NeXtGen: Personalizing Your Pathway to Executive Leadership

1. REFLECT on Me

Aspirations	What are my aspirations? Based on where I am currently, what am I developing “to?” What I am developing to may not yet be a “destination” but rather an “pathway” to a new experience, learning or relationship, to reach my aspiration.
	Current ___ Onboarding (new to role) ___ Sharpening expertise ___ Continuous growth	Next Role ___ Broading expertise ___ Future growth	Unsure ___ Areas of interest ___ Capabilities to explore
Experiences	What unique experiences . . . have I acquired throughout my career (e.g., values-based leadership, strategic thinking, influence, global capabilities)? do I possess that are unrelated to my current role that could create next opportunities (e.g., Workplace Benefits leader with Finance experience)?
Strengths	What are my 3 - 5 signature strengths? How am I currently leveraging these strengths? Which strengths can prepare me for my next role?
Opportunities	What are my 3 - 5 growth opportunities? How do growth opportunities align with my career aspirations? Which signature strengths could be further developed or expanded?

2. PLAN My Strategy

Based on aspirations, interests, and needs, consider a blended approach of developmental experiences and opportunities.

What 3 to 5 strategies will I implement? What new actions would I like to consider?

KEY
1	Assimilation	Ensure alignment of expectations with me and my team. Often conducted in partnership with an HR Business Partner.
2	Assessment & Feedback	Formal 360-feedback assessment to gain insights into personal leadership strengths and opportunities; often conducted in partnership with an HR Business Partner in which an action plan is developed and executed. Participation in other company-sponsored feedback tools (e.g., Hogan, DiSC, MBTI). Assessments are often conducted with external coaching engagements.
3	Broader Exposure	Role/visibility at key enterprise events (e.g., town halls, all employee meetings, forums). Engagement with company CEO, senior leaders, and/or Board of Directors.
4	Coaching and Mentoring	Coaching from my leader, peers, and other stakeholders. External coaching engagement (conducted in partnership with an HR Business Partner).
5	Conferences	Attend external industry or other related conferences to build capabilities, gain insights into trends and best practices, and network.
6	Customer Expectations	Formal meetings (in person or virtual) to gain views into customer experiences and needs related to products, service, technology, and key partnerships.
7	Enterprise Leadership	Provide leadership for an enterprise group, initiative, or program. Examples include: Employee Resource Group sponsor Well-Being or Career Development Champion Company 90-day challenge sponsor High Potential Leader program spokesperson
8	External Advisor/s	Development partnership with a senior or retired leader “who has been there” (depending upon development needs, an advisor could be internal or external to the industry). These relationships are helpful for executives leading large scale transformation efforts to gain insights into best practices, experiences, successes, and leadership lessons.
9	External Exposure	Give back to the industry by serving on: External Boards of Directors or industry affiliations Local initiatives within the company footprint (e.g., NYC Advisory Board Economic Development) Industry committees, councils, or advisory roles (e.g., Workplace Benefits Advisory Board) Local hometown Board of Director role (e.g., Lincoln Hospital Board)
10	Formal Education	Build knowledge and expertise Degree programs (e.g., MBA) Certificate and designation programs (e.g., FLMI); licenses Executive development programming
11	Immersions or Job Shadowing	Leveraged by executives to understand roles, process, or pain points. Examples include: Observing claims processing via multiple legacy systems and related customer impacts. Shadowing call center employees during busy season when customer expectations are high. Selling a product or service to a prospective customer. Listen to customer calls related to service or product issues. Shadowing various functional hand-offs related to a process that may not be working.
12	Industry/Other Education	Research, online publications, webinars, podcasts, LinkedIn; study groups LIMRA and LOMA programming Company-sponsored learning opportunities
13	Listening Tours	Leveraged by executives new to a company or business area to gain insights from employees, customers, or other stakeholders (e.g., what is going well; what could be better; or to understand the impacts of business processes, etc.). Established leaders often conduct internal “skip or deeper level” meetings to gain Exposure to specific employee populations related to engagement, retention, and customer experience.
14	Networking	Making connections and building relationships within the organization and key partners.
15	Personal Board of Directors	Group of 15-20 individuals or “trusted advisors” leveraged to gain insights to inform decision-making and/or to test ideas; examples include: Cross-functional group of employees to consider customer impacts prior to product launch. Team of mid-level leaders and HR partners to test re-skilling proposal due to AI initiatives. CEO leveraging employees to validate learning regarding employee engagement.
16	Special Assignment	Assignments to build capabilities and experiences. Rotational assignment (e.g., rotate through 3 functional job assignments in 24-months) Expat assignment (e.g., global assignment) Action learning assignment (e.g., “establishing self as a leader” within a new functional area; assessing the impacts of AI on customer experience)
17	Special Project	Engagement in a key initiative (e.g., enterprise, global, functional, or cross-functional).
18	Sponsorship	Personal sponsorship (“advocacy”) by a leader 1-2 level higher in the company (not my leader) who can share insights, leadership lessons and challenge thinking.
19	Volunteerism	Participation in company-sponsored days of service or local community volunteer work.
20	Walk-Abouts (Live and Virtual)	“Purposeful” engagement with others. Examples include: Prior to traveling to company locations, identify key talent to meet; hold “Coffee Chats.” At company locations, walk through business areas; chat with employees; be visible. Schedule virtual “surfing time” on a Friday to connect individually with 3-5 people to meet. Schedule “walk and talks” with others to gain views on various things.

