How to transform your career with this one process

You know how Gen-Zers are all about manifesting? And bringing things into being?

This is like that, but in corporate speak.

66% of people don’t have one.

And your boss probably isn’t the best person to ask about it.

If you want to be the pilot of your career, this is the bit where you set your course. Throughout the journey you will refer back to it and adapt it if needed. But if you don’t have one at all, you could end up in the Caribbean when you were searching for India. Or you may not even get off the ground.

A personal development plan is the ultimate in corporate jargon, and might feel like extra work that won’t help you get your bonus, but isn’t a nice-to-have.

It’s a must.

If you don’t know where you want to go next, what your gaps are and how you will work on them, no one else is going to help you.

Having been both a people leader and an ambitious individual contributor, I’ve seen first-hand how a good PDP can accelerate your growth, and how those without it can get left behind.

Read on to discover what to include in your PDP, how to develop each area, and how to make real progress throughout the year.

What to put in it?

The obvious answer is technical skills, like understanding your systems, getting better at excel, or learning about a new market. And that’s a good place to start if you’re in a brand new role, but if you’re a bit more experienced you need to add these too:

Power skills* such as negotiation, influencing clients and stakeholders, or having difficult conversations. A big one for all of us regardless of seniority is managing upwards; if you manage your boss well, your whole experience at work can improve!

Also key is building your network both inside and outside the company. Get specific here, for example you could focus on nurturing the relationship with your big boss, or with leaders from other departments that support yours (like finance or ops). You could want to meet other ambitious women in the travel industry, or other new parents who juggle working in hospitality. The clearer you are on who to surround yourself with to succeed, the closer you are to doing it.

*I hate the term “soft skills” with a passion because they are anything but soft.

How to develop each area?

Most people make the mistake of thinking that there is only one way to develop: through online courses, getting qualifications or reading a book. These all fall under the category of “education” and should actually only make up about 10% of your action plan. Why? Because humans don’t learn best through formal, one-way teaching. That’s why you found geography lessons so boring.

What do you need more of? Experience. Think: cross-functional projects, taking the lead on a piece of group work even if you aren’t a team leader, or supporting to onboard a newbie to consolidate your knowledge. This should make up the lion’s share of your plan, about 70%. This is the school trip to find fossils on the beach.

The last 20% is how you refine and fast-track the progress you are making: Exposure. This means seeing how other people do things. You could shadow your colleagues’ client meetings, get a mentor or work with a coach. Having this kind of external mirror enables you to think critically about how you work, rather than “doing things the way they have always been done”. This is either your geography teacher showing you how to find the giant ammonite, or your older cooler friends teaching you how to smoke (depending on what kind of school trips you had).

How to make it happen?

#1 most important thing is to get buy-in from your boss, mentors and any other stakeholders who may hold the key to getting you what you need. People managers LOVE proactivity and ownership in their team, as by doing all this hard work yourself, you make it easy for them to say yes to helping you.

Make time in your schedule to move forwards with your plan and treat it like a commitment to yourself. If you aren’t focussed on your own development, no one else will be either. I recommend a weekly block to take action, and a monthly reminder to check overall progress.

And when you do take action, celebrate it. Give yourself a high-five or a pat on the back. You’ve done more than 66% of people just by making the plan, every step you take along it is a win.

Get started right now

To help you take action immediately, I’ve made my own PDP template available for you, for free!