178 / KNOWING YOURSELF
Planning the future
Knowing where you’re going
Life is unpredictable, so why plan? First,
all of the things you want to achieve in
your life require effort and preparation.
So, you need to ensure you acquire the
qualifications and experience that will
allow you to progress in your chosen
career, and to do that, you need a plan.
Having a plan gives you a framework
against which to measure your progress.
Setting objectives
Have you achieved what you set out to do?
If not, why not? What can you learn from
your successes and failures? A plan also
provides a reference against which you
can judge new opportunities. How much
will this opportunity contribute to you
achieving your goals? If it doesn’t, why
do you want to do it? Is it a distraction
or have your goals and plan changed?
There is a saying that “all plans are useless, but planning is vital.” Plans
are useless as they become out of date very quickly. But without the
process of planning, you won’t prepare for the future. You do need to
plan, but don’t stick to your plans so rigidly that you miss opportunities.
WHAT’S ON YOUR RÉSUMÉ?
One good way to plan the future is to create
a version of your résumé three, five, and ten
years in the future. What qualifications would
appear? What job titles would you have?
Which companies would you have worked
for? What experience would you have gained
in each of the roles you have undertaken?
If you don’t know what to put on the résumé,
why not look in the papers or on the internet
for job advertisements. They will tell you
what people are looking for when filling
these roles today. Although this won’t
change dramatically, certain aspects,
such as qualifications, computer literacy,
and international experience, will be
more in demand. So by looking at the job
requirements today and thinking about the
future, you should be able to construct an
outline future résumé to work toward.
In focus
US_178-179_Planning_the_future.indd 178 30/05/16 3:03 pm
PLANNING THE FUTURE / 179
Defining key measurable goals
that logically lead to achieving
your vision
Setting goals that are believable
and achievable
Always using your plan when
making big real-life decisions
Relying on chance rather than
your own efforts
Choosing goals with unattainable
qualifiers (e.g. needing to be born
in a certain country)
Reviewing and revising your
plan infrequently
HAVING AN EFFECTIVE FUTURE PLAN
Do’s
Don’ts
The things you want to
achieve in your life require
effort and preparation
US_178-179_Planning_the_future.indd 179 30/05/16 3:03 pm
180 / KNOWING YOURSELF
ASK YOURSELF...
YES NOAm I on track to reach my goal?
Create an indicator of success for each of the objectives in your success
map by asking yourself:
1 Do I understand why this objective is important? ...........................
2 Do I know how it links into my success map? ..................................
3 Can I identify what is to be achieved and by when? ........................
4 Can I measure this? ..........................................................................
5 Do I know how often I should reflect on progress? .......................
6 Do I know what I should do if the objective is not being met? .........
Write your vision down in
a vision statement. This
should not be longer than
a paragraph, but needs to
contain all the attributes
that are important to you
Creating a plan
A good plan for your future needs to
include four key elements:
•
A vision statement that describes
where you want to be
•
A set of objectives that, if achieved,
will lead you to the vision
•
A “success map” showing how these
objectives link together
•
An indicator describing what success
will look like at each stage.
Think first about your vision of the
future: is it all about a single goal,
such as becoming president of a
multinational company, or is it about a
lifestyle, such as being a wealthy and
respected partner in a law firm? Use
some of the exercises described over the
previous pages to help you think about
your vision. Next, write your vision down
in a vision statement. This should not
be longer than a paragraph, but needs
to contain all the attributes that are
Developing a vision
Once you have a clear idea of your overall
vision for the future, break it down into
its main constituent parts. Do this by
creating a set of top-level objectives you
will need to achieve to reach your vision.
important to you. Spend time on this
statement; it is the important first
step in planning your future.
US_180-181_Planning_the_future.indd 180 30/05/16 3:03 pm
PLANNING THE FUTURE / 181
20%
3%
of a group of Harvard MBA
graduates wrote down
their goals; 10 years later
they earned 10 times more
than those who did not
of people write New Year
goals; they are 10 times
more likely to achieve them
than those who do not
US_180-181_Planning_the_future.indd 181 30/05/16 3:03 pm
182 / KNOWING YOURSELF
Raise my profile within
the company
Spend a year in brand
marketing
Attend a sales
management program
Spead five years as
a sales executive
Develop an excellent
sales record
Pass the Institute’s
exams
Creating a success map for
your future
A success map is a useful tool for
thinking through the key actions you
need to take to achieve your goals and
for representing these in a single picture.
•
To create your success map start
from the top—your ultimate goal.
Write this at the top of your map.
•
Think about how you will achieve this
goal. For example, imagine your vision
is to become sales director for a major
pharmaceutical company. To achieve
this goal, you will need to have been
a regional sales manager for three
to five years, to have handled some
major clients within your portfolio,
and to have gained a professional
sales qualification. These objectives
become the second-level goals on
your success map.
•
Next, ask yourself how to achieve
these objectives, and fill in the next
level of your map.
•
At all stages, use arrows to connect
later objectives that are dependent
upon your having first achieved the
earlier objectives.
•
To check that your success map
is complete and follows a logical
progression, work up from the bottom.
For each objective, ask “Why am
I doing this?”—the answer should
be to obtain the objective above.
Success map for an aspiring
sales director
To become sales director,
you will need to have been
a regional sales manager
for three to five years and
gained a sales qualification
US_182-183_Planning_the_future.indd 182 30/05/16 3:03 pm
..................Content has been hidden....................
You can't read the all page of ebook, please click here login for view all page.