What is Professional Development?

[Monirul Islam]

Professional development can help you advance in your career and may come in the form of formal learning, which includes coursework and internships or apprenticeships, or informal learning, which may include activities such as attending conferences and seminars or networking.

Career counsellor and Assistant Director of the Wackerle Career and Leadership Centre Stephanie Kinkaid believes that everyone can benefit from the development of professional skills.

"Professional development consists of education, observation and mentoring that can help to enhance the employees in a workplace. It might include training sessions or graduate classes, spending time with a mentor to observe how others handle conflict or challenges, or mentoring someone else who might be new to the field," she says.

Sometimes, says Kinkaid, the learning process also occurs when employees are away from the workplace. For instance, volunteering for a local organisation, serving on a board for a non-profit, or serving on a school's PTA committees are all ways in which employees develop professionally while not on the job.

Of course, how you choose to tackle your professional development depends on your personal career goals and preferred style of learning.
Maybe you want to deepen your knowledge in a specific area to increase your earning potential, or perhaps your industry is quickly evolving and you need to stay up to date with the latest developments, or maybe you're interested in taking your career in an entirely different direction and will need to learn new skills and gain recognised qualifications.

Your industry, level of experience and position within a company should also factor into your professional development plan, as managers often need to tackle their professional development in a different way than employees would.

Professional development for employees
As an employee, much of your professional development will focus on setting personal professional goals and putting the training provided by your company to good use. Learning more about your company's goals and objectives may also be a part of your professional development, particularly if you intend to remain with the same company and work your way up the ranks.

Professional development for managers
Like employees, managers must also set personal professional goals and work towards them, but in addition to this, they must also promote the development of employees and look for ways to improve their team's skills.

"A manager is only as good as those who are employed by him or her," says Kinkaid. "So offering opportunities for employees to improve is vital to the organisation's success."

Another different pursuit of development for managers, says Kinkaid, is the acquisition of skills related to managing, such as improving communication, teamwork and conflict management abilities. It can also be helpful for the entire team to attend personality assessment activities, as this allows both managers and employees to learn about the dynamics of the group.

Source: https://www.opencolleges.edu.au/careers/professional-development