CareerTruth empowers you to start from where you are today and create plans to meet your purpose. Working from a place of clarity in your values, purpose, and vision, you can set goals with your immediate needs in mind.
Many forces at work will impact how you focus on your professional and personal goals throughout your life. Change is constant. We age, and our family ages. Companies change plans, and competitors grow and fade. Economies shift. And on and on. This is a fundamental CareerTruth.
You will always be ready if you use CareerTruth well throughout your career. You know who you are because you’ve completed in-depth inventories of your skills and abilities. You know what’s most important because you’ve clarified your values, purpose, and vision. And you have a solid support system that helps you continue to develop and make wise decisions. You have all the tools to be proactive and agile.
Activity:
Name a personal dynamic you see significantly shifting to affect my career choices in five years.
Since you have established your prioritized goals and created action plans in CareerTruth, let’s look further out. As you consider your Career Arcs, know that the X axis is time, measured by age and career duration. You can begin to project what you will face five years from now.
Let’s start with what you believe is on the longer-term horizon of your life.
- My immediate family needs will increase or decrease.
- My health or ability to perform will change for better or worse.
- I will want or be able to live in a different location.
- I will want to make significantly more money.
- I will be willing to make less money.
- I will be more free to do the work I like best.
- I will be willing to put more time into my career.
- I will be more focused on the impact of my career.
Based on these potential changes, let’s predict how you can expect your top priorities to shift in five years:
Refer back to your work on personal goals. Choose your top five.
Now let’s consider where you want to be professionally in five years. This is good business, and the best companies build long-term plans that set a framework for how they will compete over the next 3-7 years.
Good businesses always consider the forces that will impact their business, and these predictions drive a company’s innovation strategy for the next five years. We are building your personal innovation strategy.
Your priorities are the foundation for your future decision-making. Freedom isn’t the ability to do whatever you want; freedom is the ability to make informed decisions to be your best self in both personal and professional life.
You may want to make more money or live in a different city. Maybe you’d like to improve your Work Life Flow.
To prioritize your five-year professional goals, consider a role that might align with your purpose and personal aspirations. True freedom is having the margin to plan ahead for mastery and leaving a purposeful legacy. This work is not set in stone; you are simply creating a framework to develop professional goals and activities throughout your career continuously.
Based on your professional inventory and desired markets, brainstorm the top criteria for your desired role in five years.
This may take some time for you to consider but don’t feel like it’s unchangeable. Feel free to revisit this question often when considering the necessary skills and competencies to attain your desired future role.
Activity:
Imagine and name a role or type of work you hope to achieve in five years.
Identify five skills you need to improve to achieve the role you envision for yourself in five years based on where you are today.
Some Sample Leadership Skills:
Self-Awareness, Communication, Perseverance, Influence, Learning, Agility, Delegation, Strategic-Thinking, Empathy, Results Orientation, Courage, Decision-Making, Change Tolerance, Optimism, Follow Through, Conflict Management
Some Sample Technical Skills:
Performance Management, Talent Acquisition, Product Management, Communications, Advertising and Promotions, Email Marketing, Social Media, Prospecting, Customer Service, Project Management, Auditing, Financial Planning and Analysis, Environmental Analysis, Developing Strategic Goals, Problem Solving
Making a note of the skills you need to develop is like the market research companies do before launching any new development.
After creating your innovation strategy centered around your top priorities for the next five years, share it with your Advisors or Coach. You might write them a note like the following.
‘I want to leave a legacy that ensures everyone can access good food. To achieve this, I aim to lead a division in a Food company in the next five years. However, I need to enhance my leadership skills, financial expertise, and knowledge of global food products to get there. Does that track with you? What do you think I should add?’
If you discuss this with an Advisor or Coach, they will likely respond enthusiastically and suggest new steps to add to your plan or connect you with others who can help. This will lead to new ideas and innovations for you.
CareerTruth will help you stay proactive and agile through the many seasons and unexpected changes in your career. Your innovation strategy is a critical element.