personal development Archives - Page 16 of 16

Carry On Learning

Don’t worry Carry on Learning isn’t the next in the “Carry On” series of films which many in the UK will be familiar with. It’s rather a suggestion that if, like me (at the time of writing), you are searching for a new job then now is the perfect time to also look at gaining some new skills. I know that when I talk to other people who have been made redundant and are looking for a new role one of the comments I hear a lot is around how tedious they find constant scouring for a new job.

So rather than let that tedium get you down why not think about some things that you have always wanted to learn and set to it. So many effective and affordable online courses are available and some of them include a form of certification which you can then add to your CV. As an example I have enrolled on a couple of Coaching and Mentoring courses which will enable me to refresh my knowledge of current ideas and techniques which I know will be invaluable when I return to full time employment.

Or why not learn to use a piece of software that you have kept meaning to take a look at? I want to suggest one that I think you will find invaluable and which can also let you showcase your skills on many different levels. That piece of software is Prezi! If you haven’t yet come across Prezi then I think you are going to be impressed.

If you work in Learning and Development or have attended a training course then you will no doubt be familiar with PowerPoint. Indeed it has become the default presentation tool for many presenters in many organisations. Powerpoint is a great tool, however it has become boring and I am sure that you have heard the phrase “Death by PowerPoint” to describe the experience of sitting through slide after slide of a presentation. However, there is still a place for sharing information through slides, and that’s why I think you might want to take some time to learn how to use Prezi.

It is a web-based tool that has both free and paid for options. It provides much more flexibility, and it veers away from the usual slide-by-slide, linear way of presenting information. Prezi gives you the opportunity to create more dynamic presentations which will better capture your audience’s interest and attention.

A short while ago I suggested that you should learn something to add to your CV and that also enables you to showcase your newly learnt skills. That was what I had in mind when I decided that as part of my commitment to Carry on Learning I would learn how to use Prezi. Having read that people were creating Prezumes (Resumes or as we call them in the UK CVs) using Prezi I decided that was the route I would take in terms of applying my learning.

Having created it I shared it with a number of recruitment agencies and asked for their feedback. They acknowledged that as a standalone CV submission it could struggle in the context of the standard recruitment practices – which is a whole other discussion(!) their feedback was:

“super innovative & would make for a memorable candidate!” from Oasis HR and “a really eye catching method!” from Ashley Kate HR.

I will share some of the other benefits of using Prezi in another post and how to go about creating your first Prezi but for now here’s what I created: Paul Duxbury Learning and Development Professional CV. If you are not familiar with Prezi simply click on “Start Prezi” and then use the arrows at the bottom of the presentation screen to navigate through it. As I said at the outset now is a great opportunity to Carry On Learning!

Learning Isn’t Just For Learning At Work Week

As I write it’s Learning at Work Week here in the UK and that set me thinking about how much learning takes place without there needing to be a formal structure to it.

I can think of so many instances where I have learnt something which I have then been able to apply in my own work. As an example I well recall being in a meeting where the discussion was getting quite heated and noticing how the person chairing the meeting dealt with it to diffuse the situation and leave all parties happy. That was real learning at work which I was able to observe, reflect on, implement when I encountered a similar situation and then evaluate the learning that had occurred.

Now, I am not suggesting that for Learning at Work Week you go in search of heated discussions in meetings! However, I want to look at some ways in which you and I can learn without having to participate in a formal “learning” event.

Start With a Personal Learning Journal or Portfolio.

Learning at Work is not a simple A to B journey from a single goal to a single outcome, it is a process of continuous discovery and a Personal Learning Portfolio or Learning Journal helps you to keep track of and reflect on what you have learnt and discovered as you progress. You might be thinking that it seem a little time consuming to record your findings and thoughts but I have consistently found that being able to revisit the notes I have made over the years has sparked new learning and new avenues to investigate so it is something I highly recommend to you.

