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In this session we will apply the Big Dot Little Dot Goal Mapping approach to your Individual Development Plan to help you achieve your career and work goals.
Every organization has its own system for recording individual goals and evaluating performance. Performance management is most often related to the way you deliver on your pre-set work goals, or the agreements you have made to deliver the goods or services for which you were hired. Some performance management systems also incorporate professional development goals to help you meet requirements for promotion or identify specific training or development needs.
If your company or organization doesn’t provide you with an Individual Development Plan, then you would be best served to create and manage your own plan. We often wait for other people or our company to “develop” us, but if we truly want to own our careers and our future job paths, we should take charge and develop our own plan.
An Individual Development Plan doesn’t need to be complicated; it is simply a way for you to identify what kinds of experiences, outcomes or impacts you want to have as a professional. You don’t need a specific template, but it does help to have some ideas of what you want and a roadmap to help you achieve it.
In Lesson 3, you will complete an exercise in which you can brainstorm and prioritize what you want in your career or work, then identify some specific goals. But first, let’s understand some of the basic principles of professional development and how to think about what kinds of actions will move you closer to achieving your goals.
In the “best practices” world of leadership and management development, there is a simple rule we call the “70/20/10” formula. It goes like this:
CONTEXT: 70% of our learning, growth and career- or job-related development comes from actually doing our jobs. Critical work experiences, on-the-job training, and opportunities to take on new or challenging assignments increases our knowledge, skills, expertise, experience and judgment. This is why it is critical for us to identify our goals and seek out the kinds of experiences that will help us reach them. Many of simply wait until someone suggests a direction, or we accept a new role or responsibility without considering how it fits into our career plan.
CONTACTS: 20% of our development comes from people who help us grow in our career. This can include supervisors, mentors, sponsors, coaches, advisors or peers who provide us with feedback, guidance and support in our work. It’s important to have a network of people whom we can ask for help, and who can share their experience and perspective to help us find the right critical work experiences in which we can grow. Some people have naturally developed this kind of support network, but many of us need a more intentional strategy to identify a diverse group of people who can provide connections and guidance.
CONCEPTS: 10% of our career growth and development comes from formal learning or training. This may include getting academic degrees, technical certifications, completing online training, or attending workshops, conferences, training sessions or tradeshows. The ten percent of our growth through “concepts” can then be applied as action learning in our daily work. Again, it is very important when managing your career to consider what kinds of learning experiences will be most beneficial to advancing your career. Focused learning, whether formal or informal, or supported by your organization or not, is a critical element to consider in your career planning.
Exercise:
Consider your current wok role, position or status, and brainstorm the following:
- Context: Think of three work experiences you have considered that you believe could help you gain more expertise, knowledge or experience and potentially move you into a position of greater influence or value in your organization.
Some examples might include:
- Leading a team
- Giving a presentation on your specific area of expertise
- Proposing and leading an innovation project
- Coaching and mentoring junior team members
- Applying for a job rotation
- Developing cross-team relationships
- Contacts: Think of the people you work with in your organization every day. Whom do you admire, and for what reasons? Identify at least three people and name the qualities, characteristics, or expertise that invites your admiration.
Examples might include:
- Jane, VP of Sales: She is focused, organized and effective as a leader, but always has time to mentor and coach people.
- Roger, Accounting and Finance: He values detail and accuracy. He communicates in positive and supportive ways to help his team members succeed.
- Concepts: Make a list of all the formal learning you have completed in the last year. Then identify if there is a “next step” in that learning path you should consider for the coming year. Then brainstorm what other learning experiences—formal or informal– you believe could help you in the coming year, whether they might be company-sponsored or self-sponsored.
Here are some examples:
- Completed Emergency Planning and Management Training (3-days on-site) and received certificate of completion. Next steps: 1) Attend Level 2 for Managers at offsite workshop (2-days); 2) Complete Site Manager Certification Training (online and offsite workshop-5 days)
- Completed Leadership Academy for High Potentials (18 months group/individual coaching). Next step: Apply to Executive Development Program offered at local university next year.
Complete: INSIGHTS Worksheet, Lesson 2