OGL 482 Pro-Seminar II

Unit 3 Assignment:
Networking Plan Template
Section 1: The Career Decision Matrix
As you move through the data-gathering phase and begin to generate options for potential jobs and
potential employers, this is when you can build and use a Career Decision Matrix. Following the
information from Harrington & Hall text, Career Management & Worklife Integration, Chapter 4, pages
92-94, you will research, gather, and analyze information from your self-assessments (i.e. the Kuder
assessments in Unit 1, in particular), thematic analysis (themes), career resources and more to create your
Career Decision Matrix.

Career options are broader than jobs. They are paths you can take to get to where you want to be. Here is
a resource that can assist you in determing: https://careerwise.minnstate.edu/careers/pathways.html

Answer the following:

1) As you have gathered your data take the time to share and fully describe your top four (4)
possible career options. You want to be specific, as this creates a more meaningful matrix.
Describe each career with as much detail as possible. Consider the following to be used in
your 2-3 paragraph response per career option: career field / organization / job-related
responsibilities / opportunities for advancement / future outlook of the career field. These
responses need to demonstrate that you have gathered your research and analyzed it, so
there should be citations referencing where you got your information, using APA standards.
Remember to include why you are choosing each career option.

a. Customer Success Manager

I currently work in Customer Success and while I ended up in this career path by
accident, I have discovered that I really love this field and I think it is the best fit for me.
Customer Success is about being the right-hand consultant for the customer, advocating
on their behalf, and making sure that the goals that made them buy that product are fully
realized year-over-year (or sometimes quarter-over-quarter for the more strategic
customers).

I have loved working in this job because it offers so many of the most important work
values. I am able to have work/life balance and turn off my computer at 5:00 PM. If
customers require something, we have a support team available that can help. Beyond
this, I have a manager and team that respects me. I have been able to find recognition
and achievement in this job and I recently became the team lead with overwhelming
support from my teammates. I’m also pleased to share that I’ve been able to find an
income bracket higher than anything I could have imagined working in retail as I did
before this career move. I am at a great level now but there is so much room to grow and

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 so many amazing products to explore.

I am able to be social in this role as I help customers every day and also empower my
team to grow. I am also able to be enterprising and conventional n this role without
losing a sense of creativity as I help to build a new Customer Success team. I am in my
element and I love doing the work.

b. Product Marketing Manager

I am highly interested in a role in Product Marketing. “A Product Marketing Manager…
promotes products and their features to an organization’s target audience. Their duties
include studying the company’s products, locating key features that will attract customers
and creating marketing campaigns for products” (Indeed). I think that I would be
particularly good at this job because I have worked in Customer Success for so long – I
really understand customers, why they buy, and why they escalate. Beyond this, I am a
highly technical person that can spend the time to fundamentally understand a product. I
can translate the technical configuration pieces into the outcomes that a customer needs
and I think that would be extremely valuable in product marketing.

In a lot of ways, Customer Success already does a lot of this – I have trained sales teams
on functionality, I have worked directly with the marketing team to connect dots and fill
gaps, and I have worked on a customer newsletter that encourages current customers to
use features they’re not already using that bring a ton of value.

I like this because I want to work in the business/technology space where I can be
afforded all the same areas of the Work Values that I mentioned in the above space. The
salary band for this job begins at a much higher baseline than Customer Success and also
offers the huge benefit to help customers as I am now without needing to directly interact
with them, something that adds a huge degree of unpredictability to my job in Customer
Success. I am planning on using my annual development stipend on exploring product
marketing in the next year to see if this might be the next best step in my career or a
future facing option.

c. Human Resources Manager

While I have loved working with customers, I also have been very successful in
developing the internal teams. I have led cross-functional projects to enhance the
cohesion between multiple teams as well as worked on a culture committee for nearly
every place that I’ve worked (where one exists). I don’t necessarily love this career path
as much because it does seem that, at the end of the day, you exist to make sure the
company is protected rather than serving as a protective force for the individual
employees. I don’t think that it needs to be that way – at least not at an ‘all or nothing’
level – but I really love the idea of focusing efforts on making a workplace better and
more attractive to top talent.

