How to Create a Professional Development Plan

To start off let’s understand what a professional development plan is. Generally it is a pretty simple concept that kind of explains itself. More specifically, it is a roadmap used to mark points along a career to help you understand important skills and milestones you should acquire while advancing your career. They are important because without one, you could float aimlessly through a career and never truly understand the potential you could reach with a solid plan.

Most professions that require such a plan have tools in place to help people create them but, they are a valuable resource that can help in any profession. So if you’re a teacher or a young entrepreneur this article can help both sides and all in between. In this article we will go over every important section of these plans and how to put it all together into a cohesive unit.

The first thing you’ll need is a goal

The goal right off the bat doesn’t need to be painfully specific. The goal you are aiming for should be specific enough however that you can name it and it can give you a basis for the steps that come later in this article. Without a goal, there would be no end to your plan, and why plan if there isn’t a destination in mind?

When it comes to picking a goal, understand that there will be smaller goals that lead to the ultimate goal waiting at the end. One of these goals could be graduate college to get a degree. With that degree you can tackle even larger goals, and that’s how progress is tracked. Using the acronym of SMART goals is a great way to tell if the goals you’re placing can help you.

SMART goals stands for the following: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. If your goals match all of these criteria, it’s safe to move forward and include them in your plan. With these in place, you should already have a basic roadmap in front of you for your development plan!

Fill in the blanks with skills

Now that you’ve got your goals in place there should be an outline of a plan in front of you. This outline can be filled in with small things to get the ball rolling. For example if a goal is to graduate with a BA in history from a certain university, what skills do you need/want to learn in order to make that happen and are they measurable? Obviously whatever you need to graduate is told to you in the coursework and degree requirements but include those in your development plans.

This goes for undergrads, grad students, and even people not in academia. If you want to get promoted in whatever kind of company you’re working in, what skills do you need to master in order to be seen as a leader? A small list of these skills include communications, negotiations, team building, performance, organization, etc.

A good way to measure skills is by certifications and milestones. Depending on whatever career you’re aiming for there are bound to be certain certifications like degrees or courses to take from conferences that will help you progress towards the next goal. Of course it can be hard to know exactly what skills are needed sometimes so that leads us into our next point.

Check out our article on gaining certifications for professional skills here

Find a mentor

This is arguably the most important point when it comes to actually progressing through a professional career. A mentor is there to show you the way through a career. This can be either the route they took or a completely separate one. The reason they are so important however, is because they will teach you how to avoid the mistakes they made along the way.

A proper mentor will know what goals and milestones can lead to success as well as have good connections for reaching them quickly. Having the wisdom of someone who has been in your shoes before means you can avoid situations that would hinder your growth. These mentors can be found everywhere whether they are parents, advisors, or seniors in your company. The most important thing is to find one that you trust. Having trust in your mentor means you will follow their advice even if the decisions might not sound right to you. Having the wisdom and foresight will help you cruise through your development plan smoothly.

Create a routine to generate action

Now that the plan is in place and goals are set, it is important to help yourself create momentum towards those goals. It is said that an object in motion will stay in motion so lets get moving! The “secret” to achieving goals is to have a solid routine that leads up to big results. The same way hitting the gym regularly shows results in your body, working on specific skills everyday will show results in your career.

Talk with your mentor about what kind of routine can help you achieve those goals and acquire those skills. Practice makes perfect and in the context of professional development, you’re already working there almost everyday, why not grow from it? This is where people tend to fall off the plan and deviate in their own ways. You can deviate and still find success, sure but you won’t be fully in control. A professional development plan is for those seeking to take control of their career and steer their lives in the direction they want.

Another key to create a good routine is to really break down your current self. Check where your weaknesses and strengths are and find a way to work on the weaknesses and enforce the strengths a bit routinely, doesn’t even need to be everyday. This assessment can come from within or also from your mentor who will have a harsher, more objective view of what you need to work on. Hearing critiques from those you respect is a great way to jump start motivation.

Lastly, put it all on a timeline

This is where the Timely part of smart goals comes in. Having a plan is great and all but you need to make sure you have a timeline to keep yourself accountable and keep the goals realistic. Check with your mentor or others in the organization to see what kind of timeline you should put yourself on. Discussing it with someone also puts a bit of extra pressure on you because now they know your goals which will make you work harder towards them than if you kept it in your head.

Put a timeline on each goal based on the skills needed to achieve that goal and by the end of this process you will have an extensive roadmap detailing almost everything you should need to do to achieve that final end goal. The end goal may not be terribly clear to start but as time goes on you’ll have a clearer picture and start working harder and harder to achieve it.