What is personal development & why do you need to be developing?

 

What’s your answer when people ask how work is? If it’s ‘fine’, ‘ok’ or even ‘boring’, there’s a good chance the bright ideas you came into your role with have been put aside.

 

Personal development is any activity you undertake to ‘better yourself’ in a professional capacity. This can range from learning on the job, seeking out workshops, upskilling through courses or taking on a volunteer job. Ultimately, personal development is a constant process we undertake, but by consciously planning our development we can skip years of absenteeism and exponentially increase our value to our businesses.

 

It’s extremely important for job satisfaction & personal wellbeing to feel confident, capable & self-aware in your role, and it can be tricky for a single job to reliably fulfill all these areas through the test of time.

 

1. Get out of your comfort zone (develop your weaknesses)

Regardless of whether you’re a university graduate or learning on the job, at some point you were told that training was over. However, industry, business and technology never stop evolving or growing, and nor should you. Having a ‘T-Shaped’ skillset has never been more important – that is to say, intermediate knowledge around as many areas relevant to your work as possible, accompanied by deep specialisation around your area of expertise.

 

2. Develop your strengths (boost your confidence)

On the opposite end of the spectrum, perhaps your business or team are growing complacent. Work’s always going ‘ok’ & you’ve never quite reached for that promotion or made the most of your current role. If this is the case, perhaps you need to realign yourself with your purpose to realise your full potential.

 

3. Improve on self-awareness

How do you know what you don’t know? It’s easy to get so busy at work that, over time, what made you great for your role has become stale. Whether it be inspiration, emerging technology and trends or just plain old motivation, a routine for improving yourself outside of doing your role is vital for every individual at every organisation.

As leading futurist Steve Sammartino puts it:

 

“The world is changing rapidly – so we need to work harder on ourselves than we do on our job. If we do this, our company will be the big beneficiary.”

 

 

Managing personal development

 

Knowing that you need to expose yourself or your business to some outside information & inspiration isn’t enough – you need a bespoke strategy that sings to your individual (or organisational) purpose. With this in mind, here are some steps you can use to devise such a plan:

 

1. Define your purpose

You can’t know where to start if you don’t know where you want to go, so take the time to craft your vision of how you see yourself developing over a certain timeframe. Work backwards from an end goal: For example, say you want to pitch a comprehensive new strategy for your company to prospective funders. Possible milestones could be: By next week, I’ll have created a routine for researching fresh approaches to the business. By Next month, I’ll have translated research into a pitch deck. By next year, I’ll have pitched to # of funders. By breaking it down into manageable, measurable goals, you can hold yourself accountable and assess how effective your current methods are in helping you achieve your aspirations.

 

2. Research logistics & make it happen

What resources do you have available to you – and what resources do you need to acquire to realise your vision? Plenty of companies offer free webinars on topics they see themselves as experts in, so be sure to put the feelers out & sign up for notifications so you don’t miss the next one. If you’re time rich and money poor, finding resources this way is an option. However, if you have a budget to play with, the below program could be ideal for you.

 

3. Set a time frame & assess your progress

Being rigorous around what works for you and what doesn’t, can be the difference between burning out and the best version of yourself/your business. It doesn’t take much time to look back on what thematically felt important and interesting, as well as what resonates with you logistically.

 

4. Implement & repeat

Although it’s important for this learning cycle to become a consistent habit, take some time to enjoy any newfound skills or knowledge in your life. Use this time to reassess your learning areas & determine if your initial needs are being met, if your learning routines are working and if your goals need shifting.

 

A 12-month series on Personal development & leadership

 

For any individual, business or organisation looking to improve their results by investing in the development of their employees, The Speaker Suite is the perfect program to get a regular dose of insights, practical tools & motivation to get your head where it needs to be to achieve peak performance.

 

Once signed up to The Speaker Suite you’ll receive access to two speaker’s 30-minute keynotes per month, which are aligned with monthly topics curated to ensure both yourself & your company will have the tools & mindsets needed to rise to peak performance.

 

24 world-renowned motivational speakers

 

With a speaker line-up that includes some of the best-known names and faces of local and international experts, celebrities and sporting icons, a program of this calibre has never before been made so accessible. Your host will be renowned journalist Mimi Kwa, who will guide you through this learning journey and facilitate Q&A with our speakers.

 

From athletes to business leaders, from entrepreneurs to humanitarians, this program will deliver a different pair of experts every month, aligned to a key strategic theme.
If your company values continued development, or you wish to personally learn from the best, this program will provide the edge on a range of strategic areas, including:

 

• Achieving Peak performance
• Managing mental health & anxiety
• Marketing to win
• Thinking like an entrepreneur: lessons in success from start-ups
• Changing the world in a responsible way
• Ingredients of successful organisations
• Risk-taking for the good of humanity
• Innovation & the future
• Taking a business from zero to hero
• Leadership: Not a popularity contest

 

The Speaker Suite’s program will be commencing on the 29th of July, 2021, and will run for 12 months. The maximum price is $65 AUD per month, making it the most economical viewing you’ll ever have of the brightest minds Australia has to offer.

More info on The Speaker Suite here.