How can you take advantage of professional development opportunities?

Emphasize areas where you can contribute value and drive positive change within your organization. Target these areas strategically to maximize your impact and demonstrate your commitment to growth and improvement.

Speaking with people who have worked with you often can provide useful insights as to what you do well and what could be improved. No one is good at everything.

By taking this proactive approach, you can focus your professional development efforts on areas that will benefit both your career and your organization's culture change goals. How do you plan to leverage this self-assessment to guide your development? Self-Reflection: Reflect on your strengths, weaknesses, and career aspirations. Alignment: Ensure your goals align with your organization's vision, values, and culture change initiatives. Skills Gap Analysis: Identify areas where you can enhance your skills and knowledge to contribute effectively.

Don't overlook internal opportunities within your organization. Cross-functional projects, job rotations, and internal training programs can offer valuable hands-on experience.

Should the pursuit of certifications make sense, do so just be sure to have people who can help sort the intellectual theories from proven operational success.

A highly underrated option is seeking mentorship. Not only can a mentor offer invaluable insights, especially on the nuances of the field you're looking to develop, helping you to fast-track your journey, but your mentor network becomes part of your extended community. They can further connect you or open doors you don't even realise exist. I've personally experienced the benefit of many great mentorships, and I wouldn't be able to get to where I am today as quickly without their guidance.

It's wonderful to take part in learning opportunities, but it's the longer term transformation that is important. Think about putting accountability systems and processes into place so you can sustain the new learning and make it a part of your days moving forward. Set aside an hour every week to practice what you've learned or review the material so you are further committing the new skills to memory. Look to regularly apply the new skills to your job. Transformation from professional development takes effort sustained over time.

Many times we think of professional development in a relatively narrow view. Reaching outside our comfort or interest zone provides a great opportunity to be creative. A seemingly unrelated topic may lead us to consider how a concept may be able to be adapted to meet our current or strategic needs.

Consider a variety of options, from formal courses to informal mentoring, that align with your learning style and career goals. Explore opportunities within your organization, leveraging internal programs and projects. Ensure that the chosen opportunities are directly applicable to the culture change context and your role.

Volunteer to do something outside of your comfort zone. Often organizations pull teams together when they really don’t know how to proceed. This strategy not only welcomes creativity it helps hone strengths and often opens the way to showcase other strengths.

Writing a summary of what went well and what could have gone better, provides time to crystallize on concepts that can be shared and used in the future.

Again, I agree, but the in our operational environment, if we "branch out" too much we risk not meeting our divisional/BU goals. It is a great opportunity, but in the "do more with less" environment this is a real challenge.

I agree. Lessons learned are an essential element to move forward. As important is ensuring they remain relevant. We can "store" all the assets, but how do we move forward and actually learn from them. A perception versus reality/time issue.

Lifelong learning has many benefits for people and organisations. There are many options now such as the extensive Linked In Learning options, which cover a wide range of subjects, are cost effective and accessible worldwide. Learning new skills, as well as benefitting your employer, can keep you current and well informed. It can also introduce new skills that may interest you and stimulate your brain as you age. It is not just our body that needs exercise! I remember a quote from the leader of a future focussed company who advised leaders and companies on various research areas who said ‘’the roles for those born today have not yet been invented’’ How true!

Be an advocate for yourself. Many organizations (mine included) struggle looking for opps for everyone on our team. We try to - but it's often difficult. I LOVE when an employee simply asks for whatever resource they think will help them grow.