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CHAPTER 1

Make a Plan

"I made a plan for my career, just like a business plan. I took responsibility for meeting the needs of the family and then I set a career path. I thought to myself, what is there in my workplace that I have to do to get the next step up? What do I need to get there?" Kate Davies, CEO Nottinghill Housing and CEO designate of Nottinghill Genesis

Before you go any further, you need to know where you're going, just like Kate did in the above quote.

In the coming chapters, you'll be learning about the importance of building your network and connecting with the right people – but it really helps to know who those people are. If you don't know where you're heading, it makes it practically impossible to make sure that you have the right resources around you to make it happen.

The important thing about this is that it will give you something to aim for and a solid plan of what needs to happen to get you there. It's a challenge to build a network and nurture it if you don't know who needs to be in it. And if you don't know who needs to be in it, then how are you going to find them?

It doesn't mean that you'll need your entire career mapped out in detail, cross-referenced by year and age - but it does mean that you'll need a sense of direction and the flavour of the type of roles that will interested you. This plan makes it much easier to assess whether you're heading in the right direction and creating the right opportunities regarding of who you meet and what you choose to become involved in.

It can be something as simple as sitting down and thinking about where you'd like to be two years from now. Where are you now? Do your current circumstances support your journey and what changes, if any, do you need to make? What skills do you need to develop and who do you need to be meeting and mixing with?

It's perfectly ok to do this, and put yourself first when it comes to planning for career progression. As Kate Turner, Head of London and the South East for Lloyds Private Banking says, "In a way, learn to be a bit selfish, and think to yourself, what do I need from this organisation? A lot of people think about what they can do for their organisation, which is great, but they never consider what it can do for them."

At this point it can also be a good idea to be open-minded about where your next move might be; who knows what opportunities might appear for you? If you're looking through too narrow-a-lens, you may not see the little nugget of gold that's sitting right in front of you. As Jane Scott Paul, former CEO of the AAT, explains, "In the accountancy industry, if you're ambitious then you'll want to work for one of the big four. But actually, if you work for a mid-tier firm, you'll probably get much more variation in what you're given to do and what you see."

There are some habits to get into that will support you as you move forward, and that will feed into your planning process.

Plan to Gather your Evidence

Journalling is a fantastic tool for both personal and professional development, and is something I recommend to clients. One supportive habit to get into is to make a regular note of all your professional successes and achievements. Take yourself off somewhere quiet at the end of the week and review how you've spent your time, and what impact you've made. What are your wins for the week? What contacts have you made? What potential has the week brought you? What do you intend to do with it? This is all valuable evidence to feed into your planning.

Then make a note of these things; I favour a journal, but you may like to do this electronically – it doesn't matter. What's important is that you have a record of what you've achieved that week. This is useful for you to see your progress, and when it comes to performance reviews, application forms and other situations where you may need evidence of your contributions, you'll have it all there.

A helpful extension to this approach is to find yourself a 'buddy' – someone you can meet up with maybe once a month and talk through your highlights with, as well as any challenges. You could make this a mutually beneficial exercise and help each other to celebrate achievements, reflect on performance and provide some accountability. This kind of regular professional conversation can be invaluable, as it will help you to focus on the value you add. You could even choose to challenge each other to make those achievements more visible.

Plan to Keep Up to Date

The world is a fast-moving place, and it's easy to get left behind. A little learning every day can go a long way towards keeping your knowledge current. In his excellent book, Embodied Leadership, Pete Hamill recommends the practice of 'deliberate reading'. This involves 20 minutes focussed reading and note-making every day, at a time when you're alert and most likely to absorb the information. Then, find ways to put this learning into practice on the same day.

You could read books, industry journals and magazines, websites – the choice is yours. And of course, if you prefer podcasts, videos, why not include those too? Just make sure that your reading is going to add value to what you do.

"Take the time and do this properly and you will notice a difference in your knowledge and understanding of leadership, your organisation and your industry, and so will those around you!" Embodied Leadership, p.224.

Try this: where do you want to be in two years' time? Use the career planning tool to help you do this.

At the end of this chapter is a career planning tool, to help you consider where you might be in two years' time, and how you can get there. Before you use it, spend a little time thinking about what's possible; make sure you get the balance right between having a plan and something to aim for, and not limiting your choices because you're aiming too narrowly.

