A good professional development plan reflects both self-knowledge and a knack for forecasting. You must know who you are and where you fit into your profession to effectively envision the type of knowledge, skills, and qualifications you need to both keep up with developments in your field and advance in your career. A good mentor can help you there. I usually pick my mentors from senior management because they generally have a lot of rich experience and wisdom for the profession. Sometimes I don’t look for a long-term relationship, but practice speed-mentoring. This is a casual, no-pressure meeting where I can pick their brain for advice or experiences. It’s a good way to problem solve and you can learn a lot! Mentors can help you create a personal strategic plan which defines a big picture goal of where you want to be and then develops a 3-5 year plan to achieve your goal.
My strategic 5-year plan includes earning my Masters degree and growing my division at work to include more designers and a couple of blended learning trainers. In order to achieve this plan I need to not only forecast what is coming in teaching adults in the workforce, but I need to be able to help senior management understand what this means for themselves and the strategic choices they make. Here is a list of things that I am doing to be prepared to meet the goals of my plan:
Conferences and Classes
- Attend annual conferences for the American Society of Training and Development, Society for Human Resources Management, Human Capital Institute to keep up-to-speed on best practices and law for my field
- Attend smaller and more local workshops and networking meetings to share ideas and compare notes with other professionals on what they are doing in their training and education departments
- Attend webinars and technology classes as a less expensive way to stay abreast of innovations and developments in education, technology, and design
Certificates and Degrees
- Complete my Masters in Curriculum and Instruction
- Complete a Masters Certificate in Educational Technology
- Complete the PHR certification for Human Resources
Reading Lists
An important part of forecasting requires constant reading on news and events inside my specific field and in the world of business.
- HR Magazine
- T & D Magazine
- Blogs, Facebook Associations
- Jane Bozarth, Trainer-Speaker-Author
- Allen Interactions, Instructional Designers
- SHRM, ASTD, HCI
- The Economist Magazine
Pushing Myself
- Continue writing in my own blog
- Incorporate the technology tools I have practiced with into my lesson plans at work
- Learn some new development tools including the Adobe eLearning Suite
I believe in life-long learning. I don’t think we ever stop. However, if you don’t prepare a professional development plan with a fixed vision in mind, then you will not make the best use of your time and resources.
Lewis Carroll, famed author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland offered this sage advice through the mischievous Cheshire cat, "If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there."
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