Where is your path heading?

When did you last ask yourself where your career is heading? Are you steering it rigorously along your five year plan, or are you sailing with the winds as they might bring you somewhere new, somewhere exciting?

While I do not believe it is necessary or suiting for everyone to write down a five-year career plan, I do know the power of giving the own development some room of thoughts and conversations. Quite often we are so drawn in to the daily treadmill that we are not even aware of the way we want to be heading. It is a shame if we then miss opportunities that might bring us not only a career step but also new, enjoyable challenges.

Here is a list of a few things even the most reluctant ones among us might want to spend some thinking time or a few conversation among peers or with your teams and managers on:

• How happy am I in my current role? Am I enjoying the things I do and yomyself in that role?
• Am I comfortable enough to grow and learn and use your abilities to a full extend? Am I not too comfortable so I am still in "the learning zone" and expand my skills constantly?
• How is my team? Are we complimenting each others skills? Are we using the abilities of each team member to the best extend? Are roles and responsibilities clear and fairly distributed (fair is not the same as equal!)
• Is my bottom covered? If I am on vacation or sick, is there someone (or a part of my team) to replace me? If a new opportunity comes my way, can I take it or am I too deeply embedded and "needed" here?
• Am I learning, doing and teaching in a good quantity and percentage? Or is one part falling short?

This is obviously still not an exhaustive list of questions to ask yourself, it should help to sharpen your view on the role you currently have, though. If as a next step you want to change something, there are a few places to look: Yourself, your team, your manager. Clarify with yourself what you want (and what you don't). Talk to your team about changes you need to grow further or to hand over some more responsibilities. And talk to your manager, to your company about learning opportunities, changing roles or taking over additional responsibilities.

I find it very helpful to ask myself these questions from time to time - although it is definitely not easy to do so and find myself often not taking the time for it. I would like to encourage you to do so, to take the time to take your career into your own hands!