It's month 3 of your active career management plan. If you have been following along, in January/Month 1 I shared how to figure out WHICH skills you need to develop. In February/Month 2, I discussed how to establish goals that are actually linked to the skills you want to develop. At this point, you not only have a plan, you have the RIGHT plan.
For March, I am going to discuss talking points for discussing your goals with your manager (if you haven't already) and ensuring your manager supports your career development plan.
You can also listen to this month's career management plan on my podcast.
MARCH/MONTH 3 - ASK FOR YOUR MANAGER'S INPUT AND FEEDBACK ON YOUR PLAN
ISSUES/CHALLENGES: If you are lucky, you have a terrific manager that has given a great deal of thought to your goals and is helping you develop your career development plan for the year. But, sometimes your manager has different goals in mind for you - or none at all.
GOAL: You want to make sure both you and your manager agree on the goals (and how you will achieve them and be measured) for this year.
WHY? If you don't agree, you could hit your goals out of the ballpark, but you won't get promoted or the raise you want. Worse, throughout the year, you might not get opportunities you think should be made available to you. And EVEN WORSE - the perception could be that you aren't the high performing employee you think you are.
This seems straightforward but there are a few things to keep in mind.
1. Do not bounce into your manager's office, desk or workspace and say "let's talk". If they are caught by surprise, they will feel blindsided and the discussion won't be as productive as you would like
2. Ask your manager for 30 minutes (or more) to discuss your goals for the year
3. Select a time where you can both focus on the discussion without interruptions
STEP 2: PREPARE
Walk into the meeting with your career development plan and the detailed goals you have discussed. Keep in mind that your manager MAY HAVE GOALS prepared for you as well.So be open to hearing other ideas for your development.
1. Thank your manager for his/her time. Be friendly. Engage in chit chat. This will ease your nerves and make for a more relaxed conversation.
2. Let him/her know you have been giving your career development a lot of thought and listed skills you want to develop and ways to actually develop them throughout the year.
3. BEFORE you discuss your goals, recognize - out loud - that you want your manager's feedback and input and that is the actual purpose of this session. You should verbalize that these goals are your initial ideas but that you are looking for your manager's guidance and recommendations
Go through the skills you want to develop first - the ones you identified in January. Ask you manager for feedback. Assuming he/she agrees, you can discuss the goals for developing each skill. If your manager has different ideas, be open to listening to them. You may learn something you didn't even think of previously.
If your manager identifies different skills to develop, ask if he/she has goals in mind for developing those skills or if you should develop some first and then regroup with him/her to discuss and finalize.
1. When can we regroup to see how I am progressing against these goals
2. What you could I be doing to MAKE HIS HER LIFE EASIER
Just like you need your manager to be your advocate, you should be your manager's ally too. You may learning something new, learn how your manager thinks, and even learn to think more broadly about the group outside of your own role and contributions.
STEP 1: SET UP A TIME TO DISCUSS YOUR GOALS
This seems straightforward but there are a few things to keep in mind.
1. Do not bounce into your manager's office, desk or workspace and say "let's talk". If they are caught by surprise, they will feel blindsided and the discussion won't be as productive as you would like
2. Ask your manager for 30 minutes (or more) to discuss your goals for the year
3. Select a time where you can both focus on the discussion without interruptions
STEP 2: PREPARE
Walk into the meeting with your career development plan and the detailed goals you have discussed. Keep in mind that your manager MAY HAVE GOALS prepared for you as well.So be open to hearing other ideas for your development.
STEP 3: BE FRIENDLY AND NONCONFRONTATIONAL
1. Thank your manager for his/her time. Be friendly. Engage in chit chat. This will ease your nerves and make for a more relaxed conversation.
2. Let him/her know you have been giving your career development a lot of thought and listed skills you want to develop and ways to actually develop them throughout the year.
3. BEFORE you discuss your goals, recognize - out loud - that you want your manager's feedback and input and that is the actual purpose of this session. You should verbalize that these goals are your initial ideas but that you are looking for your manager's guidance and recommendations
STEP 4: DISCUSS THE GOALS
If your manager identifies different skills to develop, ask if he/she has goals in mind for developing those skills or if you should develop some first and then regroup with him/her to discuss and finalize.
STEP 5: THANK YOUR MANAGER AND ASK ABOUT NEXT STEPS
Above all else, you want - YOU NEED - your manager to be your advocate. You can't go around your manager. Thank him or her for the time, dedication and preparation that was given to the meeting.Finally, ask your manager two closing questions:
1. When can we regroup to see how I am progressing against these goals
2. What you could I be doing to MAKE HIS HER LIFE EASIER
Just like you need your manager to be your advocate, you should be your manager's ally too. You may learning something new, learn how your manager thinks, and even learn to think more broadly about the group outside of your own role and contributions.
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