Right now, I advocate for my customers which has helped me flex my negotiation and

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 persuasion skills. I’d like to repurpose those to advocate for higher salaries and better
benefits to keep retention of our own employees high. I believe fundamentally that
taking care of your employees will pay off massively and I think that I could serve in this
role with a lot of passion and enthusiasm.

This would allow me similar opportunities as described above – highly aligned with my
work values – as well as offer me the same career interest areas. Beyond this, there are
opportunities for overlap with my themes – not only can I gain recognition in my area
personally but I can make sure that we are creating an environment to offer these same
values to everyone else – recognition, achievement, income, work/life balance. If I can’t
change them directly, then I can at least have a big hand in deciding how they are handled
for the business.

d. Product Manager
Similar yet different from the Product Marketing Manager, the Product Manager “A
product manager has ultimate responsibility for the product. A product manager’s
responsibilities will often include owning the product’s strategy, developing and
maintaining the product roadmap, and conveying the roadmap to the development team
to ensure they build the product according to plan” (ProductPlan, 2021). I have worked
frequently with product managers and I have found that with some, there is a significant
gap in understanding how customers actually use products rather than only viewing them
from the intended use. This is a major blocker that has caused some rifts between
Customer Success and Product Management. I think that if I were in this role, I could
help remedy this issue and fill this gap.

Customers use products in unpredictable ways – sometimes exploiting what is actually a

bug and incorporating this into their daily workflow. This means that later on, when that
bug is patched, it can cause a ton of problems or even escalations with the Customer
Success team. I want to be a Product Manager because I think that my first priority is
always the customer and that hasn’t always been the case with product managers that I’ve
worked with.

I think this job can offer a lot in the way of salary as well as socialization as you cannot
be a product manager without frequently working with a ton of different teams – training,
explaining, answering questions, and making sure that the organization as a whole
understands the ‘why’ behind the product change. It’s integrating the company vision,
the user interface, the engineering on the backend, and the customer need into something
that is usable and simple. It sounds difficult and complex because it absolutely is but I’m
up for the challenge. I think that challenging roles like this can lead the way to a ton of
recognition and opportunities for greatness and I am very interested in this pathway.

Now that you have determined these four options, take a step back and share a fifth
UNTHINKABLE (UT) career option, that you would never do, but are trained for by what
you have learned by earning your degree. Think about skills you have acquired while
earning your degree, which would be transferable to something completely different.

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 . Anything in Healthcare (Nurse, Doctor, Anesthesiologist, etc.)
One area that continuously appeared in my Kuder assessments was careers in healthcare.
Everything from Mental Health, Substance Abuse, Clinical Nurse, Anesthesiologist,
Occupational Therapist, etc. While I think that I have the skills to do these types of jobs,
I am not even remotely interested in doing so.

Healthcare seems to be inherently not aligned with work/life balance or allowing standard
working hours. Many of my friends that are nurses work nights or weekends or other
strange hours and are working with very tough cases. I do not think that I have thick
enough skin to work in an environment with the sick, or worse, the dying. I believe that
my empathy and social adeptness would enable to do well in that I think I can offer
meaningful comfort to others, but I would be so drained by doing this so often that I
would never be able to do this job long term. I am also very squeamish and could not
handle what seems like the most basic day-to-day tasks.

I believe that this industry would be a very bad choice for me. I also think that it
wouldn’t necessarily lend itself to the same work values as the other options – teams in
hospitals are so large that I think I would struggle to get the recognition and achievement
that I desire. Also, my technical ability would be not nearly as useful here as it would be
with software. In software, the biggest escalations are due to a loss of money or
functionality. However, in healthcare, the biggest escalations can be over something
much, much more precious. The guilt of messing up something so high stakes would be
the end for me.

