Episodes

The goal of most people in the corporate world is to get promoted. Along with that promotion is usually personal growth, more responsibility, and increased pay. But, what happens if you find yourself promoted too soon? There could be many reasons that you receive a promotion. Someone more senior could have left -- either the team or the company. You could have also pushed for it with your leaders and everything aligned for them to promote you. You may have even received a promotion that you wer...

I was reading an article on LinkedIn by that was titled . This article talks about how a new leader could build a AAA team - a team with the three A's: Accountability, Autonomy, and Authority. From a leader perspective, it's important to...

The past few weeks, several of us at my job have been working on a slide deck that will be presented to an executive that is a few levels above mine. The final deck is just three slides, but it took a lot of time to get those three slides nailed down to the ideal content. Most of the time was spent on simplifying the content to only the information that the executive would actually care about and refining the slide design to be more visually focused. For a deck to only be three slides but for i...

I was reading through LinkedIn the other day and there was a where he had made a mistake but owning up to it and correcting the issue lead to an overall great outcome. That post inspired this podcast episode. It can be scary when you...

I focus a lot on the Individual Development Plan or IDP as a tool for managing your career. As a singular document, it encapsulates where you want your career to go and the steps it will take to get there. If you need to review the IDP, refer back to Episodes 036 through 040 where I break down each section. But if you are unsure of what that end goal should be, understanding your WHY may help you resolve that problem. Have you ever spent time of self-reflection on your motivations for choosing ...

There is a lot of uncertainty in the job market right now with so many news stories talking about this company or that company laying of large portions of their workforce. If you've been following the guidance that I've shared in the various episodes of this podcast, you've likely done all within your power to keep your name off of "the list", but sometimes, no matter what you do, you could find yourself impacted by a layoff. When you lose your job, it's ok to have feelings. Acknowledge them. W...

Manager, Leader, Mentor, Coach; all four can help you advance your career. This week, we take a look at each role and how each one can help you in your quest for a promotion. At the most simplistic level, the roles can be summarized as: A Manager tells you want to do. A Leader enables you so that you can do it. A Mentor shows you how to do it. And a coach changes the way you think about it. Your manager is responsible for what projects you work on. It's important to have a manager that recogn...

The other day, while browsing Facebook, a quote appeared on my feed that I found very inspiring. "The only difference between success and failure is the ability to take action" - Alexander Graham Bell. This week, I want to break down why I find this quote so inspiring. In general, I consider myself a fairly successful person. But most of that success has come from not being afraid of the results and just TRYING…..or using the language of the quote, taking action. If you are looking to make pro...

If you regularly listen to my podcast, it's either because you know me personally and want to help me out (thanks, I appreciate it) or because you found me because you are looking for advice on how to position yourself for a promotion. I hope that you find my advice targeted and actionable while being presented with simple clarity. But, I'll also be the first to tell you that you should listen to multiple people and synthesize your own plan about the best course forward because no one else live...

In , I touched on the subject of . In that episode, I talked about how you can position yourself for advancement by transitioning from process oriented tasks to higher-level tasks that leverage more discretion and judgement. This week,...

Early in your career, advancement is generally easier and is just a matter of doing "more"……more tasks, bigger tasks, more responsibility. But, transitioning to senior levels may require a different approach - being more innovative. Senior members of the team are usually expected to bring new solutions, approaches, and ideas to the problems the team tackles. These expectations can best be met by those on the team that are the most innovative. Innovative solutions can often lead to improved effi...

Most companies, at least once per year, go through an annual goal planning process. As part of this process, you are expected to have some number of company-focused goals as well as some number of personal goals. Company goals are usually related to revenue, profit, sales, projects, or initiatives. Your personal goals, however, have more freedom in what they target. With the company goals, you'll want to start by analyzing how you can personally impact them. This may take a little bit of creati...

Periodically, I check back and highlight the last few episodes to remind you of things you can work on to help set you up for career success and this most recent group has a lot of solid content. Episodes 036 to 040 was a five-part series that covered the Individual Development plan in detail. It starts with an Introduction that emphasizes the importance of the IDP and is followed by episodes that describe the key sections: the Vision and Roadmap, the Assessment and Next Steps, and the Action P...

