In a time of great marketplace opportunity and competition, yet continual diversity challenges, it is imperative that young African American professionals write and stick to a professional development strategy for their careers. I have seen some of the best and brightest undergraduate students, MBAs, and experienced professionals in their battle to stay competitive and upwardly mobile, lose their focus, neglect their individual professional development efforts, and often slip into mediocre performance. Ultimately the lack of a professional development strategy will lead even the best professional in a fog about his/her future and hinder many from taking necessary steps to continually advance and develop professionally. Smart and ambitious professionals need to always have a professional development strategy in place, and if they do not, at some point by default you may set into motion a process of long-term professional decline.
Today I facilitated an intense training/group coaching session on professional development strategy with Howard's Society of Collegiate Black Men organization. This group of polished and successful Howard men asked for a serious "executive level" presentation that was transparent and similar to that of some of my executive coaching and alumni sessions. The session was for two hours and covered in detail many of the concepts and issues behind developing and implementing a professional development strategy (PDS).
Some of the key concepts we discussed in our session:
Setting your goals to the highest of standards, and examine why you may have a problem in setting high goals for your career. This segment included a short discussion of various people, factors and influences present and past that may have influenced their thinking about themselves and may have caused them to lower their professional standards or expectations.
Setting high goals of salary expectations, wealth accumulation, and securing of financial resources. We discussed this in light of the fact that with high resource expectations, they must do a serious review and develop a detailed plan to identify and access resources, understand the market value of their talents across industries and remember the power of information, accessing and developing excellent council around them. We discussed how the great wealth of advisers, mentors, and scholars around them, particularly while in college could assist them in clarifying their goals, developing their plans and the healthy expectations necessary to move forward effectively.
We reviewed professional assessment instruments like the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, that would assist them in effectively gaging their leadership and performance styles and preferences, and ultimately how they can better manage how they may be showing up and interacting with others.
We also discussed establishing quality mentorships, and the critical aspect of approaching potential mentors by volunteering to serve them, adding value to the relationship, and ultimately proving themselves as worthy of the personal time and commitment of the chosen mentor. We discussed how people like to mentor people who remind them of themselves, and who like them also value character, work hard, service, intelligence, and the highest levels of professional follow-through.
We discussed the importance of establishing lines for feedback and accountability with employers, faculty, peers of value, mentors, and career coaches.
We discussed accountability, both to themselves and others that invest time and resources in their strategy.
We discussed separating themselves from mediocre thought, and people. Instead I recommended that they invest their time and commitments to the development and mastery of targeted information, development of new and invigorating professional networks, all of which would assist in their growth and ultimate value in the marketplace.
A theme throughout the session however was the importance of altering their mindset or paradigm around levels of success, and resources that they had access too. One of the key take backs for them from the session was if you are willing to invest the time and commitment to do the research, sacrifice, work hard, ask smart questions and brainstorm with peers, mentors, and available coaches that the development of resources becomes much more realistic and obtainable.
Today I facilitated an intense training/group coaching session on professional development strategy with Howard's Society of Collegiate Black Men organization. This group of polished and successful Howard men asked for a serious "executive level" presentation that was transparent and similar to that of some of my executive coaching and alumni sessions. The session was for two hours and covered in detail many of the concepts and issues behind developing and implementing a professional development strategy (PDS).
Some of the key concepts we discussed in our session:
Setting your goals to the highest of standards, and examine why you may have a problem in setting high goals for your career. This segment included a short discussion of various people, factors and influences present and past that may have influenced their thinking about themselves and may have caused them to lower their professional standards or expectations.
Setting high goals of salary expectations, wealth accumulation, and securing of financial resources. We discussed this in light of the fact that with high resource expectations, they must do a serious review and develop a detailed plan to identify and access resources, understand the market value of their talents across industries and remember the power of information, accessing and developing excellent council around them. We discussed how the great wealth of advisers, mentors, and scholars around them, particularly while in college could assist them in clarifying their goals, developing their plans and the healthy expectations necessary to move forward effectively.
We reviewed professional assessment instruments like the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, that would assist them in effectively gaging their leadership and performance styles and preferences, and ultimately how they can better manage how they may be showing up and interacting with others.
We also discussed establishing quality mentorships, and the critical aspect of approaching potential mentors by volunteering to serve them, adding value to the relationship, and ultimately proving themselves as worthy of the personal time and commitment of the chosen mentor. We discussed how people like to mentor people who remind them of themselves, and who like them also value character, work hard, service, intelligence, and the highest levels of professional follow-through.
We discussed the importance of establishing lines for feedback and accountability with employers, faculty, peers of value, mentors, and career coaches.
We discussed accountability, both to themselves and others that invest time and resources in their strategy.
We discussed separating themselves from mediocre thought, and people. Instead I recommended that they invest their time and commitments to the development and mastery of targeted information, development of new and invigorating professional networks, all of which would assist in their growth and ultimate value in the marketplace.
A theme throughout the session however was the importance of altering their mindset or paradigm around levels of success, and resources that they had access too. One of the key take backs for them from the session was if you are willing to invest the time and commitment to do the research, sacrifice, work hard, ask smart questions and brainstorm with peers, mentors, and available coaches that the development of resources becomes much more realistic and obtainable.
Spiritual grounding and Prayer. Enough said.
We of course had a worksheet for writing their goals, discussed establishing "hard" times lines etc., but what I believe the heart of the session was about was establishing the critical mental frameworks necessary in building a successful professional development strategy.
KRW
We of course had a worksheet for writing their goals, discussed establishing "hard" times lines etc., but what I believe the heart of the session was about was establishing the critical mental frameworks necessary in building a successful professional development strategy.
KRW
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