September 27, 2023
Summary
Having a long-term plan for your career can help you reduce career-related stress, increase your perceived employability, and allow you to connect more deeply with your purpose. But how do you move beyond yearly career goals and create a five-year plan?
“Where do you see yourself in five years?”
At some point, a professor, a family member, or an interviewer has probably asked you this question. Your first instinct may have been to roll your eyes. What a cliché, right?
Turns out, having a long-term plan for your career can be beneficial. Taking time to actively think about your path can reduce career-related stress, increase your perceived employability, and help you connect more deeply to your purpose. Yet, a Gartner survey conducted in March 2022 found that fewer than one in three employees knows how to develop their career over the next five years.
If you’re one of those people, know that there are ways to move your career forward. To reap the benefits of creating a long-term career plan, you must first step away from the habit of only setting yearly career goals.
Why Annual Career Goals Don’t Work
Thanks to things like New Year’s resolutions and annual reviews, you may be under the impression that the best way to think about your career is on a yearly basis. But here’s the thing: Careers aren’t built in a year. Here are a few reasons why one-year plans don’t always work.
Some skills require multiple years of work to hone, like communicating with transparency, providing constructive feedback, negotiating effectively, and making decisions in times of uncertainty. These behaviors tend to take ongoing practice to learn and maintain. Of course, you can, and should, set incremental goals to make progress on these skills, but it’s important to think ahead about how you’ll continue to develop these capabilities.
It also can be easier to get demotivated and lose track of the big picture. Like skills, big goals tend to take multiple years to reach. Completing a degree or certificate program, for example, can seem insurmountable when you’re only thinking of your career one year at a time. If you plan to accomplish a larger career goal, you must plan ahead and consider the best timing to move forward.
Finally, short-term goals can be easily disrupted, leading to failure. Consider all of the unexpected circumstances that can arise in a year. Your teammate may leave the company, requiring you to you to refocus your role. Your company may fall short of its financial goals, forcing internal priorities to shift. Or you may experience something more personal, like a health issue or a death in the family. Just one of these events is enough to throw a solid one-year plan completely off course.
Why Five-Year Plans Work Better
To put it simply, five-year plans open the door for you to think more completely about yourself and your career. Here’s why five-year plans work.
Having a long-term plan can help you focus on developing your transferable skills, as opposed to skills just for your current role and organization. When you’re clear on your long-term goals, you’re less likely to fall into the trap of going through the day-to-day motions of your job. It will help you identify the opportunities you’re eager to pursue, say no to tasks and projects that don’t align with your goals, and build the skills you need to succeed long term.
Five-year plans also give you the flexibility to change what’s no longer relevant to your long-term goals, without derailing your progress. This way, you’re always working toward what you truly want to achieve. The flexibility also makes failure (aka a derailment of your goals) less likely, as the additional time gives you the opportunity to proactively address issues when they happen and adjust your goals where necessary.
And a multi-year plan can help you feel more fulfilled in your current role. When you’re focused on the long-term goals you’re working towards, every day and every action you take has meaning. You can see the bigger picture, which can make it easier for you to feel motivated at work.
How to Develop Your Five-Year Plan
The intent of a five-year plan is to think bigger and broader. It’s about creating a systematic approach to your career that’s built to flex when life gets chaotic. That may sound overwhelming, but just take it step by step:
1) Brainstorm.
Start by thinking about how you want your career to develop and what you need to do to get there. This requires self-reflection. You’ll need to identify your primary goal, your passions, how your existing skills contribute to both those things, and your areas for improvement. A few questions you can ask yourself include:
What am I passionate about?
What would I consider as my dream job?
What background and skills do I already have?
What can I improve on? What skills do I need to develop?
What roles may I be qualified for that I’ve never considered pursuing?
What’s one thing holding me back that I can act on right now?
These questions will help you dig deeper and uncover the goals you really have for your career. If you’re still feeling lost, it can be beneficial to take an assessment to help you better understand yourself and your values.
2) Gather feedback.
We’re not always the best judges of our own capabilities and strengths. That’s why it can be important early in your planning process to gather feedback from your superiors, mentors, and peers. They may help you discover career opportunities you never considered for yourself, clue you into strengths you may be overlooking, and share insights regarding your areas for growth and development. Some questions you can ask during these conversations to uncover that feedback include:
In order to grow my career, what behaviors do you think I should develop or leave behind?
If you were in my position, what areas would you focus on developing?
What’s the one skill you would recommend I master to get to the next level in my career?
Is there a skill you think is going to make a difference for transitioning to [my goal role/industry]?
