Do you have a career plan?
Many people think of planning as boring or a waste of time, but we disagree. A lot of executives and professionals don’t have a solid career goal. These are people at different stages in their career and of different ages, who were never taught or told how to plan for their careers.
Whether you’re a seasoned executive or an ambitious professional, having a well-thought-out career plan is essential for achieving your goals and maintaining a sense of direction.
In this episode, you will learn more about the essentials of career planning. Our host and CEO Porschia, shares her insight on the importance of understanding your goals and values to develop a career plan. Listen in as Porschia breaks down the 6, key steps to creating a robust career plan that supports your success!
What you’ll learn:
- Why having a customized career plan is important, even if you are comfortable in your career right now
- The 4 main aspects to consider with career planning
- What a boundaryless career is and how it applies to you
- How to develop a career plan in 6 steps
- What work adjustment theory is and how you can use it for successful career planning and to feel more fulfilled
As a thank you for listening to this episode of the Career 101 Podcast, we are sharing our FREE master class – Career 911: Solving the Top 5 Challenges Executives and Professionals Have! It’s a training based on solving the common problems our clients have experienced to reach their goals. You can get access to the master class here!
Episode Transcript
Porschia: [00:00:00] Happy New Year. I hope you all enjoyed the holidays. I want to thank you all who have been kind enough to leave us a review on Apple Podcast. We really appreciate it. I read your reviews and take what you say into consideration. This episode was inspired by a request from Gunny Liu, who says that they are looking forward to listening to the other episodes of the show.
And they also would like us to talk about [00:01:00] a map to career clarity. Well, Gunny Liu, this episode is for you. And this episode is also for everyone in our community. Because career planning is one of the most important aspects of your career, but I find that it is one of the least talked about aspects. of your career.
So today we are talking about career planning 101, how to develop a career plan. Whether you’re a seasoned executive or an ambitious professional, having a well thought out career plan is essential for achieving your goals and maintaining a sense of direction. Today we’ll break down the six key steps to creating a robust career plan.
One of my primary motivations for starting this podcast was that I was seeing the same [00:02:00] patterns and highly intelligent executives and professionals. over and over again. Even if you went to a university that has a career development or career services department, you might not have ever known about it.
Or if you knew about it, you never had a session or any communication with someone from the career services department. For the clients we have who, did go to a university that had some type of career departments, if they were fortunate back when they were in undergrad or grad school to have the ability to schedule one term.
Thank you. 20 minute session with a career counselor. They are in the minority. Most people never did that. We partner with quite a few universities and do different presentations and webinars [00:03:00] for alumni networks at different universities. So I know that the career counselors, advisors, and coaches that work within universities are doing a lot of great work.
However, literally every university that I’ve spoken with in the last three years has been short staffed and tasked with doing more with less. A lot of times the directors of career services or alumni career services at universities tell me that they just don’t have enough time to devote to each individual student or alum.
And this is when it comes to helping them with their career path or career planning. So what does this lead to? It leads to a lot of executives and professionals who don’t have a solid career goal. [00:04:00] These are people at different stages in their career and of different ages who were never taught or told how to plan for their careers.
I know that a lot of people are not excited by the thought of planning. So if that is you, I want you to just hang in there with me today. It’s not going to be boring, uh, as many of you know, I am deeply into psychology. Last year, I finished my master’s degree in industrial and organizational psychology, which is also known as IO psychology.
And that is basically psychology of the workplace. During my studies, I learned about some concepts and theories that are very helpful for clients. The first concept that I think is really important to understand specifically when it comes to career planning is the idea of a boundary list [00:05:00] career. The topic of a boundary list career was introduced by Michael Bernard author and Denise Rousseau in their book, the boundary list career, a new employment principle for a new organizational era.
And that book was originally published in 1996. And up until that point, most people generally thought of careers as a linear progression. So similar to the idea of a career ladder that you climbed up to the top, in the idea of the traditional career, people stayed with one or two companies. until they retired.
Companies had long term staff and invested a lot into their training and employees progression was focused on one profession or field of expertise. In [00:06:00] the traditional career concept or ladder, there is a relative sense of job security and the company is in control of most areas, including employee training and development.