In two years' time, I will be ...
Where will I be?
What will I be doing?
Who will I be doing it with?
How will I be doing it?
Why will I be doing it?

For this to happen, in one year's time I will be ... Questions to consider:

What impact do I need to create?
How can I demonstrate my skills?
What actions will I have needed to take consistently?
Who do I need to know?
What experience will I need?
What additional knowledge do I need?
What do I need to do on a daily/weekly/monthly basis?
Where do I need to be seen?
What would I need to be better at?

For this to happen, in six months' time I will be: Questions to consider:

What impact do I need to create?
How can I demonstrate my skills?
What actions will I have needed to take consistently?
Who do I need to know?
What experience will I need?
What additional knowledge do I need?
What do I need to do on a daily/weekly/monthly basis?
Where do I need to be seen?
What would I need to be better at?

For this to happen, right now I need to consider ...
What impact do I need to create?
How can I demonstrate my skills?
How can I ensure everything I do meets my goals?
Who do I need to know?
What experience will I need?
What additional knowledge do I need?
What do I need to do on a daily/weekly/monthly basis?
Where do I need to be seen?
What do I need to be better at?

Understanding Your Network

"This is the number one priority for anyone coming into the workplace or starting their own business. People will only know you if you put yourself out there - it's a conduit for having a successful career."

Heather Melville, OBE, CCMI, JP, Director of Strategic Partnerships and Head Of Business Inclusion Initiatives, Corporate and private banking, RBS.

Once you have an idea of where you're heading career-wise, then understanding, engaging with and building your network is your next task: it's all very well being visible and raising your profile, but ultimately it won't help if you have no one around you who can see you. And those people in your network will be the very people who can help accelerate your progress. At the heart of this chapter is the understanding that you need a network – a group of people who know, like and trust you, and to whom you reciprocate those feelings. A network is a two-way thing.

As Heather Townsend says in The Financial Guide to Networking: "You could be the most amazing employee to hire, but if no one knows about you, how are you going to be found? That's why it's so important for any professional to develop and maintain a strong network of people who can help spread the word about your services or skills."

A recent study by City University, London, concluded that professional women with leadership aspirations would benefit from understanding how to build, maintain and make use of their 'social capital' as they progressed in their careers. "These networks or 'who you know and who knows you' are responsible for a large percentage of career progression so limited access could be a barrier to women's opportunities." Natasha Abajian, The Importance of Social Capital for Breaking the Glass Ceiling, City University, London, 2016.

Understanding the need to build a network, how to maintain and nurture it and how to use that network, are therefore key skills for ambitious women. This is a skill that is best developed early on in your career – get to grips with it now, and you'll be building solid foundations that will support you as you move forward.

Building a network is not necessarily the same as going out and networking at a group, although that is certainly part of it. There is a place for the more formal style networking groups. Sometimes I hear from clients that they see networking as a dirty word, something that's not authentic and that feels false and uncomfortable. They may regard the idea of walking into a room and making small talk with strangers as their idea of hell, especially if they see themselves as an introvert. Seen in this light, it's little wonder that the idea of going out and networking seems about as appealing as pulling teeth to some people.

The fact is, we all have a network around us already; we just don't often recognise it as such. Think about the existing people you already know: colleagues, past colleagues, friends, neighbours, family (however distant), school, college and university acquaintances, people you've met on courses or on holiday, your partner's colleagues, the list is endless. These form a network to which you belong.

Building a network, therefore, is simply about building relationships – which for most people is a far more comfortable way of viewing it. And, given that most of us interact with at least one person a day, in some way shape or form, be it online, over the phone or face to face, then you can see that we 'network' every day. We just don't call it that.

The first step in using this idea is to widen our definition of a network away from the narrow one of simply attending groups, to one that recognises that we network all the time. Every time you speak to someone, whether you're on the train, in a shop or at a party, you are 'networking'. You are increasing the number of people to whom you are visible – which is the whole reason you've picked up this book.

This is a view that's supported by Charlotte Sweeney OBE, Inclusion Expert, Author and Founder of Charlotte Sweeney Associates. "Generally, women see networking as going to an event, but we need to change the mindset as it's not just about that; you're effectively networking all the time."

