Train
to Maintain and Develop Your Career
"People will go to a lot of trouble to learn
French or physics or scuba diving. They have the patience to
learn to operate a car, but they won't be bothered learning
how to operate themselves" Newman & Berkowitz
When
I first saw this it struck my how true this was for so many
people I came across within the client organisations where
I work. Although the issue is not uniquely British, I have
found that it is truer here than in many other countries and
cultures where I train. Why is this? Maybe it is a throwback
to memories of schooldays? Possibly it is because so much of
training is seen as "corrective" rather than developmental.
Also, many people think that it is up to their employer to
organise any training when required.
There
are a wide range of views about training, what it is, what
it
should cover, who is responsible for organising it
and how often it should occur. That is understandable. However,
ask yourself whether you should take more ownership for it?
After all, it is your job and your career! It is not compulsory
to develop your career in terms of promotion or increased responsibility,
but you can develop by improving your own skill base within
your role or enhancing your personal skills. Perhaps you have
been promoted and are expected to handle the challenges that
come with it through experience, luck and divine intervention?
(Who can remember CJ from Reggie Perrin? "I didn't get
where I am today through......") Some form of training
would help you surely?
What
are the benefits of taking a positive and proactive view
of your
own training? You gain more control over the areas
where you seek training and development. You can also influence
what type of training you have, whether coaching, courses or
e-learning. You will approach the training in a more open manner
and almost certainly gain more from it. Even if you are being "sent" on
some training, your attitude and approach will significantly
influence what you will gain from it.
Thinking
of your career and what you want from it, there are two principle
elements where training can help. Basically,
these are "technical" skills and knowledge and "personal" skills.
From a career maintenance perspective, you need to make sure
your technical skills are kept current in both knowledge and
also use of technology where required. Your organisation or
practice is probably good at making sure that this is available.
To develop your career, or maybe your enjoyment of work or
other aspects of life, you would probably look to the other
part - the "personal" skills.
If
you are going to become more proactive about your own training
and career progress, how do you decide what areas to address?
There is no one, right way. Do you know what the competencies
are for your role - and the role you would like to progress
to? Find a set of these and assess yourself against these
and identify the key areas to develop yourself. If you have
some form of appraisal system within your practice, listen
to the assessment of how you perform against the various
areas of the job. Ask for help and training in the areas
you want to improve. Consider doing some self-assessment.
What are the things you feel you could improve? What are
the areas you would like to learn more about? What are the
additional skills you would like to have?
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continues below
When
you have an idea of the areas you want to develop you can
do something about getting the appropriate
training or
support. Remember, not everything has to be done through courses
or "classroom" based events. There are different
ways of acquiring the knowledge or skills you want. Some of
these are:
* Training courses - either in-company for groups of your
colleagues or external with a people from a mixture of companies.
* e-learning - there are a wide range of subjects and approaches
which can be used to help you learn using the computer. These
may be web-based or not. They can be used within the workplace
or home or wherever you can get computer access.
* Coaching or mentoring - having someone (usually within
your own organisation, although they could be outside) to support
you, giving you individual help. The coach will push you to
identify your own aims and solutions and work with you on achieving
them. The mentor will share ideas from their own experience
and encourage you to then consider how to achieve your aims.
* "Shadowing" someone
else - choosing someone with the skills you want to learn
and spend time
observing them
and talking about how they do things.
By taking more interest in your own career, present and future,
you can focus on the areas where you want to develop. Doing
this and approaching the people who are responsible for the
training within your practice may make their job easier! Tell
them what training or development you want, why you want it
and what the benefits will be for the practice and they may
give you what you ask for. That will enable you to build your
knowledge and skills and approach your own training and development
in a more positive way - getting more from it! As a deliverer
of training, I would rather more participants were there because
they want to learn and benefit from it.
by Graham Yemm
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