Charting a Course for Career Development.

• Author: McCaffrey, Rachel A.
• Position: NDIA Prespective

* As a young second lieutenant supporting an aircrew for the first time, I offered to "get the maps" for a pre-mission briefing.

One of the B-1 defensive system operators told me they didn't use maps, they used charts because charts included navigation information. The differentiation between charts and maps stuck with me. It's nice to have a map, a two-dimensional picture of a geographic area. But if you want to get from point A to point B, you usually need additional information to help you navigate efficiently and successfully.

I was recently reminded of the difference between maps and charts when discussing career goals with some young professional women. As executive director for Women In Defense, I was interested in whether they thought they could one day become CEO for their respective organizations. They answered honestly, saying they hadn't given it much thought.

I then asked, if you did want to be CEO of your organization, how would you get there? Now they hadn't given much thought to navigating from their current position to CEO because they hadn't given much thought to targeting the top position. But the lack of awareness of what it would take to achieve a high degree of professional success in their current organizations led me to wonder whether that is the norm in a civilian workspace. And it made me start to think about actions WID can take to help provide women with information to help them successfully navigate to their career goals.

As an Air Force officer, I wanted to lead airmen but such leadership opportunities required promotion. The Air Force provides maps, including rank structures, functional career guides, reading lists and professional military education opportunities. However, I also had navigational information. Like most officers, I received at least rudimentary mentoring at every rank during mandatory feedback sessions with my supervisor because the Air Force feedback worksheet directs supervisors to discuss "next and future assignments."

At certain ranks I found active, well-informed, engaged mentors. They advised me solid job performance is heavily weighted--and thus necessary--but insufficient to earn promotion. Raters and senior raters also want to see initiative, innovation and leadership beyond an officer's primary position.

So, in addition to solid job performance and completing education requirements, ambitious officers need to volunteer for "the tough jobs" including exercises, deployments, schools...