What are the 7 keys to building a successful career path?

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Do you want to be successful in your career? Most people will answer "yes" to this question, but few people actually take the time to consider what they need to do to become successful. They don't even think about what they could be doing differently to actively improve their career.

Happily, success doesn't have to be an intangible thing or a roll of the dice. There are specific things that you can do on a daily basis to cultivate a more successful career. Here are my top seven tips for career success:

1. Be willing to work hard.

You may have heard the saying "action follows intention." This means that before you can even hope to find success in your given field, you need to be ready and willing to do what it takes to get there.

This might sound like a small thing, but just the willingness to work hard can have a powerful impact on your career.

In essence, you're putting yourself in the right mindset to succeed. When you're willing to work hard, you're more likely to proactively do the work necessary to set yourself apart from the pack. As leadership expert Robin Sharma said, "If you want to have the results only 5 percent have, you must be willing to do and think like only 5 percent do and think."

If you're not willing to do what it takes, then you really need to ask yourself if you're on the right path.

Related: Hard Work? It's Not All It's Cracked up to Be. It May Even Be Irrelevant. Here's Why.

2. Set goals.

Goals are incredibly important in helping you attain success. How so?

First off, goals help you define what success means to you. This will be different for everyone. For example, success to one person might mean a CEO position at a Fortune 500 company; for someone else, it might simply mean being able to pay off college loans and support a growing family without debt.

Second, by setting goals based on your definition of success, you instill yourself with a powerful source of motivation. By establishing bigger life goals, you can begin to break them down into more manageable and actionable goals. Simply put, goals help you create your own path.

Related: 6 Tips for Goal-Setting That, Trust Me, They Don't Teach You in College

3. Get a mentor.

Do not underestimate the power of mentorship. Some of the highest achievers in history, from businesspeople to artists to entrepreneurs, have sought out the guidance of a mentor. A mentor is further along in their career than you, and can offer insight, guidance, and advice that is worth its weight in gold.

They have gone through their own process of building a career similar to what you aspire to and can offer sage advice from a place of knowledge that can be particularly relevant to helping you grow. A mentor's guidance can deter you from taking dead ends in your career and help keep you on track to succeed. While simply having a mentor won't make or break you, it can absolutely help you attain success faster.

4. Surround yourself with successful people.

We are the sum of the people we spend time with. So if you're spending time with a crew of your college bros who sit around all day playing video games and eating pizza, do you really think you're setting yourself up for career success?

If you want to be successful, surround yourself with people who you aspire to be like. Go to networking events, request meetings, and get to know the movers and shakers in your industry and related fields. Not only will they inspire you to improve, but since business is so relationship based, these networking efforts can really open doors.

5. Set a routine.

Plenty of people complain about not having enough time to do all they need to do. Unfortunately, this is generally due to poor time management. While it may not match your ideal of the jet-setting entrepreneur lifestyle, the truth is that success rewards routine. Having a set routine for your day can be extremely helpful in allowing you to complete tasks and pursue high level achievements.

For instance, one common routine of successful people is to wake up early so that they can meditate, answer emails, or work out--basically, so that they can have some quiet time in the beginning of the day so that they can focus on work when it's time to get going.

What works for you as a routine may depend on various factors such as the industry you work in and other time constraints. But setting a schedule and sticking to it as well as you can generally helps make you more efficient at completing tasks, which can help you succeed in the long term.

Related: Sleep In and Make Millions: Why You Don't Need to Wake Up at 5 A.M.

6. Have regular check-ins with yourself.

In the workplace, you have yearly reviews. Yet individuals rarely perform such check-in with themselves.

Every now and again -- it might be monthly, weekly, or even daily--have a little status report with yourself. Think about things like how you're doing on working toward your goals, and considering whether you need to adjust your goals so that they continue to inspire and motivate you.

Consider what you could be doing differently or the areas where you could use some improvement. By taking the time to be present with yourself like this, you'll develop a better sense of self awareness and direction in your career.

7. Always keep improving.

Never, ever settle for just good enough. If you want to be successful in your career, you have to commit to self improvement.

No, this doesn't mean you have to be constantly self critical. While it's important to be kind to yourself, you also have to be able to admit where you could use a little work, and to be willing to take the action needed to strengthen your weaknesses.

Related: Getting Stronger Is All About Strengthening Your Weaknesses

By continuing to learn and grow, not only will you be a more well rounded employee or entrepreneur, but you'll also remain more mentally flexible and be better able to deal with changes and advances as they come. Since the only real constant is change, this is a valuable practice!

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Create a career path program and improve retention dramatically.

Career paths are essential to employee engagement. And every business owner knows that employee engagement improves retention.

Therefore, career paths are the key to business growth.

What is a Career Path?

A career path is an advancement roadmap with short- and long-term benchmarks. It maps the route an employee takes from a lower-level position through successive roles to arrive at their ultimate goal.

Each employee’s plan will be somewhat unique, but it will be achievable in your organization.

