How many of us make the time to plan our own learning and development?
Those involved in training and developing people are usually great at planning learning activities for other people but not so great at thinking about what learning they need to do in order to reach their goals (if they have goals that is!).
Consider what happens if you fail to plan – generally events do not turn out as well as if you had planned them. Think about a birthday party for a child. If you fail to plan any games, food or drink, chaos is likely to occur! The same is true for your own professional development.
There will always be extra learning events which take place during the year. For example a conference or training event you didn’t anticipate attending. If you have your own professional development plan, you can make sure that any additional learning fits in with your overall learning goals.
Take time out to plan your learning – maybe use the opportunity of your work appraisal to think about what you want to achieve and how you are going to achieve your goals.
