Professional Development. What are you doing?

Here is a short blog post on the importance of a professional development plan. Do you have one for 2010? I am acutely aware of professional development plans as it is one of the tasks that my Diploma students must complete. For many this is the first time they have ever written a development plan for themselves. A key reason for this is that many trainers and educators are so busy looking after the development interests of others that they forget to manage their own development. It doesn’t take much time to complete and it is something you should monitor throughout the year. Often when time gets tight the first thing to go is our own development.

A question I often get is what things can I put in my development plan? Of course this is quite personal based on what interests you and what weaknesses you are attempting to eliminate. Seminars, workshops, presentations and meetings are the most common activities but you also need to think outside of the square. Attend something you normally wouldn’t, like the virtual conference I blogged on. Attend a training session on a topic that is outside of your expertise just to see how the trainer delivers the session.  Subscribe to a number of blogs and read the posts each day for 10 minutes. Make one of those blogs something you normally wouldn’t look at. Setup  your own blog and write one article a week on something you did or observed in training. Get your friends to subscribe to it and give you feedback.

Get out of your comfort zone and try different things. Check out this blog on social media and development it might give you a few ideas. If you don’t understand anyone of the 10 terms in this post then you have some work to do.

Doing different things will broaden your experiences as a trainer. Professional development plans are important but make sure you challenge yourself or you will just maintain the status quo. Right now, write down one thing below in the comments section that you are going to do this year as professional development. I can tell you one of mine. I am going in a 85km bike ride on Sunday. What’s that got to do with being a trainer. It’s all about how far you can push yourself and how much more you are capable of. It tests my motivation, endurance and character. I rely on these attributes when I train others.