There’s a huge difference in the upward progression of women who proactively manage their careers vs. those who rely on management to provide career opportunities for them. Time and time again, I have seen women fight to make sure one of their employees gets recognition or a promotion for a job well done, but wouldn’t dream of being as tenacious about their own career management.
The bottom line is, you are the one who is responsible for your own career advancement. But, like most things, managing your career takes some thoughtful planning and some concrete action. Here is a 10-step plan for starting out in the right direction and staying on track.
1. Think of your career management as a "project." Understand that you will have to devote some time and critical thinking to this project, and you’ll have to schedule progress checks along the way.
2. Schedule time to create a project plan. It’s nearly impossible to think through such critical issues while you are immersed in work, meeting deadlines, meeting with clients, and managing family life. Schedule a time, ideally a day or half-day where you have a completely uninterrupted block of time. Think about where you will go. It’s best to spend your time away from work or home. Schedule a block of time two or three times a year so that you can check progress, realign plans with your current thinking, and figure out your next action items.
3. Think and write. What do you like to do? What don’t you like to do? What positions do you have your sights set on? Why? Are there aspects of your current job that you don’t like? Why? How can you transition to have larger part of your workload filled with work that is enjoyable and fulfilling? List all of the positions you think you are interest in, and rate them in order of preference. Ask yourself why you are giving preference to some and not others. Write a mission statement for what it is you think you want to do. Writing it helps you to narrow down the focus, and tests your ideas to see which ones make it to paper, and which ones feel right.
4. Use planning tools. It’s great to bring some planning tools with you to help you think through this process. If you are starting your own business, Inc.Your Dreams by Rebecca Maddox has a wealth of creative planning tools to really help you hone in on the best business for you. One of the most helpful exercises I’ve experienced in my career planning was part of Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, where I had to write nonstop for five minutes – no topic specified. I was really shocked at what ended up on my paper, but that exercise really spurred my transition to a new career.
5. Talk to people: friends, mentors, sponsors. Talking to people about your plan, and your vision, about where you want to go, actually helps to refine your "story" and gives you confidence in talking to others about it. It’s a good idea to talk to friends and trusted colleagues early in your process because they can help you shape your ideas. Also you will begin to hear what resonates with other people.
Once your plans have become more refined, find a mentor to meet with you on a regular basis to guide you through the process and to be a sounding board. So much of the advancement game is political, and mentors can be invaluable in terms of helping you navigate.
It’s important to identify who the key decision-makers are within the company, and to get one or more of them to sponsor you. Sponsors are usually senior-level people who know you, know your capabilities and can comfortably recommend/represent you at higher levels when promotions or succession planning discussions take place. If you don’t know any of them, then sign up for some cross-functional teams, or volunteer for projects that will give you exposure to some potential sponsors.
6. Create a plan, set goals, identify steps, build a schedule. Figure out what steps you need to take to advance your career. You may want to do some further research on a couple of areas that interest you. You could set a goal to meet with three people in each area of interest to do some research within the next two months, and out of that, you could set a date to make a decision on your direction within three months. From there you could define the steps you need to take to get to your next position. What skills do you need to build? Are there requirements that you can’t meet today?
7. Ask for what you want. Whether you are doing research or meeting with your current boss, you should always know what you want to get out of the meeting, and you should be prepared to ask for specifics. "I want to let you know that I would like move up to a vice president’s position and would like you to work with me on creating a career development plan, including requirements for getting promoted, areas for professional and personal development, and checkpoint discussions. Can we schedule a meeting to do this?"
It’s important for you to tell your boss, mentors, colleagues, and sponsors what your career goals are, so they will consider you, and so word gets out. So many women miss out on opportunities because they don’t tell anyone what it is they want.
Also ask for feedback. "Do you think my plans are reasonable?" If your boss wouldn’t think of promoting you in your time frame under any condition, it would be nice to know up front so you can explore other avenues, or modify your timing requirements.
8. Communicate your accomplishments. You can bet your co-workers are. I’ve seen so many incredibly talented women get passed up for promotions because they are so focused on their work that they forget to pick their heads up to communicate what they’ve accomplished. Many women don’t like to do this because they think it’s egotistical, but if you see yourself as an employee of a company and remove yourself personally, you really owe it to the company to communicate successes so they can be replicated. But when it comes time to promote one person out of 10, it’s critical that the decision-maker know about your accomplishments. Make a list of people that you think you should be communicating with, and each quarter make sure you have some chance to communicate with them, whether via an e-mail status report, quarterly briefing, or one-on-one meetings.
9. Schedule check-in points along the way. It’s important that you tie dates to certain milestones because, for whatever reasons, many managers typically aren’t proactive about pushing along career plans. The formulation of checkpoints and milestones brings a timing element into the picture, and helps keep everyone on track.
10. If your plan is not working, escalate and be prepared to think through other options. Ask again, and if you don’t feel comfortable with the steps being taken, escalate your concerns, let management know how important this issue is, and think ahead of time about what you’ll do if your needs are not being met.
The bottom line is, will you be prepared to explore other options?
Mary Beth Schoening is an independent consultant specializing in channel and go-to-market consulting for technology companies. Mary Beth is a personal advocate for working women and speaks nationally about women’s leadership and work/life balance issues. You may contact Mary Beth directly at mbschoening@attbi.com or by calling 508-993-6803. Copyright ©2001, All Rights Reserved, Mary Beth Schoening.
