I hope you are having a great Tuesday. I am still basking in the glow of great weekend spent in Annapolis, MD.
The weather was perfect, the seafood was amazing and it was an all round wonderful retreat and an excellent way to take a quick break.
Well, today is Tuesday, but instead of giving you my normal top career blog posts, I have decided to address what I believe is a critical component of career success.
You may already be familiar with career career discussions or performance appraisals (as they are typically known as), but what about the rest of the year?
When it comes to taking charge of your career and taking responsibility for your professional development, having frequent career conversations with your supervisor is hugely beneficial.
Some the benefits you can gain from having career conversations and effective communication with your boss include:
Now, you want to respectful of your supervisor’s time and schedule, so only set up meetings when really needed and necessary; another option is to have pre-scheduled meetings on the calendar to connect with him/her – either weekly, biweekly or monthly.
To properly prepare for your career conversations, make sure you are able to identify your career goals and development needs; create a general outline of the discussion from intro and dialogue to closing; consider the 3 key topics you want to address; and finally what outcomes you are seeking as a result of the conversation.
Making your career conversation a success
Keep an overall focus on the company’s objectives and determine how they best align with your personal career goals.
Have you ever initiated a career conversation with your supervisor? What did you discuss and why? More importantly was is successful for you and your supervisor?