet your long-term goals. It also means your plan stays adaptable. You can't predict the future, so having detailed tasks assigned years out means you probably have to revise your plan frequently as life deals out its surprises. This model works for any sort of long-term growth but can be particularly relevant to career progression. When you know where you want to end up, and learn what is needed to be there, you can set the short term, SMART goals along the way to get there. While I haven't had a 5-year plan, I have used this approach for 1-year and 90-day planning. I've attached a single page template I use for my own planning - it goes from the year (top line vision) down to the day at the bottom - with space in the middle for a 90-day outlook and important things to track. Message me if you'd like a copy of the PDF. I'd love to hear your thoughts on achieving goals and personal vision statements, or other techniques you've used when focusing on career growth. What worked for you? What could be improved in what I suggest? Let's talk below! 👇 * Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound

Do this one thing to change the conversation with your manager at the next one-on-one. 👇 Invite your manager to learn about your career story. Managers are not mind readers to know who you are and where you want to go. You may not have deeply internalized that story with clarity and conviction yourself. Ten years ago at Microsoft, I started to run workshops across the company to help colleagues create their career stories. The initial goal was to develop internal clarity of the story that could then be used to invite managers and colleagues to support their career journey. Stories have a way of bringing out the inner spirit of people. After hearing your story, stakeholders will always find a way to support your career plan. Leaders may only know how best to help if they hear who you are and what you want. I also worked with Microsoft talent development programs teaching colleagues how to craft career stories presented in front of leadership teams. This practice was a game-changer for the individual and the manager/team. The process drove accountability for people to take responsibility for their careers and for managers to create a safe forum to hear and support the stories. The result was mutual value. Imagine telling your career story with three to five slides - here is who I am, here are potential pathways I see (career roadmap), and the development I need to excel in my current role and reduce the friction to transition to a possible next role. Ryan Reed was a Microsoft colleague that attended one of my workshops and crafted his story. The career roadmap he discusses in this podcast is the map that guided his climb to an IT executive. He also uses this practice to champion professionals in his organization to create their career stories and use the career roadmap to guide and support talent development. ❤️ Everyone loves a great story; what is yours? See the comments below for a link to listen/watch the podcast and hear how Ryan uses career stories for himself and his organization. #career #talentdevelopment