INTRODUCTION

Get Your Career on Track

In your hands you hold a plan to maximize your potential at work and create the career you desire.

You are responsible for your future. What you do today creates your tomorrow. It influences how you think, talk, and conduct yourself. What you learn and experience today forms the impetus for your successful career in the future. But how do you start? This book can help you identify your career vision and select ways to practice new skills, and it offers tips to stay the course.

Most important: This book is not intended to be read cover to cover.

• If you are trying to identify a career, start with Steps 1 and 2.

• If you know the career you have passion for, review Steps 3 and 4.

• If you have received feedback and you know what skills you need to improve, turn to Part Two to locate specific skills and start improving.

• If your career has stalled or derailed or plateaued, read Challenge 2.

• If you’re working to improve your image, reputation, or character, start with Challenge 1.

• If you are a manager who wants to help your employees, go to Challenge 3.

Take control of your career now. I challenge you to turn to any page in this book and read a paragraph or two. I am quite certain that you will find a new idea or a reminder of something you can strengthen or improve.

There are many ideas in this book. All of them will work if you do. None of them will work if you don’t. Take responsibility for your future and let the suggestions in this book inspire you to take the next steps toward your satisfying career.

Taking control of your career is hard work.

WHY THIS BOOK?

In most organizations, employees are accountable for their own development. Managing your own development and career is no longer an option. Some organizations may have employee journey maps or learning paths that lay out a predetermined learning plan for employees. Still, you should play an active role in managing your career. So how do you go about figuring out your own career path? No one cares more about your career than you do.

If you want to run a marathon, you must prepare for it. You would study what the experts do; you’d start running short sprints; you’d learn how to stretch; you’d begin to eat the right things; you’d put together a playlist that motivates you. And you’d create an overall plan and work at it for months before the race. There’s a lot to do to win a race.

If you want to have a career that is meaningful and inspires you, you must prepare for it the same way you would a marathon. You might seek experts in your profession; you’d try some short sprints such as a job swap to experience the work; you’d learn with a stretch assignment; you’d begin a diet of learning the right things; you’d put together a “playlist” of strategies that motivate you to try new experiences. And you’d create an individual development plan (IDP) and anticipate working at it for months.

This book can help you tap into what you are passionate about, what skills you have, and what skills you need. You also need to look to the future to determine what skills will be required—that is, what will someone pay you for? And what’s the gap between what you want to do, can do, and still need to learn to do? That’s where you can make a difference for you. You can determine how to upskill and reskill your proficiency so that you can win the race to the career you desire.

Your career is the most valuable investment you can make in your life.

WHY NOW?

You may be reading this book for many reasons. Perhaps you are new to the workforce and are curious about what skills you’ll need. You may be reading this book because your career has reached a plateau; perhaps you’ve received the results from your 360-degree assessment and need ideas to shore up several skills. You may also be reading this book because you see the future and know that your current career is in for turbulent times. Or, you may be reading this book because your current work is just not as exciting and invigorating as it once was. Whatever your reason, it is wise to step back and review who you are and who you want to be.

Remember to plan what you will need to do to achieve the career you desire. As the saying goes, it’s not a sprint; your career development is a marathon.

This book will keep you on track to the finish line and beyond.

WHAT’S IN THIS BOOK?

First of all, remember that this book is not intended to be read from cover to cover. Start where it makes the most sense for where you are now.

Part One. Steps 1 through 4 contain general information about career development. You’ll learn why it’s critical to be a lifelong learner and to have a growth mindset. You’ll find ideas for how to find the right career path for you and how to stay on course. You’ll learn to write an IDP that is practical and useful to you.

Part Two. The skills presented here focus on how to develop your career. Ten categories present 51 skills that employees must have in order to be truly successful in their careers. For example, if you’ve received feedback from your supervisor during an appraisal meeting or from a 360-degree assessment that you need to improve your accountability, turn to Skill 43 to learn the measures of success, the hurdles you will need to overcome for improvement, and a dozen ways that you can start practicing.

This book is not meant to tell you everything you need to know about a skill or behavior. Instead, the 10 skill categories show how you can gain more insight about each skill and how you can obtain experiences that will lead you to improve them. Each of the 51 skills presents the key measures of success and mindset hurdles you’ll need to overcome. These are followed by exercises that are divided into three sections:

• Tips for People in a Hurry are things you can do immediately or changes you can make to improve nearly instantly. Generally they are things you can do with no planning. You’ll likely have to set aside some time, but most can be implemented without much more than a paper and pencil.

• Practice Sprints are tactics that can be implemented as reminders or actions you can take with a small amount of planning. In some cases they involve other people—for example, scheduling a meeting with your supervisor. A number of the tactics ask that you create a plan, but you will not likely need to do any research.

• Strategies for the Long Run are suggestions and plans that will help you develop your skills over time. They take longer than the tips and sprints but are more permanent. These are items that will be more difficult to do; some may push you out of your comfort zone and expect you to take a risk. You’ll be expected to invest a longer period of time—days, weeks, or even months—to complete the development. These might be strategies that you add to your personal development plan.

Each of the 51 skills ends with a “Cross Training” section that points you to related topics in the book. “Reading for the Final Stretch” is a short list of books for further learning on each of the topics.

Part Three. The Challenges discussed in this section cover some important “extras.” The first two Challenges address character and trip ups that can derail your career. The third Challenge is written for your manager—providing direction on how to support your career planning.

BEYOND THE BOOK

Online tools and downloadable resources can be found at https://ideas.bkconnection.com/skillsforcareersuccess. These tools relate to the skills and categories discussed in the book, including such things as interview questions, self-assessments, worksheets, and planning sheets.