Analytical Frameworks:
A recipe for career planning

by Randall M. Craig

Two of the most common workplace issues are work-life balance and career or job change. How do we typically answer these questions? Who do we look to for guidance? And when we decide to make a change, how can we do so with confidence?

Most successful managers are blessed with common sense and a certain political acumen. We spend years developing our managerial skills, first in university, then later with our mentors. Yet when it comes to making decisions relating to our careers, there is often precious little ‘logical’ analysis and much emotion.

The reason for this is relatively simple: While we learn the business skills of communication, analysis and management, we are rarely taught how to manage our careers, so we rely on the sometimes- sparse pearls of wisdom that we pick up from others and the skill that has served us so well in the past — our ‘gut’.

But is it possible to make better career planning decisions, both for our staff and us? The answer, emphatically, is yes – if analytical frameworks are used. Analytical frameworks provide specific data points that can then be fed into our personal decision-making process.

The concept is straightforward: Answer each of the questions within the framework; when complete, you will have data points to help you make a less risky decision. That's it. Of course, the importance of one question over another will vary from person to person. And it may be possible that there are other issues or special circumstances beyond the questions explored within any particular framework. Nevertheless, the goal is to provide a manageable set of criteria that can help organize your thinking and decision-making process.

To illustrate the concept, consider two such frameworks: The Personal Balance Sheet and the Job Quality Checklist, both from Leaving the Mother Ship.

THE PERSONAL BALANCE SHEET
The Personal Balance Sheet is a model for assessing and achieving appropriate work-life balance. The challenge with the term ‘work-life balance’ is that it suggests a binary world: more work means less life and more life means less work. Particularly for higher-performance managers, this zero-sum paradigm is unacceptable.

How to resolve? The Personal Balance Sheet recognizes that what employees and their managers really are interested in is ‘balance’. This means balance across a number of different dimensions – seven, in fact. Consider the following questions in the Personal Balance Sheet analytical framework:

COMMUNITY
Are you active with volunteer organizations? Do you know your neighbours? Are you satisfied with the friendships that you have beyond the workplace?

FAMILY
Are your relationships getting stronger or weaker? Do you feel guilty about the amount of time you give to your spouse, children and older relatives?

INTELLECTUAL
How many challenging non-fiction books do you read each year? Are you able to do simple math in your head, or do you reach for a calculator or spreadsheet?

PHYSICAL
Are you happy with your weight and appearance? Do you think that you could be in better shape?

SPIRITUAL
Do you feel guilty about how much time you spend in this area? Do you feel comfortable that you can answer your children’s questions about spirituality?

CAREER
If you had to do it all over again, would you have made different choices? Do you feel that you have control over your career?

FINANCIAL
Do money problems cause you undue stress? Are you satisfied that you will reach your financial goals in the foreseeable future?

Each of these Personal Balance Sheet dimensions fade in and out of importance, depending on your stage of life. For example, when you first graduate, Career and Financial are usually the priorities. Later, Family and Community might become more important. Some of the dimensions may never be important to you. Indeed, your definition of ‘balance’ is very personal.

To assess and then achieve balance, first think about how your time is divided across the seven dimensions. Then decide how differently the time should be divided in the future. Finally, plan activities into your daily schedule that force you to achieve these new priorities.

For the employee or manager struggling with work-life balance issues, the Personal Balance Sheet analytical framework does two very important things: It defines the work-life balance variables, and it permits an honest self-evaluation.

THE JOB QUALITY CHECKLIST
The Job Quality Checklist answers the question, "When should I change my job?" As was the case with the Personal Balance Sheet, consider each of the questions within the framework:

ARE YOU STILL HAVING FUN?
On Sunday nights, are you looking forward to going to the office the next day? Or do you become agitated or depressed? You spend more time at your day job than any other activity in your life. If you’re not enjoying what you are doing with your precious time, then maybe you should think about a change.

ARE YOU BEING INTELLECTUALLY CHALLENGED?
Think back to when you started your current job. At the beginning, the learning curve was steep and you rose to the challenge, learning about the processes, stakeholders and their issues. When these were mastered, there was the challenge of becoming more efficient. But eventually, you figure it all out, and the job becomes duller and repetitive – there is no longer intellectual challenge. Are you at that point yet?

DO YOU LIKE YOUR COLLEAGUES?
This is more a question of modeling. We all pick up characteristics from those around us. Sometimes we pick up expressions, sometimes habits, and we always pick up attitudes. The question might better be phrased: “Are your colleagues good models – and would you like to become like them?”

ARE YOU REACHING YOUR CAREER GOALS?
Said another way, does your job take you closer or further from your longer-term goals? If your job is taking you in the right direction, is it taking you there fast enough? If you don’t have career goals at all, that, too, is a problem that can be solved – although not with the Job Quality Checklist.

ARE YOU ACHIEVING LIFE BALANCE?
Balance is different for each person, but ask yourself: Does your current position prevent you from being involved in the community? Does it have an impact on your family relationships? Does it allow you to maintain a healthy lifestyle? If your answer to these questions is relatively uncomfortable, maybe your job doesn’t let you achieve the balance that is right for you.

IS YOUR COMPENSATION SOMEWHAT CLOSE TO YOUR WORTH?
Is your position miscategorized? Are there others with similar experience doing a similar job who are paid significantly more than you? If you were replaced tomorrow, how much more (or less) would your replacement be paid?

If you answered ‘no’ to at least two of the Job Quality Checklist questions, consider it a wake-up call. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you should change your job immediately, but you should start to think about why you are there, and consider making a change. And that change might occur within the month, the year, or maybe after a particular event such as maternity leave, the retirement of a boss, or the end of a project.

After deciding that it is time to make a change, the next step in the career planning process would be deciding where your next challenge should be. This, of course, can be answered using another analytical framework…

Randall Craig is a Toronto-based management consultant and author of "Leaving the Mother Ship" (Knowledge to Action Press, 2004), a practical guide about career planning,
work-life balance, and twelve other analytical frameworks. More information is available at www.LeavingTheMotherShip.com.