Career Success Partners

2012 Personal Plan - Step 26 - Create Your Magnificent Milestones

Home stretch! Just five steps more steps. Just five.

The next step in the process is to convert each of your annual SMART goals into monthly “Magnificent Milestones.” Seldom does progress come in one giant step. More often it occurs because we take a series of steps that cumulatively result in a big step.

Think about the “mountain you have moved” in getting to this point in this planning process. Those of you who have gotten to this point did so because you took a series of bite-size steps. The cumulative impact is what I refer to as a “quantum leap.” But, the quantum leap occurred because of a series of realtively small actions.

You are now “armed” with SMART Goals. But, most of you likely made them SMART in the context of a one year plan. Now, we need to take those measurable aspects (the “M” in SMART goals) of each goal and to create Magnificent Milestones, the attainment of which will mean we will achieve our SMART Goal.

For an example, let me go back to the example I used in Step 22 of losing weight. You may recall, we transformed a New Year’s style resolution of “I want to lose weight” into the SMART goal of “losing 20 pounds of weight by 12/31/2012 by (1) eliminating all junk food, (2) working out for at least 30 minutes four times a week, and (3) eating nothing after 7PM (except in the case of an occasional social event [where I will forgo desert to make up for the later eating]).”

Because of all the elements contained in that SMART goal, it is empowering. But, it becomes more likely to be achieved when the 20 pound weight loss is scheduled out on a monthly basis and translated into what one expects to actually weigh at each month end. Each targeted month end weight becomes a “Magnificent Milestone.” (Important that you depict the desired state rather than the amount of the loss. Establish the clear vision of where you expect to be at each month end.)

For each of your SMART goals, prepare a written schedule showing the Magnificent Milestone you want to achieve by each month end.

Click HERE to continue reading the full "26th Step" article -- Create Your Magnificent Milestones.

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Andy Robinson, Executive Career Coach
Co-host, Career Success Radio Show
A leading authority on career success; 15-year executive coaching veteran
Contact: [email protected], 239-285-5575

Photo Credit: BigStockPhoto.com

2012 Personal Plan - Step 25 - Send Your Plan to Your Board of Advisors

NOTE: This series continues from the last step, which was Step 23 (Step 24 in the original series was a "holiday break" in recognition of the date that Step 24 fell on in the year the Personal Plan Process was initially rolled out -- 2010).

Day 25 of 31 days to Creating Your Inspiring Personal Plan for 2012

Congratulations! For most, this step will be one of the most gratifying in the process. For some, it may also be one of the most nerve-wracking.

The time has come for you to share the draft of your plan with each of the members of your “Board of Advisors.” If by chance you skipped putting in place a Board (Step 2), I strongly recommend that you reconsider the strong logic of having some individuals that you respect and trust review your plan.

The benefits of having someone beside your planning buddy (idenitified in Step 1) review your plan are as follows:

1. A fresh set of eyes will see things in your plan that you (or your planning buddy) may have missed. Having a couple of extra sets of eyes is sure to produce a golden nugget or two that can advance your plan.
2. Sharing your plan with others is a powerful way of “baking” more commitment into a plan. A public commitment, even to a small group, tends to make individuals follow-through better. That is why group change programs often have much better results than solo efforts to change. You may not be ready to announce your plan to the public in a widespread manner, but sharing with your Board will get you much of the positive effect of going public.
3. The feedback from your reviewers will provide you with a quality data point as to whether you want these reviewers to be some part of your team going forward with implementation. In Step 28, we will be addressing your implementation team.

Truth be known, I was also counting on your doing more diligent planning knowing that your draft plan was going to be shared with others. Please forgive me for using almost every means I could possibly think of to bring out the very best in you. 

If you have not yet assembled your plan for distribution to members of your Board, please follow the assembly instructions in Step 23.

When you have a draft with which you are satisfied (and please, if you are getting stuck read Janet Vanderhoof’s excellent quik-read post Perfectionism: What a Killer!), please read the Guidance for Plan Reviewers, a link you may want to include in your request for a review.

Click HERE to continue reading the full "25th Step" article -- Send Your Plan to Your Board of Advisors.

