Planning Your Career @ IBM

Workbook
Overview

Having a fulfilling career requires an investment of time and energy as well as an ongoing
commitment.

Your career journey starts with having a well thought out and current plan.

Your plan is an honest, thoughtful, and realistic assessment of your career aspirations and
what you need to do to achieve them.

This workbook provides you with some activities you can undertake to help you to plan
your career goals. You can complete all the activities or select those that you think would
be of most value to you.

It is YOUR journey!! Take some time and enjoy the journey!!

Index:

Section 1: Self Assessment:

1.1 Who am I?
1.2 What Makes Me Special?
1.3 Satisfying Accomplishments
1.4 Strengths
1.5 Interests/Skills
1.6 Career Needs
1.7 Defining Success
1.8 Preferred Learning Style
1.9 Mapping your Networks

Section 2: Your Goals

2.1 Life Goals

2.2 Career Goals
2.3 Aligning Career & Life Goals

Section 3: Your Career Plan

3.1 Write your career plan

1.1: Who Am I?
Use the grid below to answer the following:
1. The question, “Who am I?” ten times
2. The personal value or benefit you derive from each of the answers
3. Rank, in order of importance, from 1-10 with 1 being the most important

As you answer the question, consider the following:

1. Look beyond your traditional roles
2. Think of hobbies, personal life, etc.
3. Don’t worry about overlap, not all roles are mutually exclusive

Examples are:
1. Role: I am a wife, husband, partner, student, employee
2. Trait: I am an enthusiastic person
3. Skill: I am a skill technician

Who Am I? Personal Value or Benefit Rank

Example: I love learning, and because of this I can continue to

Student learn/evolve in a fast changing world.

Look back over your answers to the “personal value or benefit” question. What common
themes do you see? Circle or underline these and list them below.

What would you do if your top three roles, traits, or skills were eliminated? How would you
react? What would you do to fill the void? What other options do you have? Use the
space below to makes notes if you wish.
1.2 What Makes Me Special?

This activity helps you identify what is unique to you and what skills and values you hope to
take to future roles. You are also asked to write a statement about how you would like to
be remembered. This will help you clarify the core elements that will be necessary for your
future roles, to help you to develop and demonstrate the behaviours and traits that you list.

1. I’m experienced at _________________________________

2. I excel at ___________________________________________

3. I enjoy doing _______________________________________

4. I want to ___________________________________________

5. I’ve been told I’m___________________________________

6. I’m happiest when__________________________________

7. I get inspiration from________________________________

8. I’m proud of _______________________________________

9. I aspire to _________________________________________

10. I get energy from __________________________________

Think about the following scenario:

You are at a gathering of family, friends, and work colleagues to celebrate your
retirement. A member of each group (family, friends, and work colleagues) gets up and
gives a speech that highlights your achievements, actions, and your character.

Remember they are not talking about the person you are today but the person you
have become through your career and long life; the journey that has lead you to your
retirement day.

What would they say?

“I would like people to remember me as…”

Can you see any themes? What level of importance are these values?
1.3 Satisfying Accomplishments:

The purpose of this exercise is to help you identify those activities in your past from which
you gained satisfaction and to identify the characteristics which consistently appear in
those activities. These characteristics should be maximised and figure prominently in your
future work activities. Knowledge of them will be an asset in planning for future careers.

In the grid below, briefly describe at least 10 accomplishments which were satisfying to
you. The accomplishments should be something you did well. They should also be
something which had results in which you take pride and include activities you enjoyed
and from which you derived personal satisfaction.

Your accomplishments should not just be work related. Think of accomplishments

throughout your life; use your entire life as a thinking ground including childhood, school,
university, college, job/career, hobbies, etc.

10

Now choose the top three accomplishments and list them on the next page. Then answer
the nine questions for each of the accomplishments.

The reason we are asking you to write your responses after giving them thought is to help
you become aware of skills and activities which you have enjoyed, as well as facts and
characteristics about yourself of which you may not be fully aware.
 Accomplishment No. 1: Accomplishment No. 2: Accomplishment No. 3:

What activities did you perform in achieving this

accomplishment?

Were there any particular skills or capabilities you used

that contributed to his accomplishment?

What was your role or relationship to others, e.g., Leader,

Independent Worker, Team Member, etc

What was the environment? For example, were you following

established rules, were you working on your own, etc.

What problems or difficulties did you encounter?

What did you learn from this experience? Did you learn
new knowledge or skills? Did you learn new things about
yourself?

What did you like best about this experience? Why was
the accomplishment satisfying?

Are there any similarities to the “Who Am I exercise?

