Planning your next promotion? Just started a new job? Looking for a career pivot? If you answered yes to any of these questions, it’s time to start TRACKING YOUR IMPACT at work. Navigating your way to a promotion in the corporate world can be tricky, but it doesn’t have to be impossible.
I get asked often – How did you get promoted to director at 26? How do you handle a performance review? What do you say to make yourself stand out in an interview? The strategy behind planning all your next career moves starts with impact tracking.
Impact Tracking > Task Tracking
Tracking your impact goes a long way the earlier you start doing it. It will save you so much time when you’re ready to update your resume for the next job search or review your annual performance metrics with your manager. Future you will thank you for this!
Impact tracking is not to be confused with task tracking. I’m sure you’ve heard people share that you should write down all of your tasks at work. It makes perfect sense to stay organized and keep track of what you’re spending your time on for 40 hours every week. For example, task tracking might look like the following:
- Completed 40 hard tasks in Jira sprints to make product features according to deadlines
- Finished 10 blog posts and shared the links via X (aka Twitter) to our followers
- Created a report to track inventory shortages for airplane parts
- Shared project timeline updates with stakeholders and led meetings for reviews
- Organized event details, including the hotel space, catering, and gift bags for tech companies
If your list or even your resume looks a little something like the list above, don’t feel bad! This is not a bad place to get started. The goal is to communicate your message in stronger way; this way other people can start to understand how much work you’re doing and how important that work is to your organization. Impact tracking takes it one step further. As the TikTok sound goes, *we can do that better!!*
Task Tracking is a good place to start, but *we can do that better!*
Beyond sharing within your company, impact tracking allows you to translate your work outside of your company. You may be on the top project on your team – but how are you going to explain that to people outside of your team? Sharing tasks limits your success story by downplaying your impact into a checklist.
By focusing more on the impact your work has on others, you’re allowing people to understand the skills you shine at to make the deliverables come to life. Not just anyone could pick up one day and do everything you’ve learned to do!
How to convert your Resume to track your Impact
Let’s give you the credit you deserve. The above list started with action verbs – which is a step in the right direction. Use that strategy but set your impact tracker bullets up in the following format:
Verb [insert outcome that helped your organization] by [insert task you did] to [insert result + numbers]
Here’s what using this in real life would like on the task list above:
- Taks Tracking: Completed 40 hard tasks in Jira sprints to make product features according to deadlines
- Impact Tracking: Enhanced the customer shopping experience by developing complex online product features to increase sales by 40%
As an outsider taking a first glance at these two bullets, you can see how impact tracking illustrates the depth of this person’s expertise and the importance of their contributions. This is a small tweak that makes a big difference! Developing your professional branding strategy will go a long way in translating your strengths and skills into a story to land your next promotion. Career planning can make reaching your goals easier.
Plan your Promotion – your Work Impact Tracker
Insert the average salary for your industry/job type and fill in your role on your projects – the tracker will randomly generate a resume verb to accompany your role and calculate the cost savings/revenue generated you generated for your company. All you need to do is fill it in and stay organized!
Track your Impact & Plan your Promotion
Looking for a tool that can help you calculate your impact and track your wins? My Impact Tracker will help you answer the following questions:
- How can I add more numbers to my resume?
- How can I turn the work I did into dollars or percentages to share my impact?
- Are there any more examples on how to move from task tracking to impact tracking?
- Where can I organize my work wins in one place for my performance review or next promotion?
- Is there a way to categorize my tasks by skill set to track my career growth?
Use it for your performance review, your next job interview, or even your elevator pitch in your next 1:1 with your manager. Tracking your impact and sharing your story can help you take your career to the next level.
