It’s Time to Take Ownership of Your Development

Leadership Development

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Most colleagues across corporate America are coming off another round of disappointing performance reviews. Beyond the reviews, people are getting nothing at all in the way of professional development: A few get the same online courses. If you are lucky enough to be a top leader, you might get a weekend away for an intensive program.

The data tells the same story. Gartner, a leading research and consulting firm, shows that more than 70% of HR leaders don’t think they are effectively developing their midlevel leaders.¹

Professional development is failing across our industries. The hard news is, it’s your fault, too. If you are waiting for them to make it happen, you are failing as well. Your development is yours to own and build—so stop waiting for it. Stop thinking of yourself as an employee and start thinking about yourself as who you are, an individual.

1. Perfect Your Strengths: Too often we focus on being well-rounded individuals who can do everything. Instead, take some time to figure out what you are good at and work to become great at it. It is much easier to improve your strengths than develop your weaknesses. For the areas in which you are weak, you can focus on improvement to the point where they don’t become a liability for you, but there is no need to try to bring them fully ahead. Lean into your strengths and practice those skills to enhance your level of expertise.
2. Develop New Skills: Part of designing your development is defining what skills you have and what skills you will need, both technical and interpersonal. Technical skills are much easier to learn and practice. If you want to become better at Excel, you can take courses outside of work, build practice worksheets and formulas in your free time, and then look for opportunities to apply that back on the job. No one starts as a rock star; they get there by practicing chords, over and over. For interpersonal skills like “executive presence”, do your reading outside of work so you know how you want to present yourself. Then, when an opportunity arises, take time to plan out a meeting and practice what you want to say and the questions you want to ask. Think about the questions that will be asked of you and how you would respond.
3. Make a Plan: We all want our development to happen naturally, like a movie in which someone can see through your rough exterior, notice that you have star talent, and then take you under their wing. In most organizations this just won’t happen, so you need to plan on how you are going to build visibility in the organization. You can start by having simple conversations with your boss about how you can present more in meetings, how else you can contribute, and where you can make an impact. The more you can tie this to their goals, the more they will be on board.
4. Network: You have heard this a thousand times, but networking is a key part of getting ahead. People need to know who you are to consider you for development or promotion. There are easy ways to build your network in most organizations that colleagues often do not take advantage of. The first is straight networking: Join the informal groups in your job in which you can get exposure to colleagues who might not otherwise interact with you. Define 12 people at your level or one level above who you would like to get to know and set a lunch once a month to get to know each one. A simple cup of coffee can turn someone in the office who you have never spoken to into someone who now says hello when they pass your desk.
5. Go Above and Beyond: A simple way to get recognized and build your development is to always go above and beyond in the work you deliver. This does not mean working 60 hours a week; you can do it within your normal schedule by applying simple rules to your work. By setting clear guidelines of when work will be accomplished, you can avoid being late and bring work in before a deadline. Take time to read through what you write—emails, presentations, etc. Too many times I see team members do the bare minimum of what is required. The difference between sending an executive an Excel sheet full of numbers versus the same sheet with a three-slide executive summary of the findings and suggested next steps is night and day. It might take you an extra hour to complete, but it will move mountains in getting you noticed.

Your development within an organization is in your hands. Think about it as part of your job, in which you spend 5% of each day working on one item of development. Two hours a week may not seem like much, but over the course of a single year, it will pay off.