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Andy Robinson, Executive Career Coach
Co-host, Career Success Radio Show
A leading authority on career success; 15-year executive coaching veteran
Contact: [email protected], 239-285-5575

Photo Credit: BigStockPhoto.com

2012 Personal Plan - Step 23 - Assemble Draft Plan for Your Board of Advisors

Day 23 of 31 days to Creating Your Inspiring Personal Plan for 2012

You have come light years in the last three weeks! And, you are now ready to assemble a draft copy of your plan for forwarding to the members of the Board of Advisors you established back in Step 2. You will not actually be submitting the draft until the day after Christmas, but in this step you will be pulling the draft together for the first time. (Regardless of whether you celebrate Christmas, you will want to be sensitive to the celebration choices of those to whom you will be sharing your plan.)

To help you assemble your plan in a format that will be attractive and facilitate quick review by your Board members, I am providing you with a Planning Process Handout (click to access this PDF). All you have to do is insert some of the previous created written documents and you will have a very professional looking draft that is in keeping with the amount of thought you have put into where your 2012 Plan stands at this time.

In back of a cover page (illustrated in the attached template), you will display the following three pages, in landscape format:

• Vision (from Step 13)
• Strategies (from Step 21)
• 2012 SMART Goals (from Step 22)

These three pages represent the heart of your 2012 Plan.

Of course, to get to the point of being able to create these pages, you did some other important work, the output for which I am suggesting be included in an Appendix which is also illustrated in the (above) attached template. This other work will provide Board members with important context for the heart of your plan. Assuming you concur with my recommendation that you include an Appendix, you will include the following (landscape) pages:

• Desired Legacy (from Step 7)
• Life Purpose (from Step 8)
• Strengths (from Step 4)
• Opportunities (from Step 6)
• Planning Assumptions (from Step 5)

To help your plan reviewers to quickly understand how all this all fits together, the attached template includes an illustration of the planning process you have been through. I recommend that this be inserted right behind the Appendix cover page which is included in the attached template.

It will be easiest for your reviewers if you assemble this into a single PDF document that will consist of eleven pages (yours might have an additional page or two depending on your formatting). You will save it electronically so as to be able to send the file electronically to members of your Board of Advisors.

Click HERE to continue reading the full "23rd Step" article -- Assemble Draft Plan for Your Board of Advisors.

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Andy Robinson, Executive Career Coach
Co-host, Career Success Radio Show
A leading authority on career success; 15-year executive coaching veteran
Contact: [email protected], 239-285-5575

Photo Credit: BigStockPhoto.com

Executive Coach's Tip: The 3 x 3 Evalauation

Immediately following a presentation, an event you organized, a meeting you were in charge of, or an important project that you wrapped up, consider a "3 x 3 Evaluation" as follows:

1 - Write down three key "take-aways" from from this event (things I learned, things I need to remember, things that might help me in the future).

2 - Write down three things you would definitely CHANGE next time (do differently, replace, add, stop doing, etc.)

3 - Write down the top three positive outcomes (results, impact on others, specific feedback you received, breakthroughs, etc.) 

Successful leaders are always focused on continuous improvement -- seeking out the lessons, learning points and take-always from their key activities. 

Is there a 3 x 3 opportunity for you today .... this week?  Look for the learning lesson(s) and apply it next time. 

 

Andy Robinson
Executive Coach
CEO, CRG Leadership Institute LLC
[email protected]
(239) 285-5575

2012 Personal Plan - Step 22 - Create SMART Goals for 2012

Day 22 of 31 days to Creating Your Inspiring Personal Plan for 2012

Congratulations, you have reached the final step in preparing the material that will be assembled into the plan that you will share with your Board of Advisors. Tomorrow, I will share a template for assembling your package. You will then let it sit for a day while you just reflect on that you have created, before sending out your plan to your Board. While your Board is reviewing your plan, you will be transforming your plan into a powerful action plan and putting in place the support that will assure your success in 2012.

Let’s get on with this one additional step needed for the material going to your Board. Over the last week, you have developed a set of powerful strategies for accelerating moving from wherever you are to a place more in keeping with your compelling Vision. Now, you need to shape each of your strategies into a corresponding goal for 2012. To do so, you will use the SMART Goal approach that coaches and consultants have long advocated as the most effective way of creating goals that companies or individuals are most likely to actually achieve.

“SMART” is an acronym that describes the characteristics that any kind of goal should have if it is to be an effective catalyst for action. Various coaches and consultants have suggested different characteristics for each of the five letters, but similarities between these different views are much greater than the differences. Over my 25+ years of consulting work with leading companies, I have subscribed to the following five elements for setting effective goals.

