As a natural part of my empowerment consulting practice, I often find myself in discussions with my clients about their jobs and careers. Sometimes we talk about new jobs or job opportunities; sometimes we talk about promotions; sometimes we talk about careers over the long-term.

These are all very different types of conversations. Most of my clients who are in corporations are mid-level to senior-level managers, who are competent and have already proven their value to the company. I also work with clients who are outside the corporate structure or are consultants to corporations, with whom career development conversations are different.

It is common for people to want to have a career development plan. Many think that those successful individuals who have preceded them in the corporation had a plan to get where they got. Some did, but quite honestly, it is easier for them to claim that they had a plan with the benefit of hindsight and success than to produce the plan they wrote years before.

There is a whole field of professionals who offer career development resources and consulting. I think their services can be extremely valuable, especially when moving from one company to another. I am more familiar with helping people to advance and develop careers within the same company, as an integral part of my consultations. And so, that is my focus in this article.

In these client conversations about career development within the same company, I usually fairly quickly replace the concept of a "career development plan" with a "career networking plan" or a "career development networking plan."

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