2) Using the information you have gathered and shared above it is time to fill in your Career
Decision Matrix. You can find an example in Table 4.2 on page 93 of our text. When you
complete the matrix below, be sure to remove any unnecessary labels.

a. Down the left hand side of the matrix, you will list your ten (10) life themes from your
thematic analysis. You can also add more that were not part of your presentation as Theme
11 and so on.

b. Across the top of the page, you will list the five (5) career options you are considering.

c. Next, fill in each cell with a high (h), medium (m), or low indication of the match between
that theme and the alternative under consideration.

d. Calculate your Career to Theme Consistency Points (CTCP) aka Summary, by assigning
high = 5, medium = 3, and low = 1, and then adding them up to determine the ranking of
your career choices to your themes. Not all themes can have high designation (if everything
is important, nothing is important). The goal is to identify how your career options align
with your life themes, so you have better information to determine which aspects are most
important to you in your next career step.

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 Customer Product Human Product Nurse
Success Marketing Resources Manager
Manager Manager Manager

Achievement H H M H M
Work/Life H H H M L
Balance
Financial H H H H M
Freedom
Relationships H M H H M
Autonomy H M H M H
Mentorship H M H H M
Leadership H M H H L
Recognition H H H H M
Personal H H H H M
Growth
Joy & H M H M H
Purpose
CTCP 50 40 48 44 27
(Summary)

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 3) Now that you have determined these career options in relation to your life themes:
a. Reflect to what extent your Career Decision Matrix development process has helped
your career development decisions.

I know that I am not probably within the norm of the student that is completing this
assessment because I really do love the job that I do, but I do want to be forward thinking and
consider the next step in my career right now. At present, I want to grow within the
Customer Success organization, up into leadership. However, I also do want to explore
adjacent areas without leaving the overall industry of software and technology. I think I am
also very aware of what I want to do and feel very confident in the path that I’m taking, but I
don’t want to be closed-minded either!

This has helped me think more tactically about what my next step can look like. While I
already have a foot in the door for Customer Success leadership, I don’t have to lose all my
traction if I pivot somewhere else, even within the same company. The experience that I’ve
had to date is still very valuable and will help me in the future, even if it’s somewhere else.
Leading and empowering as I have done is valuable in almost any field and I can learn the
technical bits that make the job itself different. This exercise has helped me remember and
recognize that I’m very trainable and even if I move to marketing or HR or product, I have a
customer-first mindset (or employee-first in the case of HR) and I have the chops to do
something different. I need to have higher confidence and realize that just because I made
into Customer Success somewhat by a fluke doesn’t mean that I am not fully capable of
doing something else.

b. Share which career option(s) you feel would be worth researching more and pursuing
as you begin to think about your networking plan.

I am more motivated than ever to explore Product Marketing in greater detail. I am also
realizing why HR has always been so attractive to me and why it is worth exploring as a
potential next step. I have seen some really great HR Managers as well as some pretty
terrible ones and I think companies always need more compassionate leadership.

My coworker doing the same thing as me right now in Customer Success took part in a
Product Marketing seminar and I think that I might do the same as he cannot stop raving
about the series of ‘a-ha’ moments that he had. I also was considering working in Marketing
or at least getting my MBA in Marketing so this is a great way to figure out exactly which
facet of marketing is most important to me. I definitely do not feel that I am interested in
demand generation or lead generation but much more about making sure our current
customers are in the best position they can be.

References

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Indeed. (n.d.). Product marketing manager job description [updated for 2021]. Product Marketing
Manager Job Description [Updated for 2021]. Retrieved from https://www.indeed.com/hire/job-
description/product-marketing-manager.

ProductPlan. (2021, July 8). Product marketing manager vs. product manager: Where do you draw the
line? ProductPlan. Retrieved from https://www.productplan.com/learn/product-manager-vs-
product-marketing-manager/.

