Steps to Grow Your Personal and Career Development

Dedicating time to your development and growth is associated with many benefits – life satisfaction, increased competitiveness and adaptability, good health. But if you want to really succeed in your personal development and growth, what do you do?

Diya Jolly, Chief Product Officer at rapidly growing Okta, an identity management company, shares she accepted a pay cut and a lower title at three points in her career in order to build the skills to get where she is today.

Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, spends an entire week every year, alone in a remote forest home, dedicating all of his time to reflecting, reading, and learning.

Do you need to do all of that to succeed? Not necessarily. But you need a robust plan to help you identify what you want YOUR personal and career development and growth journey to look like. 

Identify what you want and need to learn

Having a clear vision of what you want to achieve is the first step in putting your plan together. Whether you have a mindset on a specific goal, or you are just exploring opportunities, here are some steps to assess what skills and knowledge you need to develop.

External: How is your job/industry changing?

• Read industry trends reports – from the big consultancy companies (PwC, Deloitte etc) or from specialists in your niche.
• Register for Google Alerts for your sector – you can customise the frequency (daily, monthly etc).
• Consider if globalisation, technology, change in demand are likely to impact your industry – you may need to develop skills such as coding to stay abreast of these changes before they have happened; or do a stretch assignment to expand your responsibilities to other countries.
• Speak to experts in the field – whether at your company or outside. Besides being a great way to pick up on trends it’s also a wonderful conversation topic for your next networking event!

Internal: What are your personal interests and aspirations?

• Ask yourself how do your interests fit into the way you see your company or industry change in the future? Learning is more effective when it is aligned with your interests.
• Look at some recent job ads in your sector. Which ones appeal to you and what are the skills and knowledge required which you don’t currently possess?
• What are your values which you cannot compromise with? Whether that’s flexibility, financial security, creativity, etc, identifying these early will ensure you stay committed and are fulfilled when you reach your goals.
• What do your peers, stakeholders, clients, say are your strengths and blind spots?

Identify the best way to develop these skills and knowledge

Formal, structured learning may not cover everything the job entails. You’re also learning in someone else’s way. On the other hand, on the job training means we tend to do what we have done before. So a combination allows you to open up new possibilities, knowledge, and skill areas.

Experience

• Don’t wait for your boss to challenge you. Ask them to take part in an upcoming project or pick up a task from them or a colleague.
• Actively seek lateral moves to same level, but different type roles, thus developing new ways of thinking, problem solving and adaptability.
• Volunteer to projects and boards outside of work – this is a great way to get exposure to new tasks and skills.

Social

• Remember the field expert you discussed the future trends with? They are an excellent candidate for your mentor!
• Volunteer to be a mentor – this is a great way to develop your influencing, communication and leadership skills, regardless what level you are at.
• Network with people in your desired job. Find out what skills and knowledge they wish they had when they started.

Learning

• Identify what your company offers – there’s often more than you realise!
• Ask for sponsoring your training – demonstrate the benefits to them such as productivity and performance; self-efficacy and team competitiveness. In the worst case, they say No but you have demonstrated your commitment to learning.
• On demand training is becoming more accessible. Some options are YouTube, podcasts, blogs, LinkedIn learning, You can also explore short courses in your city or local university.

Identify and address barriers

Internal or external barriers may hold back your progress and cause you to give up. Identify these as well as ways to address them. Here are some examples:

#1 Lack of time

The number 1 reason employees say holds them back from spending time on their development is lack of time.

#2 Keeping Momentum

We start strong but as committed as we are, competing priorities such as childcare or day to day work may take over

#3 Losing interest

You need to see some value and reward in order to sustain your effort.

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