Crafting Your Personalised Career Progression Plan

When planning your next career move, it’s not just the job or remuneration that matters, although they do.  As a woman leader, you need to take a holistic approach to choosing your next career, and factor in all areas of your life and work if you are to flourish and be at your best in that new role.

That means aligning your professional and personal goals and aspirations with your role and the organisation you join. Here are the key criteria to use as you consider and assess potential roles.

Professionally

From a professional perspective, it’s important to ensure your new role — and the organisation you are joining — are aligned with your aspirations and your values. Any mismatch here is likely to adversely impact your performance and enjoyment. 

As an ambitious woman leader, you’ll want to know that there are ample career development opportunities within the new role to develop professionally, take on more responsibility, further your leadership and challenge you in ways that encourage you to grow both professionally and personally. 

You’ll want to be assured that your compensation package is competitive and in keeping with your skills and experience; that there is a clear path for promotion or advancement; that you have access to mentors and role models to support you and encourage your progress.  

And importantly, will you be able to make the difference only you can make? To bring meaning and fulfilment to your work by making a meaningful impact on the organisation and advancing your long-term goals; to be able to contribute to, or initiate, projects aimed at improving employee satisfaction, supported by training and development resources.

It’s not just within the organisation… What opportunities are there to expand your professional network and industry knowledge? And will the experience you gain in this role open doors for you to a range of future professional development opportunities?

Personally

Whatever you do, do not forget to factor in your personal needs. If these are not met, at best, you will fail to realise your full potential and at worst, end up conflicted and burnt out.

Your personal values and ethics need to be in alignment with those of the organisation you join, or you’ll feel torn whenever you’re asked to go against them at work, a situation that affects how employees feel about their roles and the company. And this will invariably happen.

That thorn in every woman leader’s side — a healthy work life balance — an ideal that is so often lost sight of in the demands of your day-to-day commitments and career growth aspirations. Before agreeing to that new role, check out as well as you can what your time and resources commitments are likely to be so you can assess what impact they are likely to have on your home life and development plan. Is there sufficient flexibility in your work arrangements to suit your current needs and lifestyle?  

Once you have some measure of how demanding this new role is, you’ll be able to decide whether it will allow you to maintain a healthy work life balance and, importantly, prioritise your self-care – factors closely linked to employee career progression and satisfaction.

Evaluate these factors holistically to ensure that your next career move aligns with your personal and professional needs, as well as your long-term career goals. It’s a good idea to seek advice from mentors or a career coach before making a final decision.  

Addressing the question ‘Why is My Career Not Progressing?’ – Overcoming Career Challenges

Creating a career progression plan that considers both professional growth and personal well-being is essential for not only your success but also for fostering a culture of employee engagement and satisfaction within your organisation where all are able to achieve their goals.

Book a call if you’d like to explore this further.