We all have careers. And these days, based on my experience, most of us will face career issues at several points in our lives. Why?

• 20% of the largest 800 US Corporations have changed their CEO in the last five years. Lack of sustainable profits being a primary driver in many cases.

• Only 11% of the replacing CEOÕs were from inside appointments. "If I appoint someone from the inside IÕll just get more of the same, and that never got us the result we needed last time."

• Despite strategic and long-term planning the predominant mindset in public companies is "keeping the quarterly earnings up."

• A new CEO probably means a new Leadership or Management culture or style -- how will you fit?

• e-business has resulted not only in changed business practices, but also a new pace and intensity of business. This new pace and intensity of business will not go away.

• In a recent interview Peter Drucker stated "organizations as we know them today will go away.

Need I go on? Focusing on your career each and every year is an imperative, and yet most of us spend more time planning an annual vacation then we do our next career or experience steps.

Why bother about your Leadership career?

Research has shown that people who are engaged in the right career not only are happier, but are much more likely to be successful by other measures in their personal life. It stands to reason seeing we spend the bulk of our productive years in a work setting.

"To be what you are, and to become what you are capable of becoming, is the only purpose in life."--Robert Louis Stevenson

If you agree with his statement you owe it to yourself and your loved ones to become what you are capable of being.

Because of better general health and medical advances we are starting to live longer, and retire later. If you are 40 right now your life is not even half over, and because you will be in the workplace longer it is time to ask yourself:

What will bring me satisfaction, and a sense of being completely engaged in my work?

What career path will provide me with meaning and a sense of fulfillment?

"I have a career for life and a guaranteed pension at the end of it." Well, sorry to say that is not the case any more, and yet as recent as fifteen or twenty years ago this was the situation.

Largely the one career for life is gone.

• The world is becoming a "one market" world with increased competition and price-cutting. Americans on average work longer hours than those in other industrialized countries, primarily to meet the competition in keeping prices low. More work for less pay.

• Many people are opting for a life-style balance, and in this information age they can work from home (many times for the same employer) in order to spend more time with their family.

• Organizations are flatter - layers of middle management have been stripped out of corporations and government organizations during the last ten years. Whatever happened to those middle-managers?

• Outsourcing is common - 30% of major US industrial companies are now outsourcing at least half of their manufacturing production.

Even if you are loyal and work hard there is no guarantee of employment. You are now an "employee-at-will" -- certainly no such thing as a job for life!

In his book Jobshift, William Bridges goes further. He argues that jobs as we know them will disappear. Individuals will need to view themselves as companies with assets, selling what they do best.

This parallels the thinking of Charles Handy in describing the portfolio worker - a person having a set of skills or "a set of tools in his/her toolbox" who may use that skill set for as many as four or five clients at a time.

This is a similar approach to that which accountants and data processing professionals have been doing for years, only now it is spreading to a broader range of disciplines.

The internet has accelerated this process and the balance has now shifted from the employer to the employee or independent contractor. You only have to look at sites like freeagent.com to see the trend.

If you have ever experienced a layoff, or other involuntary termination (40% of terminations are) more than likely you have said to yourself "I want to control my career and my income." IÕll never be dependent on just employer again - I am going to get another position AND get some free-lance work going."

In my experience once a person makes the mind-set shift from focus on a single career, and establish themselves with multiple sources of income, they are never happier or more at peace with themselves. But this new focus does take commitment.

If you were to leave college today as a science or technology graduate then within four years the majority of your knowledge would be obsolete. In your life you probably will need to learn and unlearn skills four to five times, but surprisingly many institutions still focus too heavily on todayÕs knowledge rather than equipping people with learning skills.

Please recognize that continuous learning is not only vital, but it is no longer an option for you in the fast moving pace of business, and at a time of continuing rapid technological change.

There are seven key areas in planning your career - they are your roadmap in guiding you to an inner peace through being better able to control your destiny.

What are my interests? - if you have not selected activities which hold your interest and keep you challenged, then you will not be content within yourself or be happy. If you are not happy it will continue to impact on those around you.

What are my values and my work ethic? - What is my motivation? Life-style balance, being continually challenged, gaining personal rewards from intellectual stimulation, power, influence, helping others or just maximum income?

Change and flexibility - "We must always change, renew and rejuvenate ourselves, otherwise we harden. -- Goethe

Am I too rigid relative to the new pace intensity and rapid technological change of business in this e-business world?

Do I just react to change or am I one of those who see change as a continuing evolution and enjoy the planning that accompanies change initiatives.

What is my work style? - In what setting do I work best: formal / informal; large group, small group or largely on my own; what level of delegated responsibility do I like; how do I respond to pressure and stress; what hours do I like to work; or what time of the day do I work best?

Why am I unique? - You are in a crowded marketplace. Have you thought what it is that will continually differentiate you from others delivering similar services? If I donÕt stand out from the crowd how can I change that?

