How to develop a career action plan
How to develop a career action plan
The first and most important step is to make a decision. The decision is whether or not you need a career action plan. Many may not require any action in their career at this stage of their life. For some there are more important areas in their life to which they want to devote their time. The challenge is to make a conscious decision and either accept the current job or put into place actions to achieve your goal job.
Like a business, the foundation of a strong action plan for a career is a vision, mission and identification of values. This article will not go into detail about the development of this foundation but in summary the following is suggested
Vision: Choose a time in the future and document in detail what you will be doing from a career point of view. I suggest somewhere 3 to 5 years in the future. What you should identify includes:
o where you are located,
o what you are doing,
o how you travel to your work place,
o how many hours a day you spend there,
o what sort of colleagues you have,
o what clothes you wear,
Mission: Identify what you want to achieve in your working life. As a tool to help you complete this, think of what ideally you would like to tell people when they ask you “What do you do?”
Values: Identify what is important to you in your working life. Make them behavioural statements and not just one word statements. For example if you value “excellence” (I suggest choosing the 5 or 6 most important values for you, please contact me if you would like a tool to assist with this) document a statement that will show how you will behave to show how you value excellence. For example it could be “I will value excellence by continuing to develop my knowledge in _______________ (your area of expertise).
The next steps involve identifying actions to help achieve your mission. The first of these steps is to document the key areas that need to be nurtured to achieve your career mission. For example these could be relationships, customers, my knowledge, my growth. As an example I will look at “customers” and the steps to follow to identify actions. The steps are strategy, targets and actions.
Strategy: In simple terms a strategy is a method to win. Be it war, sport, business or your own personal career having a strategy increases the likelihood of success. In regards to customers, “exceed customer expectations” is a statement not a strategy. However, “I will exceed my customer expectations by knowing their needs before they do” is a potentially very powerful strategy.
Targets: The targets that support this strategy could be:
o 80% Retention / renewal rate
o New product or service provided every six months
Actions: Actions that would help achieve this target are:
o Attend two industry conferences annually
o Call each customer once per month
o Subscribe to two industry magazines and research industry trends
Repeat this process for your other key areas and you will complete your career action plan.
How to develop a career action plan - To learn more about this author, visit Gerry Maguire's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
The focus of this article is on the development of your career action plan. However, the process can also be easily adapted to other areas of your life.
The first and most important step is to make a decision. The decision is whether or not you need a career action plan. Many may not require any action in their career at this stage of their life. For some there are more important areas in their life to which they want to devote their time. The challenge is to make a conscious decision and either accept the current job or put into place actions to achieve your goal job.
Like a business, the foundation of a strong action plan for a career is a vision, mission and identification of values. This article will not go into detail about the development of this foundation but in summary the following is suggested
Vision: Choose a time in the future and document in detail what you will be doing from a career point of view. I suggest somewhere 3 to 5 years in the future. What you should identify includes:
o where you are located,
o what you are doing,
o how you travel to your work place,
o how many hours a day you spend there,
o what sort of colleagues you have,
o what clothes you wear,
Mission: Identify what you want to achieve in your working life. As a tool to help you complete this, think of what ideally you would like to tell people when they ask you “What do you do?”
Values: Identify what is important to you in your working life. Make them behavioural statements and not just one word statements. For example if you value “excellence” (I suggest choosing the 5 or 6 most important values for you, please contact me if you would like a tool to assist with this) document a statement that will show how you will behave to show how you value excellence. For example it could be “I will value excellence by continuing to develop my knowledge in _______________ (your area of expertise).
The next steps involve identifying actions to help achieve your mission. The first of these steps is to document the key areas that need to be nurtured to achieve your career mission. For example these could be relationships, customers, my knowledge, my growth. As an example I will look at “customers” and the steps to follow to identify actions. The steps are strategy, targets and actions.
Strategy: In simple terms a strategy is a method to win. Be it war, sport, business or your own personal career having a strategy increases the likelihood of success. In regards to customers, “exceed customer expectations” is a statement not a strategy. However, “I will exceed my customer expectations by knowing their needs before they do” is a potentially very powerful strategy.
Targets: The targets that support this strategy could be:
o 80% Retention / renewal rate
o New product or service provided every six months
Actions: Actions that would help achieve this target are:
o Attend two industry conferences annually
o Call each customer once per month
o Subscribe to two industry magazines and research industry trends
Repeat this process for your other key areas and you will complete your career action plan.
How to develop a career action plan - To learn more about this author, visit Gerry Maguire's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 | |
 |
No article feedback found. |
| |
Leave Your Feedback |
 | |
| |||
Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
|||
David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
|||
Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
|||
John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
|||
Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
|||
John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
|||
Staging DivaDebra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva's Website |
|||
Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
|||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. | |||
 | |
|  |
Subscribe to Gerry's articles
 | |
|
|  |
 | |
|
| |
 | |||||||
|
 | ||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
|
| ||
 |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
|
|
 |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
|
|
 |
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"
Click Here To Learn More |
|
|
|
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
|
|
 Tax Splitting Example Interview Coaching Networking Difference In A Decade Website Planning Making SEO Decisions |
|
 | ||
 |
Guide To ERP Software
Business Management Software | |
 |
Top 50 Franchising Blogs
Top 50 Franchising Blogs | |
| ||
 | ||||
| ||||
|
| ||||
| ||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
|
|
|
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||