Taking Control of Your Own Development

By Beth Armknecht Miller, President and Executive Coach, Executive Velocity Inc

Whether you are a CEO, Manager or Administrative Assistant, you are responsible for your own development.  During these economically challenging times, one of the first things to be cut in a company’s budget is training and development.  More than likely the cuts were done at the beginning of 2009.  If you are lucky, there is still a training budget but it is much smaller than in 2008.  For others there may be no annual training budget.

If you are like me, I always look forward to developing new skills and techniques that I can add to my portfolio.  I always come back from training re-energized and excited about the future.  And as a business owner, I have always been committed to developing others around me.  Yet, not all managers, executives, and business owners embrace this value of developing employees to their full potential, which leaves development in the hands of the individual employee.  Even if you have a manager committed to developing her employees, this year without a company training and development budget your personal development is now left up to you.

So Where Do You Want To Be In The Future?

With development left up to the individual, those employees who take control of their own personal and professional growth are the ones who will be the most successful.  Planning your own development starts with knowing your end goal.  If you are going to be in control of your own development, you need to know where you want to be in the future and build a development plan to help you reach your future goal.

Your future goal should be written as a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound) goal. Further information on SMART goals can be found at:   http://www.executive-velocity.com/resourcesmodule/download_resource/id/8/src/@random4ab49e863cc89/

Once you know where you are headed, then it’s time to take an inventory of where you currently are in terms of your end goal.  What are the things you excel at doing and what are the things that bring joy in your life?  The University of Missouri has a great tool, http://bit.ly/KV3l3, to get you started with this evaluation.  Another resource is the perennially favorite book, What Color is Your Parachute? by Richard Nelson Bolles.  This book will help you learn more about yourself and will guide you through a process to help you discover what you really want to do and how to get to your destination.

Development Opportunities on a Tight Budget

So far the only suggestion in this article that has a cost associated with it is the purchase of the book, What Color is Your Parachute?  And since you are responsible for your own development and you can’t always count on your company to provide financial support for your development, what other free or low cost development opportunities can be identified?

1.    Projects Internal to Your Company (no cost)

Free development opportunities are often right in front of you in your work environment, yet you may not be aware of them.  They can provide you with a chance to gain new experiences and stretch your current skills to a new level.  Just ask your manager and other executives what the upcoming projects are and what specific skills they will need for these projects.  Look for projects that will push you outside your comfort zone and provide you with a real learning opportunity.  No one grows by doing the same thing all the time.

2.    Volunteer Work (no cost)

Volunteer your time with a not-for-profit where you can gain the specific experience that you want to develop.  I have used this method a number of times during my career.  I have looked for organizations whose mission I could connect with and then approached the executive director about serving on the board of directors or on a specific committee.  Not-for-profits are always looking for help!  At one point I wanted to get more strategic planning experience so I sat on two boards that were going through a strategic planning process.  Not only did I gain valuable experience from the actual strategic planning process, but I also gained valuable insights from other volunteers who had extensive strategic planning experience.

3.    The Internet (no cost or low cost)

With the era of the Internet, there are many webinars, podcasts, and websites that often provide free or low cost training to individuals.  A list of websites offering free training in Workplace/Leadership, Languages, Programming,  Computers and Technology, and other topics can be found at http://bit.ly/ZO6an.

4.    Books (no cost or low cost)

Remember that place, the library, where you used to go to borrow books?  It is still free and has a mountain of books you can borrow.  Or if you are like me and like to write in your books, there is always www.Amazon.com.  You may also want to check out www.fetchbook.info , a website which shows the lowest total cost for a book plus the shipping charge.

Conclusion

Look in the mirror.  Do you know exactly what you want to be doing in terms of your dream profession?  What are the one or maybe two things that will energize you every day?  And if you aren’t doing these things, how are you going to develop yourself so you can have your dream profession?  Just because your company has cut training budgets, there’s no excuse not to start developing yourself now with so many free and low cost opportunities available!