Executive Career Planning & Performance Development

Hi, thanks for joining us today at Intelligent Executive. And what I want to share with you today are ideas about how you can better exploit your executive career, and in particular, how you can go about planning your executive career and developing your performance. Most executives mid-career have no plan. While some have planned to achieve their current position, thoughts of further advancement often take a backseat to life's other demands. Others believe that given the dynamic nature of business, the future cannot be predicted, so there is little point in planning. However, not to plan can leave you stalled or going round in circles. Planning puts you in the driving seat. You may still have to negotiate roadblocks and dead ends, but you control your speed and direction. With focus and a small number of manageable initiatives, you are better able to exploit your career potential. And we're going to outline for you how you can capitalize on your career opportunity. While you've probably got some ideas about what you want out of your career, these may be clouded by uncertainty or made complex because there's more than one possible route forward. However, you must focus on desired outcomes or else run the risk of doing nothing and going nowhere. Your starting point is, what do I want to accomplish? Whether your goals are realistic will depend upon your motivation and values, strengths, skills and competencies, available opportunities, and how well you apply yourself. The foundation for your executive career development and plan is developing a better understanding of yourself, your experience, skills and motivations. These should shape your goals and determine your career plan. Whether your motivations are to achieve seniority or simply to be the best you can be, continuous self-development is essential. In the early stages of your career, you quickly acquired skills and experience and you made big gains fast. However, as you get older and more senior, the pace slows. Times change. You become outdated. New ways of working emerge. You forget things. Your performance drops unless you actively and continuously develop and learn. Even to maintain a status quo, you must continually learn and evolve. Once established into your career, advancement becomes increasingly dependent on making small gains, which taken together achieve big results. We refer to this as marginal gain. You can leverage marginal gains, take small steps and turn them into big results. Be an A player. An A player is filled with passion, committed to making things happen, open to new ideas from anywhere, blessed with lots of runway ahead, has charisma to energize themselves and others, and makes business productive and enjoyable. Your ongoing career success depends on your accomplishments, how well you perform and are regarded. Most people have no plan, no clear goals. You must consider what you want out of your professional life. Your priorities may relate to job satisfaction and being the best you can be or to seniority and status. Now consider what you want out of your personal life. You can always earn money, but you can never buy your life back. Ask yourself, what must I do to achieve my goals? 1. For a small number of people, their goals will be unrealistic, which could be attributable to ability or circumstance. You therefore are advised to gain the inputs of several people about whether your goals are the right ones. 2. Your goal may require a significant step change. In other words, it may require a transformative difference, for example, gaining diverse new experiences or qualifications. 3. Without exception, you must undertake a number of initiatives, marginal gains, which collectively will get you to where you want to be. You'll probably have several routes along which you might develop your career, so consider how these might play out. Goals Goal-setting professional 10 years 5 years 3 years 1 year Buddy up, get inputs. It can be hard, if not impossible, to see ourselves as others do. However, we must assess our capabilities and options fairly and objectively if we are to make workable plans. Try the following. Don't plan your career solo. Seek the input of others before drawing conclusions. Don't restrict yourself to just one other person's opinion. Seek diverse perspectives for a smart, holistic overview. Buddy up. Seek the advice of people you trust and become a trusted advisor in return. Mentor one another Consider engaging professional coaches to properly plan and exploit your career potential. Once you've got other people's inputs, you can consider your plans. Review and reflect It's important to take time to reflect on things. Consider how the options available to you to progress your career may play out. You've set goals, sought input from others, and taken the time to reflect and review. It's time to create an action plan which bridges the gap between where you are now and where you aim to be. As you translate your goals into objectives with deadlines, remember to keep them smart. Now you can begin to progress steadily towards your goals. Review progress regularly. Redraw your plans if you must, but if you miss a deadline, you should have a very good reason. Ask yourself, am I leveraging my highest point of value? In other words, are you using your full skill set, working at the highest level, and getting the optimum return from your employer? You occupy your current position because of your knowledge, skills, and ability. Demonstrate your true worth by focusing on your area of expertise or specialist knowledge. This may mean stepping away from tasks that are familiar or enjoyable, but you should avoid doing things that can be done by someone at a less senior level. Some environments value people more than others, and some pay more than others. By operating at your highest point of value, always, you add most value and can expect the greatest reward. Focus on learning as a continuum, not an event. Grasp the idea of marginal gain and never let it go. As you progress your career, you must develop an executive presence. This should be consistently applied, at work and outside, in person and online. It's no use being motivated and productive one day, week, or month, but not the next. The challenge is to perform it 100% every day. This requires motivation, and perhaps the most overlooked executive performance booster is maintaining energy, energizing. This affects your performance and how well you energize others. The three points I'd like you to act on in order for you to exploit your executive career opportunity are 1. Take ownership for your executive career. 2. Develop a plan. 3. Buddy up, team up, trusted advisors. Thank you for joining us today at Intelligent Executive.