Make your career plan a priority

Visualize and articulate where you want to be five, 10 and 20 years from now.

By Ayelet Baron, senior business development manager, Global Mobility, Cisco Systems Inc.

Communicators often encourage executives to articulate the company strategy in a way that employees, customers and partners understand. Why then, don't we take the time to articulate a strategic plan for our own careers?

A colleague of mine recently returned from a two-week Safari with her family, sounding totally refreshed with a new perspective on what she wants from her career. Her first goal is to spend time building a plan of where she wants to be in five years and what she needs to do to get there.

If we encourage our executives to have a strategy that charts the future of the organization, why do most of us not create a strategic plan for our own careers?

Develop personal goals
In an era when organizations tell employees they're "empowered" to drive their own development, it's up to each of us to create a plan to help us realize our full potential. One of the keys to career development is having a good understanding of your personal goals and being able to visualize and articulate where you want to be five, 10 and 20 years from now.

One of the keys to career development is being able to visualize and articulate where you want to be.

Some people may be happy changing jobs every two or three years, while others prefer staying in the same position for longer periods of time. Whatever your preference, start planning how best develop professionally.

Hone your business skills
Some communicators can pursue their development with writing classes and communication conferences. However, if you're pursuing a career as a strategic communicator and want to be part of your leadership team, you need to establish credibility as a business leader.

You need to know how to create and deliver a strategic communication plan that incorporates both informal and formal channels of communication. And you need to have a solid understanding of the business and how communication can contribute to the organization's success by implementing successful strategies through your people.

Learn on the job
My professional skills have been developed primarily by learning "on the job." I find formal training environments restrictive and similar to many managers, I learn best by doing. So, I look for opportunities where I can either learn on the job or find really smart people who I can learn from, both internally and externally. I also spend time reading business publications to make sure I'm informed about the latest business issues and best practices.

Stay energized
Based on my own experience, the best way to remain energized about your work and continue learning and developing is to:

Create new ways to do more of what you're good at by identifying opportunities within the organization.
Learn to listen more than lecture.
Set achievable goals.
Trust your gut instinct.
Share with your management what you love to do.
Create new ways to do more of what you're good at by identifying opportunities within the organization, or find a volunteer opportunity that will help you develop in a safe environment.
Develop a reputation as an expert with specific knowledge and skills that others may lack.
Ask a senior executive to mentor you. Learn everything you can about this person and the division they lead.
Identify and partner with people with similar professional aspirations.

Make use of resources such as leading business publications and communities and business school websites that provide innovative thinking. Also, look for development opportunities within your own organization.

First published by Melcrum in 2005.