Why career development matters & how to drive yours

Would you be happy doing your current job for the rest of your working days? 

It might be okay for a few years, but eventually, you'll get bored and restless. You'll have mastered the role and be craving new challenges. 

Your career should never stand still. You need to empower yourself to learn new skills, step outside your comfort zone, explore new challenges, and grow. 

This empowerment is a key factor in taking control of your professional life, feeling confident in your career decisions, and being fulfilled by your work.

This is all part of career development – and it's essential if you want to thrive in your career and life. 

In this article, we'll explore how you can plan your career development, what a career development program is, how it works, and how it can benefit both employees and employers. 

What is career development?

Career development is the process of learning and developing your skills, finding purpose in your work, and advancing your career. It's not a "once and done" process, but a continuous journey throughout your professional life. 

Career development can also refer to how a company develops its employees. For example, some companies run leadership programs, mentorships, and secondments. These are part of bigger career development strategies to attract, nurture and retain talent, and create leaders. 

Why you need a career development program: Benefits for employees and employers

Career development is crucial for both individuals and employers. Let's take a look at the benefits to both:

Why is career development important for individuals?

Career development enables skill enhancement and personal growth, leading to greater job satisfaction, engagement, and career advancement. 

Let's break it down: 

1. Career development gives you life-long employability: In today's fast-paced, rapidly evolving job market, keeping your skills and knowledge as up-to-date as possible to ensure you stay relevant is essential. Career development enables you to acquire new skills and knowledge that can keep you competitive. This gives you more job security in the face of restructures, job losses, and economic downturns. 

2. Career development makes you more engaged and satisfied: You feel motivated and inspired when you have clear goals and a plan for your career progression. You're also more likely to feel more engaged in your work because you know it's leading to something bigger. Whether taking on challenging projects or trying out leadership for the first time, these opportunities can make your job more rewarding and enjoyable. 

3. Career development leads to career advancement: By continuously learning and growing, you show your employer that you want to advance. This increases your chances of getting promoted and advancing your career, as employers are more likely to choose you for new opportunities and projects. 

4. Career development boosts your earning potential: Career development gives you the potential for higher earning power. With more skills and experience, you become more valuable to employers, which means you're better positioned to negotiate a higher salary in your current and future roles and get paid what you're worth.  

5. Career development helps your personal growth: As you challenge yourself, expand your horizons and push the boundaries of your comfort zone, you grow as a person. It builds your human skills, boosting your confidence, resilience, adaptability, and overall happiness and well-being. 

Why are career development programs important for employers?

For employers, investing in a career development program for employees is non-negotiable. Put simply, if your employees aren't growing, neither is your organisation. 

Let's take a look at the benefits:

1. Career development programs improve retention: Retention is a significant advantage of career development programs. A McKinsey survey revealed that 41% of employees left their jobs because they lacked career advancement opportunities. A study by LinkedIn also found that a staggering 94% of employees would stay in their current company if they invested in their learning and development. In a world where retention of good talent is tough, career development is critical for employers.  

2. Career development programs increase employee engagement: Career development programs for employees also lead to higher engagement – it's been proven. They empower employees to build skills and knowledge, which boosts their engagement and performance. 

3. Career development programs boost productivity: Research has repeatedly shown that the more engaged your employees are, the more productive they are. A career development program for employees also means your people are building valuable human skills such as adaptability, leadership, communication, and resilience—which can improve productivity, collaboration, and innovation. 

4. Career development programs create future leaders: Career development prepares employees to be future leaders. Depending on the program, you can help them develop their decision-making, negotiation, communication and other critical soft skills for leadership. 

What are the 5 steps of career development?

Now you know why career development matters, how do you get started? 

Successful career development doesn't just happen—it requires planning, self-reflection, and ongoing commitment. 

Here are five essential steps to career development:

1. Self-reflection: Identify your strengths and weaknesses

The first step of career development is self-awareness. You need to spend time understanding your strengths and weaknesses before you can create a career development plan tailored to you. When you build a plan tailored to your strengths, you can ensure you follow a career path that engages, motivates, and inspires you. 

