Strategic career planning: 4 lessons

Arjun Khanna waved his hand at me from a distance. Weddings are a great excuse to meet a lot of people. Shaking hands with his left palm, carefully not tilting the plate full of food, he straight away asked if I could help his close friend Anil. Apparently, Anil had left his previous organisation without serving the notice period. The new employer asked him to leave without finishing probation. The old employer was not too happy with his ungraceful exit. Tough situation? Or bad strategic planning? The buzz word strategy is present in each organisation and every individual’s life.

What is it to have strategic planning at the organisational level? It is the process that defines how your company will create ongoing value for your stakeholders.

A project has a defined beginning and end, but the strategic plan is weaved through the organisation and is part of the entire lifecycle of the business.

Strategic planning helps to take the high-level concepts described in mission, vision, and values statements and have them brought to life by the activities and attitudes of every member of the organisation.

Now let us weave this into personal life.

To plan your career move, you need to look at four strategic points.

Achievement: Look through a magnifying glass and see for yourself for two pillars in your career graph. Competence and Challenging Problems are two highlights of the journey so far. Note each good point down. Remember that this is what you have earned. In any career move, these are non-negotiable for you.

Economic Security: Your expertise, fame in your field and influencing skills are your stanchion. See very critically, if the next opportunity has an option to use all of them. If not, will it leave you frustrated?Will the financials keep you motivated? If you are moving to entrepreneurship from a salaried job, even more, crucial to look at future potential then the current flow.

Status: Will there be any compromise in power and authority that you have today?The scope of personal development needs to be factored in as well. At a certain stage in life, one looks at getting a more meaningful work adding value to CV. What are you looking at in the move? A word of caution here, sometimes at an old job, the situation may not be bad enough to call quits but the temptation is an alluring bauble.

Culture: Sachin Ghosh soon decided to shift back to Goa where he had come from. “Goa and Bengal are very similar ma’am but not Surat. No fish in canteen here and no alcohol either,” He politely responded in the exit interview. The environment, people, food, and everything around plays a role. Look before you leap and do your research well.

Beyond these four points, incumbent Success is important for me. I will ask myself, how many people have succeeded or failed in this role and why? Higher success means more competition and failure means lack of innovation.Whatever it is, strategize well and the sky is yours without the glass ceiling.

The writer is strategic advisor and premium educator with Harvard business publishing