Now we know that things have changed a lot and the traditional career path that was predictable for the baby boomer generation is not relevant or even possible for most people today. With rapid advancements in technology like AI, financial instability, economic changes, and industry changes, employees no longer follow a traditional path.
The idea of the boundaryless career is the idea that one person will progress between a number of companies, and they might not be quote unquote loyal to all of those companies. A person might [00:07:00] undergo multiple changes of profession and have to go through retraining, upskilling, and multiple career transitions.
Their idea of expertise could also change multiple times throughout their career. Within the context of a boundaryless career, there is limited to no job security for employees because companies can change. Restructure and reduce their workforce at any point in time. This leads to an increased sense of freedom by individual employees.
The individual is in charge of their own training and development opportunities. In the world of a boundaryless career, a person is responsible for their own progression and training. The individual also needs to enhance certain skills, including self [00:08:00] motivation, time management, stress management, and career development.
Your career is not something to leave to chance. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. And that quote is by Benjamin Franklin. Many of us know that Benjamin Franklin was a very famous inventor and scientist. When you look at his background, it’s amazing to see how much he actually got done in his lifetime.
And we can tell from this quote that he did amazing things by planning for them. Your career is no different. Sometimes I hear very sad stories from clients and a lot of these cases, they thought that everything would just. fall into place in their career and that they wouldn’t have to really plan for anything, or that, everything would just all [00:09:00] work out in the end.
Well, most of the time, those people don’t end up where they really want to be.
There are a lot of routes that you can take in your career. We’re going to talk about some of those, but one thing that I think is obvious at this point is that you can’t just depend on your company or your organization to take care of you. Those days of working 20 or 30 plus years for one company, getting a pension and a generous retirement plan are long gone.
People are laid off sometimes without a second thought as part of a restructuring or a reorganization of a company. There are times when I’ve been introduced to people who are potential clients from their friends or family members. And. We respond back to them, either via [00:10:00] email or my assistant might call and we never hear back from them.
And then six months later, they reach out because they’ve been laid off. By that point, they realize that if they had planned earlier, they wouldn’t be in the Dire straits, quite frankly, that some of them are in. I know that most people don’t enjoy the topic of planning, but it is essential. In this episode, I’ve drilled down to what I think are some of the fundamental elements for executives and professionals to know about career planning.
[00:11:00] First, understanding your goals and values are essential to career planning. I’m a firm believer that career goals should be self generated. You can ask yourself. What do I want? And while that sounds like a simple question, it’s actually a very difficult question for most people to answer. Many executives and professionals do not know what they really want.
They know what other people have told them they should want. They don’t know what they themselves It’s truly desire on the inside. This [00:12:00] is an important concept not to overlook. Generally, when I talk to people who tell me that they feel like they’ve been spinning in circles or unhappy with their career for over 20 years, it’s because they are not clear on their own career goals, your career goals, and what you want are the foundation for your career plan.
And all of your actions moving forward for some people. It’s easy to answer the question. What do you want? But for many people, it takes a lot of deep work to move through the familial programming or societal programming they have around what they think they should be trying to achieve. It sounds deep because it is we can help you if you know that you fall into that category.
Values are [00:13:00] also vital when thinking about your career and your level of satisfaction in your career. When we work with clients, we have them take a values assessment. We also have them rank their top 10 values on a scale of importance. Digging deep into your values is going to take more time than we have for this episode, but feel free to reach out on our website if you want more help with that.
I’ve learned a lot of theories about how employees and organizations interact to achieve the organization’s mission. There are many things you can do in your career to be more satisfied and fulfilled. So I want to take a minute to talk about work adjustment theory. Dr. Renee Dawes and Dr. Lloyd Lofquist were pioneers in work adjustment theory.
It [00:14:00] basically states that positive work outcomes result from greater degrees of fit between a person and their values. If someone’s values align with the aspects of their job, then they will usually be more satisfied and productive. Work adjustment theory specifically looks at various dimensions, a person’s thoughts and values or interests, and if those thoughts actually line up with their current job.