3.BUILD My Personalized Pathway

Identify 3-5 key actions for my personalized pathway. Actions should include how success will be measured, timing and partners who can provide support and guidance.

Action(s)	Success Measure(s)	Timing	Partners	Key Partners to Engage
Experiential Learning				My Leader HR Business Partner Mentor(s) + Sponsor(s) – Next level up and peers External coach or advisor(s)
Ex: “Experience” Customer pain points	Top 3 service issues identified as input into Phase 2 of Customer Transformation Project	5 calls per month (July-Dec 2024 )	Me; Rita Jones, VP, Customer Response Unit
Exposure Opportunities
Ex: Gain Board exposure/feedback	Customer Transformation strategy shared with Board; feedback for 2025 roadmap	Dec 2024 Board; roadmap June 2025	Me; Rick James; EVP, Workplace Benefits
Education
Ex: Complete Transformational Leadership program	Program completion Integration of learnings into Consumer Transformation project	Sept. 2023-Mar 2025 (program); roadmap June 2025	1x1 updates with Leader + HR Partner (Sept 2023-24 + 6 months post-program)

4. Assess My Progress

Aligned with internal performance discussions, reflect on my personalized pathway; celebrate progress, adjust, and define new actions.

The following data sources can be leveraged when assessing my progress.

Assessment Data (e.g., 360)	After Action Reviews	Business Objectives
Employee Engagement Results	Feedback	Key Performance Indicators
Performance Review	Post-Mortem Reviews	Trending Data

1. REFLECT on Me

What are my aspirations? Based on where I am currently, what am I developing “to?”

What I am developing to may not yet be a “destination” but rather an “pathway” to a new experience, learning or relationship, to reach my aspiration.

Current___ Onboarding(new to role)___ Sharpening expertise___ Continuous growth

Next Role___ Broading expertise___ Future growth

Unsure___ Areas of interest___ Capabilities to explore

What unique experiences . . .

have I acquired throughout my career (e.g., values-based leadership, strategic thinking, influence, global capabilities)?

do I possess that are unrelated to my current role that could create next opportunities (e.g., Workplace Benefits leader with Finance experience)?

What are my 3 - 5 signature strengths?

How am I currently leveraging these strengths?

Which strengths can prepare me for my next role?

What are my 3 - 5 growth opportunities?

How do growth opportunities align with my career aspirations?

Which signature strengths could be further developed or expanded?

2. PLAN My Strategy

KEY

Ensure alignment of expectations with me and my team.

Often conducted in partnership with an HR Business Partner.

Formal 360-feedback assessment to gain insights into personal leadership strengths and opportunities; often conducted in partnership with an HR Business Partner in which an action plan is developed and executed.

