Most people think about strategy in a business context. It is important to identify and implement strategies at various levels in a company to move the company forward and accomplish their goals. However, there are also other places where strategy is equally important, but it is about you and not the company. Let me share a client case study of how strategy is involved in a career change.
Mary who was a Director at her current company reached out to me to talk about a VP role that someone had suggested to her. She had some hesitation about it though. When we talked further about the role, she said very confidently that she could do the job, but she still wasn’t sure she should interview. I suspected that the title might be the issue. I asked her if she was ready to be a VP? She said I don’t know if I am ready for that or not.
There are inherent doubts that can show up in any career change, but especially when there is a big level jump under consideration.
It can bring fear and uncertainty even if they have all of the experience and know that they can do the job. If they decide to go forward, then my role is to help them work through those doubts and put a strategy together to help them prepare for the interview and the role if they get the offer.
Mary would need to prepare for this role and be strategic about it. How did she want to be perceived when she interviewed? What traits did she think were important for them to see about her? We focused on mock interviews to see her demonstrate answers that would be perceived as a VP level. The strategy comes down to not only what she says, but how she shows up in the conversation. VPs have to look at things from a higher level in the organization, so her answers needed to show her thought leadership and strategic thinking too.
She made it through the interviews and got an offer! Once she accepted, we put together a 90-day plan to set her up for success in her new role. This included how to set up her new organization, meet with key influencers and demonstrate success quickly. From start to finish these plans were all strategic in nature to help her show up in the best way. The creation of a plan gives her a path to follow and it helps her go into the role with confidence to eliminate previous doubts. She is strategically focused on her 90-day plan in this new company to show them what she can do and the results are paying off.