Personal Development
Posted on 17th January 2023 at 15:44
Personal development is a phrase that can often prompt feelings of deflation – you know it’s important to think about, but it can quickly become the optional extra when faced with your daily workload. It can be hard to prioritise personal development on top of all the tasks your current job requires of you.
So why bother?
Personal development is the process of continually improving your competence and skillset; this can help you improve your quality of work in your current job, and help you build your capability for future roles which might require different skills. So, if you want to move up the career path, or broaden your skills set, personal development is essential.
And here’s the thing - no one else is going to think about your own career path and plan it for you. You might have an employer who makes time to discuss personal development with you, but they cannot do it for you. This means marking out some of your own time for personal development is critical for your success at work.
Personal development will help you build a realistic picture of your strengths and weaknesses, and help you see any gaps in your current skillset. This will hopefully help you play to your strengths and work on areas of weakness. Being able to give examples of how you have addressed your weaknesses and built on your strengths in any future job interviews will make you a much more impressive candidate to potential employers.
So how do you “do” personal development?
It can be hard to know where to start, so here are some of our top tips to help you get going
1. Think about your individual interests and career aspirations
It’s important to take time to think about what you want from your job and where you might want to go in the future. Here are some questions to ask yourself:
What has been your most rewarding role so far? Why?
What is your favourite part of your current role? What’s your least favourite?
If you were not in your current role, what other roles would be a good fit for you?
What would you like to do more of in the future? What would you like to do less of?
Where do you see yourself in 2, 5 & 10 years time?
2. Spend time understanding yourself
Think about your strengths and weaknesses in your current role and ask for feedback from colleagues and managers to validate your own views. Try not to be defensive about negative feedback. It can be hard to hear but remember we all have areas we do well and things that we aren’t so good at and you’re trying to build a realistic picture of yourself. If you can build an honest picture of yourself and your skillset, this will help you know what you need to work on going forward.
3. Plan some action points
After thinking through your career aspirations and your current skillset, think about what actions you are going to take for your personal development. Write down your goals and make sure they are realistic and manageable. Discuss them with your manager at your next meeting and see how they can help you build towards your goals in your current role.
4. Consider all your learning options
When working towards a goal, think about the resources you have available to you. How can you learn on the job, or learn through specific experiences? What articles, journals and books can you be reading? Have you considered some extra formal education and training? What can you learn from your colleagues, mentors and employers? Again, discuss this with your line manager to see what your Company is prepared to support you with.
5. Prioritize personal development
Life is busy, and it can be hard to make time to think about personal development with all your other responsibilities. Be intentional with your time but be realistic – maybe set aside 20-30 minutes a week. Having the same time slot each week can help you build personal development into your normal schedule e.g. first thing on a Friday morning. A regular slot can help you to build good habits for the long term.
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