The benefit of viewing a network as a set of relationships is that you'll build more than just business contacts, as I know from personal experience. When I moved to Lincoln, where I'm currently living, I knew two people (four if you count my husband and son). Networking was something I needed to do not only to build a new business but also as a way of getting to know people and make friends. Through formal networking, I met people who shared my values and interests, people with whom I just clicked - and those people, seven years later, are now friends. And if I can help them at all in a professional sense, then I am only too happy to do that.

What's also important for a woman is to make sure that she expands that network. A recent article on the CNBC Network website stated that "Research shows that women have smaller, close-knit networks made up of people they like which makes it more challenging for women to be visible." CNBC, February 2015.

A network is a vital asset in raising your profile. You need ways to develop it and be proactive in doing so.

Know Who is in Your Network - and Keep in Touch.

To be visible to your network, you'll need to know who's in it and keep in touch with them. As your network grows, this will become very important, but also potentially very time-consuming.

A spot of network mapping is a useful exercise for this. Grab yourself a large sheet of paper and some coloured pens; you could also use an online mind-mapping tool for this.

Draw a spider diagram in the middle of the paper and label each 'arm' with titles: friends, family, colleagues, LinkedIn contacts, past colleagues and so on. Take some time doing this, as you want a comprehensive map of who you know, no matter how distant the connection. It's only when you sit down and concentrate on an activity like this, that you will realise just who is in your network – and it will be far wider than you think.

Understanding who is in your network then allows you to make and maintain contact with them, and be strategic about it, which will be necessary as your career develops. And by strategic, I don't mean ruthless! I simply mean that in terms of your career, there will be people that you'd benefit from by being in front of - and a little planning can go a long way, as we've already seen.

Try this: carry out the network mapping activity and ask yourself the following questions, holding your career plan in mind.

Who do you need to be keeping in touch with regularly, and how can you do this?

Who else might you benefit from having in your network, that's currently missing?

How can you begin to contact those people?

Fill in the Gaps Strategically

If you know that you want to make a move into a specific sector, or a division of your organisation, then you'll need to think about how to achieve this, as the chances are, it won't just happen. This is where you'll need to be a little more strategic in how you approach things. There are going to be people that you will benefit from knowing; if you're moving up a level in your career, then you'll need to be connecting with people at that new level, so you can understand their world before you enter it.

Using events in your industry or organisation can be very helpful here in helping you to build your network while doing 'the day job' at the same time.

Tiffany Hall, CIO at Cancer Research UK, illustrates an approach she took when she attended industry conferences while working at the BBC. "I made a point of talking to other broadcasters and suppliers; a lot of colleagues just go out for dinner with other colleagues from the BBC, and I always think, you can do that in London. If we're at a trade show in Amsterdam, the people we should be talking to there are the Dutch broadcasters."

While it is often tempting to stick to people you know at events like these, the real value comes in meeting other people. Attending conferences is a great opportunity to approach people in your industry with whom you might otherwise have a very limited chance of making contact. Identify who you want to connect with, and then set about making that happen. Industry events are ideal for this, particularly if you know who's going to be there. If possible, ask for the guest list before you go.

It's an approach that Jane Scott Paul talks about: "If you're at conferences, there'll be a social element. If I was with a colleague at an important event, and there were particular people there we wanted to meet but would otherwise never get near, then we'd go through a 'hit-list' of people we wanted to speak to and divvy it up and set ourselves targets."

Nicky Ness, Director of Forces Broadcasting and Entertainment, also illustrates this approach perfectly, "You need to know who you need to know and be strategic in meeting them. I'm good at finding alternative sources of finance. I know who the decision makers are, and I once asked to be seated next to a man at a mess dinner as I knew he held the purse strings. I was able to get his support for a project and come up with a plan."

You need to be very clear about where you are networking and why. Identify who you want to network with and understand exactly what you want to achieve out of each event.

The downside of this? You can spend a lot of time and effort attending networking meetings, so it's important that you know what you want out of it. These events can be a great place to build your network to begin with, and it might be that in the early stages of your career you do spend a lot of time getting to know people at these sorts of events. Eventually, you'll need to pick and choose where you spend your time.

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Excerpted from "Strategies for Being Visible"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Susan Ritchie.
Excerpted by permission of John Hunt Publishing Ltd..
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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