Participation in other company-sponsored feedback tools (e.g., Hogan, DiSC, MBTI).

Assessments are often conducted with external coaching engagements.

Broader Exposure

Role/visibility at key enterprise events (e.g., town halls, all employee meetings, forums).

Engagement with company CEO, senior leaders, and/or Board of Directors.

Coaching from my leader, peers, and other stakeholders.

External coaching engagement (conducted in partnership with an HR Business Partner).

Attend external industry or other related conferences to build capabilities, gain insights into trends and best practices, and network.

Formal meetings (in person or virtual) to gain views into customer experiences and needs related to products, service, technology, and key partnerships.

Provide leadership for an enterprise group, initiative, or program. Examples include:

Employee Resource Group sponsor

Well-Being or Career Development Champion

Company 90-day challenge sponsor

High Potential Leader program spokesperson

Development partnership with a senior or retired leader “who has been there” (depending upon development needs, an advisor could be internal or external to the industry).

These relationships are helpful for executives leading large scale transformation efforts to gain insights into best practices, experiences, successes, and leadership lessons.

Give back to the industry by serving on:

External Boards of Directors or industry affiliations

Local initiatives within the company footprint (e.g., NYC Advisory Board Economic Development)

Industry committees, councils, or advisory roles (e.g., Workplace Benefits Advisory Board)

Local hometown Board of Director role (e.g., Lincoln Hospital Board)

Build knowledge and expertise

Degree programs (e.g., MBA)

Certificate and designation programs (e.g., FLMI); licenses

Executive development programming

Leveraged by executives to understand roles, process, or pain points. Examples include:

Observing claims processing via multiple legacy systems and related customer impacts.

Shadowing call center employees during busy season when customer expectations are high.

Selling a product or service to a prospective customer.

Listen to customer calls related to service or product issues.

Shadowing various functional hand-offs related to a process that may not be working.

Research, online publications, webinars, podcasts, LinkedIn; study groups

LIMRA and LOMA programming

Company-sponsored learning opportunities

Leveraged by executives new to a company or business area to gain insights from employees, customers, or other stakeholders (e.g., what is going well; what could be better; or to understand the impacts of business processes, etc.).

Established leaders often conduct internal “skip or deeper level” meetings to gain

Exposure to specific employee populations related to engagement, retention, and customer experience.

Making connections and building relationships within the organization and key partners.

Group of 15-20 individuals or “trusted advisors” leveraged to gain insights to inform decision-making and/or to test ideas; examples include:

Cross-functional group of employees to consider customer impacts prior to product launch.

Team of mid-level leaders and HR partners to test re-skilling proposal due to AI initiatives.

CEO leveraging employees to validate learning regarding employee engagement.

Assignments to build capabilities and experiences.

Rotational assignment (e.g., rotate through 3 functional job assignments in 24-months)

Expat assignment (e.g., global assignment)

Action learning assignment (e.g., “establishing self as a leader” within a new functional area; assessing the impacts of AI on customer experience)

Engagement in a key initiative (e.g., enterprise, global, functional, or cross-functional).

Personal sponsorship (“advocacy”) by a leader 1-2 level higher in the company (not my leader) who can share insights, leadership lessons and challenge thinking.

Participation in company-sponsored days of service or local community volunteer work.

“Purposeful” engagement with others. Examples include:

Prior to traveling to company locations, identify key talent to meet; hold “Coffee Chats.”

At company locations, walk through business areas; chat with employees; be visible.

Schedule virtual “surfing time” on a Friday to connect individually with 3-5 people to meet.

3.BUILD My Personalized Pathway

Key Partnersto Engage

My Leader

HR Business Partner

Mentor(s) + Sponsor(s) – Next level up and peers

External coach or advisor(s)

Ex: “Experience” Customer pain points

Current
_ Onboarding
(new to role)
_ Sharpening expertise
___ Continuous growth

Next Role
_ Broading expertise
_ Future growth

Unsure
_ Areas of interest
_ Capabilities to explore

Key Partners
to Engage