In Summary
Ø Professional growth means targeting growth in your profession.
Ø Aim is to enhance your abilities and skills in the workplace space
Ø It involves continuous learning focused on knowledge acquisition, skill
upgrades, and capabilities to keep up with changing demands in the market.
The four steps to growing yourself
professionally include but not limited to the following;
Ø Having your own vision
Ø Identifying your professional niche
Ø Create your Own values
Ø Learn Leadership Skills
Have Your Own Vision
To grow
professionally. You need to know your starting point and how to proceed from
there. The best place to begin growing yourself professionally is having your
own vision. Assume that you have gone through all relevant trainings in a
specific area. You have attained necessary skills and capabilities to perform
certain functions. And you have entered the marketplace. Ready to build a
career of your choice. Growing professionally does not end with you going
through school and getting yourself to the job market. In fact, that is the
beginning of your professional growth. Your training should not only equip you
to perform certain functions in your field of specialization but also prepare
you for the long journey ahead. The marketplace itself, is a revolving chair. New
things keep coming up all the time. Suggesting that your current skills and
capabilities might use an upgrade.
Having
your own vision should help you to plan your professional path clearly. Your
vision should tell you at what point in your professional journey an upgrade
will be required. This means going out with a mindset that allows you to
incorporate learning as one of the ways to grow professionally. You practice
knowing that you need to create room as you advance in your career to learn. You
cannot remain better with the same skills you acquired 20 years ago. A lot of
things have change in 20 years. You need to appreciate that change by
recognizing areas in your profession that can use learning. Growing professionally
aims at making you proficient. Your skills, abilities, and knowledge need to
match with the demands in the market. You should be able to adapt and solve
problems in the marketplace using the latest knowledge and technologies.
In circumstances
where you find yourself unable to perform your professional responsibilities
using latest knowledge and resources. Make the call. Enroll in a course. Fill up
the inadequate areas. Your vision should prepare you for this moment. Be progressive.
Have knowledge at the back of your mind that tells you things will not remain
constant. Change would be required whether you like it or not. Your comfort
zone will be shaken. Professionally, your comfort zone is shaken when you
cannot perform your duties right because something is lacking. Your own vision
should guide you to missing skills and capabilities. As you progress along the
way. Keep tabs with what is changing in the market. You need to know the skills
the market is looking for in the present moment. That is the role of having
your own vision. To prepare you for a transition in the near future or future. Don't be surprised when learning is demanded along the way. Your vision should make
learning and growing natural for you.
Identify Your Professional Niche
A successful man charting his professional growth/Credit/Moose Photos
You need
to know where your skills and talents are best utilized. The field in which
your skills come across as most relevant. You want to leverage as much as
possible. Take your skills to the niche that best utilizes your talents,
strengths, capabilities, and skills. Working in the correct niche will make
your professional journey empowering. You will have thousands of reasons to
wake up early to get to work. Work in the field(s), which bring out the best in
you. Working in the right niche is growing yourself professionally. You work in
environments that bring the highest job satisfaction and happiness. This is the
only way you will find meaning in your profession. The ability to connect with
your skills and talents. And in the process use them to impact the lives of
other people. Working in the right niche goes a long way in shaping your
professional growth.
It is
only when you are in the right niche that you will know what needs to be added
or subtracted. When you put your skills to work. You learn how happy or
connected you are to the things that you do. This metric tells you whether you
are comfortable with the skills that you already have or not. The right niche
helps you to know when a new skill is needed. If you learn that you no longer
find enough joy in your work as you used to do five years ago. It is perhaps,
time to consider introducing a new challenge to your professional life. Create
room for something new. Create room to grow by enrolling in a course or a new
trade. Narrow down to exact areas in your professional life that need growth. If
for example, you find more opportunities in your niche that ask for more than
one skill. Use those opportunities to determine the skills that are needed to
expand your professional path.
Your vision
should determine the niche you best fit. Further, your vision should inform you
how to launch yourself in your profession. For example, are you effective as an
employee or an owner? Do you want to practice your profession as a small
business offering professional services or do you want to work in a small
business offering professional services? Choosing the right niche goes a long
way in fulfilling your professional needs. Your growth professionally should
come with correct decision making. Decisions about how to launch yourself in the
market. As you can see, growing professionally does not come on its own. Professional
growth calls for exercise. You must put your skills and knowledge on display by
solving problems. The market should know that you fix certain kinds of problems.
