Leadership Learning. Creating A Development Plan

Are You Committed To Your Professional Development?

One of the best pieces of career advice I ever received was creating professional development plan.

Similar to building a plan for your business, life or family, investing in your professional development plan is just as important.

Over the years, I have worked with lots of different templates and formats and I have currently landed on this one page format. It is called a role charter and was something a great mentor shared with me years ago and I continue to build upon.

It is slightly different approach to professional development planning and one that is focused on a different outcome. A role charter is a great resource to consider as part of your development plan. Remember, planning does take commitment and investment, it is not a ‘check the box’ activity.

Remember, life is a game never won or lost, only played!

So What Is A Role Charter

A role charter is a way to talk about the experiences you are getting and how you are leading in different ways – what I call primary, secondary and tertiary learnings or experiences. This may include your job, stretch assignments outside of your job or even work you may do outside of your organization in your local community.

Role charters are versatile resources – perhaps meeting a new manager or leader, talk about how you are learning and developing new skills & experiences, and/or a tool to use when considering a new job.  They are a great way tool that you can use with your teams. Leadership is hard and using tools like a role charter is a great format that is easy to maintain, keep updated. It is a 1 page document.

Three things to consider when you create your role charter.

Role Charter: It Is Your Responsibility:

Professional development is your responsibility. While you may get support and resources from your company or manager, it should be a top priority for you. It is a great tool. You own your career and professional development plan.

Role Charter: Consider SPED.

Consider various dimensions when looking creating your role charter. As I go thru this, I tend to think about “SPED” or strengths, passions, experiences & dreams. How do these experiences build on my strengths? Are these creating learnings that I am passionate about? Are these creating new experiences? Am I learning at the rate I would expect or need to be? Also, how do these experiences fit my long term goals (e.g. dreams).

Role Charter: It Is A Living, Breathing Document:

A role charter is not final. It can (and should) be reviewed and revised on a regular basis as your experiences & learnings change and as you are presented with new challenges and opportunities. The most important thing is to start the process and build a plan. Once you have a plan, you can continue to make regular adjustments.

Role Charter: It Grows & Evolves With You:

A role charter is never complete. As you move forward with your career, it will continue to grow with you – roles change & expand, you learn & develop new skills. Learning is a lifelong process and your role charter is a great tool to continue to track learnings & progress.  It is great way to keep track of learnings & experiences that you can include in other resources like your resume or CV.

For those who are interested, I have included a link to it here.

Remember that life is a game never won or lost, only played.