We make such a big stink about visualizing our success, but few know where to go from there. Envisioning your future is a fool’s errand if you don’t know the next step to take.” — Dave Crenshaw
To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time. — Leonard Bernstein
Creating your development plan helps you effectively:
Ordinary people think merely of spending time, great people think of using it." — Arthur Schopenhauer
Developing a career takes time and attention. Most people get sidetracked when planning careers or pursuing job opportunities. Without being intentional, you will follow the “path of least resistance.” You select the default option and are likely not to do what you enjoy.
If you can change your mind, you can change your life.” ― William James
Personal development planning is the process of creating an action plan based on awareness, values, reflection, goal-setting and planning for personal development within the context of a career, education, relationship or for self-improvement. It takes a lot of work. A good development plan has a career goal - address both your current job and at least two potential future roles.
We all have a unique talent stack. Understanding how our unique combination of behaviour strengthens makes us better at things that require this unique combination than other people.
In 2014, Tim Ferriss set out to discover the secret sauce of success. He distilled his interviews of almost 200 world-class performers in his 2016 book, Tools of Titans. His interviewees included top athletes, entertainers, doctors, investors, entrepreneurs, authors, and researchers.
The most successful among us are walking flaws who have maximized one or two strengths.” —Tim Ferriss
At Allenvision, we start with your behavioural traits and your passions and match you with a career that allows you to thrive. We use powerful talent analytics to determine which of your 85 behavioural traits are strengths and which ones are challenges. We encourage you to use your superpowers and manage your hurdles fully.
Our article, The Link Between Design Thinking And Resilience, provides an inspiring approach to career planning. Looking at your plan through a different lens is very helpful.
We have talents that come naturally and other aspects of the job require more work. Be aware of your behaviours and competencies. Your plan must also consider your personal life as well. When you do what you do best, you not only love your job — you’ll be one of the top contributors to your company.
I provide my insights regarding career planning for you in our article How to Enjoy your 80,000 hours at work. Every year you should be proactively improving your skill set to enhance your contributions at your existing job and be ready when it’s time to find something new.
It’s hard to say what makes for a successful career. Nor is there any “right path” to achieving your professional goals. Some routes may be more direct than others, but the ways to get there are innumerable.
A traditional path may focus on: following titles, expanded portfolios, additional budgetary responsibility, movement from a smaller to a more significant or a more prestigious organization, and to whom you report can all influence how an outsider perceives your development.
Achieving success need not be, nor will it always be, linear or progressive. You define success. Your title, portfolio responsibility, reporting structure and size or reputation of your current organization are not the only ways to advance your career. See our eight tips on the employee career development plan.
Developing a career takes time and attention. But many people get sidetracked when planning careers or pursuing job opportunities. Our post, 5 Tips to Consider When Charting Your Career Path offers additional tips to help chart a career path.
Having a career goal will help to keep you internally motivated to perform at your best. Doing well in your current job or volunteer activity is of primary importance to achieve success. Your employer and colleagues will notice your enthusiasm, commitment, and hard work. Be the first to ask a question, volunteer for a project or take on a little extra action.
An element in your plan needs to be growing and maintaining your professional network. By networking and increasing your visibility, you are making connections which may help you later in your career.
Your development plan is a “living document.” Review it regularly and monitor your progress. Working on your program will be a catalyst for ongoing discussions and actions toward your career goal. Enjoy the journey!
Schedule your SuccessFinder assessment today.
Self-awareness is critical because we can experience ourselves as unique and separate individuals when we better understand ourselves. We are then empowered to make changes and to build on our areas of strength as well as identify areas where we would like to make improvements. Self-awareness is often the first step to goal setting. Self-awareness is being conscious of what you're good at while acknowledging what you still have yet to learn. This includes admitting when you don't have the answer and owning up to mistakes.
