Career Planning Step 4 - Develop

This post is the fifth of a six-part series dedicated to career planning.  Step 4 of the career planning lifecycle is focused on learning - the lifeblood of your brand value. 

A balanced career development plan outlines the opportunities to learn on the job, learn from others, and learn through training.  Most people typically associate a development plan with "training" although the majority of learning happens on the job.  I encourage people to be explicit on what they want to learn on the job so as a manager I can be sure to align work opportunities with the career plans across my team.

Learning must be a relentless pursuit to be better than yesterday if you want to stand out above the competition. The following areas should guide the definition of your development plan:

• Competencies - the previous parts of the career planning process defined the competencies that are required to achieve success in the target market you have identified. The development activities should support the enrichment of these competencies.
• Assessments - formal assessments provide a way for managers and colleagues to rate you against various criteria. The assessment results may provide insight into blind spots that require development.  I use assessments to validate my progress and focus my learning plan.
• Feedback - often the best way to understand where you need development or improvement is to ask for it.  Asking for feedback may be uncomfortable at first but it will become easy and effective if you integrate it into everything you do and not as a special one-time event prior to performance reviews.  I would also recommend you take advantage of anonymous 360 feedback mechanisms for additional insight - perception can be reality!
• Mentors - identify people who have a competency or experience you want and ask them to be a mentor.  This is an effective way to give you perspective you don't have and coaching recommendations to develop the muscle you are looking for.  Finding a mentor willing to support your development can be one of the most important influences on your career. 
• Mentees - mentoring others can be not only a great opportunity for you to develop coaching skills but learn from others who work in a different part of the organization or company.  The best mentorships are when there is value to both parties.
• Personal Network - a broad and diverse network is one of the most important elements to being successful. Make it a point to become a "connector" by developing relationships and making effective use of your colleagues and talents. Develop your network each day whether it's adding new members or just casually pinging them to stay in touch. Strong collaborative networks are required to be effective in any large worldwide organization.
• Certifications - certifications represent an independent acknowledgment of your competence.  Pursue formal certifications to build an arsenal of industry-recognized knowledge.
• Job Shadowing - a breadth of experience is critical to become an effective leader at whatever you do. Ask colleagues and mentors if you can shadow them to experience a typical day and gain a perspective that would help you in your current role.
• Presenting - there is no better way to learn than if you need to teach it. 
• Writing - I find that I learn more when I write it down.  Look for daily opportunities to write including blogs or even an article in a trade magazine and company newsletter.
• Personal Board of Directors- identify 3-5 people who are committed to your success and development - roles can include people who are highly connected, recognized as a company or industry expert, or those who can give you honest direct feedback.  I would recommend Keith Ferrazzi's book Who's Got Your Back: The Breakthrough Program to Build Deep, Trusting Relationships That Create Success--and Won't Let You Fail for a deep dive on this topic.

Helpful execution hints:

• Document and track your development plan - I track my activities as Outlook tasks so they are in front of me each day.
• Schedule learning activities in your calendar well in advance - ensure learning time is integrated into your workload and not canceled at the last minute.  I color code development activities in my Outlook calendar to ensure each week includes learning opportunities.  
• Stretch yourself - the best learning happens when you take on new opportunities or hard challenges that others do not want to - stretch, stretch, stretch.

Invest in your greatest asset by having a well balanced development plan that is actionable.  The world keeps changing so you need to as well - but at a faster pace.