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STRATEGIES FOR MAXIMIZING PROFESSIONAL GROWTH
By Leann Schneider, M.A. and Tim Jackson, Ph.D.
Answer the following question
honestly: do you think that devel-opment
plans are useful? Some of
you probably think that they are,
and they should be if they’re done right.
Unfortunately, it’s likely that some HR pro-fessionals
doubt their usefulness. Whether
we’ve taken the time to create our own plan
and it’s long forgotten, or helped someone
else to create a plan that they didn’t follow
through with, it’s easy to understand why this
topic can lead to frustration.
However, there’s a reason why development
plans are encouraged. If you want to progress
in your career, or if you’re supporting some-one
else in their career progression, aimlessly
engaging in developmental activity can be a
waste of time and money. Don’t we want to be
deliberate in how our development unfolds?
There are best practices for creating devel-opment
plans that increase the chances that
the plan you create will turn into actual im-provements
in performance. At some point,
you’ve likely been told that development plans
should include SMART goals (i.e., goals that
are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant
and time-bound). The following recommen-dations
take this a step further.
DEFINE THE DEVELOPMENTAL
EXPERIENCE
The starting point for creating a develop-ment
plan should be defining the type of
desired developmental experience. Research
supports two types of developmental expe-riences:
“mastery” experiences, which involve
continuing to do your current job but with
more intensity and increased demands, and
“broadening” experiences, which involve
stretching yourself to seek out new experienc-es,
opportunities and relationships. Mastery
HRPATODAY.CA ❚ NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2014 ❚ 23