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Section 2: Networking Plan
Now that you have completed your Career Decision Matrix we now need to move forward and develop a
networking plan that you can use to help you reach your career goals. Review Harrington & Hall text,
Career Management & Worklife Integration, Chapter 4, pages 77-83. Developing and managing your
network of people who can help you is an important ongoing process whether or not you are currently
happy in your career.

The purpose of this activity is to:

• Help you assess and enhance (extend or strengthen) your developmental network relative to
major challenges you will face in the next 1-3 years
• Help you develop a networking strategy that will work for you
• Help you develop a specific plan to pursue over the next 6 months to 1 year
• Create an accountability mechanism

Research on leadership development has demonstrated that people benefit from a variety of
developmental relationships, including short-term and long-term alliances with bosses, peers, senior
executives, coaches, subordinates, and family members, the more diversity and depth there is in your
developmental network, the better. Depending on our dominant learning tactics, we are more or less
likely to pay attention to the quality of our developmental network.
This assignment was adapted by Professor Kathy E. Kram from a worksheet developed by Professor
Deborah Kolb, Simmons Graduate School of Management. Adapted by permission.

Answer the following:

1) As you think about the major changes that are likely to take place at your place of work in
the next few years, what major challenges and opportunities do you foresee that you will
need to deal with in the next 1-3 years?

Describe and explain why these are your top three (3) of Challenges here:
a. Funding issues and competitor product releases that are common in start-ups. General
stability of the company.
b. Turnover in our department or the company as a whole. Worse, the possibility of
necessary layoffs.
c. My current job has lower pay than market – I will struggle to either raise that salary or be
forced to consider other options.

Describe and explain why these are your top three (3) of Opportunities here:
d. My manager does not have experience in Customer Success and is grooming me to take
over as managing the department.
e. Taking over more significant cross-functional projects to create stronger bonds and more
effective processes. Prove that I am a worthy team advocate.
f. Interacting more closely with the Senior Leadership team, developing tighter
relationships rather than just within my own department and manager. Set myself up to
be a natural successor if my manager were to leave.

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 2) Given these challenges and opportunities, what type of help are you most likely to need?
Check one and explain why.

a. Help in getting the job done ______

b. Help in advancing my career X
c. Emotional support ______
d. All of the above ______

I think that I do need a bit more mentorship on how to be a great leader in this space. My manager is
fantastic as this but I would like to grow a bit more quickly than I am now. This is both to position
myself well in the organization (and for a pay raise) as well as to make sure that I am on track to keep
these opportunities on the horizon. I am already taking steps to work on this as I am currently
working with a career coaching program called ‘High Rise’. We are spending time right now putting
together a script/plan for negotiation that I think will be well-timed given that we just closed our
Series B round of funding for $25M.

) If your major challenge or opportunity is related to your work, how well positioned are you
to get information, advice, and resources about new opportunities and possibilities? Check
one and explain who can help you and why.

Very Well X Okay ______ Need to Expand My Network ______

I think that my manager is making efforts to expand my sphere of influence within the company.
When she left for vacation most recently, she reminded me that I am the de-facto manager when she
is out and that I need to create bonds with adjacent department leaders so that I am not waiting for her
approval. She has told me that she trusts me and has even encouraged me to seek out the COO’s
advice when she is not present. I am trying to take her up on this and learn more about how to do it.
However, I admit that I still lack a bit of confidence and worry to a degree that I will not be taken
seriously or worse, that I will make a huge mistake.

) If your major challenge or opportunity means making a move into a leadership position, do
you have relationships with people who can give you advice and effectively advocate or
champion you for important assignments or other developmental activities? Check one and
explain who can help you and why.

Yes X No ______

Beyond having an amazing manager that is always looking for opportunities to help me and make
me a stronger leader, I also have several other department heads that have been extremely
encouraging. Our VP of Product is always giving me positive feedback and reminding me that I am a

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 great fit for the company. I am grateful to be recognized by someone that has had such an amazing
career, especially for a female in a majority male industry. I see many leaders in our company as
awesome mentors that are always open to giving advice. I do take that advice to heart but I know I
still have a lot to learn.