Engage With Your Colleagues

Talking to colleagues about what they are doing, what they have learnt or discovered, how they have tackled issues and so offers a wealth of opportunities to learn from them. People love to talk about their successes and as you establish a rapport with people they will be more open to talking about the failures that led to their successes. Engage with your colleagues at work and talk about how they overcame problems, what approaches they took to particular issues and challenges and how they managed to deal with them. Look around you now, if you are reading this at work, and just consider for a moment the amazing opportunities for personal learning that are available from the collective experience and knowledge of your colleagues!

Chat with them about their experiences, so that you can learn from past problems, develop potential solutions and work towards improving your performance – both as an individual and ultimately as a department or organisation.

Informal Group/Social Interactions

Following on from this idea of learning at work by talking with colleagues, there are many ways to use social, informal learning to interact with others in the workplace. If there are a group of you who would like to learn about the role of an individual within the organisation or perhaps discover how someone deals with their challenges then why not invite them to a lunchtime or after work session with a whiteboard in the staffroom? It can be a great way to share ideas and to learn new things. The results achieved are not just about personal, individual gains; the group effort can also improve interpersonal skills and even help with communication between departments.

Keep Your Eyes Open

Obviously you are keeping up to date with what is happening within your own workplace and staying on top of the goals of the organisation and the challenges it faces. However think about expanding your horizons,to keep up to date with news and events in your industry as a whole.

This can be done in many ways: social media is a great tool for engaging with other in the industry which I talked about in my post Social Media for Learning. But in summary, online discussion groups with others in similar roles offer an informal forum for discussion, news outlets are a constant source of up-to-date information and blogs can offer insights on potential trends and forecasts with alternative viewpoints. Gather as much information as possible and don’t be put off by the source – speculation on a niche blog from a real professional in your industry can be a great way of learning new things and stretching your mind.

I wrote about taking up the opportunities which many organisations offer to learn new things outside of work. If that is something that appeals to you and you want or need to learn aboout project management, public speaking, leadership and much more do take a look at A World of Learning Opportunities.

Enjoy Learning at Work week if you are in the UK! Take the opportunity to start the incredible journey available to you and remember Learning isn’t just for Learning at Work Week – it’s for ever!

Don’t Leave Your Professional Development To Chance

Are you leaving your own learning and development to chance or have you invested time in thinking about your personal and professional development?

When I am talking to people about their continuing professional development (CPD) I am often surprised how many haven’t actually considered their own development. Or they see CPD as simply a number of hours of “development” to be racked up to meet the requirements of a particular professional body they belong to. Many professional bodies require a specific number of hours per year in order for individuals to retain their membership and there is no particular thought given to the content of those hours actually developing the individual.

With new technology and increasingly skilled competition, I believe that there is simply no room to become stagnant in your career. People who are not constantly pushing themselves to become more flexible, knowledgeable and valuable to the organisations they work for, or want to work for, will soon find that they are expendable. The world is changing and in order to stay relevant in your field, you must change and develop with it. For these and many other reasons, having a personal professional development plan is critical.

The Benefits Of Drafting A Personal Professional Development Plan

Taking the time to create a personal professional development plan, gives you the opportunity to consider upcoming industry changes and prepare for them. As certain operations become automated, you can ensure that you are the first to receive the necessary technical training. New strategies for promoting efficiency can be adopted by you even before these become standard and widely known. You will be poised for promotion and better able to sell yourself to other companies should the need ever arise. Moreover, you will have sufficient confidence in your up-to-date knowledge for starting commercial endeavours of your own, should you choose to the self employment route at some point.

Surprising Advantages That You Can Gain By Planning And Preparing For The Future

People who take the time to consider what lies ahead tend to be far more proactive than those who do not. These professionals are aware of what new opportunities will entail and they are far more likely to have the skills for succeeding in them. When you know what challenges you are likely to face throughout the course of building and furthering you career, few things are going to take you by surprise. Best of all, better preparedness will mean less stress.

