In the latest video on my YouTube channel, I talked about why creating a professional development plan is important. If you want to become a skilled professional, you need to invest in learning and personal development.
In this post, I will share a summary of what’s in my professional development plan so that you can gain inspiration to create yours.
Let’s dig in!
My Overall Professional Goals
I have three main professional goals this year:
- To personally handhold a selected number of young professionals in their career journeys.
- To get another Comms/ PR certificiation.
- To get more pan-African training briefs.
Breaking Down My Goals
I’m sure you already know that setting a goal without an action plan can be compared to wishful thinking. For your professional development plan to work, you need to breakdown your goals.
Here’s a breakdown of mine:
- To personally handhold a selected number of young professionals in their career journeys
While we support Communications professionals in their career journeys through the work we do at The Comms Avenue, I want to handhold a selected number of young professionals and support them to achieve their professional goals.
That’s why I started The Proficient Communicator Series. My plan is to have two closed webinars this year and run two mentorship groups. The first group will kick-off in February and I am looking forward to it!
I also plan to have weekly virtual one on one sessions where I can provide direct career advice. I don’t have numbers attached to this goal. I’ll keep track as I go along but the idea is to do as much as time will permit me to do.
- To get another Comms/ PR certificiation
I started to think about getting another certification in Comms/ PR and the choice for me is between getting a CIPR Diploma or taking the IABC Strategic Communication Management Professional (SCMP) exam. I’m tilting towards the SCMP because I don’t think I am ready for the time and financial commitment that the CIPR Diploma requires. But it’s still part of my long-term plan.
- To get more pan-African training briefs
One thing I did well last year was staying consistent with posting on my YouTube channel. I realised I had a gift for teaching in 2021 and in 2022, I decided to take my YouTube content seriously – not just to share knowledge and teach but also to improve my training skills.
The number of training briefs that have come my way have continued to increase as a result. This year, I want to travel across Africa (and also outside the continent too) to train Comms teams, employees and executives.
To achieve this, I plan to put out more training content on YouTube and apply for more training opportunities. If you come across any, please feel free to send them my way!
Beyond that, I want to stay updated and continue to hone my skills and expertise. This is why I plan to:
- Attend or be part of one paid training per quarter.
- Read one Comms/ PR related book every month.
- Be consistent with the CPD on the CIPR portal. I think this deserves a post of its own because the CIPR has tons of great resources!
- The final one is to attend at least three Comms/ PR conferences this year. My plan will be for one of them to be outside the continent – preferrably Europe. Who knows, I could even be invited to participate as a speaker or facilitator. From my mouth to God’s ears!
Measuring my Goals
If you want to achieve your professional goals for the year, you must be able to track your progress throughout the year.
For me, I am going to track:
- How many books I read per month.
- How many Comms/PR related content I consume – either articles, podcasts or reports.
- The quantity and quality of YouTube videos I release every month. The point isn’t just to post videos but to post videos that will be useful for Comms professionals.
- Monthly steps I take to prepare for the Comms/ PR certification. I know this is particularly going to require a lot of deliberateness from me.
- The number of young Comms professionals I am able to support and the results that come from it.
- The number of trainings I facilitate every quarter. I won’t pressure myself to track this on a monthly basis.
Underlying all of this is prayer and faith in God. I’m always led by God in all that I do and I trust that the Holy Spirit will guide me to achieve these goals and much more.
So, that’s a summary of what is in my professional development plan. I actually have these broken down into more granular details. For example, the number of hours I want to spend every week listening to a podcast or the number of minutes I will spend every day reading a book. This is something I have learnt from James Clear, author of Atomic Habits – breakdown your goals into a system that can be consistently applied.
Let me also add this – focus on your consistency. 2023 taught me the power of consistency. Seemingly little things done repeatedly over a period of time actually brings great results and it helps you to hone your skills. So, commit to being consistent this year. Show up for yourself and put in the work because being consistent in today’s world isn’t easy.
If you’d like to create your professional development plan, you can use this template that I put together. I’ll suggest that you do a skill audit first so that you can also factor in closing any existing skill gaps in your professional development plan.
As always, please don’t hesitate to let me know if you have any questions for me. And if you’d like to have a one on one session with me, you can book here.
