Your success depends on your ability to take "ownership" of your career development. So what is "ownership?" Ownership, as defined by Wikipedia, ". . . is the state or fact of exclusive rights and control over property, which may be an object or intellectual property. Ownership is self-propagating in that the owner of any property will also own the economic benefits of that property." So it is to our advantage to take ownership of our career development.
Career Development is a Result of Learning through Experiences
Research conducted by Lominger, Inc. and the Center for Creative Leadership concluded that career development is a result of learning through many different experiences, for example reading, taking courses, working on projects, receiving feedback from those you have worked with and for, or working on certain assignments or jobs. No one experience does the job alone, but in concert, they are powerful. Consider the following statistics:
- About 70 percent of our career development comes from on-the-job experiences (working on tasks and problems);
- About 20 percent comes from feedback or working around good and bad examples of the need, and
- About 10 percent comes from courses and reading.
Where Does the Motivation for Career Development Come From?
The motivation for career development usually begins with the realization of a current or future need. The "need" is often based on your knowledge of your organization's business and of your own self awareness.
To understand your business, you need to know the internal and external drivers, such as the organizational values, vision and mission, marketplace trends, new initiatives, growth areas, and skills required to perform the tasks necessary. A deeper understanding of your organization and its needs will help you identify potential opportunities for your own career growth within the organization.
Self awareness requires you to look inward and take an inventory of your career goals, your strengths (skills and abilities), your personal values, and what is important to you (what challenges you; what excites you; describe your passion, etc). Sometimes assessment tools like 360 degree feedback assessments can help identify your strengths and recognize opportunities for development.
Tips for Creating Your Career Development Action Plan
Once you have identified the needs of your organization and the strengths and skills you have for filling those needs, you must then be motivated to create your career development action plan. Here are some tips that may help:
- Keep your plan realistic and manageable.
- Prioritize the action items on your plan, identifying short-term and long-term goals. Remember, the objective here is to improve the skills, abilities, and attitudes that are already part of your repertoire that you have identified in yourself.
- Make your goals as specific as possible. For example, write out what it means to "be skilled." And for each goal, identify developmental tasks and possible jobs or projects to help you develop and grow your skills.
- Identify your feedback sources. Your feedback source may be a boss, co-worker, spouse, friend, or clergy. When identifying your feedback sources, look for the people who know you best. Consider people who can help you evaluate how you can move to other positions in the organization and what it might take to get there.
Create a Win-Win for both You and Your Organization
Today's business environment is very competitive. Businesses are looking for individuals who are highly skilled and actively engaged. Individuals are looking for organizations that provide recognition, career growth opportunities and access to the knowledge and training they need to obtain to achieve their individual career goals. A well-organized career development plan will create a win-win for both you and your organization. While some organizations may have a formalized career development process, it is still largely up to the individual to manage their own career development plan by collaborating with his/her boss and relying on your feedback sources.
Any organization should support the career development efforts of their employees by:
- communicating the organization's values, vision, mission and strategic plans,
- providing career paths and job requirements (via well written job descriptions),
- delivering performance feedback on a regular basis, and then providing training and development opportunities based on the performance appraisals.
At the end of the day, career development is a journey where alignment of self-awareness, organization need, and motivation (self and organization) determine the destination.
Sequent's talent management consulting group uses a variety of assessment tools and development strategies to help organizations develop talent management solutions and win-win situations for its employees.
About the Author: Beth Vanderson, Organizational Development Consultant at Sequent
Beth is an Organizational Development Consultant on the Sequent Talent Management Team. She has worked with clients to align talent to corporate strategy. She does this by working closely with the organization's leadership and the individuals within the organization. She conducts organizational assessments, and based on the results, she creates and implements systems and best practices for performance management, leadership development, succession planning, strategic recruitment and retention.