In my previous article “6 Mistakes Med Device Professionals Make that Kill Their Career,” I covered common areas where executives can stall their career. In the upcoming 6-part series, I will dive deeper into each critical area. If you would like to read any of the previous articles, you can find them on our website.

 

Fail to plan, plan to fail – You would be surprised to find out how many people don’t have career goals and a written plan. I’m not talking about the half-hearted attempt at career planning that some companies require. People who achieve have a realistic plan they believe in.

Take accountability – The first step in career planning is making the decision to be responsible for your own career. It isn’t your boss’ responsibility. It’s yours. You might be lucky enough to have a boss who thinks like this, but chances are they aren’t going to do this for you.

Look into your future – These are the goals or deliverables of your plan. Consider the following questions:

• What’s your career goal?
• Where do you ultimately see yourself?
• Another way to ask this is what’s your end game?

One exercise to do is to imagine your retirement day with all your friends and family. Now imagine that each friend, coworker, and mentor makes a toast to you. Consider the following questions:

• What would they say about you?
• What would they say about your career?
• What did you accomplish?
• How did you do it?
• Where did you do it?
• What impact did you have?
• What is your legacy?
• How did you balance work and family?
• What do your employees think of you?

 

Write this stuff down. With the answers to these, you will be able to identify your long term goals.

You can also create a long term vision for your career by writing down your ideas on sticky notes. One idea per note. At the end of the exercise, you should have a pile of ideas; organize these ideas on a large white board, and you will find themes. The end result of this exercise will be your career vision. Successful people create a vision and then find a way to grow into it.

Assess Your Current Situation –

Take a look at your current state honestly and objectively. What do you know, what don’t you know, and what do you need to go find out?

How does your current role align short and long term?

What are you learning?

Do you have all the info, or do you need some conversations with management?

If you don’t have the answers, that’s fine—let’s get some more info.

Another part is looking at the big 3. For me, the big 3 is company, job, and manager.

Company – What is the trajectory of your company? Growth, steady state, or on the decline?

Is it the right size company for you, and are there other opportunities with the ability to move internally?

• How do you feel about the culture?
• Do you feel proud?
• Are you motivated by management?

 

Job – We already discussed goals, but let’s look at some more:

• Are you learning and growing? If yes, on what? If not, why?
• What do you like? What would you change?
• What does the company need from you (impact)?
• What more could you do for the company if you expanded your role—think about what your company needs versus what you want. A good career plan understands that the company’s needs are more important than your personal desires.
• If your current role aligned with your mid and long term goals,
  • What is it doing for you? (learning, career path)
  • If it’s not, why? Can it be changed?

Manager/management – might be more than just your boss

• Is your boss someone you are learning from?
• Can you have productive career conversations?
• Where do they see you in 5 years?
• Do you respect your boss?

 

Now that you have looked at all 3 of these, you can go back and look objectively at where you are.

 

Determine Your Path

• Now what’s your plan for the next 12 months?
• Can a conversation with your boss get things on track?
• Is there another Sr. leader?
• Do you need a mentor, someone who has been there and done it, to help you make some decisions?
• Take the time to write down your action plan and hold yourself accountable for executing it.

 

Take Action

• The time to implement your career plan is NOW. Don’t wait…….
• If you change 5% each year, think about how much better you will be in 5 years.
• If you just repeat the same mistakes you have made in the past, nothing will change.
• So what’s your plan? Write it down and hold yourself accountable.
• It’s your career. Start living the life and working towards the goals you want.
• It’s time to say “I get to go to work” instead of “I have to go to work.”

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