Why Should Our Company Create Career Paths?

Career paths help you:

• Retain your best employees
• Give employees a sense of purpose
• Attract top achievers
• Increase the cumulative ability, experience, and diversity in your workforce
• Create an employee-centric culture
• Compete with other employers in your market

How Do You Create Career Paths?

1. Update Your Organizational Chart

First, if you don’t have an org chart, create one. If you have one, make sure it’s up to date.

An organizational chart is a diagram that shows how your company is structured. It’s a graphical representation of the hierarchy and relationships.

Your company may have a traditional structure, flat structure, or something in between.

Secondly, align your org chart with your business plan. Are you adding products and services? Are you expanding into additional markets? You may need to add positions/teams/departments you don’t currently have.

2. Define Job Positions

Now that you have an org chart, starting with each job description, list the key responsibilities. Then, add the education requirements, certifications and hard/soft skills.

Be thorough and detailed. Look at the recent projects completed to make sure you haven’t missed any competencies. In addition, include the KPIs for each position. How do you measure success? Consider the high achievers in each role. For example, what qualities make them effective?

This exercise is also called job profiling and may identify if a job description fits into a career cluster. Career clusters are also called job families and are a grouping of jobs that have similar characteristics or common features.

3. Track a Roadmap For Each Skills Track

When you’ve defined your job positions, now it’s time to look at the bigger picture. Create the roadmap(s) or professional paths for each department, team, or business function. How does an entry-level employee advance through roles? What horizontal moves are necessary? How can you accommodate different personality types?

For example, in an HR job family, HR assistant might be an entry-level position. In the progression of jobs, an employee may serve as a benefits specialist, recruiter, and assistant director of Human Resources before becoming a CHRO.

Keep in mind that there won’t be one path that connects each role to an advanced role. If you don’t have highly specialized job roles, you will potentially have many more career paths. This can be a great strength and help each employee find the specific career that’s right for them. Many will include one or more lateral moves.

4. Identify Training Needs

The next step is to assess whether you can bring employees along the path. Start with documenting the in-house and outsourced training programs in place.

Can your employees advance up the ladder with what you have?

• Is mentorship with peers or leaders an important part of your culture?
• Review exit interviews. Why do employees quit your company?
• Survey your staff. What type of training do they want?
• Which departments recruit internally? Which departments hire outside?

5. Create Training and Development Programs

Clearly, if you haven’t invested heavily in training, this part will require the most time and resources.

This is the actionable part of your Career Path Program. Identify needs and create a timeline for implementation.

Of course, you may have to disrupt the status quo. But that’s the whole point!

Incorporate your vertical growth programs with your business plan. Once that’s done, you can build it into your budget.

If you are successful, you will create what Gallup calls a ‘coaching culture.’ This is what sets great companies apart.

6. Document Your Career Path Program

Let’s review. At this point, you should have the following:

1. Organization Chart
2. Job Role Profiles
3. Mentors
4. Career Paths/Roadmaps
5. Training Schedules

7. Map Each Employee’s Career Path

Now you can put your Career Paths Program to work. For new hires, you will do this during onboarding. And with existing employees, their managers will do this during performance reviews.

During the career mapping meeting, managers should discuss the employee’s short- and long- goals and expectations. That means you’ll need to train your managers if they aren’t already doing this. Managers will assess their performance and discuss the sequence of jobs going forward. Make sure your managers schedule ongoing training. Include the career map in the employee’s files.

Career Paths Are Dynamic

Career goals can be fluid and rarely follow a straight line. Hopefully, professionals discover new interests and aptitudes.

Also consider your company’s roadmap. You may diversify or pivot. Stay flexible so your Career Path Program can evolve. In addition, review it frequently and update as necessary.

Incorporate Your Program

How do you make your Career Path Program part of your company culture? It’s starts with recruiting and continues throughout the employment life cycle.

How a Career Path Program Shapes Recruiting

The career roadmap is now intrinsic to each job description.

Discuss your Career Path Program in job interviews. It should be front and center, not an afterthought.

New hires in mid-career positions (such as management) will have traveled part of the path with former employers. This improves how hiring managers evaluate job applicants. It will help your recruiting team craft better job postings.

How a Career Path Program Shapes Onboarding and Training

During onboarding. show examples of career paths for the position. If your business is large enough to have a dedicated career counselor, that person should spend some time with each new hire in the first week or two. Make sure each new hire knows the possible roadmaps for their position. They will begin employment knowing you will invest in their career progression. Imagine how this can instill confidence from the outset!

How a Career Path Program Shapes Performance Reviews

Align career path benchmarks with performance review benchmarks. If your performance reviews have been unstructured, now’s the perfect time to formalize them. Your career roadmaps will guide you. (They are maps, after all.)

An HRMS Streamlines Career Path Programs

The best way to create and manage a career path program is with a Human Resource Management System (HRMS). An all-inclusive software solution helps you manage career paths throughout the employee lifecycle.