) If your challenge or opportunity means that you will need emotional support, to what extent
do you have people who can give you support? Check one and explain who can help you and
why.

a. I have a strong support network to help me. X

b. I don’t have people to help me through changes I will have to make. ____

I feel that I have an excellent emotional support network! My husband is my biggest cheerleader
and while he works in a completely different industry (bioinformatic/data science), he is there for me
100% of the way. He helps me keep growing as he knows that I hate to read but will always get the
audiobook for us. He helped me realize that the best way for me to absorb information is to cross-
stitch (something I love) while I listen. It has helped me learn so much just from reading alone.
I also feel that my manager genuinely cares for my wellbeing. This is true for my team, too. I
am very grateful for an environment that invests so much into me and wants the best for me. I am not
close with my parents at all and that relationship has grown more and more strained over the years. I
am happy to say that I have mostly cut that source of pain out of my life and have focused on the
wonderful ‘chosen family’ that I am so fortunate to have.

) If your challenge or opportunity means that you will need help getting the job done,
advancing your career, or getting emotional support, do you have people in your network
who can fulfill these functions? Check one and explain who can help you and why.

Yes X No ______

I think that I’ve done a great job networking so far in my career. I’ve been fortunate to secure
two of the three great jobs that I’ve had without needing to network, but I know that when a great job
comes along that I really want, being able to leverage my network will make a huge difference.
My manager at every company that I’ve worked has been amazing at providing fantastic
references for me. Besides this, I’ve connected more than one manager of mine to a struggling friend
to provide insights or interview advice where their area of expertise overlaps. I think that I am a
connector at my core and I have been very successful in using this skill to make relationships with
people that feel so much more than skin deep. When I move to a new job, I feel that I could pull
advice or request assistance from many of the folks that I have worked with before.

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 I’ve had multiple past connections also reach out to me about openings at their place of work. I
haven’t taken any of them up on it yet, but I do feel confident that if I were to lose my job, I could be
back in action very quickly.

) What is your approach to building relationships? How are you at initiating relationships?
In what settings are you most comfortable meeting people?

a. Joint or shared work, projects, and committees X

b. One-on-one appointments, with specific agendas X
c. Informal “no agenda” social settings X
d. Going for coffee, lunch, or drinks X
e. Leisure activities such as golf, tennis, or theater X
f. Other ______

I think that there are different styles that should be matched to the right archetypes of people. If I
am meeting with a former manager where the relationship was very professional, I would opt for a
meeting with a specific agenda that I would be very conscious of keeping to.
However, for most of my connections, I like to keep things very casual because I want it to feel
like a friendship more than a connection that I’m trying to gain something from. I love meeting new
people and one of my favorite ways to let people know that I see them and recognize them is to ask
them what their middle name and birthday is. It’s amazing how far this can go, especially when you
recite it to them way later on. It’s one of my ‘superpowers’ so I try to use it for good whenever I can!
I also use a similar approach with my new customers; my favorite icebreaker is to find out if
they’re a cake or a pie person – the conversation inevitably goes a bit off the rails but we can all start
out the conversation (and more importantly, the relationship) on a light and positive note.
I think that I am the kind of person that tries to make friends first. I am the person that is always
scheduling lunch dates with coworkers either 1:1 or in a group so that I can get to know them better.
I think that I am very good at coming of as sincere (and I like to think it’s because I really am!) and
helping people feel that they can see me as more than just a connection on their LinkedIn page.

) What is your preferred style?

a. Occasional phone calls or e-mails just to ask “how are you?” X

b. Phone calls, e-mails, or visits with specific requests or questions ______
c. Holiday cards and letters ______
d. Dropping in or calling when you’re in the neighborhood X
e. Arranging in advance to get together at professional meetings X
f. Relying on the chance that your paths will cross ______
g. Inviting people to join you for lunch, coffee, golf, and so on X

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 h. Contacting people when you find some information, an article, or an opportunity that might
interest them X
i. Other ______

I am not the best at checking in with former coworkers after we stop working together on a
regular basis, but when I do, I love to jump on a quick call or schedule a casual meet-up where we can
catch up. Many of my connections are also social media friends (not just on LinkedIn, either) so we’ll
share memes that remind us of either each other or our time together.

