Your Framework for a Strategic and Fulfilling Career...The Framework is not linear for a reason-...

Your Framework for a Strategic and Fulfilling Career

www.alignment-coaching.com

© 2016 Alignment Coaching. All Rights Reserved. www.alignment-coaching.com

http://www.alignment-coaching.com


I'm thrilled that you've decided to take control of your career.

CONSIDER THIS YOUR FIRST RESOURCE ON YOUR JOURNEY TOWARDS A SUCCESSFUL AND ENGAGING CAREER.

Welcome!

When most people first choose their career, they look at a few considerations, choose one (or quite often have it chosen for them), and either stay on that path until retirement or until it is no longer bearable. For many, their career is nothing more than a logical progression of their resume, and, when that next logical step no longer makes sense for what they want out of life, they are lost.

You’re probably an accomplished professional with a myriad of skill-sets that will serve your bank account well. But how accomplished are you in knowing what you want and getting it? How many times have you actually sat down and answered the question: What do I truly want my career and my life to look like in 10 years?

For many, their career is nothing more than a logical progression of their resume



This guide provides a framework within which to consider your career. My hope is that it shifts your thinking and focuses you on the important elements of your career satisfaction - the five pillars that make up a stra-tegic and fulfilling career. By pursuing a career supported by your ideal for each of the five pillars, you will ensure a satisfying career for the long haul.

This guide is not about a quick fix. It’s not a checklist or ten step process for how to be happy with your career. It does not encourage you to follow your passion or pursue your dreams at the cost of everything else. Because, the truth is, none of those approaches will keep you fulfilled in the long run.

Pursuing a career that makes you happy doesn’t come from researching career paths of other people or from talking to your alumni career services department. If you’re mid-career and unhappy or even just starting out and already burnt out, my guess is that you chose the career you were “supposed” to pick or the one that made the most sense at the time. You didn’t take the time to define the long-term path that is best for YOU. But, it’s never too late. You can do that now and you have taken the first step.

I do this work because I was frustrated seeing the smartest people I knew unfulfilled and showing up at work just to punch the clock. I believe we all have something to offer to the world that can contribute to the bottom line and leave us fulfilled. I’m here to help people find that intersection.

With this guide, I hope you gain clarity about what’s important to you and how to re-align your days around it. I want your career to support the life you want - not to intrude on what’s most important to you. This guide will provide a structure to guide your thoughts and actions as you pursue a career and a life that aligns with who you are now and - more importantly - who you want to become. This guide is your first strategic step toward your fulfilling career.



Strategic&

Fulfilling Career

Lifestyle

ImpactSkills

Engagement Network

The 5 Pillars that make up your Strategic and Fulfilling Career

To be strategic with your career, you need to consider several elements. It can be daunting when someone asks where you want to be in 10 years without any guidance. Enter: the Framework. The Framework includes five pillars that make up a strategic and fulfilling career, and, if approached with intention and allowed to guide your decisions, it will ensure your version of success for the future.

The Framework is not linear for a reason- because our lives and our careers aren’t linear. The pillars act as checkpoints for each career move you consider. The pillars are structural supports that hold your career up - if one is off kilter, part of your structure is leaning and you will feel off. With each career move, you should try to move closer to your ideal with at least one pillar. Though there may be times when you need to sacrifice one pillar for another, you’ll be confident that you’re doing it with clear purpose and not simply because it’s what makes sense as the next step for your resume.



Your working environment: Think of how you like to work best. When you think of work in this context, it should be enjoyable work for you - achieving something that makes you feel accomplished, whether you’re being paid to do it or not. Where are you when you’re doing that work? Are you alone, reading, researching and writing? Are you shuffling from meeting to meeting and call to call? Are you doing something tangible - building or creating something? These are all components you must consider as you pursue your ideal career. Your work environment will dictate how you spend your days, which, ultimately make up your life, so choose the one that you dream of and pursue careers that allow that type of work.

Your schedule: This component of the lifestyle pillar asks you to take ownership of your schedule. To design the career and life you want, you need to consider how much time you’re willing to dedicate to your work, when you work best, and the daily non-negotiables you need to make time for to ensure your life is worth living to you. Though many people feel they are constrained by the confines of the typical 8-6 working schedule, that expectation is changing. The first step toward finding a career with a schedule that works for you is to know what your ideal schedule is. Write it out for your days and your weeks and then try to get just one step closer to that ideal schedule tomorrow.

Money: Though this is a component of your ideal lifestyle, it is not the most important component. The money part of the equation needs to answer one simple question: How much money do I need to be satisfied? The relentless pursuit of more money has never made anyone happier. So, define your bottom line and consider anything above that as a mere bonus.

The best advice I give to my clients is to set their career aspirations aside and start with the type of life you want to live. Determine what you want your life to look like and then pursue a career that supports it. You have one unrepeatable life. If you’re not living the life you want to live, what is the point in the career it’s wrapped around?

Lifestyle

Your lifestyle, as supported by your career, consists of:



When you know your work matters, you’re more inclined to commit to it. The Impact pillar asks you to consider how you want to contribute to this world. When you isolate money from your work, your career is really about what you choose to do with your time from day to day (your Lifestyle) and how you decide to help others. The Impact pillar is about how you help others.