If your company has a hybrid policy, how can you best use your time in the office? Well, first you should make sure you understand and comply with all aspects of the new policy. Are there specific days that you must be in the office? Do you have a designated space or are you participating in Community shared desk system? Which days and what locations will most of your coworkers leverage when they work from the office? Most companies, as they roll out these return to office policies, state that ...

In several of my previous episodes, I've mentioned that one way to stand out is to produce status reports that are value focused instead of task focused. This week, I go into more detail about what that type of status report would look like. Purpose and Audience The first thing to understand about a status report is its purpose. By knowing who the audience is you can properly tailor the report to meet the purpose that they care about and summarized appropriately. For your clients and stakeholde...

This week, I'm going to talk about your personal brand and how you can build one. When you hear the term, what impression does that give you? For many, I'm sure you associate the term with celebrities, athletes, and social media influencers. But, I'm here to tell you that it applies to everyone. So, what is a personal brand? At the simplest level, your personal brand is the impression that others have of you -- your reputation. But it's more than just that. Your personal brand statement is a co...

This week, we're going to talk about a very critical subject, your mental health. Each episode, I talk about subjects that can help you advance your career and understanding and addressing your mental health is an important one. If you aren't able to be focused on your work because of things happening in your personal life, it's going to impact you. So, let's take a look at what you can do about it. First, I want to start by saying, no matter what anyone says, your health and your mental health...

There is a lot of corporate downsizing happening right now. In a future episode, I may go into more detail on that subject, but this week, I would like to talk about how you can take advantage of the downsizing to increase your responsibilities within the company. If you are one of the ones that remains when a company goes through any sort of organizational change, it is an opportunity for you to increase your sphere of influence and position yourself for increased visibility. Adding responsibi...

Over the course of the past four weeks, I've described the Individual Development Plan -- why it's important to your career and what the various components are. This week, I'm going to talk about how you can integrate an IDP into your development processes. Initial conversations Once you've spent the time creating your IDP, it's important to share it with your leaders and mentors. If you don't already have a recurring one-on-one with your manager, you should schedule one. In Episode 011, I cove...

The episodes for the past few weeks are part of a series where I take a deeper look at your Individual Development Plan. Episode 036 introduced the IDP and covered some of the benefits of creating one for yourself. Then, in Episode 037, I covered the Career Vision and Roadmap sections where you define the direction of your career. Last week in Episode 038, I talked about the Assessment and Next Role where you identify the areas of focus for career advancement. This week, we cover the final two s...

This is the third episode of a multi-part series covering the Individual Development Plan. If you have not listened to the first two episodes, go back and review them before listening to this one. If you need the IDP template, you can request on by dropping me a note via the contact form on the ManagingACareer.com website. In the first episode of the series, I go over the purpose and benefits of the IDP. The IDP provides a personalized plan that ensures that your career is fulfilling and you ma...

Last week's episode provided a high-level overview of the IDP and gave several reasons why it should be an important part of your career development plan. This week, we will cover the first two sections, the Vision and the Roadmap. And as a reminder, if you'd like to get my IDP template, go to the Contact form at ManagingACareer.com and drop me a note. Career Vision The career vision is a statement about where you want to be in your career as far into the future as you can imagine. For some, th...

The beginning of the year is often a time of renewed focused on planning and growth. When it comes to career development, the Individual Development Plan, or IDP, is my preferred tool for documenting that plan. Back in Episode 002, I introduced the concept and named the various components of an IDP and what type of information you include in them. For the next few episodes, I will be taking a deeper dive into the IDP. If you would like to follow along and create your own IDP as this series progr...

After every six episodes, I have a review episode to highlight some of the episodes you may have missed. This progress report covers episodes 029 to 034. Episode 029 - Building a Network covers several ways that you can grow your network. Much like Seven Degrees of Kevin Bacon, you are only a few connections away from someone you can help you advance your career. Through formal professional organizations or local informal groups, the key to building your network is meeting new people. Make conn...