The importance of having a career growth plan in the engineering industry
Take ownership of your career and create a plan for your growth!
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Let’s get back to this week’s thought.
Intro
Whenever we are talking about career growth, there is one thing that is very important to keep in mind:
“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!”
— Benjamin Franklin
And this is the important message from today’s newsletter article! Your career growth should be planned and you should not let anything be a coincidence. You want to maximize your chance to get your next promotion.
You can do that by having a Career Growth Plan.
Of course, with any plan and any career (especially in our industry), there are always UPs and DOWNs. But with the plan, you are moving in the right direction!
In this edition, we have a guest with us, Omar Halabieh, Director of Technology at Amazon Payment Services and a seasoned Leadership and Career Mentor.
Omar will share his insights on the importance of having a career growth plan and how you can create one for yourself!
P.S. This is our second collab with Omar! if you are interested, you can read the first one here: How to develop a great tech strategy (paid article).
Let’s get straight into Omar’s insights!
What is a Career Growth Plan?
A Career Growth Plan is a strategic document that establishes a clear linkage between your daily work and your professional growth.
It’s a practical tool that helps you see how your current role, growth ambitions and future aspirations intertwine and support each other.
A Career Growth Plan is meant to be a live artifact that is reviewed and updated regularly (e.g. once every 4-6 months), reflecting changes in aspirations, progress and circumstances.
Why do you need one?
Clarity and intentionality
Having a Career Growth Plan ensures clarity in your career planning. It sets out your professional goals and outlines the steps you need to take to achieve them. This intentional approach fast-tracks your journey towards your desired career milestones.
Focused conversations
Your Career Growth Plan acts as a catalyst for in-depth, productive dialogues with your manager, mentors and stakeholders. It allows them to understand your career aspirations better and offer their valuable support and advice.
Identifying opportunities
A well-structured plan can help you spot and seize opportunities that accelerate your development. These could be in the form of projects, roles, training, or any other avenue that contributes to your career growth.
🎁 Notion Template: Career Growth Plan
Together with Omar, we have created a template that you can use to define a career growth plan for yourself.
This will help you to clearly understand what you need to do and where you can improve.
Paid subscribers, you can get it here: 🎁 Products for paid subscribers.
How to create a Career Growth Plan?
To follow along you can get the Notion Template: Career Growth Plan above.
Begin by gathering all the relevant inputs for your Career Growth Plan
This includes feedback from peers, managers, self-assessments, insights from your manager, and your career objectives.
Also consider your current and upcoming key projects or priorities, your last formal assessment (if applicable), and job leveling guidelines for your current and next levels.
This will help you to define your ‘Career aspiration’ and ‘Short/medium-term objectives’.
Assess your current and desired states
With your inputs in hand, assess where you stand today and where you want to be in the future.
This introspective process will help you identify the gaps that you need to bridge the current and desired states.
Prioritize your focus areas
Now, based on your assessment, you need to identify and prioritize 3-5 areas of focus for the next 2-3 quarters. These could be anything from technical skills, to functional competencies, to soft skills.
Consider the identified gaps, available opportunities, and the impact of development in these areas on what you need to deliver in the short term.
Record these in the 'Career Growth Goals' section.
Set SMART goals
Each focus area should be translated into a Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound (SMART) goal. This step is crucial as it brings clarity to your efforts and facilitates tracking your progress.
Document these goals in the 'Goals' section.
Identify dependencies, resources and support
Finally, consider what or who might be key to achieving your goals. This could be resources, tools, or individuals whose support you might need.
Make a note of these in the 'Dependencies, resources and notes' section.
Important:
Ensure that your Career Growth Plan is recorded in a tool that allows easy sharing, collaboration, and tracking.
This makes it easier for you to share it with key stakeholders like your manager or mentor, and to keep the plan alive through regular updates.
How to partner with your manager on career growth planning
The pivotal step towards realizing your Career Growth Plan is engaging your manager.
Your manager will provide valuable feedback, help align your goals with organizational needs, and offer vital guidance to enhance your plan.
They play a key role in providing opportunities and support for your growth within the organization.
Now, let's dive into the process of initiating and maximizing these pivotal conversations with your manager:
Prepare for the conversation
Start by reviewing your Career Growth Plan. Identify the key points you want to discuss with your manager. This includes your career narrative, goals, and areas of focus. Prepare to share how your growth aligns with team and organizational objectives.
Schedule the meeting
Email your manager to request a meeting specifically for discussing your Career Growth Plan. Give them a brief overview of the conversation's purpose.
Conduct the meeting
Begin the meeting by sharing your Career Growth Plan. Articulate your career narrative, goals, and the inputs you considered in crafting your plan.
Discuss the feedback and insights you've received so far (from mentors or others), and invite your manager's feedback and perspective. Explore together how these goals align with the team's objectives and the broader organizational goals.
Also, discuss and agree on the frequency of future career growth plan review meetings. Inform your manager of your plan to share this with your skip-level manager.
Document the conversation
Post-meeting, document the key points of the discussion, feedback received, and agreed next steps. This document will serve as your roadmap for accountability and a reference for future discussions.
Follow up
Share the meeting summary with your manager, and express your gratitude for their time and insights.
Engage your skip-level manager (optional)
Now, take the initiative to share your Career Growth Plan with your skip-level manager. This conversation offers a broader perspective and helps align your individual goals with the larger organizational vision.
Update your career growth plan
Integrate the insights and feedback from your manager and skip-level manager into your Career Growth Plan. Share the updated plan with both to keep them informed of your progress.
Important:
Always remember, while your managers can provide guidance and support, you are the driver of your career growth. Owning your Career Growth Plan and actively engaging your manager in it signals your commitment to professional development.
BONUS: How to leverage your mentor(s) in career growth planning
With a mentor, you are not alone in navigating your career growth journey; you have someone that will share rich insights, challenge your thoughts, and boost your confidence.
Share with them not just the output of your Career Growth Plan, but also the inputs. This includes your initial self-assessment, feedback received, your goals, and how you prioritized your focus areas.
Their experienced eyes help ensure the completeness and depth of your inputs and challenge or validate your approach. Be open to their insights and suggestions. They will help you spot opportunities, identify growth areas, and even challenge your goals.
After your discussion, don't forget to express your gratitude for their time and insights. Indicate that you'll review the refined plan, and check with them if they would be open to providing continued support as you progress in your career journey (vs. this being a one-time engagement).
Finally, update your Career Growth Plan based on your mentor's insights. This refined plan should now reflect not just your goals and aspirations, but also the seasoned perspectives of your mentor(s).
Last words
Thanks to Omar for his insights on this very important topic. Make sure to check him out on LinkedIn where he shares daily posts on Leadership Development and Career Growth.
We are not over yet!
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Interview with me
I had the pleasure to be interviewed by Gábor Till. We talked about a LOT of things, including my mistakes in my career, some wins and also tips for engineers and leaders to thrive in their careers!
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Thank you for the opportunity to partner on this important career topic Gregor. Always a pleasure collaborating with you. I hope the community here finds this valuable.
Having a plan and long-term strategy helps us navigate through life, career and move forward in the right direction. It's like having a guiding north star. Without it, we're doomed to wander around.
Great article guys! 🙌