Attending training is a wise career development move, often giving you skills to be more efficient and productive, which can help boost your career. In some cases, training can cause you to think in different ways and give you an edge by exposing you to topics and techniques of which you wouldn’t otherwise get a taste.

Being trained provides many benefits, but don’t miss the payback that also comes from training others. One of the best ways to learn a topic is to teach it to someone else. It’s a win-win! You win by getting a full understanding of the material you’re teaching, growing as an individual, and adding experience to your resume. The student wins by being trained.

Don’t just jump into taking random classes and training, though. You need a plan. You need to follow that plan and adjust it over time to make sure it still aligns with your career development goals.

Individual Career Development Training Plan

You need to decide where you want your career to go and map the way to get there. Then follow that plan to success.

To begin your individual Career Development training plan, it is important to complete a self-assessment. The following questions can act as a guideline:

  1. Where are you now?
    1. What are your key tasks?
    2. In what areas would you like to grow?
  2. Where do you want to be?
    1. What will growth look like?
    2. What are your growth goals?
  3. How will you get there?
    1. Investment in knowledge
    2. New skills development
  4. How will you reach your goals?
    1. What talents do you use to reach your goals?
    2. What actions will you take?

Other parts of the plan

Once you have completed your self-assessment, it is necessary to add some framework to your Career Development plan.  The following pieces must be added:

  1. Create a timeline
    1. Each action needs to have a due date. It is important to create the sense of urgency and corresponding sense of accomplishment to help you fulfill your plan.
  2. Have a monitoring plan
    1. It’s important to regularly check back on your progress. You’ll be surprised at how much you’ve accomplished as time goes by.
    2. If you’ve gone a bit off track, this is when you can refocus your effort.

Following a training plan can help to focus your efforts toward reaching your goals. Training will give you new knowledge and skills, but always remember that teaching can be a great boost to training as well!