I think that I do many of these, but I do try to be intentional when I reach out to people. Where I
might need a favor in the exchange, I will typically give them a heads up about what the topic is and then
go into more detail once we’re face-to-face (or talking over the phone live).

) Now turn your attention to the “Action Planning” part of the exercise (top of page 82).
Respond to the following questions:

a. What are your goals in developing a professional network? Be specific.

While I feel I am already adept that this, I think there are still opportunities to grow. I am a bit of
a lurker on LinkedIn as I often monitor Customer Success groups. I have yet to participate but I feel there
is an abundance of possibilities that I could be taking advantage of if I were to actually jump in with
everyone else. I have so many amazing Customer Success leaders in my connections that all frequent
meet-up groups and it would be amazing if they actually knew my name.

I want to start attending ‘Gain, Grow, Retain’ office hours as well as plan to use my development
stipend to attend a CS conference, such as Gainsight Pulse or Dreamforce so I can meet these
professionals (that always go) and others in my industry. I think it could be even better if I could also
arrange for all my teammates to attend with me. The lectures have always been amazing so even if I
don’t necessarily get to achieve my networking goals, I will gain so much valuable information to help
me do my job better.

b. How will a well-developed network of contacts help you achieve your career goals?

There are many advantages to be had with a great network of contacts. I had a job interview that
I was very afraid for, and I was able to reach out to a CS contact of mine to help me build my deck and
also provide feedback on my presentation. A great network can also get your name moved to the top of
the stack of applicants because if someone they already hired recommends you, that seems like a very
safe bet.

c. What are some of the characteristics of the people you are looking to include in your network?

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 Professionals in the start-up/software/technology space is the description that comes most top of
mind. I would be even happier if they were Portland or Seattle based so that I had the opportunity to
meet and speak with them face-to-face a bit easier. I would like to meet others that are at least adjacent in
their career development but ideally a few steps ahead (CS Manager, Director, or Vice President).

d. Where might you come in contact with these people? How will you grow your network / initiate
contact with new potential networking contacts?

I plan to do this by a) attending well-known conferences, b) attending office hours for CS meet-
up groups, c) being more active on LinkedIn and interacting with these professionals through their posted
content, or even d) possibly start posting my own LinkedIn content! The last one is fairly unlikely
because I’m a little nervous about it but it’s something I’ve thought about for a long time!

e. Who in your network are you looking to enhance your relationship with? How will you go about
enhancing these relationships?

I think that beyond the plan I’ve described above, there is a lot to take advantage of in networks
pointing the other direction. I’ve had some people reach out to me that are in the beginnings of a career
in CS or even just exploring how to work in CS. I have really enjoyed jumping on Zoom calls or
speaking in person to share my learnings and how I broke into CS. I have enjoyed reinforcing people’s
excitement and helping mitigate their doubts about how their existing experience will translate. I love to
help others, but I also think there are great opportunities in the future if a great job opening were to pop
up with one of these contacts.

f. How can you leverage your existing network? Might some of your existing networking contacts
know others who you should be in contact with?

I have been really lucky to work with Highrise as a career coaching network. Andrew, the
founder and one of my coaches, has helped connect me to other CS professionals. One thing that’s been
especially great about this program is that we have bi-weekly 90 minute sessions with other professionals
in similar periods of their career with similar goals. We share our experiences and our suggestions for
how to solve issues and even if the conversation isn’t necessarily relevant right now, it’s great to have
some solutions for when that situation might arise for me in the future.

I know that my network will continue to grow as more folks join Highrise, too!