There are, however, a few additional advantages that can be gained through the creation and use of a personal professional development plan. Lifelong learning and self-improvement are said to be two of the most effective strategies for promoting long-term brain health. So, ultimately having a plan for your continuous professional development could bolster and preserve your physical, emotional and mental health.

Getting Started

The first and most important step in this process is to identify where you’re going and how long you plan on taking to get there. If you are content with the company you work with and the position you hold, you will need to establish a plan that helps to keep you valuable. Growth within a company will make it necessary to acquire skills that are suitable to higher positions and reflective of the direction in which the business is moving.

Enhancing skills that are specific to your current job duties will make you a more desirable candidate when appealing to other businesses. Ultimately, you have to define your career goals, break these down into measurable objectives and then give yourself a feasible time frame for completing these objectives.

Irrespective of what your personal professional development goals might be, you should check in with your peers. Find out what others in your industry are doing to stay relevant. While many businesses are willing to create professional development plans for their employees and then use these as part of the performance review process, keep in mind that these could prove limiting when it comes to reaching the goals that you have personally set for yourself. You can still, however, rely on these to give you a greater sense of direction when seeking out workshops and training programmes that will add the most value.

Your Personal Professional Development Plan Is Never Complete

Once you have drafted a plan that is best representative of your personal goals, abilities and circumstances, you will have to do far more than simply adhere to it. This will need to be revised throughout the coming months and years in order to reflect your growth, new obligations and new challenges. In this way, this plan becomes far more than just a guide for fostering and boosting your professional career. It will also be a guide for continuous improvement and one that will constantly challenge you to become better skilled, more efficient and more valuable in your industry.

If you are looking for a template for your Personal Professional Development Plan then do take a look at the templates and examples which the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) offer here.

Have Your Done A Personal SWOT Analysis?

As someone who calls themselves a Learning and Development Professional you will understand, I am sure, that I am a great believer in the importance of continuous personal and professional development.

The word ‘continuous’ means that it is a process which never ends. Personal Development and indeed professional development are things which continue throughout our working lives and beyond.

Over the years as I have worked with people both in groups and individually one of the things that I have seen with many is that the cause of dissatisfaction they experience with their careers and with the way their lives are going is the disconnect between what they are doing and what is important to them.

I have talked about this before in terms of personal values in my article about Aligning our Career and our Values. However I want to take a different perspective on it here and look at ways in which each of us can start to tackle the issues by looking at how we can use a Personal SWOT Analysis to give shape to our learning and development activity as individuals.

What is a Personal SWOT Analysis?

I am sure that you are already aware that many business organisations commonly use Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis as a tool to analyse themselves, frequently as part of their Business Planning processes. It forms the basis for their future activity and also can provide valuable insights into why things are as they are at the time they do the SWOT Analysis.

A SWOT analysis, though predominantly used in organisations can be used just as effectively at a personal level. By taking a look at yourself in this way you can determine where you need to focus your efforts in terms of your self-improvement and personal development.

Here are a few thoughts in each of the four areas that you might want to consider during your SWOT analysis, both from your own point of view as well as from that of an independent observer. In fact once you have completed your first draft you might want to share it with others to get their feedback.

Strengths

Your strengths include all the things you are good at doing. These are the personality traits that make me unique and differentiate me from others. Your strengths are what help to make you effective at a professional as well as a personal level.

In assessing your strengths you may want to consider the following:

The things that you are capable of doing better than others.
Three skills and abilities that possess which others admire and respect.
Your achievements using my skills and efforts as a professional.
Your educational or professional qualifications.
Your personal qualities that stand out through my work and in my behaviour.

Weaknesses:

Although some will argue that you should focus on developing your strengthst rather than worrying about your weaknesses if you have identified areas that you want or need to develop then include them here.

So, your weaknesses are those things which are, in your opinion, not suitably developed. They are the things which are acting as a barrier to your personal growth and to the achievement of your objectives.