Based on their feedback, you can return to the information you gathered during your self-reflection. Do their answers match yours, or are there things that differ?
3) Map it out.
After doing some self-reflection and gathering feedback, it’s time to organize the information you’ve collected. There are many different ways to conceptualize your five-year plan, and it’s important that you find the approach that will keep you engaged. If you’re a pen-and-paper person, you might want to write it down on a series of Post-Its or in your journal. If you want something more easily updatable, consider using a PowerPoint slide or spreadsheet. Whatever method you choose, try to follow this general structure:
Slide 1:
Use the first slide or page to outline your career goals. Revisit your self-reflection around your passions and interests to solidify the types of work and roles that would appeal to you.
This is your chance to truly imagine your ideal scenario. What would you do if you had no constraints of time and money? How would you spend your days and nights? What kind of impact would you like to make in the world? Be bold and ambitious. Don’t limit yourself by what is realistic or feasible. You can always adjust your plan later, but start by letting yourself dream.
Slide 2:
On the second slide or page, list out the skills you already have and the ones you would need to achieve your ultimate career goals. You can refer back to the feedback you received from others on your strengths and areas for improvement. This will help you identify your current and future skill gaps.
Slide 3:
On the third slide or page, write down the development activities you plan to pursue over the next five years. One tool you can use to do this is a Gantt chart — a project management tool designed to help you visualize your tasks in relation to time.
A “development activity” can be anything that helps you reach your goals or learn the skills you need to move forward. For example, you might include any of the following development goals in your plan:
Joining an association
Taking a webinar
E-learning
Job shadowing
Serving on a non-profit board
University classes
Books
Mentorship
Formal classroom training
Assignment to a project team or supervisory role
Cross-training
This chart will help you prioritize and balance your professional and personal goals. In addition, it will discourage you from over-committing or under-committing yourself as you seek to grow your capabilities.
Slide 4:
On the last slide, you should present yourself with the “worst-case” scenario. Think about all of the possible challenges or obstacles that might prevent you from achieving your goal.
You should also propose some solutions or alternatives to overcome these difficulties, such as adjusting your timeline or finding a more affordable development activity. This way, you can remind yourself that you’re prepared for any situation and ready to adapt to changing circumstances.
If you can envision yourself pursuing several different paths or roles, you may want to create a plan for each of these scenarios. However, to future-proof your plan, you should try to focus on skills and development activities that are transferable to the multiple paths you’re interested in.
4) Iterate.
Unlike year-long goal setting, the process of creating a five-year plan is never complete. Your plan should be flexible enough to continually adjust throughout your career. One way to ensure you’re keeping your plan updated is to set a quarterly calendar reminder. This will help you address any new developments in your life or career and make changes where necessary.
As you put your plan into action, ask yourself the following questions to make sure you’re on the right track:
How is this pace for me?
Was I too ambitious or aggressive with my timelines or do I need to speed things up
What have I learned that I can add to my skills and capabilities balance sheet?
Does my plan align with my current organization’s objectives while still serving my longer-term aspirations?
Does this plan inspire me or give me more energy to keep learning?
Does this plan sap my energy or make me feel like it isn’t quite the right path?
These adjustments should also factor in feedback from your manager, mentors, and peers, as well as external coaches, experts, and academics. Share your plan and ask them the following questions:
Do you see anything missing from this plan?
Are there any additional experiences or skills you recommend I adopt at this point?
Is there a better way I can go about mastering a skill on my list?
Considering what you know about me, do you think I can accomplish these goals in a timely manner? Is my plan too aggressive or too slow?
Are there other roles I should be considering?
Once you have reflected on your plan and collected feedback, take time to adjust. For example, you may need to fine-tune the timing for gaining certain skills that are critical for your next career move. Or you may need to abandon a class or experience if it will not serve you in the long run.
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As you embark on your career development journey, you need to adopt a growth mindset and think beyond the short term. It’s time to reframe your career planning from an annual check-box chore to a perpetual development process that moves you closer towards your goals. Planning for five years instead of one gives you the space to expand your possibilities and helps you keep up with change. You have one life — take ownership of it and aspire to greatness.
Mary McNevin, Ed. D. is an executive coach, talent advisor, and former CLO and talent executive. She is a growth-oriented talent management executive with 20+ years of experience in learning, talent management, succession planning, and strategy development. Dr. McNevin earned her doctorate (EdD) from the University of Pennsylvania through an interdisciplinary program between the Graduate School of Education and the Wharton School of Business. Her dissertation focused on Executive Coaching in the C-suite. Dr. McNevin also holds an MBA from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and an MS in Education from the University of Pennsylvania.
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