The end of the year signals Performance Review time for many. This is a meeting that can happen in a New York minute. Or, with preparation, it can be a solid opportunity to shape your future and elevate your standing, credibility and value as the business partner the c-suite is looking for.

1. Begin with the end in mind – think about where do you see yourself in 12months' time, 3 or 5 years down the track.

2. Take stock of your current skills, strengths and deficits. Take a realistic look to see what skills are missing to get you to where you want to be in the future.

3. Develop a plan that takes into consideration:

   a. Your personal career goals – i.e., how do you see yourself contributing to the professional sphere as a whole. What motivates you, what energizes you, what makes you feel empowered and want to empower others. How do you see your role evolving? And;

   b. Alignment with your organization's strategic objectives. While you're focused on your career goals, it's crucial to ensure you can elevate your skills to contribute in a valuable and meaningful way to your organization.

4. Leverage your Yearly or Bi-Annual Performance Review meeting. Look to align your professional development choices to meet the needs of the organization as well as your career goals. This is where performance reviews are an enormous window of opportunity if you positioned them to be a strategic conversation about what you have contributed towards your manager's goals and what skills you might need to continue to force-multiply their efforts.

5. Do your research & Take Action – select meaningful and transformational learning experiences that will be able to demonstrate the return on investment. Be careful not to fall in the trap of choosing courses that have been reintroduced with a new title but without significant change or improvement to the content. This is where your research is critical.

6. Take Ownership. Be prepared to take charge and ownership of your professional development. You must be willing to invest in yourself for others to want to invest in you.

 What’s your career goal? There's no better time than the present to map out your strategy.

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