In considering your weaknesses or areas for development you might want to think about the following:

The single thing that generates the greatest amount of fear in you in your professional and/or personal life.
Three things that people youu trust say you need to change or correct.
The things that you are required to do that you would rather steer clear of, for the reason that you are apprehensive or afraid to do them.
Personality traits that keep you from taking a stand against something that you believe is wrong.
Characteristics in you that prevent people from seeking your help in areas where you would like to offer your help.

Opportunities:

These are the chances that you have to develop yourself positively, to become more self-confident and perhaps even to enhance your trust in your own capabilities.

An in-depth study of your opportunities will cover:

The steps you need to take to ensure that your strengths are accentuated.
Identification of the people who can help you with your personal and professional development.
Identification of opportunities that are available to you to demonstrate your capabilities to your superiors and co-workers.
The ways in which you can contribute your services to help others with their workload, that will also display your useful and proactive nature.
The opportunities to project yourself and the things that you do in a positive light.

Threats:

Threats are impediments and obstacles in the way of my attaining excellence in the things that I undertake to do.

Your assessment of threats could involve:

Identification of the things that hinder your efforts at excelling in everything you do as well as the steps that will help in overcoming these hindrances.
Identification of people who may hinder the advancement of your professional career and what you need to do to address them.
Pinpointing impediments in the workplace that may stop you securing promotions and how to remove them or overcome them.
Identification of peers who could compete against you for a job and what skills you need to develop to be in a better position to apply.

A thorough Personal SWOT analysis will reveal areas which you need to focus on in terms of your learning and development or personal development. Dealing with your weaknesses appropriately and with a clear focus on your strengths will make you feel renewed, leaving you energised and ready to confidently take on all new opportunities that present themselves. The Personal SWOT analysis is a great way to get a clearer picture of where you are right now and what you need to do to move forward and focus on your continuous personal and professional development.

In a future article I will look at how, with these insights, you can create your own Personal Development Plan but for now take the time to complete your Personal SWOT Analysis.

Why A Learning and Development Blog?

Why a blog about personal development or learning and development when there are so many of them already? That’s a question that has occured to me a number of times when I have thought about creating a site about my passion for Learning and Development.

However, as I have been talking to various people over recent weeks it became clear that this was something I both wanted to do and needed to do. It’s many years now since my career focus moved into the learning and development arena and throughout those years I have discovered an immense amount about both myself and others.

I started my career in Banking, back in the days when it was an honourable profession! During those early years I discovered Junior Chamber International (JCI) which is a management development organisation. The thing that fascinated me about them was it gave members the opportunity to learn by

getting involved in practical projects such as organising the Manchester Lord Mayor’s Parade;

to learn about leadership and management through taking on leadership roles within the organisation such as I did by becoming Local President, undertaking National Project Manager roles, Regional Group Chairman and National Director

All of which was complimented by formal training inputs to put practical learning into a theoretical context. I also had the opportunity to train as a Trainer with JCI and was to go on to deliver training on a local, regional, national and international level and to work with some amazing people such as John Adair.

It was through JCI that I first encountered Honey & Mumford’s thinking on Learning Styles which I found fascinating. It was as a result of my practical learning and getting to grips with the theory behind it that I secured my first role as a Training Manager.

Ever since then my roles have been focused on learning and development, enabling others to achieve and seeing the spark in someone’s eyes when they “get it” – whether that be through formal training delivery, continuous learning in the workplace or working with them as a Coach.

My focus has always been on making learning come to life by grounding it in practical reality. I keep myself up-to-date with the theory of learning and indeed of late I have been honoured to become a Fellow of the Institute of Training and Occupational Learning alongside being a Member of the Learning and Performance Institute and a Member of the Chartered Management Institute. But! Everything I do is focused on enabling people to learn and gain insights into themselves by keeping it simple!

That therefore is my aim with this blog about Learning and Development. To make learning and learning theory interesting, informative, enabling and accessible.