S = specific

M = measurable

A = action based

R = realistic

T = timeframe

You will increase the likelihood of your achieving any goal when you frame the goal using the SMART acronym, that is when the goal is specific, measurable, action based, realistic, and time based. The order of these elements within a goal statement is not important. It is the presence of all five elements that is very, very important.

Click HERE to continue reading the full "22nd Step" article -- Create SMART Goals for 2012.

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Andy Robinson, Executive Career Coach
Co-host, Career Success Radio Show
A leading authority on career success; 15-year executive coaching veteran
Contact: [email protected], 239-285-5575

Photo Credit: BigStockPhoto.com

2012 Personal Plan - Step 21 - Test Your Strategies

Day 21 of 31 days to Creating Your Inspiring Personal Plan for 2012

In Step 20, you created your hypothesis of the five or six strategies that you will be implementing in 2012 in order to make your Vision become an accurate depiction of how you are currently living your life, as opposed to merely an aspirational statement.

Now, you need to test the validity of those strategies. All of the remaining steps in the planning process are predicated on your strategies so it is critical that they be at least a good starting point. The following five part test should provide you with additional confidence that you come out of this step with strategies that will accelerate your success in 2012.

1.    Are your strategies really strategies, or are they really more like tactics?

You will have faster success in 2012 if you enter the year with a strong strategic plan, as opposed to merely a list of detailed things to do (this comes later in the process). Here is an example of the difference between these two concepts. “Committing to opening a Twitter account” is a tactical step. “Leveraging the power of social media to increase my personal brand recognition” is strategic.

When we are only tactical in our thinking, we tend to lunge from tactic to tactic. When we are strategic, we are smoother and faster. The tactics we use support a strategy, as opposed to being a series of disjointed efforts.

If any of your strategies are more tactical in nature, tweak them now by taking them to a high level.

2.    Do your strategies make great use of your strengths?

In Step 4, you received input on your personal strengths from people you trust. You will accelerate your success when you follow strategies that make good use of your strengths.

Let me give you a simple example. I am not a good singer, and that is being kind to myself. :) Perhaps I could learn to be a good singer, and maybe someday I will decide to do that.  But singing is certainly not a current strength. Pursing any strategy that was somehow dependent on my singing will only slow me down.

Do your strategies make good use of your strengths? If not, what tweaks can you make to one or more of your strategies to make better use of your strengths?

Click HERE to continue reading the full "21st Step" article -- Test Your Strategies.

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Andy Robinson, Executive Career Coach
Co-host, Career Success Radio Show
A leading authority on career success; 15-year executive coaching veteran
Contact: [email protected], 239-285-5575

Photo Credit: BigStockPhoto.com

Executive Coach's Tip: Find the One Thing

A great question to ask yourself as the year begins is this:

"What is ONE THING that I am NOT currently doing that if I BEGAN doing it REGULARLY would have the biggest positive impact on my success at work this year?"

What is IT for you? Think about it. Write it down. Then....begin doing it on Monday. At a minimum, TRY IT for the next 30 days .... and see what happens!

Andy Robinson
Your Executive Coach
[email protected]
(239) 285-5575

Leveraging Relationships with a Dream Team

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This is the first post in a series focused on Leveraging Your Relationships for Career Success.  Relationship leverage is one of the three foundational strategies I talk about in my upcoming eBook, "The Career Security Guarantee -- 3 Strategies That Guarantee You'll Never Have to Look for a Job Again," due out this Spring (more to come on that in later posts).  

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"We are not put on earth for ourselves, but are placed here for each other.
If you are there always for others, then in time of need, someone will be there for you."
- Jeff Warner

Carefully consider your answers to the following questions:

• Who do you routinely call upon for career advice and career counsel?  What is the quality of that advice?  Do you value those conversations and always "take away" something new and insightful?

• Who do you call upon or meet with who helps you stretch your mind and challenge your thinking?

• Who serves as your tried and true "sounding board" for new ideas, crazy ideas, and "to good to be true" ideas?

• Is there anyone who reaches out to you on a regular basis with outstanding career opportunities?

• Who helps you thoroughly and objectively evaluate important career decisions?

• Whom do you consider as a career mentor?  What is the quality of your relationship with your mentor? How often do you speak?

• Who "has your back" at work?  Who looks out for your interests and serves as your advocate and champion?

• Who would recommend you, without reservation, to a new client or to a new employer?

