Climbing the Ladder,
or Preparing for a Bigger Role
Nancy Kress
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Climbing the Ladder
OVERVIEW
• Clarify your career goal
• Decide what responsibilities and roles to
tackle
• Create a plan to manage your career
PROGRAM
• Part 1 – Vision your future
– Exercise: Case study to anticipate
future changes
• Part 2 – Know yourself
– Exercise: Job Crafting
• Part 3 – Set your goals and create a
plan
– Exercise: Create a career plan
PART 1
Vision your future
Vision your future
Who are you?
Vision your future
• What would my ideal work be?
• What work makes me fulfilled and
excited?
Worksheet part 1
Vision your future
• Opportunities in your own organization
Vision your future
• Change in manager
• Change in the type of work you do
• Transfer to another part of the
organization
• Change in role
• Job redefined or enlarged
• Change in employer
Vision your future
• Exercise: Case study to anticipate future
changes
– Case study 1: Change in Supervisor
– Case study 2: Change in Job
PART 2
Knowing yourself
Knowing yourself
• Career interests, work values and skills
• Assessing skills - what you have and what
to develop
• Identify future roles
Knowing yourself
• Core professional interests
• Work values
• Strongest skills
Knowing yourself
• Core professional interests
– what activities do you typically perform?
– what activities do you find most appealing?
• Work values
• Strongest skills
Knowing yourself
• Core professional interests
• Work values
–
–
–
–
–
financial stability
intellectual challenge
working with people you admire
career opportunities to move up
work/life balance
• Strongest skills
Knowing yourself
• Core professional interests
• Work values
• Strongest skills
– skills you have in abundance
– skills you possess but want to strengthen
– entirely new skills
Knowing yourself
• Exercise: Job Crafting
– visualize job tasks
– map job elements in number and scope
– reorganize to change quality and quantity
Exercise: Job Crafting
• Current state
• Change in mindset
• Future state
Manage Complete
people projects
(I initiated)
Department
goals
Library
Strategic
Planning
Actions
Professional
development
Current State
Attend
meetings
Research
& reading
Exercise: Job Crafting
• Current state
– identify daily/weekly/monthly tasks
– convert to building blocks according to time
• Change in mindset
• Future state
Worksheet part 2
Exercise: Job Crafting
• Current state
• Change in mindset
– motive
– strength
– passion
• Future state
Worksheet part 3
Exercise: Job Crafting
• Current state
• Change in mindset
• Future state
– new tasks
– increase/decrease amount of task time
Worksheet part 4
Manage Department Complete Scholarship:
projects research &
people
goals
(I initiated)
Attend
meetings
Library
Strategic
Planning
Actions
writing
Consulting
Future State
Attend
classes in
Lean
Reading
new
research
Exercise: Job Crafting
• Current state
• Change in mindset
• Future state
–
–
–
–
Re-craft tasks to allocate time
create more meaning by crafting more challenge
change relationships
foster high quality connections by changing who
you interact with
Exercise: Job Crafting
• Future state actions
Worksheet part 5
PART 3
Set goals and create career path
Set goals and create career path
• Determining time frame and importance
• Reviewing and evaluating goals
Homework: create a career plan
Create a career plan
• Review core professional interests, values
and skills
• List and describe career opportunities in
your organization
• Identify and obtain new skills
• Develop a plan
Create a career plan
• Review core professional interests, values
and skills
• List and describe career opportunities in
your organization
• Identify and obtain new skills
• Develop a schedule
Create a career plan
• Review core professional interests, values
and skills
• List and describe career opportunities in
your organization
• Identify and obtain new skills
• Develop a schedule
Create a career plan
• Change in manager
• Change in the type of work you do
• Transfer to another part of the
organization
• Change in role
• Job redefined or enlarged
• Change in employer
Create a career plan
• Review core professional interests, values and
skills
• List and describe career opportunities in your
organization
• Identify and obtain new skills
–
–
–
–
internal organizational training
online courses
professional association resources
university continuing education
• Develop a plan
Create a career plan
• Review core professional interests, values
and skills
• List and describe career opportunities in
your organization
• Identify and obtain new skills
• Develop a plan
Worksheet part 6
Questions?
References
• Barden, D. M. "Your Next Few Leaders." The Chronicle of Higher
Education (June 2, 2009).
• Berg, J. M., A. Wrzesniewski, and J. E. Dutton. "Perceiving and
Responding to Challenges in Job Crafting at Different Ranks: When
Proactivity Requires Adaptivity." Journal of Organizational Behavior
31.2-3 (2010).
• Drucker, P. F. "Managing Oneself." Harvard Business Review 83.1
(2005).
• Wellman, N., and G. Spreitzer. "Crafting Scholarly Life: Strategies for
Creating Meaning in Academic Careers." Journal of Organizational
Behavior (2010).
• Wrzesniewski, A., and J. E. Dutton. "Crafting a Job: Revisioning
Employees as Active Crafters of their Work." Academy of
Management Review 26.2 (2001).
• Wrzesniewski, A., J.M. Berg, and J. E. Dutton. "Turn the Job You have
into the Job You Want." Harvard Business Review 88.6 (2010).
Contact information
Nancy Kress
Head, Access & Delivery Services
University of Nevada Las Vegas Libraries
Las Vegas, NV
nancy.kress@unlv.edu
702-895-2117