Talk to your friends and colleagues about career advancement and you’ll find many people think in terms of major events. You could find yourself discussing big opportunities like getting promoted, or significant changes, such as signing up to study for a new qualification. However, giant steps are not the only way forward.
I need to wait until…
Perhaps you are thinking you don’t have time to learn or take on anything new. This may be especially true when the new capability or responsibility you want seems formidable. Whether your goal is to improve your ability to present ideas, learn a new programming language, or gain skills in managing people recognise this: By waiting until you have time to begin, you are prolonging the period for which you have made no progress at all.
The good news
Research in personal development demonstrates that you don’t have to dedicate a huge amount of time to improve your capability. Nor do you need to wait for a great opportunity to come to you. In fact, you stand a better chance of growing your capability and increasing your possibilities if you dedicate minor amounts of time to professional development on a regular basis. You can start today, in small but valuable steps, and notice the difference within a few weeks.
Five steps to get started by
Here are five steps you can take to improve your professional capability and accelerate your career, starting today:
- Identify one specific capability that matters for your goals. You do not need to map out a massive self-development journey. In fact, the opposite approach will help you better: Be choiceful and specific. Narrow down your list to one carefully defined skill. The more precise and targeted your definition of this skill, the easier it will be to focus your limited time, and to see real progress.
- Define your start point. It’s not enough to say that you “want to be better” at something. To notice progress, you need a measure or description of where you are today. Search for a rating scale relevant to your skill. For example, you might use a 7-point scale that ranges from 1 (No experience at all) to 7 (Extremely experienced). Rate yourself today, then aim to move one point along the scale in the next month or two.
- Aim for small steps, taken often. Start looking out for opportunities to take frequent small steps in the right direction. Focus on contexts in which the risk associated with errors is low. Low risk environments are crucial to developing new skill because you need the freedom to make mistakes and learn from them. Aim for a mix of gaining knowledge (e.g., reading, watching a YouTube lesson) and actively practicing (e.g., public speaking at your social club). Ideally, aim for several small development actions each week.
- Reflect and repeat. Expertise is not an all or nothing phenomenon: It develops through a process of successive micro-steps. Each time you take action to develop your skill, pause to reflect and identify what you did well, and how you can improve next time. Keep repeating this process.
- Widen your network. A wider network means more potential opportunities. You could reach out to people with similar goals who can practise with you. Alternatively, as you gain some proficiency in the skill, you can reach out to people and offer to help them. Don’t charge or expect anything in return except feedback because their feedback is helping you improve.
Learning how to develop on the fly
When you take these five steps you will achieve more than just developing in your chosen area. You will learn an effective approach to professional development that you can fit around your schedule. Don’t know anything about a topic? Spend ten minutes on Wikipedia. Don’t know how to visualize data in Excel? Find an online video and spend 20 minutes practicing. Each small action adds to your capability. What is the one step you can take to move forward today?
