Personal Development Plans

When you have a clear understanding of what you bring to an organization, you become an empowered individual who uses today’s projects to build tomorrow’s skills. Using the influence model in career development will give you an extra, powerful tool to achieve your career objectives.
The Three Steps of Career Development
Having a written career development plan with specific goals is important. But first you must understand yourself and your options.
1. Understanding yourself. By developing an accurate picture of yourself, you are better able to educate others to what you can do. You can also demonstrate your potential for future learning. This step begins with the influence behavior of assertiveness. Identify clearly the key skills that you use now and have used in the past. How can you leverage them now?
2. Understanding your options. Today’s businesses are constantly changing, and the most successful professionals regularly seek to leverage those changes to achieve personal goals. It’s not enough just to do a great job at work. Developing multiple career goals will help you look into the future and be ready for the changes that will take place. Create opportunities for yourself by taking deliberate action. Network within your organization and the industry in which you work. Where will the industry be two and a half years from now? Whom can you talk with in your organization to find out more?
3. Understanding your next steps. Once you’ve identified your career goals, you are ready to develop your career development plan. Your plan must be written and measurable with a specific time frame for completion. Once this plan is outlined, speak with your boss or a mentor in the organization. Gathering feedback and support for your plan is a key link to achieving your goals.
Using Influence Strategies
Once you have written your career development plan, it is time to put it into action using influence skills.
Sharon feels that she has reached a plateau in her career and has decided that she wants some new experiences. She wants to influence her boss to allow her to attend a three-day professional conference and have the company pay for it.
1. Assert. State your objectives clearly and directly.
Sharon’s boss likes direct talk, so she approaches him with a plan of action. She states when, where, why and how her objective will be achieved.
“Joel, you know that I really want to attend the Technology Conference next month. We’re lucky to have it in town this year, and it will be a great benefit to my continued learning and my on-the-job performance. If I could have your signature on these forms, then the accounting department can send the $60 fee with my registration.”
2. Suggest. Many people develop concerns when new ideas are presented to them. This is a natural step in an influence situation. Your challenge is to suggest solutions that are relevant to the concerns.
Joel is worried that Sharon will fall behind in her work by missing three days of work while at the conference and questions how the rest of her group will benefit by her attendance. She has anticipated Joel’s concerns and presents her suggestions.
“First, I will make sure that my priorities are delegated to the other members of the group while I’m gone. Second, as soon as I return, I will have a brief meeting with my group to report what I’ve learned and how it can be applied to our present and future projects.”
3. Create a Vision. Paint a picture of the positive repercussions that will occur when the person you’re influencing agrees with you.
Sharon notices that Joel is impressed by her forethought but still may be wavering over the decision. She knows she’ll get his approval by demonstrating at least one of the important effects that his decision will have.
“It’s important that you support me in my continued learning. If you were to do so, I would definitely feel valued by you and the company, which really motivates me to do my best work.”
By creating a career development plan and actively involving influence strategies in that plan, you implement a powerful tool for your career advancement. Whether you are at a plateau or just beginning in your career, a strong, written plan accompanied by your practice of influence skills will help you reach your goals.

admin Uncategorized Career Development, Career Plan, Corporate Advancement, Influence, Negotiation, Persuasion

Copyright (c) 2008 GainMore Advantage
Every single thing you do and say has a degree of influence on you and on others. You are part of their external environment. You even exert a small degree of gravitational force on others, indeed, you exert gravitational force on the planet! Not a lot admittedly, but your mass does attract other mass. You knew that you should have paid attention in science class now. Just as aside, it’s quite a useful factoid for use when you have gained a few pounds of weight – you do so in order to become more attractive! That’s put paid to the glamour magazines.
The same is true for other people exerting their influence over you. Everything that other people say or do is a part of your external environment and that exerts an influence in turn over your behaviour.
The external environment beyond other human beings, also has some influence over you. The weather for example – when it is raining, it is quite likely that you would alter your ‘normal’ behaviour by carrying an umbrella, or wearing a rain-proof coat. You know for sure that the weather can have a major influence over your golf. When there is lightening, you would wisely move away from the fairways under the trees or into the clubhouse. Being struck by lightening is one influence that everyone can do without.
The problem with influence is that human beings have a tendency to assume that there is little you can do to change the way something influences you. Well, let me put this straight. You can and you do. Let us take an example of something that influences us and we do something about it – almost fight its influence on our lives. One that affects us all and that is our friend gravity. You see, gravity is ever present in our lives – there are a few exceptions but since that involves travelling into space I think I can safely assume that does not include you. If, by chance you have traveled into space – my question is – how far can you hit a drive out there? Must be awesome.
Back to earth. Gravity is a pretty constant force acting on our bodies – in order to combat the effects of gravity we develop muscles and utilise energy to stand against it. We truly appreciate how much effort is involved in keeping our body upright and moving only after suffering some physical damage, such as breaking a leg, even stubbing a toe let alone paralysis. When we are reasonably fit and well, we think little or nothing of getting up from a chair and walking, and most of the time, we do all this unconsciously. We have programmed our brain to take care of operating the correct muscles, keeping balance, walking, and all the while supplying those muscles and cells with energy through breathing and circulating our blood. If you had to consciously work out how to do everything we take fro granted, your conscious mind would be so occupied, nothing else would get done.
What’s the point of this? Well, it’s simple really – there are many many things occurring in your life, including when you practice and play golf, that influence your behaviour. Some things, like gravity, the weather, daylight, animals we cannot change. and we can choose to what extent we allow such to affect us and our behaviours. We can choose to be at cause for ourselves or at the effect of the environment and others. In other words, I’m disabling your potential for ‘excuses’.
Five Levels of Influence
There are, according to John C. Maxwell, five levels of influence – each with their own rights and each with their power to influence.
Level 1 – Position – This is when you have the positional authority (aka power) over someone else and they have to follow because of the power relationship. The most familiar situation when this is displayed is between children and their parent – in the never ending cycle of “why do I have to?” the exasperated parent running short of arguments or more frequently, time, responds “because I said so!” never an effective nor motivational response, but it sums up how leaders finally resort to this positional power to cause someone else to have to do something.
Level 2 – Permission – based on relationships – where people follow because they want to as they have a good relationship with you
Level 3 – Production – based on results that you have demonstrably achieved for the organisation. People follow because of what you have done for the organisation
Levels 4 – People Development – based on reproduction – people follow because of what you have done for them personally. This is the top level for most people and is only achieved with those you have personally developed – though your reputation for enabling others to excel will allow a superior level 3 (results)
Level 5 – Person-hood – based on respect – sadly very very few people will ever achieve this. Many aspire to this level – often disenfranchised level 1 leaders who consider that others should simply respect them. Leaders who demand ‘respect’ from authority rather than earn the genuine respect and admiration of others through their actions and continual display of care and concern for others, the organisation and standing up for forthright and important values.
Your ability to influence others is often misunderstood at best, and reliant on ‘luck’ at worst. Few leaders understand their position of influence with each of their constituents and fewer still, work a deliberate plan to increase their influential effectiveness with others.
In a future article I’ll discuss how you lift your level of influence…

admin Uncategorized Influence, Leader, Leadership, Personal Development, Position, Power, Results