Whether you are in a career or just starting out, it is important to look at where you want that career to go. Therefore, having a professional growth plan is a must.
How do you create a professional growth plan, though? That is a question many people ask because this step is often overlooked or never discussed.
That is why we thought we would give you a little help in this area. If you’re looking to understand just how to create a professional growth plan, keep reading.
Why Do You Need a Professional Growth Plan?
If you aren’t taught about it, why do you need one? Other than the fact that there have been many studies that show the effectiveness of writing goals down, there are many benefits to having a plan for where you want your career to go.
Having a plan for your professional future can also help you identify the things about your career that you like, as well as the things you don’t. It can also help you bring to light any weakness you may have.
Knowing all of this can help you figure out what skills you need to improve or even learn to push you further down your career path. No matter what career you are in, writing down where you see yourself in the next year, the next two years, and/or even the next five years will allow you to stay on course to meet those goals.
Setting Goals – How Do You Do It?
After you have decided what exactly you need to create a path to career success, it is time to get started writing those goals down. You will want to be as specific as possible. Many people use the SMART action plan layout to define their goals.
This stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Based. Of course, you see that you should start with specific goals. Sometimes, it's best to start with the end and construct a timeline of goals backward.
In between all of the major goals as you work your way back to where you are today, you will want to put smaller goals so that none of them feel too big to tackle. Once this is done, you need to look and see if there are blind spots in your knowledge and then set up goals to close those blind spots.
After the goals are all written out, you may also want to take a look at the resources you may need to find. Understanding what you need to obtain these goals can make things a lot easier and even give you guidance to checking those goals off.
What Does a Professional Growth Plan Include?
There are numerous templates out there that you can use to create your professional growth plan if you don’t want to have to do too much work. However, there are some things that you will need to have even if you are going the prefabricated path.
Here are the categories you will want to address on your professional growth plan.
- Clear and actionable end goal (and stepping stone goals)
- Skills needed to get there
- Education needed to get there
- Requirements of the job
- Technological requirements of the job
Tips For an Effective Growth Plan
Now that you have your growth plan all written out, how do you make sure you stay accountable and make all your hard work effective? Check out these tips.
- Don’t wait! Start working on checking those goals off immediately.
- Make sure to set aside time to reflect on your progress either daily or weekly.
- Be okay with curveballs. Not everything goes the way you want. If you need to revise the goal, then revise and keep going.
- When you have reached your goals, make sure to keep challenging yourself with new ones.
Summary
Having a plan is the only way to ensure that you are working towards your goals and doing it in the most effective way possible. It may take a little time and a whole lot of introspection and reflection, but we are sure that once you have a healthy professional growth plan, you may find the climb much easier.
