Responding to my last post, ‘Warning: Not having a Plan B could kill your career’, some professionals have reached out to me to suggest what could constitute a Plan B.
Plan B occurs only to those who are focused on the future. How does one focus on the future? Well, obviously, there cannot be a standard formula but here are some guidelines:
Step 1: Focusing on your strengths: Reflecting on your performance feedback over the last year or the last few years,
• What do you think are your key strengths?
• What are you known for in your current role?
• How often are you able to use your strengths in your current role? Is it enough?
• If not, how could you change things so that you bring more of your strengths to work?
Step 2: Focusing on the future: To be ahead of the game, it is important to visualize yourself in 3-4 years’ time at work, feeling highly energized.
• Where are you in terms of your career trajectory?
• Who are you working with?
• What role are you performing?
• Who or what has helped you get there?
Step 3: What will be your next steps? Leveraging what you came up with in Step 1 and where you wish to go as per Step 2,
• How could you make a start?
• What help or support would you need?
• Who can help you access this?
• What formal development do you need?
• How could you broaden your experiences, for instance by working outside your Function or in a different geography?
• What could be the key milestones in this journey? How will you monitor your progress?
• What options would you like to explore? How would you prioritize them?
What is key is that we continue to work on these questions on a regular basis even if things are going well in the current context.
As I often say, your resume cannot be more than 6 months old.
PS: it would be great if you invest in knowing what the future is going to look like. How healthy are your reading habits? How do you gain access into what the world’s foremost futurists are saying and how does that impact you and your future?
