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Keeping Your Career in Check: Your
Personal Board of Advisors
By Anna Howland
 Studies have shown
that when humans set out to achieve personal goals, we
achieve them at much higher success rates when we know
others are watching. Take weight loss, for instance. We
know that people achieve a higher average weight loss
when they tackle diet and exercise plans together. So
why not apply that same strategy to your career? A
little accountability, through your own personal board
of advisors, might be the magic ingredient that keeps
you on top of your objectives.
Whether you are a
business owner, a free agent, or a woman rising through
the corporate ranks at a company full of male employees,
developing and maintaining a personal board of advisors
is one of the most proactive steps you can take now to
strategize your success down the road. It can help you
to battle complacency, identify your strengths and
weaknesses, and ensure that your professional actions
stay congruent with your personal goals. It is a group
of experienced, successful people (perhaps seven or so)
who you can identify as understanding of your central
values and who you know would be candid with you. It is
best if your board comes not solely from your
professional field, but from a variety of backgrounds
and experiences. Most importantly, it should be a group
of people who will hold you to your word, who you
respect, and who you would not want to disappoint.
An effective
personal advisory board not only helps you to set and
stick to goals that comprise a career plan, but they can
be an invaluable resource to turn to when you need to
address ethical quandaries, career roadblocks, and
mistakes you’ve made. They can also brainstorm original
ideas to increase your visibility, or help you to weigh
risks worth taking for advancement and growth. The
right board will provide you with creative ideas and
philosophies you might not have thought about. They
have the ability to take your single vantage point and
expand it to a comprehensive, global outlook that opens
up new possibilities.
Personal advisory
boards also have the capacity to analyze the big picture
of your career—in an objective and sympathetic
way—during times of life change or when it seems like
your position or business are lulling. They can provide
vital insights that help you to determine whether it’s
just a bump in the road, or time to cut your losses and
move on. And of course, they’ll have a far-removed
perspective that can clue you in to whether the
decisions you make along the way properly reflect the
goals you set down when you started out on the journey.
You will probably be
surprised, when you locate the right individuals, at how
willing your personal advisory board will be to give you
their time and energy. This is perhaps because
successful people are naturally generous, and they
appreciate the help they themselves received from
mentors early in their careers. Fortunately, however,
you need not hold frequent, time-consuming meetings.
Twice-yearly meetings and an annual letter, to provide a
“report,” written by you, should be sufficient. Of
course, social networking sites such as
LinkedIn or
Facebook are
convenient, efficient ways to quickly provide updates
and ask questions on a platform that is conducive to
everyone’s busy schedule throughout the year.
While the notion of
treating yourself like a business entity may seem
a bit impersonal, there is much to be said for managing
a
career path with corporate tactics. Just as companies
require detailed, deliberate planning, goal setting, and
accountability to be successful, so too does an
ambitious person. Try developing your personal board of
advisors today, and see where it takes you.
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