Your Growth, Your Development, Your Power

Career growth and professional development are both paramount to achieving your professional goals.

Career growth includes the multiple roles, responsibilities, and achievements you amass throughout your career. It’s not necessarily defined as upward mobility.

Professional development is all about ongoing and deliberate learning in an effort to manage your career goals. 

When it comes to your career, YOU are the star of the show, the one who makes it happen. In other words, your growth, your development, your power - you can take charge of your career path by getting clear on what you want and why and then investing in yourself.  

By learning new skills and gaining experience, you can set yourself up to pursue opportunities for advancement, often leading to increased pay, responsibilities, and job satisfaction.  Alternatively, you might undertake learning experiences simply to enhance your performance in your current role, or maybe even set yourself up for a lateral move.

Looking for professional development and / or growth?  Let’s explore three items:

1)    Motivations

2)    Options

3)    Actions

MOTIVATIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT:

Career management has to include contemplation around your “WHY.” Professional have different motivators for career growth and professional development. Whatever those motivators are, they always require action on your part. Let’s talk about some of those possible motivators.

Recognition

The challenge – and acknowledgement - of more responsibility and an expanded job description gives you confidence and feeds your purpose.

Love of Learning

You’re a lifelong learner; it’s part of your identity.  Developing new skills and learning something new are innately satisfying to you.

Promotion

You’re looking for the opportunity to climb the ladder in your organization.

Career Exploration

You like what you do, but might be ready to change it up, potentially with a lateral move into a different department, or even a career change.

Leadership is Calling

You’ve done well on different teams and feel that you can share your experience by leading one; but perhaps need some leadership development support.

Values, Goals, and Balance

You’ve compromised when necessary to get to where you are, now you’re ready for a role that has flexibility and aligns with your passion and know you need to develop a new approach and skills to make that happen.

OPTIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT:

Once you’re clear on your motivators, think about your starting point.  Some suggestions include:

●      Asking to work on a cross-functional project that lets you work with different teams and navigate different personalities, a skill necessary for leadership.

●      Networking inside and outside your organization will strengthen existing relationships and expand your reach to new resources.

●      Formal education and credentials may be a solid option depending on your profession and the requirements for advancement.

●      Attending industry events and conferences is excellent for meeting new people, staying current with trends, and finding motivation.

●      Both sides of mentorship are beneficial - be a mentor or learn from one.

●      Taking advantage of internal training programs is a solid strategy - your company offers the programs, sees you in action, and trains you in skills they already see as valuable.

●      Exploring opportunities to use new skills on-the-job – including finding new ways to incorporate AI into your work.

●      Identifying professional journals and organizations that can help you stay on top of trends in your field (or preferred field.)

TAKE ACTION:

Regardless of how you want to develop, empowering yourself to act is key.

●      Start with a self-assessment that considers your strengths, interests, and values. What goals do you want to set based on that information?

●      Leave the guessing work out of the process.  Do some research and gather some information online. Have conversations with people who have or had the roles or types of work you’re interested in.

●      Work on your growth mindset. Embrace challenges, learn from setbacks, and view feedback as an opportunity for improvement.

●      Don’t be a wallflower. Make your management aware of your aspirations.  Volunteer for new projects, take on leadership opportunities, and don’t hesitate to ask for stretch assignments.

●      Working on yourself to better your career can be challenging some days, and on those days, you are going to need some allies. Seek out mentors, sponsors, or supportive peers who you can talk to and get support from if you hit some rough spots on the journey.

Your personal goals help you define what career growth means to you and what forms of development you will to target to get where you want to go.

My advice:  Set some goals, pick ONE action and just start; and remember, YOU are in control of your professional journey.

As a career coach, I support many professionals to TAKE that control as they explore their professional future, forge their career paths, and identify professional development opportunities. I’d love to connect and hear how I can support you on your professional journey, too. Discovery calls are always free with me and you can schedule one here: https://scheduletimewithempoweredKAT.as.me/freecall