Welcome to December! If you’ve followed the “Take Charge of Your Career” blog posts suggestions all year you have positioned yourself for current and future success. Give yourself a pat on the back and celebrate all the hard work. To close out the year, let’s review the 30 key takeaways / action items by month. Click on the associated links for greater detail.
January (LINK)
- Look Back: review last year’s accomplishments and create ninety-second stories using the “STAR Method.”
- Look Ahead: identify the one thing, if accomplished, would have the greatest impact on the success of your department in the next 12 months and what role you should play to support that one thing.
- Reactivate a Dormant Network: use “Happy New Year” messages to reconnect with people you have not spoken with in a long time.
February (LINK)
- Get 3 Bucket Feedback: get appreciation, coaching, and evaluation feedback from team members and leaders.
- Begin to Network: build business acumen and expand the breadth of your network.
- Increase Your Visibility: identify ways to increase exposure to others outside your department and/or industry.
March (LINK)
- Create Development Plan: translate the feedback you gathered in February into a development plan.
- Deliver Results: begin to channel your energy to deliver tangible results by the end of March.
April (LINK)
- Share Your Accomplishments: successful careers are built on expertise, connections, and visibility, so share your first quarter achievements with others.
- Set Expectations: prepare and share your elevator pitch or personal branding statement with colleagues that can propel your career.
- Activate Your Network: share specific ways your network can support your career goals.
May (LINK)
- Live by the 80/20 Rule: focus on the 20% of your work that will deliver 80% of the results.
- Expand Your Spheres of Influence: make getting to know others outside your department, company, industry, and country a keystone habit.
June (LINK)
- Push for Results: similar to March, channel your energy to deliver tangible results by the end of June.
- Conduct a “Stay Interview”: life is more than just money, assess your satisfaction with your job.
- Calculate the Expected Value of Your Current Role: use my toolkit to calculate the present, future, and intangible value of your current job.
July (LINK)
- Get Evaluation-Based Feedback: work with your manager and others to calibrate your performance compared with peers. Focus on all three components – a) performance level; b) performance trend; and c) performance impact.
- Use Key Phrases to Get the Feedback You Need: a) tell me more…b) what does great look like…c) if I could improve just one thing…
August (LINK)
- Relax: you have just finished “The Hidden Golden Quarter.” A time when you can focus on your individual goals and get work done.
- Recharge: an important corollary to relaxation, restore the energy, spirit, and passion you have for your work.
- Reflect: what can you subtract, or do less of, to make life and work better?
September (LINK)
- Shift Your Mindset: time to shift your mindset from individual accomplishments to enterprise success. Shift your focus from your objectives to departmental success. Finally shift your effort from 80% on your individual initiatives to 80% effort on your manager’s goals.
- Analyze Problems / Opportunities and Take Action: identify problems and opportunities at the departmental level that you can help solve by the end of the year.
October (LINK)
- List Your Accomplishments: describe both “what” you accomplished and “how” you achieved the results.
- Ask Others for Input: identify a diverse mix of people to provide year-end feedback – peers, team members, managers, customers, etc.
- Give Your Boss Talking Points: give your manager talking points they can use during calibration meetings.
November (LINK)
- Push for Final Results: focus on work that can be completed by year end.
- Strategize for Next Year: identify what job experiences you want over the next twelve months. Do you need to develop and employ new skills, or do you need to use your current skills on more challenging problems?
- Identify Pockets of Opportunity: partner with colleagues from other departments to identify how you can spend any excess money that becomes available between now and the end of the year.
December
- Celebrate: finish any final projects and celebrate your hard work. Get excited for the promise and opportunities the new year will bring.
Bottom Line
December is a time to reflect on your work and development activities of the past year. What went well? What areas would you like to improve in the new year? Don’t forget to celebrate!
