A career can be a tricky thing to navigate. Too often we find ourselves buffeted by the winds and waves unsure of where we’re going, let alone how to get there. 

Through the centuries, mariners have been obsessed with success, wealth, notoriety, self-actualization. The goal was to be the first of their culture to get to a place, to open a trade route, to set their name in the history books. They faced vast distances with poorly understood routes and difficulties that sometimes seemed insurmountable. Yet, through a combination of tools, strategies, and a fair share of luck the greatest sailors made names that endured.

And so can you!

Define your destination

Occasionally serendipity lands us on a shore, whether it’s an incredible beach or an opportunity that just drops in our laps. That’s great, and something to be celebrated, yet it’s hardly repeatable and provides nothing in the journey of self-actualization and accomplishment. Much more rewarding is identifying a distant land, a destination, something that is large and seemingly unachievable, and then making it happen! Of course, many of these mariners mistakenly identified their destinations so it is equally important to ensure that you know what it looks like when you achieve your goal. It sure would be a shame to be aiming for India only to stop your journey in the Caribbean!

Questions you can ask yourself:

• What is most important when it comes to my career?
• Where do I find myself getting stuck or frustrated?
• What excites me to explore further?
• What do I find I never have time to work on?
• Where would I like to see myself in two years?
• How do I define success?

Find a guide

Early explorers relied on guides who had knowledge of the journey or the destination. These guides took the form of local inhabitants or others who had made parts of the journey, in their own way. The guides' paths and destinations seldom matched the explorers' exactly, but their experience and ability to communicate their own journey could be truly invaluable!

Likewise, there are many guides available to you. The list below is hardly exhaustive but is a great place to start!

• Your peers
• Your manager
• Other leaders around you
• Your HR manager

Establish your north star

A north star or magnetic north & compass give reference to a single point, a quick gut-check. It may not say much about your progress on a journey, but always makes sure that you’re facing in the right direction.

Mission and Values Statement

Find a good sextant

Ancient mariners had a problem. They could tell that the ship was pointed in the correct direction, but once out of sight of land, establishing how far they had gone was much more challenging. It wasn’t until relatively recently that western navigators developed the sextant, a means of measuring relative angles to establish their location - their progress toward their goals. In your career, the Goals Worksheet and Performance and Development Plan worksheets as well as feedback from your Guides can provide a means to identify those markers by which you can determine whether you are successfully navigating toward your destination!

Goals Worksheet

Professional Development Plan

Hoist the sails and be sure to course correct

A journey is only a journey if one cuts the lines and hoists the sails. Yet, any journey across the sea is beset by winds, tides, or other challenges. Sometimes an insurmountable obstacle, such as a reef, comes along that forces a different path. As you embark on your journey, don’t lose site of the destination and be ready for course changes, this is where your guides particularly shine. Be sure to bring them into the conversation and take their wisdom to heart!

Preparing for your Performance and Development Conversation

Your manager is your greatest ally

You may be the captain and navigator of your journey, but it can sometimes be difficult to set a vision or to put it into action. In this, your manager can be your greatest resource and ally; they can be a thought partner, help to focus and clarify thinking, brainstorm, clear organizational hurdles, or provide opportunities to explore topics. Your PDC, goal conversations, and regular 1:1s are superb places to explore this relationship!

Through these all, you and your manager can capture these items in your Partner Development Plan or Goals Worksheet. If it’s easier, a single excel worksheet is available here: 

Self-Development Matrix

Performance & Development Conversations

Performance and development conversations are the place that you and your manager can have focused, big picture conversations. If you’re struggling to identify the next goals or if you don’t really know what it looks like when you achieve that goal this is the place to chat about it! Arrive prepared, have a vision for yourself & some thoughts about what you might do, and see where the conversation goes!

Goals Conversations

Once you have the big picture sorted out, it’s time to figure out the reasonable next steps. It might also end up happening in your PDC, but this is the dedicated place to discuss them. Your manager may discuss some goals that they want you to take on, but it sure would be a shame if you missed the opportunity to add some of your own development topics, wouldn’t it!?

Regular 1:1s

Frequently 1:1s devolve into quick status reports but they can be so much more; this is a meeting owned by you, for you, take the opportunity! As a regular meeting, this can be a place to discuss any of your self-development topics but is particularly useful as a checkpoint to discuss progress against your goals (documented or informal), any challenges encountered, and how your manager can support continued forward progress.

Wrap-Up

So, there you have it. A career journey doesn’t have to be overwhelming, just intentional. It takes hard work, vision, and drive, but we are committed to supporting you and are excited to see what you achieve!

Hoist the sails!