Unlocking Potential: Turning Professional Education into Career Growth

Do you dread mandatory education?

Does your organization require education days, leadership development or webinars? Do you secretly think, why are we doing this or do you love it? I get it, sometimes a day out of the office for “mandatory education” means more work or another initiative to track that will soon fall to the side for the next big thing. 

How would you feel if I told you that an education day could be a tool for your next career? I have found that most professionals do not personally track their post-college education unless they are doing it to maintain a license or certification. They look at on the job education or learning as something that occurs at work but do not give it much thought, except maybe dread.

Here is how to view it differently and embrace that next opportunity. 

Use professional development as a tool to illustrate and validate your skill set. For example, organizations are looking for leaders who have high emotional intelligence and communicate effectively. Perhaps your current organization offered an emotional intelligence course to leaders and followed that up with coaching to develop EI in the leadership team. You can list that on your resume and then speak to it in an interview, referencing the education, the skill you gained and how you now apply it. That will resonate with a hiring manager. Often in interviews applicants use buzzwords like EI, but when you can show you spent time learning what EI means and developing the skills and you can tell the story of how you now apply it, that will set you apart. 

How do you take that one step further?

I am sure you do a lot of professional development without consciously labeling it. Almost everyone I know listens to podcasts, many listen to audiobooks and we all have the newsletters and email subscriptions that crowd our inbox. How do you make that intentional? What I mean is, to go beyond what your employer provides. All leader or all employee education is great, but it tends to be driven to what the employer needs, not you, the individual. Taking control of your own development is to tailor it to your specific needs. 

Tailor professional development to your needs.

• Identify your strengths and opportunities.

• Take an assessment to find out your strengths and weaknesses such as Enneagram, Myers-Briggs, DISC, Real Colors, etc. 
• Identify your career goals along with any needed experience, education or training. 
• Review previous performance evaluations or other feedback tools.
• Ask trusted colleagues.

• Match opportunities up with professional development.

• Max out any development benefit your employer offers to you. Think of this as money in your pocket. They are paying you to get a skill that you can take with you to your next opportunity. 
• If a stretch opportunity is offered to you, say yes. Usually stretch opportunities are marketable skills that make you more attractive for opportunities in your organization or to future employers.
• If your employer offers an executive or transformational leader program, say yes. They often include a capstone and certificate, making it a nice add for your resume.
• Are there podcasts, books/audiobooks or digital courses in your areas of need?
• Most conferences now have a virtual option, making them more affordable and accessible. Be intentional with the sessions you attend.

Large projects can also be a development opportunity. Track large projects and initiatives that you are involved in. Make sure to capture key metrics such as revenue increased, expenses decreased or customers gained and additional skills learned such as project management, team building, negotiating, etc.  

Keeping track of your development.
Now begin tracking your professional development, personally, not on your employer’s HR system. If they have a professional development form as part of the evaluation system, you should complete it, but that is not your tool, it belongs to your employer. You need to keep a separate tracker for your own records. I suggest starting a new tracking form each calendar year and saving the previous version. The tracker is now a tool for you to use to highlight your skills to your boss, complete your annual review, build your resume, and prepare for an interview. 

I sincerely hope this is helpful and that I have inspired you to use professional development as a catalyst for your career. Please see link below for free Professional Development Tracker.

https://www.leadingandlife.com/pl/2148595323