Professional Growth, A Key To Getting More

By Author: Tai Roylance
Total Articles: 300
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When you started out in your career you probably thought that you can figure things out as you go along, then you realized that in order to move up the corporate ladder you would have to stay current with the latest trends and finally you hope and pray that someone will notice your efforts and reward you for all your hard work.
Are you still waiting?
This is the trap that many people find themselves in at one point or another in their careers when it dawns on them things are not going as planned. So what do you do now? What kind of things will spur your career forward? Well, let’s talk about a few things you could be doing that will pay off now and potentially for the long haul; it’s all about professional growth.
• Getting more education – Now depending on how much time and energy you can commit to this endeavor is many times directly proportional to the amount of improvement in your career opportunities. To be fair, some professions will get more out of this than others and it ultimately depends on where you are already as there is only so much education you can add once you are a PhD.
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... is no doubt that getting your degree will make a difference in your career opportunities, you can still realize some significant gains by taking a few classes or attending specialized training seminars. On the seminar route, I particularly like Skill Path as they offer very strong training in immediately applicable areas like basic financial accounting, Adobe Photoshop and various management topics. Skill path is also heavily used by Fortune 500 companies so you know it’s good.
• Collaborating on projects - Routine is a creativity killer because you often end up in a rut and miss opportunities to innovate, meaning it’s time to see what else you can do. Utilizing your pent up creativity on an exciting project will give you a different perspective on your everyday work life that you can leverage later.
Another benefit of being part an outside project is the chance to learn new skills, sometimes you realize ones you didn’t even know you had! This often leads to better opportunities down the road because depending on what the project was about it can be listed on your resume or help increase your chances of a promotion – now that’s some professional growth.
• Making connections with others to open your mind – When you go beyond networking with those in your industry and start looking for people or groups who offer a different take on generally accepted concepts you can often uncover amazing insights that potentially lead to real innovation. Taking a practice from another industry and applying it in a unique way to your field has historically led to breakthroughs. To put all this simply, be willing to experiment and take a risk – a concept lacking in many arenas because no one wants to be seen as a failure if it doesn’t work out. You have to take calculated risks sometimes to see what works and what doesn’t – essentially a concept from the scientific world as well as inventors that would serve the corporate world tremendously if they could only let down their guard long enough to open up.
This can also be accomplished by changing your environment temporarily and experiencing new things. One concept a favorite business writer of mine, Dan Kennedy, really pushes is reading for pleasure. Why, because reading stories will give your mind time to wander, especially your subconscious mind, where new ideas or solutions to problems can be realized after some reflection of what the author is trying to say. As an example of how this works, is a story of any type is often a key to helping others understand a strange or difficult concept. Some of the best jokes are in story form. Take different stories from different sources and create your own story line – the results might surprise you.
So, to wrap this up for everyone, professional growth has a multitude of forms depending on what you’re into and feel is important to your long-term success. I only covered a few ways here, some of my favorites, mainly because they work. The important thing is that you put some effort into growing professionally – the dividends you will realize from the time spent will pay off over and over again – don’t be afraid to try new things. Professional growth is a marathon, not a sprint plus you should also enjoy the journey so have fun.
If you have some ways beyond what was presented here, please share so we can learn from each other – another reason we are here on this planet because no person is an island.
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