Managing Our Changing Careers

Managing Our Changing Careers David J. Ernst Paul Sherlock CAUDIT-EDUCAUSE Institute 2006 Session Objectives • Learn an approach to developing your career • Assess the current state of your career • Assess key personal characteristics relevant to your career • Identify where you want to go • Identify enablers and barriers • How to get started and stay on course with a career plan Managing Our Changing Careers 2 Presentation Outline • Introduction • The Context of Your Career – Group Discussion: Context • Career Planning – A Long-term Approach – Table Exercise: Planning a Career • Presentation of Sample Career Plans • Summary and Key issues Managing Our Changing Careers 3 Your Career Context • • • • • • Life Management Career Trends Organisations Skills Vision Circular Career Paths Managing Our Changing Careers 4 Career Context – Life Management • Career Management should be seen as one part of your life management activities. • You must take a holistic view and ensure that your career issues are in perspective. Managing Our Changing Careers 5 Career Context – Career Trends Previous Emphasis Product-focus: National, Local Few but stable classifications Get education, get job Luck, chance Climb organisation ladder Work then retire Organisation controls career Current Emphasis Knowledge-Service: Global Many evolving classifications Lifelong learning, career changes Decision-making needs ongoing attention Personal development Balance in self, work, leisure, family... You control career Managing Our Changing Careers 6 Career Context - Organisations • Organisational Change • Alignment of IT, IS with organisational business needs • Customers Rule – Service-centred approach • Alignment of Higher Education with government (eg workforce, economic) priorities Managing Our Changing Careers 7 Career Context – Organisations (cont.) Is Higher Education still • The de facto home of IT innovation ? • A place with clear lines of authority, responsibility and accountability ? • A fun place in which to work ? Managing Our Changing Careers 8 Career Context - Skills • Less emphasis now on pure IT skills • IT and IS staff must have empathy with the business of the organisation • Ability to move between technologies and platforms Managing Our Changing Careers 9 Career Context - Vision • Have a personal vision and articulate it • Your vision should complement that of the organisation in which you work • Ask yourself questions about your vision before others do • Continually revise your vision Managing Our Changing Careers 10 Career Context – Circular Paths • IT and IS paths are not linear, they are more likely to be spiral • Organisation change provides a layer of choice and complexity for spiral career paths • Monitoring the direction of both IT and the organisation is essential for an effective career path Managing Our Changing Careers 11 Career Context – Discussion • What contextual issues have had the most impact on your career up until now? • What are critical contextual issues in Higher Education today? • Among these, which will affect our careers the most today and into the future? Managing Our Changing Careers 12 Career Planning – A Long-term Approach • • • • • • Current assessment Objectives and vision Assumptions and critical factors Principles (“Big Rules”) Gap Analysis Action Planning Managing Our Changing Careers 13 Career Planning – Current Assessment • Who, where, what, why, how am I today? • Career “lifeline” plot:Time vs Satisfaction • Skills assessment matrix: Proficiency vs Enjoyment • Values vs career choices Managing Our Changing Careers 14 Career Planning – Current Assessment Lifeline Plot Career Satisfaction v Time Managing Our Changing Careers 15 Career Planning – Current Assessment Skills Assessment Matrix Low Proficiency High Enjoyment High Proficiency High Enjoyment Low Proficiency Low Enjoyment High Proficiency Low Enjoyment Managing Our Changing Careers 16 Career Planning – Objectives and Vision • What do I want to achieve for myself? For others? • Do I have a vision for my career in one, three, and five years? • What are the positive and negative attributes of my work life? • A “day in my work life” scenario Managing Our Changing Careers 17 Career Planning – Assumptions and Critical Factors • What assumptions can I make from now on? • What critical issues relating to success and failure of my career will be in operation? Managing Our Changing Careers 18 Career Planning – Principles • The “big rules” that guide my choices • Restrict the number of “big rules” to five • The “big rules” should be there all the time but may change with time • Are useful both tactically and strategically Managing Our Changing Careers 19 Career Planning – Gap Analysis • Assessing where I am today against my vision • Develop an attribute list contrasting “today” with “tomorrow” • Find some “quick fixes” • Develop a longer term plan for the other attributes Managing Our Changing Careers 20 • Identify and brainstorm all relevant actions to take • Relate actions to specific objectives and vision • Create work plan for each objective with specific action steps • Segregate action steps into near, medium, and long term time frame • Identify measurements of completion and success • Commit plans to writing Managing Our Changing Careers 21 Career Planning – Action Planning • Career Planning – Table Exercise Choose one person who will be the planning subject Others at the table are planning consultants Develop a career plan for the subject while working as a group Use the career planning approach described Report to the whole group • • • • Managing Our Changing Careers 22 Career Planning – Action Planning • Your current organisation may not know what skills it needs in 3-5 years • Your career is changing • Most of us will make several career changes during our working lives • You can develop a career strategy and make it work for you • Be flexible Managing Our Changing Careers 23 Key issues to take away • You should be proactive in managing your career • Think of the whole of your life in making career choices • You need to write and manage your own career plan Managing Our Changing Careers 24 QUESTIONS? Managing Our Changing Careers 25