Why Should I Plan?
There are many reasons why you should plan your
professional development, not least because if you don’t you won’t
appreciate your achievements and will not be able to track your progress. Here
we explore further the reasons why it is worthwhile investing a little time now
in order to reap the benefits of thorough planning later.
Few people are lucky enough to start life knowing what
they want to be when they grow up, and sticking to that idea throughout their
education and subsequent career. Even fewer are able to follow a precisely
defined career path where development and promotion occur at pre-determined
stages.
In the 21st century professionals are responsible for
their own careers and have to make decisions about where they want to go next.
They must be able to adapt to sudden career changes, whether these result from
new opportunities or redundancy. This may seem to rule out the need to plan
where you want your career to take you, but in reality strengthens the case for
assessing your future needs and planning how to gain the competence you will
need to meet them.
In terms of your future needs, you should also give some
thought to the type of support which might help you to achieve your plan. For
example, will you require a mentor at some stage? If so, when, and where would
you look for one? What other types of supporters would you want? If you are
thinking of gaining NVQs you will need to identify assessors and verifiers. You
may also need financial support and/or flexible working arrangements if you are
planning to study for a further qualification.
More about Gaining Support.
Think about the business you are working in: What is the likely future
demand for your product? Who are your competitors? What other threats face your
business? What is the research and development department working on, and how
might this affect you? What are the likely opportunities for promotion or a
sideways move within the company? Companies are subject to mergers, takeovers,
closure and strategic changes in output or location; all of which provide
career opportunities and threats.
With the pace of technical change, businesses need those
who are familiar with the latest technology, or have the capability to bring
themselves up to speed very quickly. Keeping an eye on the technical press,
attending lectures and talking to customers and suppliers will help you to
identify the technical changes most likely to affect your business. Acquiring
the relevant skills will give you a head start in meeting the challenge of
change when it comes. Alternatively, you may find that a new technology is of
particular interest, and want to create the opportunity for a move in that
direction.
Soft skills, transferable skills and interpersonal skills
are all terms which have come into common usage in recent years. Surveys of
employers frequently indicate that these skills are often in short supply,
especially among technical professionals and new entrants to the workforce. You
will need to have or gain these skills simply to function in most jobs, but if
you want to progress to senior levels you will have to develop them to a high
level. These types of skills also tend to be very generic - at a superficial
level the requirements may seem to differ according to an employer’s
culture, but the basic principles still apply. So you need to plan to acquire
and enhance a whole range of these skills.
Your employer may have formal mechanisms in place to
identify business needs and corresponding development plans for employees. You
may find yourself being groomed for a specific role, or part of a cohort
expected to progress to a certain level within the organisation. If this is the
case, your employer will identify the skills you need to meet their objectives,
and may have a structured development scheme to enable you to acquire them over
a certain timescale. If your employer has such a scheme but you are not on it,
you may want to find out how to get involved.
You will need to think about a whole host of factors.
Most importantly, your aspirations, the needs of your current and potential
future employer, and your personal goals. Where do you want to be this year,
next year or in five years time? Doing the same job? Promoted within your
company? Or somewhere completely different? You will greatly improve your
chances of creating or taking advantage of career opportunities if you predict
these needs, and acquire the corresponding skills in a structured manner.
You may have some very clear ideas about what you want to
do next. If this is the case, you should be able to gather information to help
you analyse the skill requirements and identify any shortfall in your existing
skill set. Talking to the person doing the job, looking at the job description
and person specification, and talking it through with a mentor, will all help
you to gain an understanding of what is required.
On a broader level, you may want to start with a clean
sheet of paper and identify what you could or would like to do if you had a
career change. For this you may need to do some fairly broad reading. Picking
up professional and in-house publications could give you ideas for different
disciplines or fields of activity which might appeal to you, or of where
opportunities are increasing or declining. From there, getting in touch with
someone working in that field is the most likely way of getting a real
understanding of the nature of the work, the industry and the skills required.
The Sector Skills Councils (formerly National Training Organisations) publish
"skills foresight" documents which give a good insight into the needs of
particular industries. Specialist libraries, such as those run by institutions,
are a good source of information. Your institution may also have special
interest groups, or a careers service, who can put you in touch with employers
or individuals.
An employer-led scheme is great if your aspirations
coincide with what your company wants from you, although you may still be
expected to influence the development plan. However, you may have different
ideas, and need to take steps to ensure you achieve your own objectives.
On a more personal level, you need to consider your
broader goals and aspirations. While these may range from being in a job this
time next year to becoming the Chairman of the Board, they will also encompass
the broader aspects of your life such as family, community and other interests.
Your personal goals may include planning a family, taking time out to travel,
or becoming President of your institution! So how much time do you have, to
undertake career-related development outside the workplace? Will non-work
activities affect your career path? Remember that these activities can provide
you with valuable experience, skills and attitudes which may support and
enhance your competence in the workplace.
Personal goals could also include the decision to seek
formal assessment or recognition of your achievements through gaining an
academic qualification or professional registration. You will need to find out
whether your employer would be willing to support you in this. If the answer is
no, and you are still determined to get the qualification you will have to make
some tough decisions about how you will do it, and what the true value of it
will be to you. If you want the qualifications in order to meet professional
registration requirements, you will also need to think about how you can create
a self-managed scheme, and who might be willing to act as a mentor or assessor
for you. |