What are your goals? If I were do die tomorrow what would I want my career epitaph to read? Where do I personally want to be (skills and type of career or client portfolio) two to three years from now? Have I even started on the action steps needed to get there?

Core interests

First, you core interests are fundamental, even more important than your aptitudes or skills.

This is because your competitive advantage and differentiation will always reside with those endeavors to which you bring the greatest enthusiasm and passion. Therefore you must clearly understand your deepest interests and those which you can sustain for the longest time.

How many of us work in roles that donÕt interest us. You may be doing it for many reasons - family pressure, financial pressure, or the fear of taking a risk and failing.

If you follow a career that does not interest you, or just stick at a job with no interest, the inevitable outcome is lack of motivation, boredom and ultimately failure to reach your potential.

Work Style

Second, you must understand your preferred working style and behavior. We all have work styles that suit us best, as we have unique needs and react differently to stress.

Typically neither our education nor our career development helps us to understand these ÔsoftÕ but critical areas, and as a result we can find ourselves in environments that are just unsuitable.

For instance if you want to develop your leadership skills it is vital to understand behaviors and styles, both to directly improve your own skills and also to better understand those styles of those we work with.

Designing and building your career is no different to the development of a business plan.

You are designing services to get you into the market, solidify your position in the market, and provide ongoing stimulus, challenge and opportunity, bearing in mind your core interests and preferred work style.

Your decisions may necessitate the need to reinvent yourself in different ways:

• New Skills
• New Behaviors
• Changes in my work style change or flexibility

Without new skills and behaviors you will find yourself on the commercial scrap heap, but with many years of a potentially productive career years remaining.

Ever noticed how there are thousands and thousands of low paying jobs advertised daily, but too few positions at the higher level. It is not uncommon for a company to receive over 150-200 resumes for a higher-level position.

How will you stand out from the crowd? Do you have the current skills which will enable you to take the next step?

From getting a new position to keeping it, you are always marketing. However, you may not have focused on marketing as being a required part of your skill-set.

If you accept that you are in the business of marketing whether it be as a professional, leader, manager, as a member of the team, or as a freeagent donÕt you think it is time you upskilled yourself in marketing?

Building a well-thought-through career plan by yourself is difficult, frustrating and may be futile. If you turn to those within the organization for help you may not necessarily get the objectivity you need, or that person may not have the skills or tools in order to be an effective mentor to you.

Many companies now recognize the value of coaching and quite a number are providing their senior executives with external coaching as part of their development programs. We have yet to see it widely available in other staff positions within organizations.

Specific experience and objectivity are the main drivers for working with a coach.

Of course it can be done without helpÉ. but a coach can provide you with increased focus, objectivity and the correct stimulus. That person may also help you avoid being set up to fail, something we have seen in organizations.

Typically you may not have access to the resources you need.

As a freeagent it is possible to use a mastermind group to plan and implement a career strategy, but clearly you will need focus on upskilling in marketing and then following a continuous marketing plan.

That marketing plan may be to a group of agencies relevant to your skills and able to find projects for you, or it may be to the potential end users of your services.

Being a freeagent can be a feast or famineÉ.. start marketing, land an all-consuming project, too busy to market and then the project endsÉÉ.no income!! Wow, I really need to start marketing againÉÉ a constant treadmill.

In the freeagent situation a qualified and experienced coach provides the sounding board and feedback in relation to both your career planning and marketing.

Certainly you can follow your own career plan, but it requires both the mindset and self-disciplineÉ.. how often do make a resolution and then fail to carry it out, or start something and not complete it?

Self-change is only successful if:

1. You modify your environment -- you cannot stay in the same environment where things may not have been going as well as they could for youÉ your result will not change.



2. If you want to have a different result then you must know what you are currently doing. Monitor your behavior for at least 21 days, and also monitor the results of the changes you are making.



3. Set time-based goals and constantly review performance with an experienced professional.

Coaching, if well done is a continuous process, and not intended to provide "quick fixes."

Effective Coaching is feedback rich and a high-performance connective practice designed to:

• Identify the behaviors critical to attaining new results
• Assess your strengths and development needs
• Create individual action plans, and
• Move you towards achieving the desired objectives.

You built up a career pattern and style over several years, and it will take you time to develop a new pattern, which will enhance your success.

Regardless of whether or not you work with a coach it is vital to learn as much about yourself as you can. There are many types of instruments to help you.

They range from aptitude testing and personality profiling, to leadership self-evaluation and 360^o feedback from your peers, people who report to you and those to whom you report.

"To be what you are, and to become what you are capable of becoming,
is the only purpose in life."

If you subscribe to this statement, then isnÕt it time you embarked on continuous career planning rather than just waiting for a career crisis in order to take the next step?

Copyright Denis Orme. All rights reserved.