In our highly competitive culture, this can seem counter-intuitive. Many of us believe that we must appear as though we know everything all the time or else people will question our abilities, and then perhaps judge us. If you're honest with yourself, you'll admit that the opposite is true. Because whether you acknowledge your weaknesses or not, everyone still sees them. So, the person who tries to hide imperfections highlights them, creating the perception of a lack of integrity and self-awareness.
Hiding character imperfections, or flaws, can have several negative effects on an individual's personal growth and relationships.
Firstly, when an individual hide their imperfections, they may feel pressure to maintain a facade or image of perfection. Which is exhausting and leads to increased anxiety and stress. This can prevent them from being their authentic selves. Moreover, it may even lead to a sense of disconnection from others.
Secondly, hiding imperfections can prevent an individual from learning from their mistakes and growing. By acknowledging their flaws and working to overcome them, individuals can develop greater self-awareness and improve their relationships and personal well-being.
Thirdly, hiding imperfections can hinder effective communication and problem-solving in relationships. When individuals are not honest about their shortcomings, it can create an atmosphere of mistrust and undermine the foundations of healthy relationships.
Ultimately, hiding character imperfections may provide a temporary sense of relief, but in the long run, it can hinder personal growth, damage relationships, and lead to a sense of disconnection from oneself and others. It is essential to acknowledge and accept imperfections as a natural part of the human experience and work toward personal growth and improvement
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie arrived in the U.S. in 1848 with barely a dollar to his name. By 1901, he was the richest man in the world.
At the height of his power, he was approached by a young journalist named Napoleon Hill who was interested in telling the stories of successful people.
Carnegie saw a special drive in Hill and in 1908 decided that Hill would document all of the strategies that made him a legendary businessman and philanthropist.
Together, they helped pioneer the self-help genre, and Hill's 1937 book " Think and Grow Rich " has gone on to become one of the top-selling books of all time.
When Hill began his career writing about success, Carnegie gave him his "10 Rules of Success" which provided a foundation for much of Hill's work. Here's a synopsis of the rules, which appear in the forthcoming collection " The Science of Success ":
1. Define your purpose. Create a plan of action and start working toward it immediately.
2. Create a "master-mind alliance."Contact and work with people "who have what you haven't."
3. Go the extra mile. "Doing more than you have to do is the only thing that justifies raises or promotions, and puts people under an obligation to you."
4. Practice "applied faith." Believe in yourself and your purpose so fully that you act with complete confidence.
5. Have personal initiative. Do what you have to without being told.
6. Indulge your imagination. Dare to think beyond what's already been done.
7. Exert enthusiasm. A positive attitude sets you up for success and wins the respect of others.
8. Think accurately. In Hill's words, accurate thinking is "the ability to separate facts from fiction and to use those pertinent to your own concerns or problems."
9. Concentrate your effort. Don't become distracted from the most important task you are currently facing.
10. Profit from adversity. Remember that "there is an equivalent benefit for every setback."
Our SuccessFinder analytics identifies your performance competencies- strengths and challenges.
Being a workaholic isn’t bad for your health — if you love your job.
The general assumption is that being a workaholic is bad for you and will lead to a heart attack. People who are not engaged in their work have a higher risk of metabolic syndrome, which is the overarching measure for cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
Just working long hours doesn’t increase the risk of severe health issues (although it can cause stress-related physical complaints like headaches), according to a new study conducted by Simon Fraser University, in conjunction with the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of North Carolina Charlotte.
What makes all the difference for a workaholic is engagement. A look at 763 employees of an international firm found that those who felt disengaged were more prone to significant health-risk factors like high blood pressure and obesity, while engaged and happy workers showed none of those signs. So if you want to burn the midnight oil to finish that assignment, go ahead — as long as it’s out of love and not ambition or stressful workplace challenges.
You need to be really honest with yourself about why you work and what the intrinsic motivators are. Do you work because it’s meaningful or because you truly enjoy what you’re doing? If so, those are healthy drives. But if you’re only working long hours because you need the money to fund your lifestyle or you’re addicted to the status, those aren’t healthy. Lieke ten Brummelhuis, assistant professor of management at the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University
Workaholics have two different dimensions:
The difference is the former group works that way of their own accord, while the latter is driven by compulsion and guilt.