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Section 3: SMART Career and Networkings
Using a SMART goals-based approach, as well as project planning and management skill best practices,
create a detailed project plan for at least two specific goals. At least one must be related to your Career
Plan, and the other related to your Networking Plan. Both of these goals need to be things that you are
passionate about accomplishing.
Your selected goals and SMART plan (see SMART goal information provided in the Unit) should be
structured based on a one to two-year timeline. It should include specific milestones, action items, sub-
tasks as well as task-related interdependencies as applicable. With respect to each goal, critically think
about what specifically are the things you will do in the next one to two years to achieve these goals.
Develop a clear and detailed SMART plan, with facilitating goals and steps/actions required to
accomplish your selected goals. It should be evident, by looking at the format and structure of your plan,
that you have developed some significant skills respect to project management. Include Gantt charts or
other visual project representations as you see fit, and be sure to address your approach to
tracking/measuring your progress.

1) What is your Career Goal?

My goal is to become the Manager of the entire CS Department by Q3/Q4 2023.

a. Specific: I want to become the Manager of the entire CS Department which encompasses Support
and Customer Success Managers. Potentially, this will also encompass our Activation Managers
(pending breaking this role out into something separate). The Manager of CS sits above the
Manager of the Customer Success Managers and below the Director of CS. I want to do this at
my current place of work.

b. Measurable: I am fortunate to have a great manager that has been working closely with me to
make sure my skills are up to par. I have quarterly check-ins with her and goals that we set
together. I also have metrics that my performance is gauged by. I will need to consistently
complete assigned projects and perform at expected performance levels, or ideally, above. I have
identified three areas of improvement that I need to work on to be prepared for this role and I will
be checking in with her each time to make sure I have made meaningful progress in these areas.

c. Attainable: This is possible because I have already made it clear with my manager that this is the
direction, I want to grow my career. Not only has she acknowledged this but she works directly
with me to make sure I am prepared to do it. She has said she believes that I am the right person
for this role and has also helped me expand my network within the company.

d. Relevant: I love my job in Customer Success and I think I’m very good at the craft. I want to
move into a role more oriented toward people management and empowering my team to be better
at their own CS roles.

e. Time-Based: I want to be at least in the Manager of CSMs role by Q4 2022 and if I am not
making meaningful progress, then I will have 1-year of people management experience and be
able to potentially pivot to another organization where I can take over a similar role. With 3-
years of CSM experience and 1-year of people management experience, I think I will be able to
easily make an adjacent move to make sure that I move into this role within that time frame. I

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 understand that I will need to be in the Manager of CSMS role for some time – possibly 1-year
before I am considered for the overall department Manager so I have set that for Q4 2023.

2) What is your Networking Goal?

I want to make relationships with all the executive team members that work directly with the CS team
in anticipation of a promotion by Q4 2022 to Manager of Customer Success Managers.

a. Specific: I want to meet and directly interact with (on a cross-functional project, most
likely) on each team that is directly connected to the CS team. This includes Marketing,
Sales, and Product. At the end of the year, I want to present the CS team progress to the
Senior Leadership team ahead of my expected promotion.

b. Measurable: I will measure product completion on each quarterly check-in. I want to

not only understand how I did from my manager but have retrospectives for each project
completion. During this time, I want to spend time with the teammates themselves as
well as make a meaningful relationship with the respective executive team member.

c. Attainable: This is attainable as I am already executing on cross-functional projects and

already have somewhat of a relationship with many members of each of these teams. I
want to leverage the progress that is made in this time to reinforce that I am the right
person to grow into management. This can be backed by the senior leadership team
members that I have been working with along the way.

d. Relevant: Customer Success is the perfect industry for me and I want to be able to grow
within it. Having relationships across the organization will help me do that. I also am
regularly executing on these projects already.

e. Time-Based: Ahead of my timeline to be promoted in Q4 2021, I have a goal of making

this happen within 1-year. If not, I can use this experience to move to an adjacent
company within my network.

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