Career Pathing

Last month, I received multiple requests for advice on career pathing. I am not sure if this was a result of my last newsletter on #OwnYourGrowth or a series of weekly LinkedIn Live audio events by eWOW ? as a precursor to the eWOW 2023 virtual summit on April 22, 2023. Nonetheless, the topic is an important one given today’s work landscape and is worthy of being the theme for this month’s newsletter.

So, what is career pathing? Career pathing is a process of charting your growth and development. Over years, the concept of career pathing has evolved. While years ago, you would think about career pathing strictly from the professional perspective, today you can’t think about career pathing without considering holistic growth. The steps include:

• Align on values: Align with whom? With yourself. Often when people think about career, they focus on the next title, the next compensation model, or the next company. And when they get that, they start the run towards the next. Taking time to understand what is matters most and your non-negotiable values, helps determine if the career path you are on is the right path for you.
• Identify your superpower: We all have a superpower – a skill or a trait that is key to our success. Identify what you enjoy doing, what motivates you, and what you are passionate about and what sets you apart from others – That’s your superpower. Once you know what it is, you leverage it to get closer to your career goals.
• Define your goals and break them into milestones: This is the fun part. You know what your values are, and you know what your superpower is. Use these two to create your growth goals. For some, the goal could be to achieve financial freedom by 40 while for others it would be to be marketing leader by 35. Both are great goals. It is not about right or wrong. It is what matters to you the most. Once you have the goal, identify various paths to the goal, choose the path that works for you the best, and break it down into milestones that will help you get there. It is important to note that for some the path to their goal will be linear while for many it would be non-linear. And sometimes the path might not even be clear.

For example, if your goal is to be a CEO of a company, you might not even know what your next milestone should be. Yes, you can take a linear path to rise in the ranks but that might take forever.?Also, to be a CEO, you need to understand business, product, customers, and investors. So, you might have 3 paths to get to that goal: 1) rise through the ranks in your current company 2) take a nonlinear path building your skillset through an executive program, gain experience in various departments at different companies to get to a CEO level or 3) to start something of your own and be the CEO.

• Build your skills: To get where you want to be, you will need to acquire new skills. Your plan should take that into consideration. Think about the certifications, hard skills, leadership competencies, and experience. Think about nontraditional ways for building skills like being on the advisory board of a startup or a nonprofit.
• Build your network of sponsors: Build relationships with professionals in your field who cannot just offer you guidance and support but can also be your cheerleaders and open doors of opportunities for you.
• And finally say YES! Plans are useless unless there is an execution strategy behind them. Say yes to taking action. Say yes to exploring every opportunity that takes you towards your goals with optimism and excitement. Say yes to learn from your experiences and say yes to pivot your plan as needed to get to your goal.

Career pathing is not something that you plan for once. It is an ongoing process. As you gain skills and experience, and your life evolves, your goal might change too and then you will need to redefine your path again.

Have you tried career pathing for growth? I would love to hear your experiences.

Your comments, shares, likes, and messages provide me motivation to keep bringing these insights to you.

PS: Make sure to subscribe so that you don’t miss out on future newsletters. And yes, repost and share this newsletter with your network :)?#sharingiscaring

Resources:

• eWOW 2023 virtual summit on April 22, 2023
• 6 steps to career pathing
• Finding sponsors
• 5 steps to success
• Fast-Track Your Leadership Career Guided Journal