21 Jul 5-Step Career Framework
Maria Kauffman, Senior Automation Engineer at Carlisle Construction Materials and women’s leadership expert, joins Megan Cummings-Krueger to discuss resilience, focus, and career advancement. Maria shares her unique 5-step career framework for setting and achieving unstoppable goals. Her approach to leadership, personal branding, and mentoring offers transformative opportunities for women aiming to create positive change in their careers and lives.
The Power of Focus and Resilience
Maria emphasizes that resilience is not just a trait but a skill that can be learned and honed over time. For women, particularly those striving for career advancement, it’s crucial to focus on what matters most and build the resilience to navigate challenges. Maria’s five-step framework, which combines her engineering and coaching backgrounds, provides a clear path for personal and professional growth.
Maria’s Five-Step Framework for Unstoppable Goals
Maria’s framework is designed to help individuals create, pursue, and sustain goals that lead to both personal fulfillment and professional success. Here’s an overview:
- Dream – Set “unstoppable goals.” These are boundless, life-defining ambitions that inspire you to push beyond limits.
- Discover – Reflect on who you are and what makes you capable of achieving your dreams.
- Explore – Take action and live your life, facing challenges with resilience.
- Advance – Turn your SMART goals into SMARTER goals by evaluating and redoing as necessary.
- Sustain – Maintain your momentum by journaling daily achievements and fostering self-promotion over self-deprecation.
Unstoppable Goals and Personal Fulfillment
Maria stresses that the journey towards success isn’t just about setting career goals; it’s about holistic life goals that bring joy and fulfillment. She encourages clients to aim for three to five unstoppable goals, allowing them to create a “rich life.” One of her examples is deepening relationships, such as with her daughter, which is a lifelong goal that transcends career ambitions.
Career Advancement for Women
In discussing her personal journey, Maria highlights the challenges she faced as a woman in STEM. She notes that despite being the only woman in many rooms throughout her engineering career, she thrived by staying grounded in her expertise. However, she was also disheartened by the loss of women in STEM over time. This realization inspired her to focus on leadership coaching, helping other women overcome similar obstacles.
Maria’s work is particularly relevant in today’s fast-paced, often chaotic world. Her coaching and mentoring focus on helping women create a strong personal brand and navigate their careers with clarity and purpose.
Practical Tips for Personal Growth
- Set Unstoppable Goals: Maria challenges everyone to create goals that are not just about career success but about living a meaningful life.
- Evaluate Daily: Take three minutes at the end of each day to journal your accomplishments. This helps build self-promotion and track progress.
- SMARTER Goals: Evolve your SMART goals by adding an “ER”—evaluate and redo—so that continuous improvement becomes part of your daily routine.
- Focus on Empowerment: In tough situations, ask empowering questions like, “How can I help?” to shift from blame to constructive action.
The Importance of Mentoring
Maria is passionate about mentoring and believes that it plays a pivotal role in career advancement and personal growth. She reflects on how mentoring relationships have shaped her career. Now, she helps others through her coaching and podcast, The Everyday Heroine. She emphasizes the need for women to seek mentorship early in their careers, a resource she wishes she had had. Mentoring relationships provide the support and guidance needed to navigate the complexities of life and work.
Conclusion
Maria Kaufman’s 5-step career framework offers a powerful roadmap for achieving both professional and personal success. Her approach to unstoppable goals and resilience is practical and inspiring, giving women the tools to focus on what truly matters. By fostering self-awareness and mentorship, Maria helps women lead with confidence, advance in their careers, and sustain success over the long term.
About Maria Kauffman
Maria has a background in electrical engineering and over 30 years of experience in automation and manufacturing, She is also a certified life coach, dedicated to helping women set and achieve “Unstoppable Goals.” Maria supports the Women of Carlisle ERG, fostering a community where women can thrive and lead. She hosts The Everyday Heroine podcast, where she highlights the stories of women in STEM, celebrating their challenges and achievements. Maria Kauffman combines her technical expertise with a passion for advancing women in STEM.