Archives: August 2016

Have you got the development habit?

With the world of work these days in constant turmoil, individuals must have their own coping strategies. Here are five to keep on your agenda.

Know Yourself: Stay in touch with what you are really good at. Take surveys and, above all, get others to tell you what they see, both your strengths and weaknesses. Although it is always good to work on your weaknesses, don’t forget your strengths make up your present Brand. They give you a strong platform to build on. Developing mastery in your areas of strength means you can stand out in your profession, which is always a good insurance for the future.
Be on the lookout for different future possibilities: Don’t assume that the future is going to be just like the past +or- a bit. Every now and then, there will be a game changer in your industry, like an Uber or an Air BNB. Make sure you stay tuned in to what’s going on in your industry and profession, by joining networks, social media groups, blogs and magazine subscriptions. Keep talking and asking.
Set up your own Personal University: There is a wealth of knowledge and experience out there. What we all need is our own network of contacts that can keep us on track. Maybe you need subject matter experts who can share their wisdom, maybe you need someone to be a coach or mentor, maybe you need someone to hold us to our commitments. Work out what help you need, and ask for it!
Use work for development: Training courses are important, but your work place is where you get serious about using new ideas. Every work assignment you do can be a development experience if you do it in a way that stretches you. Reframe your project slightly so that you end up doing it differently, or simply reflect on things as they happen. There’s a world of experience out there – exploit it.
Celebrate and keep moving: Please do pat yourself on the back when you’ve reached a development milestone – you may even have a member of your personal university to help with that. But don’t forget, development is a mindset, not a destination. Once you reach a new level, you can see what else there is to know.

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The world of learning is changing

In traditional personal development, you develop goals around current career roles you aspire to. With the robotization of just about everything, and the relentless pace of change in business, who knows what will happen to our jobs in the future? In the future shape of personal development we anticipate trends and position ourselves to be ready for whatever roles emerge in the looming reshaping of jobs that is ahead.

There’s loads of stuff out there

There was a time when you could only get development input from teachers, books, libraries. No longer. The good news is there is massive choice of material – You Tube, Google, your favorite guru on Twitter, TED Talks, the Khan Academy….The bad news is you can get overwhelmed with input. In the future shape of personal development we get good at finding new content to fit our needs – this should probably get taught this as a topic in it own right!

Personalised learning

We all have our own reservoir of experience that we have accumulated over the years. So how do we build on what we’ve got, to get to our next level? Personalised learning is the answer – TPC’s assessment process finds what the next level of development is for us. That’s what we use our excellence audit for, and we advise drawing on the opinions of others, to provoke us what to do next.

Personal University

What keeps you moving forwards? Who do you know who can help you?

People you know, who know things you don’t know, are a great place to start.
How about people who would approach situations in a completely differently to the way you do?
Maybe what you need is someone to keep your honest, and do what you say will do?

Building up a tranche people who complement you, who can join you on your development journey, is an essential aspect of the future shape of personal development. They are a key part of the self development picture.

Work Based Learning

Adults’ natural inclination is to solve problems that matter to them. Learning that is situated in your workplace kills two birds with one stone. It gets the job done, and it stretches your thinking so that you develop yourself. Our TPC action learning methodology shows you how to incorporate learning into your daily business.

Our Excellence Academy exploits all of these concepts. It’s TPC’s version of the future shape of personal development, and it’s affordable an accessible to all. Sign up here for our next webinar . or register for the next program here.