Take a few minutes to look over you answers to the questions on your top three
accomplishments. What similarities or commonalities do you see?

Think about:

Areas that you should examine for similarities or consistencies include:

1. The knowledge used or the subject matters of the task or accomplishment. Are
there common themes? What are they?

2. The role that you played in the accomplishment. What was it? Was it the same in
all or most of the accomplishments?

3. The environment in which the accomplishment took place. Were the environments
similar? What were they?
1.4 Strengths:

In his book Go Put Your Strengths to Work, Marcus Buckingham asked the following
questions:

• Are your workdays filled with tasks that let your strengths flow?
• Does your work engage your very strongest abilities?

His definition of Strengths is “Your strengths are your talents, skills and knowledge. Talent is
your innate aptitude for an activity. A skill is something you learn and become more adept
at doing through practice. Knowledge is your understanding of what needs to be done in
a specific situation.”

He goes on to say:

“The second myth is that you have the greatest room for growth where you are weak, so it
pays to seek growth there. Although you need to pay attention to weaknesses that can
endanger your well-being, you will find that you have more ability to grow where you are
strong. Using your strengths will help you create a positive feedback loop. You will
experience greater growth by emphasising what you already do well than by spending
time and energy on something your are not motivated to do”

Do you know what your strengths are?

If you want to understand more about your strengths you may wish to sign into Martin
Seligman’s Signature Strengths Questionnaire…which measures 24 Character Strengths.
You will need to register prior to taking this questionnaire…but it is free.

Once you are clear about your strengths…consider how well you have been using these
and how you can make them more prominent in your work

For more information on working with your Strengths…take a look at the Book Summary for
Go Put Your Strengths to Work
1.5 Interest and Skills:
When we are doing things we like, we often say we are in “the zone” or “the flow”, that
time seemed to stand still, and that we just don’t know how we pulled it off.

Keep this in mind when completing the following grid.

The following grid provides suggestions on how to address or action the items you listed in
each quarter.
1.6 Career Needs:

Think about what you want out of your career … and prioritise these requirements.

Would be Nice

Open for Negotiation

Essential
1.7 Defining Success:

If you were to judge whether you are successful 5 years from today, what would you look
for?

As you think about this, ensure that your focus is broad and includes aspects of success
that go beyond your job.

The definition needs to be descriptive enough so that when you look at it five years from
now you can ask “Was I successful?” and answer “Yes”, “No”, or “Partially”.

Success to me is:
1.8 Preferred Learning Style
Honey and Mumford – The Four Learning Styles

Review the table below and determine your preferred learning style. You can use this to
help you determine an effective learning plan and identify the types of learning that you
will benefit most from.

Activists: Reflectors:

 Are you open minded/enthusiastic  Do your ponder experiences from

about new experiences? many different angles?
 Do you have a philosophy of I’ll try  Do your have a philosophy of look
anything once? before you leap?
 Do you thrive on the challenge of a  Do you tend to adopt a low profile?
new experience?  Are you thoughtful, tolerant,
 Do you act first, consider unruffled?
consequences later?  Do you tend to stand back and
 Are you flexible? observe?
 Do you enjoy the here and now?  Do your collect and analyse data
about experience and events?
 Are you slow to reach conclusions?
 Do you use information from past and
present to maintain a big picture
perspective?
Theorists: Pragmatist:

 Do you think through problems in a
logical manner?
 Do your value rationality and
objectivity?
 Are you able to assimilate different
facts into coherent theories
 Do you have a philosophy of ‘If it’s
logical, it’s good’?
 Do you tend to be detached and
analytical?
 Are you interested in principles,
theories, models?
 Are you keen to put ideas, theories,
and techniques into practice?
 Do you like to search for new ideas
and experimenting?
 Do you act quickly and confidently on
ideas?
 Do you get straight to the point?
 Do you have a philosophy of ‘If it
works, it’s good’?
 Do you get impatient with endless
discussion?

From Capitalizing on Your Learning Style, Honey & Mumford 1995, Organization Design and Development, Inc.

My preferred Learning Style is:

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Activists: “Hands On” learners who prefer to have a go and learn through trial and error

Reflectors: “Tell Me” learners who prefer to be thoroughly briefed before proceeding

Theorists: “Convince Me” learners who want reassurance that a project makes sense

Pragmatists “Show Me” learners who want a demonstration from an acknowledged expert
1.9 Mapping Your Network

Networking is about making contacts and building relationships that can lead to jobs and
other work related opportunities. It is about seeking out people who can help you…and of
course networking means doing the same for them.
List the people or organisations in your current network and those you would like to add to
your network. For those currently in your network, think about the current state of the
relationship… Is it working as it should, or does it need attention?
Use your plan to focus on making your networks more effective.

