Posts Tagged ‘professional development’

Many people have a real desire to be successful in their career.  This might be because they crave security, really want to leave a legacy or just fulfil their potential.

When the economy is a little more challenging, it can seem like it is impossible to move forward in your career.  In reality you can move forward in your career whatever the external conditions.  Here’s how.

Focus on Professional and Personal Development

There are always new things to learn or new challenges to face.  Having a real focus on your continuing professional and personal development can really make a difference.  These days there are so many options open to you like low cost digital courses to full day or even full year programmes.

Seek Opportunities To Take On New Projects To Get Extra Experience

Every organisation needs people to lead or be part of organisational projects.  Some might be change related or related to a new acquisition or new service or product.  Often external consultants are brought in and while they can offer value, you can save money for the organisation while broadening your experience.

Get Strategic On Job Search

When you have fewer roles and more people chasing them you have to be selective and strategic.  There is no point wasting valuable time and energy on going for roles that you are highly unlikely to get.

Give Your CV/Resume A Makeover

Most CV’s/Resume’s were written a while ago.  Spend a few hours going through your personal marketing materials and make sure they are selling you and your achievements.

Network More

There is a saying that goes along the lines of it’s not what you know but who you know that matters.  A lot of people find out about a role through the grapevine or through their online and offline networks.  If you are not going along to professional association networking events or being active on LinkedIn Groups you are missing opportunities to build relationships.

The Bottom Line:  You cannot control external factors but you can control how you position yourself for success in your career.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps professionals achieve more career success.  Check out his free audio masterclass at http://www.goalsandachievements.co.uk/careers-main.html

Being a leader can be a really lonely existence.  Expectations are high and it can often be a real struggle to stay on top of your game and continually deliver great results.  Continuing to develop as a leader has never been so vital not least because of the major challenges facing many organisations right now.

For those at a more senior level working with a coach or mentor is often a great way of continuing to develop.  So what are the benefits?

Benefit 1: Thinking time

The pace at which leaders operate in organisations is often relentless and means that there is little or no time to stand back and take stock.  Being able to stand back from issues and challenges allows you to clearly think through the choices, look at challenges in different ways and ultimately to take better decisions.  And if you are taking better decisions it means better results for you personally and the organisation.

Benefit 2: Ongoing support

Training is great and I have been to many great training courses over the years.  Trouble is most training courses are a one shot opportunity.  What I mean by that is that you go along to the course, leave enthusiastic and an few months later find you are back where you started.  If you are a leader looking to be more effective over the long term you know that it is going to take time.  Having that ongoing support can help you make that sustained change in performance.

Benefit 3: Personal attention

In my experience of working with clients there are often some very specific areas of focus that leaders and managers want to work on.  Sometimes it might be about strategies and tactics that they can apply and other times it might be tackling areas of self doubt or misconceptions.  I also notice that they rarely need to work on all aspects of a particular topic but more on one or two areas.   The nature of the relationship means that it is much easier to tailor the programme to meet specific needs.

Benefit 4: Highly time efficient

I know that when I was in leadership and management roles, creating the time to attend a 2 or 3 day course was often a real challenge.  By comparison finding a couple of hours a month to work with a coach was much more time efficient and effective.

Benefit 5: Return on Investment

Ultimately if you are investing time, money and energy into something the return on what you have invested will be important.  Research into the benefits of coaching indicates that the return on investment is in the region of 500-700%.  Now these numbers might well look huge but let’s take a look at an example.  Imagine you are a senior manager who aspires to be a Director.  Ask yourself what’s the difference in salary and benefits?  In a field like accountancy, the differential between a number one and number two can easily be in the £30-50,000 per annum range.  If you are in the number one job for say 10 years, that could mean an extra £300-£500,000 to your earnings.  So look at your investment in terms of the lifetime value.

Bottom Line – Continuing to develop as a leader is no longer an optional extra.  If you are serious about realising your professional and personal potential, working with a coach or mentor might just be the catalyst.

Over the years I have come across many accountants and professionals who did exceptionally well in the early stages of their career only to hit a glass ceiling all too quickly.

The truth is in my experience a professional qualification or an MBA merely gets you in the door.  What determines how far you go in the longer is at least in part to making your professional development count.  So how can you make your professional development count?

Get a handle on your strengths and development needs

Until you know what you do well and what needs development, it is impossible to put in place your personal success plan.