Impact

■ What do I believe the world needs more of?

■ What values drive me?

■ What problems keep me up at night?

■ Is my role or the organization I work for more important to me?

As you consider this pillar, answer the questions:

Some people satisfy this pillar by working for a company or client that has a mission they believe in. Their impact is driven more by the organization for which they work than the actual work they perform. Others are more con-cerned with the value their role brings to the organization or clients they work for. They care more about the impact they make with their role in the work-place, while the organization they support matters less.



Who you spend time with matters. For many people, “work” is the biggest part of their day, which means they spend the most time with people they work with. The Network pillar is simply about the types of people you choose to have relationships with - professionally and socially. Ideally, you will consider your colleagues your friends and see opportunities for your work through your social network.

Network

Think of the types of people you like to work with or would like to work with. What qualities do they share? Strategic thinking? A sense of humor? Intelligence? Empathy? Accomplishment in their field? Where do they spend their time? What makes them desirable as colleagues to you?

When you’ve answered those questions, go find them! Determine where they spend their time and chase them down. Consider not only why you want them in your network, but why they want you in their network. Then offer it to them and nurture those relationships.


The Network pillar is simply about the types of people you choose to have relationships with - professionally and socially.


To determine what work keeps you engaged, consider when you feel “in the zone.” When was the last time you were working and lost track of time because you were so engrossed in what you were doing? What were you doing? What are the transferable qualities of that work (i.e., Were you following someone else’s instructions to achieve a goal? Were you creating something new? Were you building something?)

Most people feel great about their work when they are tackling clearly identifiable challenges. Even if you’re early on in your path to achieving your lifelong goals, you can break your larger goals into smaller ones to keep you progressing and engaged in your work. The more you can make your work about achieving specific goals, the more engaged and fulfilled you’ll be with your career.

The easy way is not always the best way. Your work must challenge you, within reason, to ensure you feel a sense of achievement and growth regularly. This pillar asks you to identi-fy the type of work that focuses your mind, ensures you are challenged, and provides a sense of accomplish-ment, regardless of external circum-stances.

Engagement


Most people feel great about their work when they are tackling clearly identifiable challenges.


However, if we all just found work we’re already great at, the Engagement pillar in our framework would likely be crumbling. To keep your skillset fresh and the challenges worth your pursuit, you need to identify your aspirational skills - those you want to develop and that will help you in your career.

Aspirational skills should be skills you enjoy doing or are required for your long-term vision of your career, but haven’t yet mastered. They might be skills you see in your colleagues or friends that you admire or they might be as simple as something you want to improve because you enjoy doing.

Once you’ve identified your aspirational skills, develop a strategy for how to achieve them - take a class, work with a coach, practice them with friends, or talk to your manager about how to get on the job practice. As you tackle your aspirational skills, they will become strengths of yours to incorporate into your skill toolset. And at that point, it’s time to identify some new aspirational skills to tackle.

Every line of work requires a certain set of technical skills and transferra-ble skills. Ideally, your work will incor-porate your strengths. There’s plenty of research and literature out there about finding work that takes advan-tage of your strengths, and spending time to understand your strengths and how to find work that capitalizes on them is well worth the effort.

Skills


You need to identify your aspirational skills - those you want to develop and that will help you in your career.


For example, if the pillar you want to focus on now is your network, start taking deliberate steps to surround yourself with the types of people you want to work with. Join groups that they are a part of. Attend events where they might spend time. Even if your work doesn’t align with theirs yet, by intentionally spending more time with those people, you’ll open yourself to more op-portunities to spend time with them and begin to learn the types of work they do and how you might become a member of their “club” through your profession.

OK. You’ve got your framework down, now what? Well, it’s time to chase down those ideal pillars in a strategic way. Pick the pillar that is most important to you now and start pursuing it.

So Now What?

For each pillar of the framework, you’ll need a strategic plan. If one pillar is out of place, your whole structure can feel off, so pursue your pillars deliberately. The truth is, there is no quick fix for finding the career that’s right for you. For many people, building a structurally sound framework may take the bulk of their career, but I can guarantee you it’s worth it. You should be consistently checking in with the framework as your life progresses to ensure the structure is still sound.

The purpose of this framework is to help you approach your career with intention and to consider all of the aspects that will you bring you fulfillment through your work. Working within the framework will give your mind a clear focus and help organize your thoughts. It will also make sure you’re not leaving anything out or focusing too heavily in one area.

Strategic&

Fulfilling Career

Lifestyle

ImpactSkills

Engagement Network



If you've made it this far - congratulations! You’ve taken the first step toward finding happiness in your career. Use the framework to structure your thoughts and

your goals around your career. Determining what will make you happy down the road is not easy work and will require

your consistent attention. But I can tell you that, if you’ve got a solid framework in place and are checking in regularly to ensure your actions align with your goals, it will make all the difference in your life. Once you decide to take control of your career, you’re well on your way to controlling your life.

Keep it up!

For more guidance on designing and pursuing your framework or to learn more about how I can support you, go to www.alignment-coaching.com.




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