An engaged workaholic is not immune to subjective well-being indicators, like sleep issues, fatigue, stomach upset and headaches, but their engagement indicates an active mentality. Committed people take action and do something about it, like re-evaluating their job and questioning if it’s right for them, as well as seeking support to make sure things improve.
… But it doesn’t mean you should never disconnect. Boston Consulting Group ran an experiment back in 2004:
They made each worker pick a weekday to disconnect completely. What they found is that communication, satisfaction, and employee retention soared; consultants worked more closely together and stopped sweating the small stuff.
They also had more space to do “deep work”—the sort of intense thinking that’s often much more valuable than the daily tasks that eat up our time. Yes, technology blurs the distinction between work and life but if we want to do anything more interesting and important than just answering e-mails and IMs, it seems a separation is necessary. Manoush Zomorodi, podcast host and author
SuccessFinder measures workaholism, guilt, compulsion, and satisfaction among its 85 performance traits to enable you to know if you are at risk. We analyze your unique performance makeup and career interests to predict your potential success across 500 of the most sought-after job roles – the right job is good for your health!
This of career development as a journey. Your career development plan is to get you to the next milestone on your journey. SuccessFinder Career Development leads to career success and satisfaction. We encourage you to review your plan annually and adjust as needed. You need to make your way around our cycle annually.
SuccessFinder career development is unlike other assessment approaches. We offer a single tool that can be used across the organization: for all roles and levels and at every stage in the employee life cycle. We help people discover their performance strengths and suggesting roles that optimize their potential. Our talent analytics are essential to an effective career development plan. SuccessFinder offers a predictor of success in any role.
In addition, SuccessFinder is only career assessment tool committed to meeting the rigorous APA C1 standard based on its validity for decision-making.
We offer an employee career development plan and a personal development plan.
Being on the receiving end of passive-aggressive behaviour can be infuriating — and it gets even more complicated when the person dishing it out can fire you. Moreover, dealing with a passive-aggressive boss can be challenging, but there are several strategies that you can use to handle the situation. Here are some tips to help you keep your cool (and your job).
Remember, it's not your responsibility to change your boss's behaviour, but you can control how you respond to it. By setting boundaries, communicating directly, and seeking support, you can effectively handle a passive-aggressive boss.
Moreover, a personal development plan will help guide you on your career journey.
In addition to the technical or professional skills, education and years of experience, research has shown that specific performance competencies are necessary to enable career success in a particular profession.
The SuccessFinder competency model (refer to the image below) is made up of 26 competencies that are organized into five broad categories of performance. As I spent my career in engineering and lead large engineering organizations for 15 years, I will use engineering as an example. The same approach applies to all professions. However, performance competencies are different. We work with associations to make this powerful analytics available to young people considering your trade as a career. Through our CareerSuccess program, we also make this analytics available to students and new graduates as they embark on their journey to career success and satisfaction. We encourage this journey to start before considering your college major. Most don't, and 80% of college students change their major!
When the SuccessFinder Researchers benchmarked the performance competencies of engineers against the full range of skills, the researchers found ten dominant competencies that high-performing engineers demonstrate in the workplace.
