Career Planning

Plotting Your Management Career Path

Examine your strengths. Understanding and developing your most valuable traits and skills is an important step in outlining your career goals. Many self-inventories exist; one such popular resource is Tom Rath’s book Strengths Finder 2.0.

Find a mentor. A career mentor can help you prepare for the next level by helping you set personal ‘stretch goals’ in your current position. This relationship works best when you choose a person you admire who holds similar values and work styles. It is rare for someone to fill this role spontaneously; in most cases, you’ll have to find and recruit someone to be your mentor.

Your mentor need not be your manager. In fact it’s more common to seek a mentor outside of your direct reporting structure. Consider someone at a senior level who has followed a similar career path. In some cases, it may be appropriate to look to individuals in your field who work outside your company (though looking to an employee of a direct competitor may raise eyebrows). Professional associations may also be a good place to begin your search.

Have a plan in mind when you approach your potential mentor to ask for support. Be as specific as possible about the amount of time and personal involvement you’re looking for. Setting up regularly scheduled meetings is recommended, and ensures you won’t be interrupting your mentor’s workday. Consider meeting once monthly over lunch. Don’t back someone into a corner. If the person you approach seems less than enthusiastic, allow them to think about it, and give them the opportunity to say no. You’ll benefit far more if your mentor is excited about the relationship than if he or she feels pressured into it.

Consider your salary and lifestyle goals. What does your ideal lifestyle look like? What salary will you need to make in order to attain it, and what kind of work-life balance will you need to achieve in order to enjoy the living you earn? Getting in touch with your values and personal goals can help solidify whether you want to climb the corporate ladder, or to pull back from the corporate grind entirely.