Professional Development Guide Introduction

Professional Development Guide
Introduction
Professional development refers to the process of identifying goals and learning new skills to help you grow and succeed at work. Professional development may lead to a promotion or change in job, or simply to doing better in a current position. Wherever it leads you, professional development includes these elements: creating a vision of success, knowledge of the skills required to succeed, formal or informal assessments, and an individual development plan. This guide is designed to take you through each of these elements.
Who should use this guide?
This professional development guide is designed for anyone who is ready to take the necessary steps towards his or her learning and growth. It is also a guide for managers on how to support the development of their team members.
How do I use this guide?
Getting around:
For the best learning experience, follow each section of the guide in order.
At the bottom of each screen, you will find a link to move forward to the next page and a link to move back.
There are additional navigation links to all the sections of the guide on the left side of each screen.
Printing the Professional Development Workbook:
You will be using a workbook to complete exercises during the professional development planning process. Click here to download and print the workbook.
Guide Outline

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  Set Your Direction – Create a vision of a future profession or job, based on your values, experiences and aspirations.
  
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  Identify Competencies – Define the skills that are most important to succeed in the profession or job you are targeting.
  
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  Self-Assessment – Assess your competency strengths and weaknesses as they relate to your target.
  
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  Individual Development Plan – Set professional growth goals that address your development needs.
  
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  Implementation – Take action and stay on course with your development plan.
  

Remember that you will need your Professional Development Workbook to complete the activities included in this guide. Click here to download and print your workbook.