| Competency | Description |
|---|---|
| Reasons Critically | Demonstrates the ability to tackle difficult problems by using logical, quantitative reasoning to identify patterns relevant to problem-solving. |
| Builds Consensus | Enjoys working as part of a team. Emphasis is on appropriate compromise, demonstrating tact, maintaining emotional control and interpersonal tolerance rather than making demands. |
| Demonstrates Character | Honors interpersonal commitments, maintains the courage of high-minded convictions, values living rightly and plays by honourable rules. |
| Thinks Conceptually | Demonstrates the ability to comprehend theoretical concepts and be curious about the broader "why?" or holistic perspective on problems. |
| Strives for Excellence | Demonstrates a desire to produce the best quality products or service and conscientiously tracks and double checks the accuracy of work. |
| Overcomes Adversity | Demonstrates an ability to persevere when pursuing difficult challenges and responds positively to adversity in the face of failure. |
| Maintains Accountability | Demonstrates an attitude that is defined by taking responsibilities and loyalties very seriously, by assuming a sense of personal accountability of one’s results, as well as co-workers’ actions without seeking to blame or provide excuses for failures. |
| Establishes Alliances | Establishes friendly relationships, enjoys expressing one’s views and participating socially with others in a manner that reflects genuineness and interpersonal intimacy. |
| Initiates Independently | Demonstrates a preference for taking action, pursuing high risk and initiating projects independently of prior approval or requests. |
| Focuses on Results | Prepared to make the personal sacrifices or expend extraordinary dedication to one’s work when frequent overtime is required to complete assignments. |
Using performance competencies, we can provide an additional view of a candidate versus a higher performer.
In addition to technical skills, academic background and professional experience acquired, an individual’s natural behavioural tendencies are crucial elements to achieving success at work. Our goal in creating this model is to provide better ways for organizations to capture these natural behavioural tendencies and leverage them to develop the strong, resilient leaders required to drive today’s business strategies. SuccessFinder measures 85 performance traits. The 26 performance competencies consist of three to six behavioural characteristics. The competencies are grouped into five categories. They are very useful for developing a performance plan as they reflect the interaction of the traits.
How the traits combine along with a career theme in different dynamic combinations to predict business and career success. These combinations constitute the complex behavioural trait dynamics that we see in the workplace and can be measured using competencies and a readiness to influence others directly.
Performance competency is the kind of skill set that an individual should have so that he or she can meet the goals of the organization. Measuring performance competency is a tough job for any human resource manager. SuccessFinder makes it easy. Due to the increasingly complex structure of the organization, it is imperative for individuals to have a good and healthy relationships with people across departments.
In some organizations, including behavioural competencies is part of their appraisal as well.
Understanding performance competencies play an essential role in succession planning, workforce planning, and training and development.
We offer executive coaching after you complete our career assessment. Executive coaching enables you to achieve higher levels of performance, through demonstrations of your leadership, know-how, and interpersonal skills. We recommend that you commit to at least 15 coaching to get the full value. We bundle your coaching with either development plan or the career assessment. Setting up the sessions are simple, but the work you have to do is not simple — if it was you would have already done it!
Our personal development plan is a self-managed approach. Our employee development plan can be supplemented with executive coaching if you are doing the development with your current employer. We tailor our executive coaching to meet your needs.
We will help you reach higher and more sophisticated levels of development — conducive to superior levels of performance.
Confidentiality, open and relevant communications make sure the success of the coaching process.Decision-making diagnoses and analytics, including SuccessFinder, a comprehensive talent analytic system.
We suggest that during the first two-hour session we establish your needs and get you started. We urge you to embark on a journey of self-discovery. We are there to inspire you and support you.
Typically coaching occurs every two to four weeks depending on your needs. We find that spreading the coaching over six to twelve months with 90-120 minute sessions work best. We help you explore new horizons and offer you the necessary tools to enable you to integrate the transformation and acquire renewed awareness.
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Kim Allen brings clients a big-picture view that balances innovative thinking with the practical mindset that can only be gained by leading organizations. He draws on his 25+ years of accomplishment as a chief executive in the public, private, regulatory, and association sectors and experience across all major business functional areas. As an agile leader, Kim works with business leaders around the world to build and strengthen governance, strategy, organizational alignment, and operational excellence. Also, he works with clients to find and develop exceptional leaders. Kim cares about the people and understands the bottom line.
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Become self-aware — understand and leverage your unique talent stack and leverage it for success and achieve genuine career satisfaction.