Focus on the long term

Be clear about what the end game is and what you will need to achieve the ultimate goal.

Don’t restrict your approaches to professional development

It has never been easier to access development opportunities.  Too often people think just about expensive training courses and if budgets for training are cut say there is no funding.  There are plenty opportunities for low and no cost training and development, it is just a matter of seeking it out.

Remember your needs change

Don’t view professional development planning as being a task and finish exercise.  See your plan as a live rolling document that is updated as new needs arise.

Bottom Line – If you are serious about your career you need to make your professional development count.

In the fast moving and every changing world of business, continuing to develop yourself is extremely important.  For many people it is way down the priority order.  Lack of time is often one of the key reasons for not making the investment that we all know we should.  Cost, particularly in financially stretched public sector organisations, is another factor.

Yet in truth, with progress in technology, it is now possible to continually develop yourself without the need to take 3 days out of the office.   This article highlights 10 potential opportunities for developing yourself that are both time efficient and cost effective. 

1. Podcasts

Podcasts are basically short audio clips that you can access, listen to or down load.  Most offer the option to subscribe so that you are notified when a new one is added.  Many are free or low cost.  When I first explored podcasts, I was amazed at the range of topics being covered.  A good starting point is Podcasting News where you can access a directory of podcasts.

2. Google Alerts

Google Alerts are another simple way of accessing articles, announcements, etc about areas that you are interested in.  Imagine for example you were interested in developing your influencing skills.  You could set up a Google Alert “Influencing Skills” specify how regularly you want to receive them and have relevant content sent to your e-mail.

3. Professional Journals and Magazines

You can buy a subscription to your industry magazine on your own or share the cost with a few colleagues interested in the same subject matter.  Many professional magazines now deliver content on-line with links to articles.  Two examples are Accountancy Age and Health Service Journal.

4. Subscribe to Newsletters and E-Zines

Until about 2 years ago, I was not even aware of newsletters and e-zines.  Now I subscribe to a host of them and pick up great tips every day.  No matter what area you are trying to develop, the chances are that there will be a free newsletter or e-zine out there to get access to great content.

5. Teleclasses

A teleclass is essentially training over the phone.  You sign-up and dial into a conference line at the specified time.  The great thing is that they are packed with great content but typically last no longer than 90 minutes.  Most last about 60 minutes.

Even if you cannot attend because of time zone differences, you generally get access to a recording and sometimes a PDF file of what was discussed.

6. Audio Books

More and more of the best self development books are becoming available in audio format.  What this means is that you can be developing yourself when you are stuck in traffic, driving to meetings or sitting relaxing at home.

7. Read a book

Another cost effective way of developing yourself is to buy books on leadership, management, marketing, etc and commit to reading a chapter a day.  This is excellent for increasing your knowledge.  It is also very easy to get new and second hand books through Amazon very cheaply.

8. Go to a seminar or workshop

There are more and more free or low cost seminars out there that you can attend.  If you are a member of a professional body, chances are that they have free events happening at least monthly where you get to network and broaden your knowledge.

9. Go to a conference

Most industries and professions have some sort of conference.  Typically, once a year, they give you the opportunity to keep up to date and learn about leading edge thinking.  While at the higher end of the spectrum cost wise, they do tend to attract high profile speakers.

10.  Get a mentor or coach

A mentor or coach can help you to get into action and start achieving results quicker than you imagined possible.  What makes this different to other forms of development is that it is tailored around your specific needs.

As you can see, developing your self need not be a major commitment in time or money.  What it can do is ensure that you continually strive to reach your true potential.  So what’s stopping you?

Have you ever noticed how often people spend a huge amount of time and effort getting a professional qualification, then forget about developing themselves?
It is a bit like having a winning lottery ticket and not bothering to collect the prize.

Some of the excuses for not continuing to develop yourself might include:

1. Lack of time
2. Lack of sponsorship or budget within your organisation
3. All of the events are too far away
4. The topics are not interesting
5. They are covering things I don’t need right now

Truth is:

1. If you spent an hour a week on continuing professional development you would be doing more than most
2. The internet has opened up a whole range of possibilities for short, sharp and free learning
3. You can now do a lot of development activities from your office desk or the comfort of your own home
4. If topics are not relevant let people know who are organising events what you need most
5. Development is not just about the here and now it is about the future

Bottom Line – A professional qualification is the passport to your success. Continuing professional development helps you realise the potential of the passport.