• Who, outside of your family, is your biggest fan?  How many raving fans do you have?

• To whom do you turn to discuss extremely confidential career matters?

If your desire is to achieve sustainable, lasting and truly incredible career success, it is important you have a least one name that you can associate with each of the above questions.  Those individuals, collectively, are key members of your Career Success Dream Team.  DO YOU HAVE A DREAM TEAM?

Assembling and NURTURING a Dream Team will definitely springboard your career success -- you simply CANNOT do it alone!  No one who achieves peak performance in their career does so alone...period.

Make this the year that you consciously and thoughtfully assemble your Career Success Dream Team. Consider ALL of the following roles as you identify members of this mission critical team:

• Mentor(s) - Individuals you look up to or aspire to be like.  Incredible role models of success in your field of play. Could be a formal or informal relationship.  Could be someone at your Company or outside of your Company.
• Mastermind Group Members - A Group assembled around a common theme -- to work jointly and collaboratively on similar projects, shared interests, or common causes.
• Career Coach - A fee-based support team member who can help you develop and implement effective career planning, career management and career development strategies and tactics.
• Professional Advisors - Third party advisors, some of whom may be friends, in fields that play into your career plans - lawyers, insurance professionals, tax professionals, accounting professionals, etc.
• Advisory Board - A diverse group of business professionals and executives with whom you meet quarterly or semi-annually, focusing on helping each other with career development ideas, strategies and tactics.
• Guides and Experts - Designated experts in areas in which you need assistance - social media experts, personal branding experts, website development experts, etc.
• Key Influencers - Individuals in influential positions who can help you make key connections in your field or industry area.
• Accountability Partners - Could be a coach, could be a friend, could be a colleague.  Someone to help "hold your hand to the fire" to get things done.

Begin assembling your Dream Team this month.  Begin by mapping out and identifying likely Dream Team members for each of the above categories.  Maybe you have other categories of Team members you'd like to add to your Dream Team.  Set a goal for when you'd like to have your Team assembled.  Nurture your team, communicate with your team and show gratitude for team member contribution.

Watch the MAGIC happen -- the transformative power of a Dream Team on your Career Success can be INCREDIBLE!

Suggested NEXT ACTION Steps to Take Today:

1. 10-Minute Quickie - Review the above Dream Team list, then take 10 quick minutes, and write ONE NAME down next to each of the roles.  
2. SHARE this article with a friend -- sharing is a great way to give to others you care about.
3. TALK ABOUT this article today with a friend or work associate who might be interested in the ideas presented.
4. "Evernote It" -- Save this article to your Evernote account for future reference or for re-reading at a later date.  Click HERE to install Evernote Web Clipper, which lets you save interesting stuff you see on the web directly to your Evernote account.

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The NEXT ARTICLE in this series of Leveraging Your Relationships for Career Success will be on the topic of "Giving First and Giving Often .... the Many Ways of Giving," a powerful relationship development practice.

Want to ensure you read ALL of the articles in this and future series?  Then subscribe to my Weekly Career Success Newsletter (click to subscribe).  

All of the articles in this series will be featured in my eBook, "The Career Security Guarantee -- 3 Strategies That Guarantee You'll Never Have to Look for a Job Again," due to be released this Spring.  The eBook, will also be chock full of free useful tools and resources designed to help you implement the ideas, advice and tips offered in the book.  Subscribe to my Weekly Career Success Newsletter on or before April 1st, 2012, to receive a FREE copy of my eBook when it is released (a $25 value).

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Andy Robinson, Executive Career Coach
Co-host, Career Success Radio Show
A leading authority on career success; 15-year executive coaching veteran
Contact: [email protected], 239-285-5575

Photo Credit: BigStockPhoto.com

2012 Personal Plan - Step 20 - Choose Your Best Strategies for 2012

Day 20 of 31 days to Creating Your Inspiring Personal Plan for 2012

Congratulations, you are coming into the home stretch of this 31 day/step process for building a personal plan that will accelerate your success in 2012. I am delighted that you are among that small minority of the population who have the discipline to take the steps that bring success.

Your commitment to this process speaks volumes about what you should be able to achieve in 2012 with the benefit of your thoughtful plan.