Network Type Network Members Steady Needs Want to

State Attention Add

Operational Network

Purpose: Performing effectively in

your current role

Personal Network

Purpose: Enhance your personal and

professional development

Strategic Network

Purpose: Enhance long term

aspirations and provide visibility into
the organisation
2.1 My Life Goals:

Everyone has life values or goals, but not everyone is fully aware of them. Achieving life
values or goals often requires the commitment to, or sacrifice of, other life values of gaols.

This exercise will help you to become aware of goals in your life to which you may be
committed and those which you are willing to sacrifice. It will help you think about and
rank the importance of certain life goals.

Rank the importance of the life goals below. Number 1 should represent the goal of
highest value to you

Importance Life Goals

to Me
Leadership To become an influential leader; to organise and
control others; to achieve community or
organisation goals
Expertness To become an authority on a subject; to persevere;
to reach a hoped for “expert” level of skill and
accomplishment
Prestige To become well known; to obtain recognition,
awards or high social status
Service To contribute to the satisfaction of others; to be
helpful to others who need it
Wealth To earn a great deal of money; to build up a large
financial portfolio
Independence To have the opportunity for freedom of thought and
action; to be ones own boss
Affection To obtain and share companionship and affection
through immediate family and friends
Security To achieve a secure and stable position in both
work and financial situations
Self-realisation To optimise personal development; to realise one’s
full, creative, and innovative potential
Duty To dedicate oneself totally to the pursuit of ultimate
values, ideas, and principles
Pleasure To enjoy life; to be happy and content; to have the
“good things” in life
Balance To be able to balance on the four key dimensions of
physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional wellbeing
Other

Other

Now compare your results from the “Who am I?” exercise with the rankings of your life
goals. You should be able to recognise the development of similarities with regard to what
you consider important, what you value, and what your priorities are.
 2.2 Career Goals:

Achieving a goal gives a sense of accomplishment; you can feel and see progress and
get the personal satisfaction and stimulation that is derived from achieving your goals or
objectives.

Use the template below to define attainable yet challenging goals for your career. It is OK
just to have 1-2 goals.

Think about:

 What you aspire to be/do in 2 years, 5 years, 10 years

 What you would like to be able to achieve at work

Make sure your gaols are SMART.

S pecific
M eaningful
A ction -oriented
R ealistic
T rackable

Goal:

Goal:

Goal:

Goal:
To test the reality of your goals answer the following questions:

1. What is the cost (personal time, life and family) of my career plans?
2. How much am I willing to ask my family to help me with my career?
3. How persistent do I think I am?
4. How much am I willing to travel?
5. Am I willing to relocate?
6. Where do I want to work and live?
7. What factors make this an achievable goal?
8. What factors could prevent me from achieving this goal?

Review your responses and ensure that the goal still makes sense.

There should be no insurmountable obstacles which cannot be resolved or would prevent

you from achieving the goal.

Share your goals with your family, colleagues, mentors, etc. They will remind you, ask about
your progress, and encourage you.

Even more important, by telling people about your goals and hearing yourself actually
state them, you will increase your commitment.
2.3 Aligning Career and Life Goals:

List the Top 3 Life Goals you identified earlier and detail how these positively and/or
negatively impact your career goals.

Top 3 Life Goals Impact of Life Goal on Career Goal

How will you leverage the positive impact and mitigate any negative impact in order to
achieve both your life and career goals.
3.1 Write Your Career Plan

Your career plan is your personal plan on how you are going to achieve your career goals.
It also provides input into your annual development plan.

Below is a suggested template for your Career Plan. Use this if it is useful or simply just
document your plan in a way that suits you.

Career Goal No. 1

3-6 Months:
 Think about your short-term goals that are easily achieved but will also help you
move towards your longer-team goal.
 List actions you will take to move toward the goal, e.g., complete xyz project,
facilitate 2 team meetings, etc.

6-12 Months:
 Start thinking bigger. What new skills do you want to learn? What new ideas do
you want to share with others? What changes do you want to make?
 Include actions you need to take to make this happen.

Beyond 12 Months:
 Capture specific plans to achieve your career goals that you know may take
more than 12 months to accomplish. Include target dates.
Perceived Constraints:
 What are the things that could get in the way of achieving your career goal?
 List these perceived barriers and what you need to do to overcome them.

Opportunities to Explore at IBM:

 List learning/development opportunities that will help you reach your career
goals.
 Think about relationships that you want to cultivate/build.
 Think about job roles/projects that might help you gain skills/experience.