Time for self development

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The New Year demands that strategic plans, budgets and performance reviews are firmly in place and DBM strongly recommends adding your own Development Plan to the list. Self Development is an important factor in achieving your career aspirations and ambitions so deserves the same disciplined approach as setting targets and reviewing goals for key areas of the business.

Self Development is where you take primary responsibility for your learning and the means to achieve it. Compiling and reviewing a Development Plan will encourage you to focus on the skills (within and without your industry) you will need to achieve future goals.

Relying on ad hoc courses to do this for you is dangerous and will most often fail to deliver the career progression you are looking for. Having all of this in place will give you greater control over your future so you can capitalise on the myriad of opportunities that the changing world of work offers to those who choose to control their own destiny. One CEO could only recall only one meeting in the last 6 years that focused on his career development - something he mentioned was fairly typical in his industry.

The CEO of one service company believes there is a strategic reason for encouraging his team members to focus on their Self Development. Recognising that an organisation needs to offer appealing non-financial benefits to attract and retain key talent, he includes a Self Development discussion in the annual review process.

His objective is to differentiate his organisation as an employer of choice by paying attention to the support individuals need to grow; for one manager this was a public speaking programme, for another the organisation sponsored an MBA program. As roles within the organisation continued to change several senior managers benefited from working with an Executive Coach.

As the turnover of CEOs remains at a relatively high level (14.5% according to research by Booz Allen Hamilton, 50% up on turnover recorded in 2002/2003), Self Development plays a key role in staying ahead of the game. In situations where roles change or when moving to a new organisation, setting goals will create a focused strategic plan to help you improve and make significant professional developments. Here are some recommendations you may want to include:

Identify the areas you want to focus on: career progression for one General Manager was the result of tenacity and sheer hard work. But as he approached his mid-40s he became increasing aware of his lack of formal academic qualifications. Although this was not an issue, he knew that if he decided to look outside of the organisation he would be competing with young talent with formal qualifications. He approached the Chartered Institute of Civil Engineers and was delighted to find out that his experience would be taken into account and replaced the need to study for several modules on an accredited program.

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Time for self development - an essential tool for those striving to reach their goals.
Posted by MASHOOR M. REYAL, DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES on Tuesday 26 February 2008 at 09:54 UAE time


This is indeed an invaluable and good food for thought.

One must have a set goal in his or her life to prosper which must be able to be applied both in his or her career as well as one's own persponal life.

If you don't have a set goal in everything what you would undertake to perform, life becomes boring and uninteresting.

CONGRATULATIONS, SIR!!
Posted by RAJENDRA ANEJA, DUBAI, UAE on Monday 25 February 2008 at 17:39 UAE time


BRILLIANT ARTICLE. PLEASE ACCEPT MY COMPLIMENTS!!

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