Every year, I’m faced with the challenge of setting goals to push myself to grow not just in my career but aligns in my broader life vision. In the past few years, I’ve been trying to take a structured yet flexible (in case I need a lazy day..) approach in creating my personal development plan. This is currently the steps I follow to create my development plan.
Step 1: The Big Picture
I start by identifying my main goal for the next 1-2 years. For example; Get a promotion. Even better if you have a life vision or mission and your goal aligns to these.
Step 2: Brainstorming
Next, I brainstorm different objectives to achieve said goal, using prioritisation methods like PIE, ICE, CAKE or whatever prioritisation scoring works for you. Use that as a guide and your gut feeling to identify what you want to be working on first that will bring you closer to your goal.
For example, if the promotion is the goal, the objective might include achieving “High performance” in KPI your metrics, launching a successful project, etc.
Step 3: Skill-Gathering
Then, I consider what skills are necessary to achieve these objectives. For a promotion, this could mean leadership skills, advanced project management capabilities, communication skills or even technical skills relevant to the next role I am aiming for.
Step 4: A Personal SWOT Analysis
Doing a SWOT Analysis on myself was eye-opening. It’s about being brutally honest about your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Not being honest in this step lowers its effectiveness.
Step 5: Bridging the Gap
Using the needed skills and SWOT Analysis, pinpoint which weaknesses to tackle first. For instance, if communication is a weakness but crucial for the next role, that becomes a priority.
Step 6: SMART Goals for Skill Development
For each skill, I outlined a plan for development into SMART goals. So, for improving communication, a goal could be to attend a workshop and take notes on the workshop. Then note down how your use of these new skills at work impacts conversations or meetings you have for the month.
Tip: for 5-6 you can use ChatGPT to help you. Use your SWOT to provide you with an outline of the SMART development plan to help you get started.
Reflection and Feedback
I also found it invaluable to have someone review my plan or just simply share it with a team member. Feedback is gold!
This method of personal development planning has helped me simplify and organise my thoughts when it comes to planning my growth. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with all the things we need to learn, especially when technology is moving so fast these days. It’s logical, adaptable, and—most importantly—it works for me. But I’m always looking to improve. How do you plan your growth? Do you have a system, or do you prefer to take things as they come? I’d love to hear your thoughts and strategies.