How to Own Your Professional Learning
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When we think of professional development, we often imagine formal trainings like conferences or workshops. Or maybe you take a course. Then you end up with a certificate for the knowledge you have attained. But what if we had a bigger definition of professional development?
Professional development is about more than just skills.
It also includes our values, mindsets, beliefs, and actions. It’s what happens every time you learn and grow professionally.
There are so many ways you can own your professional development.
You can engage in book studies or book clubs and wrestle with ideas in-depth through dialogue.
These books don’t have to be in connected to your profession. Some of the best innovation happens when you borrow ideas from other domains.
You can also engage in professional learning on the go by listening to podcasts or audiobooks.
This allows you to think conceptually and hear new ideas while you’re in your car or on a run.
There’s also “pajama pd” where you attend online courses or webinars from home.
These might be synchronous with scheduled video chats or asynchronous and with self-paced assignments.
You might choose to engage in content curation, where you geek out on different topics, ideas, or strategies. Curation involves that overlap between having a critical eye while also celebrating what you love. Curators know how to explore great resources, organize the ideas, and ultimately share those strategies with others.
On a more social level, you can join a community of practice where you share resources and ideas and talk about your experiences.
This might be a private online group with virtual meet-ups. But it can also be in-person at a networking event or with a group of colleagues over coffee. You might attend an un-conference, where you have no keynotes and no lectures. Instead, members engage in open-ended small group discussions.
You can also set personal goals and monitor your progress. For accountability purposes, you might create a mastermind group. A mastermind group is a close-knit closed group of 4-6 people where each person has equal status. Members have equal time to share their goals, their progress, their challenges, and their ideas.
Some of the best professional development might be in your own building. It’s what happens when you observe someone else at work and practice the strategies they model. In some cases, engaging in mentoring, which can help guide reflection, lead to paradigm shifts, and allow for an exchange of ideas.
Another option is action research, where you pose a question, examine research, experiment with a strategy, analyze results, and ultimately you share it with others.
You might also engage in advocacy. Here, you could join a professional organization and help change the systems or policies around you.
You might create a blog, a podcast, or a series of videos for others in your field.
By sharing your expertise, you are more reflective on your craft.
Sometimes professional development is simply self-care. When you go on walks or do yoga your mind makes connections between unrelated ideas. And when you have a creative endeavor outside of your job, you end up developing new skills you can use in your profession.
Ultimately, professional development is deeply personal and idiosyncratic. There is no single right way to do it. And you can own this process by being intentional and self-directed.