How to Design a Career Plan to Reach Senior Management

Reaching a senior management position usually requires more than simply accumulating years of experience. Technological change, evolving business models and the emergence of new skills are reshaping the profiles companies are looking for. The Future of Jobs Report 2025 by the World Economic Forum estimates that 39% of workers’ current skills will be transformed or become outdated between 2025 and 2030.

Against this backdrop, a professional career plan helps turn an aspiration, such as reaching senior management, into measurable goals, timelines and actions. The starting point is to understand where you are now, define where you want to be in three or five years, and determine what you need to change in order to bridge that gap.

What Is a Professional Career Plan and What Is It For?

A professional career plan is a roadmap that defines the position you want to reach, the timeframe for achieving it, and the skills, experience and actions required to get there. It helps turn a professional goal into a sequence of measurable and reviewable decisions.

The first step is to define a specific career destination. “I want to progress professionally” is too broad to guide decision-making. “I want to move into a financial management role within three years” or “I want to be ready to apply for a general management position within five years” provides a much clearer and more actionable objective.

It is also important to consider whether the desired position genuinely matches your expectations. A C-Suite role may involve responsibility for budgets, people, strategy, results and relationships with different stakeholders. The plan should therefore take into account not only the job title, but also the responsibilities you are willing to assume.

To define your objective more clearly, it can be useful to answer four questions:

• Where do I want to be?
• Within what timeframe?
• What am I currently missing?
• How will I demonstrate that I am ready?

Your objective should also reflect real opportunities in the job market. Exploring the highest-paying jobs and what to study to access them can help identify which profiles offer strong career prospects and what kind of preparation is usually required for certain positions.

A career plan does not need to remain unchanged for five years. Reviewing it regularly makes it possible to adapt it to changes in the industry, new responsibilities, internal opportunities or shifts in personal goals.

How to Identify Your Starting Point and Leadership Skill Gaps

Before deciding what training to pursue or which role to target, it is useful to carry out a professional audit. The aim is to compare your current profile with the requirements of the position you want to reach.

This assessment should go beyond your CV. A skills gap exists when there is a difference between the capabilities you already have and those required for your target role. There may also be gaps in experience, international exposure, budget management or leadership.

It is also important to consider whether your current career path is sustainable. Professional progression also depends on factors such as workload, level of autonomy, the quality of the working environment and your ability to maintain strong performance over the medium term. In this context, exploring workplace wellbeing can help identify the conditions that support more stable professional development while remaining compatible with increasing levels of responsibility.

A practical audit can be divided into five areas:

• Strategy and business: the ability to interpret the market, set priorities and connect operational decisions with business results.
• Finance: understanding budgets, investment, profitability, profit and loss statements and key financial indicators.
• Technology and data: the ability to interpret metrics and understand the impact of analytics, artificial intelligence and digital transformation on the business.
• Leadership: team management, communication, negotiation, delegation, conflict resolution and talent development.
• Cross-functional experience: participation in projects involving different departments, markets or business units.

A simple way to turn this analysis into action is to rate each competency from 1 to 5. Then compare your score with the level you believe is required for your target role. If, for example, you currently rate your financial capabilities as a 2 and believe a general management position would require a 4, that gap should become a priority within your plan.

It is advisable not to rely solely on self-assessment. You can ask for feedback from managers, colleagues, team members or former supervisors. When available, 360-degree assessments can help compare your own perception with that of people who are familiar with your performance.

You should also review your experience. A professional may have strong leadership skills while still facing a significant gap because they have never managed a large budget, led international teams or taken part in decisions with a direct impact on the profit and loss account.

The outcome should be a short list. Prioritise between three and five gaps that genuinely affect your ability to make your next career move. Trying to develop every competency at the same time usually spreads your efforts too thin.

Steps to Design a 3- and 5-Year Career Plan

Once you have defined your starting point, the next step is to turn that assessment into a roadmap. A three-year plan can focus on reaching the next level of responsibility, while a five-year horizon allows you to work towards a transition into senior management positions.

You can structure it in the following stages:

• Year 1, close priority gaps: identify the skills you need to develop first and define specific actions. These may include training, involvement in new projects, financial education or the development of digital capabilities.
• Years 2 and 3, expand your responsibilities: look for opportunities to lead cross-functional projects, manage larger budgets, coordinate broader teams or take part in strategic initiatives.
• Years 4 and 5, position yourself for senior management: develop a broader understanding of the business, increase your exposure to executive committees, strengthen your responsibility for results and build your professional network.

Each stage should include measurable indicators. Instead of writing “improve my leadership”, you could set a goal such as “lead a multidisciplinary team before the end of the second year”. Rather than “learn finance”, you could aim to “take part in the preparation and monitoring of an annual budget”.

Measurable objectives make it possible to assess whether the plan is working. Useful indicators may include the number of people managed, the size of the budget under your responsibility, strategic projects led, new markets managed, skills acquired or promotions achieved.

It is also advisable to schedule regular reviews. Every six months, ask yourself:

• Which objectives have I achieved?
• Which gaps have I reduced?
• What results can I demonstrate?
• Has the role I want to reach changed?
• Which action should I prioritise over the next six months?

This review process prevents the plan from becoming a document that is written once and then forgotten. An effective career plan should evolve alongside your professional development.

The Role of Executive Education in Accelerating Your Career

Executive education is most valuable when it addresses a previously identified development gap. Enrolling in a programme simply because it “might help you progress” is too broad a criterion. It is more effective to link the decision directly to a specific professional objective.

For example, a marketing manager aiming for a general management position may need to strengthen their knowledge of finance and strategy. A finance professional looking to take on global responsibilities may need to develop skills in leadership, marketing or digital transformation. Training should be chosen after identifying the gap between your current profile and the profile required for your target role.

The Future of Jobs Report 2025 indicates that 85% of surveyed employers expect to prioritise the upskilling of their workforce. Meanwhile, GMAC’s Corporate Recruiters Survey 2025 identifies skills such as problem-solving and strategic thinking as particularly valued among business education graduates.

The choice of programme will depend on the gap identified. Master’s Programmes provide the opportunity to specialise in specific areas such as finance, marketing, human resources, operations, technology or analytics. For professionals who need to strengthen a functional skill before taking on broader responsibilities, this type of specialisation can form part of a specific stage in their career plan.

Executive education can also provide three valuable elements for progressing towards positions with greater responsibility:

• Practical, applicable knowledge
• A cross-functional perspective
• Exposure to different professional experiences

The key is to integrate education into your broader career plan. The programme you choose should contribute to achieving a defined objective, rather than becoming an objective in itself.