Then from that display. You can begin to fill the remaining parts on your
plate. Add what is missing. Minus what is obsolete. Growing professionally
means evolving with time.
You Need Your Own Values
You need
habits and practices that can keep you grounded. You need to embrace
professionalism from day one. You need to develop all the attributes that
define a professional. Someone with a sense of urgency. A disciplined person. Someone
with ethics. You need to fit yourself in a professional package that speaks
about your level of competence. You need to be respected as a professional. You
cannot earn the respect of a professional unless you demonstrate your level of
professionalism. The ability to stop being an ordinary person. Someone who gets
swayed by the wind easily. You cannot be that kind of professional. Someone who
lives unchecked and has no values that ground him/her. You need your restraint
as a professional. Your limits are best drawn with your individual values on
top of the industry's best practices.
A professional table set up for success. Photo/Pixabay
Your own
values are like rules you live by. These are practices and habits that define
just you. You have built your professional life around certain values. Values that
aim to make you the best in your craft and industry. You want to chart your way
to the top. Professionals cultivate their own growth. They work on themselves
on purpose. They tone down their ugly sides on purpose. They choose to
streamline their lives to set up themselves for success. You cannot grow
professionally if you don’t have values. Without values, you are just the next
professional. You don’t know how to make your way out of a crowded place. You just
fit in by squeezing yourself. You don’t want to set yourself apart. However,
when you define your own values. You transition from an average professional to
a focused competent individual.
You own
your art and your profession. You use your values to serve people. You change
the world through your professionalism. You impact lives through your spirit of
excellence. You make your industry a warm and nice workplace with your
integrity. When you have clear values to guide your path as a career person. You
create growth pathways. You make your profession an extravaganza. You are not
just practicing for what is in there for you. You practice your profession for
what it can bring out of you. This is how you accelerate your profession from
money-oriented to mission-oriented. You are there to solve problems. You practice
to ease pain. You practice to fix sticky issues that make people sleepless. You
don’t practice for your own sake. But you get up every morning because people
need your services and contribution. Creating your own values leads you here. It
makes you more than a professional. It makes you extra-ordinary. You make your
mark because these values help you to grow.
Learn Leadership Skills
This is
important. You cannot grow into a meaningful professional if you lack leadership skills. Critical
leadership skills lie in effective communication, problem-solving, critical
thinking, and active listening. You need all of them as a
professional. You need to communicate clearly. You need effective communication
skills. The ability to communicate your thoughts clearly. If there are things
you don’t like about your profession or workplace. You should be in a position
to point them out. Other people should not have a problem understanding you. You
should be in a position to express your needs properly. Therefore, growing
professionally also means learning leadership skills. Most people do not begin
their professions with these skills. They develop them along the way. If you
are looking to be a total package in your profession, prioritize leadership
skills.
Learn
proper listening skills. Pay attention in your work. Listen to people. Aim to
understand what they are saying. Open up communication channels. Allow other
people to communicate freely. Let information flow from all directions. Ensure that
you communicate properly to your team. Information should reach each team
member at the same time. Find the most ideal communication technique that is
accessible to everyone. Don’t create silos among your team. Let information
flow. Let people understand each other. Give clear instructions that allow
other people to complete their work properly. Communicate better. Listen better.
Solve problems when they arise. Think properly. You cannot grow professionally
if you are not a better thinker. You need to open up your mind. See the market
with clear eyes. Work with reality. Don’t be a wishful thinker. Use reality to
make decisions.
Make growth
deliberate. Innovate as a professional. Don’t remain in the same space and
position all your career years. Chart paths for progress. Begin as an employee.
However, you don’t have to end as an employee. Learn how people build
successful businesses. Learn what a successful professional practice entails. Determine
whether you are ready to lead. Establish whether you are ready to own. Growing deliberately
in your profession will lead you to the table. Improving each day will chart a
fulfilling career for you. You will become an in-demand professional. Sharpen your
skills. Make your practice attractive. Learn leadership skills. Learn new
skills. Develop your talents. Inspire people to do better. Change your workplace. Make
your workplace innovative. Make it attractive. By instilling values, vision, and leadership. Don’t be everywhere at the same time. Grow your
profession by following these four steps. And watch yourself become indispensable.
A cutting-edge professional that rises
to the occasion.
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