Step 3: Act
Welcome to the Action step. This might be where you spend the majority of your time, since in many ways you are constantly taking action towards what’s next; however, it’s important to be intentional about how and in which direction you put your time and energy. Take the insights you gained in the Learn and Evaluate steps and create SMART goals for the specific skills, knowledge, and abilities you need to develop as well as specific action steps you need to take to achieve those goals. Use this information to map out a realistic, achievable timeline, share it with a trusted mentor or wise counselor, then get to work taking steps towards achieving your goals.
Here are some tools to get started:
Goal-Setting for Intentional Growth
Setting SMART, strategic goals is a professional skill set in itself and should not be taken lightly. Before you set your goals, watch the following webinar on How to Set Goals the Right Way and read this piece on writing Intention Statements.
How to Upskill and Find Stretch Assignments
As you work on your professional development, there will be many opportunities to develop skills and knowledge. You might need to have a conversation with your manager to share your goals and identify stretch assignments. You may need to seek out training or certifications or even a graduate degree. You might need to look for opportunities through professional organizations or civic/volunteer opportunities. Don’t limit yourself to your specific role, and remember that you are ultimately responsible for your growth.
Take a look at the following webinar on Creating a Plan to Grow Your Professional Skill Set by HR professional and alumnus Ryan Smith (‘13) and then go back to your goals worksheet. Where can you seek out growth opportunities to help you to reach your goals?
Why You Should Seek Out Short-term Mentorship
Seeking out and building relationships with mentors, sponsors, and other support resources is a great way to support your growth and gather feedback. We know that finding mentors can be challenging, and that’s why we love the idea of short-term mentoring. Using what you have learned about your values, strengths, and 30-60-90 day goals, as well as the goals you set for intentional growth, think about who the people are in your network who can help you move forward with intention. Read this article to learn more about how to seek out short-term mentorship.
Also, watch this micro webinar on how to seek out the short-term mentorship that you need and want:
AI can be a great tool to use as a career thought partner. Check out the following AI prompts that you can use to help you move through Step 3 of the LEARN Model as you develop a professional development plan to grow your skill set for where you want to be next in your career.
Task (What you’re trying to accomplish in partnership with AI): Goal-setting, prioritization, action planning
AI Strengths (How AI can serve as your thought partner): Idea generation, writing assistance, generating outline or goals
Human Strengths (What you bring to the task that AI can’t do): Purpose-driven writing, knowing what matters, decision-making, aligning personal motivations with professionals goals
Prompts for Creating a Professional Development Plan:
- “I am currently working in [job role/title, company, industry]. I want to make a career change to work in [job role/title, company, industry]. Here is a summary of my current experience and skills, plus here is a sample job description for the type of role I would like to transition into. Suggest a professional development plan with goals and learning opportunities to develop my skill set over the next six months.”
- “Can you guide me through a reflection exercise to help me discern my next career move? I know I want to make a change, but am unclear about where I should go next. I would like to do this in an ongoing conversational way – so please just ask me one question at a time and let me process and reflect in real time.”
- “I am interested in becoming a manager at my organization in the [insert industry] one day. Suggest skills that I should develop to prepare for a leadership role.”
- “What [courses, articles, training, certifications, degrees] would you suggest I engage with to prepare for taking on a [job role, manager role, etc.]?”
- “Tell me more strategies for developing my skill set in [job role, industry]. Be specific and link to free resources that I might be able to use.”
Action Planning: Act to Intentionally Grow & Develop
Now that you’ve spent some time examining your current skills, knowledge areas, and competencies, and identified the gaps and people you need to fill to move forward, complete this planning worksheet.