Today’s task is one of the most important that you will be doing in the entire 31 day/step process. In this task, you will be choosing from among the many potential strategies you developed over the last week using a variety of techniques. I will be giving you some guidance as to ways to optimize your selection. But before I do so, I want to again remind you of the silent killer of so much potential – perfectionism. If you didn’t read it when first presented, I strongly urge you to read this excellent quik-read guest post on perfectionism by the very thoughtful Janet Vanderhoof.

Now, there is a lot riding on your selection of the right strategies. But, here is the good news. Even picking the wrong strategy is frequently better than motoring through life without any strategies. When you have no strategies, you are leaving life to chance. You deserve much, much better than that!

Winners make good choices. But, even more importantly, winners are quick to adjust course if the course they are on does not prove to be working for them. So, even if you pick a strategy that doesn’t work well for you, you can – and should – adjust as you see results that are not in keeping with your expectations.

Keep in mind that you will be selecting five or six strategies from among the robust list you have assembled over the past week. Even using a dart board to select, all of your choices aren’t likely to be bad. And, I am going to share with you an approach that is light years better than using a dart board.

So, please set aside any anxiety about making perfect picks for strategies. Make the best picks that you can based on the information you currently have. You can always tweak your selections before the process is complete. In fact, it is likely you will be making a tweak or two after getting feedback from your Board of Advisors.

The only choice that will slow your progress will be if you choose to make no choice. So, let’s have some fun selecting strategies that are likely to accelerate your personal success in 2012.

Today, we will be using a four step process to develop a hypothesis as to the five or six strategies that you will use in 2012 to accelerate your personal success. In one of the subsequent steps you will be validating the power of those you have selected and have an opportunity to tweak, then. So, just follow this process and get a hypothesis down on paper.

Click HERE to continue reading the full "20th Step" article -- Choose Your Best Strategies for 2012.

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Andy Robinson, Executive Career Coach
Co-host, Career Success Radio Show
A leading authority on career success; 15-year executive coaching veteran
Contact: [email protected], 239-285-5575

Photo Credit: BigStockPhoto.com

2012 Personal Plan - Step 19 - Use Seth Godin Brilliance to Create Possible Strategies

Day 19 of 31 days to Creating Your Inspiring Personal Plan for 2012

By now, you should have developed a robust list of potential strategies that support your compelling Vision. You have potential strategies derived from using Gap Analysis (Step 14), using Strengths Analysis (Step 15), using Core Analysis (Step 16), using Support Analysis (Step 17), and using Change Analysis (Step 18). Hopefully, in each of these steps you have opened up your mind to a world of possibilities.

Well, in this step – the last before we start narrowing the list to the five or six strategies you will use in 2012 – I want to really, really stretch your thinking. And, I believe I have just the group of stars who can help me do that for you. But, before introducing you to these stars, I want to share some perspective on why possibility thinking is so challenging in strategic planning.

I doubt there are any of us who get up each day with the thought that we will be close minded. But, our past experiences tend to close our thinking. Over time, patterns of behaviors and consequences “train us” to believe that things work in a certain way.  In most cases, the only take-away should be that something happened that way in the past. The fact that companies once were almost totally void of females in the executive suite did not mean that woman would always be excluded from the executive suite. The fact that, for 200 years of our history in the U.S., all of the Presidents where white did not mean that pattern would always be the case. Etc. Etc. Things change, notwithstanding our patterning that often suggests that no change is likely.

Left to our own, most of us would plan a future

that bears an uncanny resemblance to our past.

For that is what we have been trained to expect.

So, I have urged you to have an open mind in identifying potential strategies. But, I expect I have only been moderately successful in getting you to really be open to new possibilities. As a result, I want to call in some stars to stretch your thinking.:)

One of the individuals I respect most in terms of thinking about how the world is changing (and therefore about how we must change to be successful in a “new” world) is Seth Godin. Book by book, and blog post by blog post, Seth stretches my thinking. For me, he is one of the key ingredients in my dinosaur immunity pill that I take daily to (hopefully) ward off creeping dinosaurism.

Two years ago, Seth came out with yet another delightful book, What Matters Now. Published in an ebook format, this book is a compendium of quick read thoughts by more than 70 thought leaders.

Click HERE to continue reading the full "19th Step" article -- Use Seth Godin Brilliance to Create Possible Strategies.

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Andy Robinson, Executive Career Coach
Co-host, Career Success Radio Show
A leading authority on career success; 15-year executive coaching veteran
Contact: [email protected], 239-285-5575

Photo Credit: BigStockPhoto.com