So there are different levels of fit in work adjustment theory based on responsibility, recognition, autonomy, pay, morals, innovation, achievement. Technical supervision and job security. Career planning is [00:15:00] an ongoing process of learning, discussion and reflection about your career to create time bound steps.
So that means creating a timeline and an action plan that is in alignment with what you want. Career planning provides vision, structure, direction, and motivation to achieve goals. At Fly High Coaching, we believe that you are the expert on yourself. But we help with guidance, clarification, and questions to support what you want.
There are four main aspects to consider when it comes to career planning. The first is self awareness, so understanding yourself, your own tendencies. The second is knowledge or skills. And this [00:16:00] pertains to knowing the necessary knowledge, skills, and training required to reach your goals. The third is scheduling.
So creating a plan and scheduling the steps for completion. And the fourth aspect is resources or sources of information or support. Resources could be books, courses, money, access to something, and your career support system.
Now, let’s start developing your career plan in six steps. Step one, understanding your values. Your career plan should be built on a solid foundation of your core values. Take the time to reflect on what truly matters to you. What are your non negotiables? Are you driven by a desire for financial success, personal growth, work life balance, or making a positive impact on society?[00:17:00]
Understanding your values will help you make career decisions that resonate with your true self. Step two. Self awareness. Self awareness is a superpower when it comes to career planning. Assess your tendencies, interests, skills, and personality traits. What are your strengths and weaknesses? What do you genuinely enjoy doing?
Understanding yourself allows you to make choices that leverage your strengths and mitigate your weaknesses.
Consider seeking feedback from colleagues and mentors or taking personality assessments like the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, MBTI. I’m a master practitioner of the [00:18:00] MBTI and find it really valuable to use with clients. Step three, knowledge and skills. In today’s rapidly evolving professional landscape, staying up to date with relevant knowledge and skills is crucial.
Identify the skills and knowledge areas that are essential for your industry and role. Invest in continuous learning through courses, workshops, or certifications. Keep a career journal to track your progress and identify areas for improvement. Step 4. Scheduling and ordering your steps. goals. A career plan without a timeline is merely a wish.
Create a timeline for your career goals, both short and long term. Break down your larger [00:19:00] objectives into smaller actionable steps. This not only makes your plan more manageable, but also helps you track your progress and adjust when necessary. Step five, Access to resources. Successful career planning also involves leveraging available resources.
Identify the resources you need, be it information, finances, mentorship, or support from your network. Don’t hesitate to reach out to mentors or seek out professional development opportunities when your organization or industry, um, association.
Don’t hesitate to reach out to mentors or seek out professional development opportunities within your organization or industry associations.
A career plan is not set in stone. [00:20:00] It’s a dynamic document that should be regularly reviewed and adapted. As you gain experience and insights, your goals and priorities may change. Make it a habit to review your career plan at least once a year and adjust it as needed. So let’s recap. To develop a robust career plan, Step 1 is to understand your values.
Step 2 is to cultivate self awareness. Step 3 is to invest in knowledge and skills. Step 4 is to create a timeline for your goals. Step 5 is access to resources. And Step 6… is to regularly review and adapt your plan.
I want you to remember that a career plan is not about achieving a singular goal, but about creating a [00:21:00] roadmap for your professional journey. Embrace the learning experiences, adapt to change, and stay true to your values. Everything you do in the future should be based on your own career plan. I know this was a lot of information and you might want to listen to this episode again.
Just remember that we’re always here to help you put all of this together. You can reach out on our website, fly highcoaching. com.
Now, I want to take a moment and tell you about a live masterclass we have coming up soon. If this topic of career planning is hitting home for you, then please be sure to click on the link in the show notes of this episode on our website. I rarely do live events. but I think this one is [00:22:00] important to help you in the new year.
During the masterclass, you’ll learn why understanding your own personality is an essential part of planning and managing your career, how having your own customized career plan can help you navigate through your career, the five most common problems executives and professionals have in their careers and how to overcome them, and what might be going on in the background that stops you from taking action.
So. Go sign up and I look forward to seeing you then. [00:23:00]