Gallup, a global analytics and advice company, surveyed a large group of people and found that people who use their strengths in everyday activity are three times more likely to report an excellent quality of life and six times more likely to be successful in their careers.

There are many tests and assessments out there designed to help people discover their strengths, like the VIA Character Strengths Survey method. (Download the Hodie to take the survey and reveal your character superpowers.)

2. Explore Your Why

Continue your self-discovery by understanding your 'why'. This is essential in determining how to achieve the career goals that excite you so you can achieve happiness at work. Understanding your 'why' is what gives you insight into your values and the choices you make, inspiring and motivating you in your career journey.

The Danish have a word for it: Arbedjsglæde.

It's the sense of happiness you get from the work you do.

Finding your 'why' is what gives you insight into your values and the choices you make. By understanding what motivates you and makes you happy, you can find the courage to take the risks needed to get to your dream career, stay motivated when things aren't going to plan, and move your career onto a more challenging and rewarding course. In some cases, this might lead to a complete career change.

To find your 'why", start by asking yourself questions like:

• Why do I enjoy what I'm doing?

• What values are important to me - in work and life?

• What do I want my daily life to look and feel like?

• What do I want my legacy to be?

3. Set Your Career Goals

Using your new self-awareness and discovery, set specific career goals to help you stay focused and motivated. Make your goals SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound).

Start by setting your Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG), which is the long-term goal you want to achieve. Then, break this down into smaller actions and activities that will help you achieve your desired outcome and create a timeline to achieve it.  

For example, your BHAG might be to leap into a leadership role. The smaller actions to get there might include developing your soft skills, approaching a mentor, and taking on more responsibility in your current role. 

4. Power Up Your Skills

Now you have some clear career goals, it's time to nurture your skills and grow. This might be acquiring brand new skills, sharpening existing skills, gaining experience through projects or roles, or seeking feedback on your strengths. 

Look at your career development plan and determine where you need to upskill. It's important to consider both hard skills, such as technical abilities, and soft skills, like collaboration, communication, and adaptability. 

Ask mentors, leaders and colleagues for honest feedback on your skills so you can pinpoint the gaps and opportunities for growth.

Many companies have formal career development programs that can help you here. But you must proactively seek them out and show you're serious about career growth. 

5. Review and Assess

Career development is not a linear journey – it's a continuous process of growth and self-discovery. It can change over time as your goals, interests, and motivations change. The important thing is that your career development should work for you, whatever life stage you're in. 

This means you need to review and adjust your plan regularly. Take the time to seek feedback from your manager and mentors and get their ideas on your career development. 

Types of Career Development Programs

There are many ways to approach career development. To get where you want to be, you can explore various career development programs and opportunities and tailor them into your career development plan. 

There are two types of career development programs: 

1. Formal career development program

Many employees have a formal career development program that includes workshops, training programs, leadership courses, and mentorships. These programs equip you with specialised skills and knowledge directly relevant to your career path. 

There are lots of benefits to a career development program. They are structured programs, which means you have a clear objective and often something tangible to show for your efforts, such as new skills. It also lets you build relationships to help your career progression. 

You may have less personal control over the program, but if your employer is giving you the opportunity to future-proof your career, our advice is to take it. 

2. Informal career development

Informal career development includes all the learning and experiences outside a formal career development program – for example, attending networking events or finding a mentor outside your organisation. 

You might ask your leader to take on a project outside of your job description that will stretch your skills – this would also be informal career development. 

The great thing about informal career development is that you can customise your learning to your specific goals and plan. There are many free resources, so it doesn't need to be expensive. This approach can also help you develop your soft skills in the process, such as communication and problem-solving. 

However, it also requires self-discipline to stay motivated. There's nobody to hold you accountable. 

The critical thing to remember is that formal and informal career development are not mutually exclusive. The key is to create a career development plan that combines both approaches strategically and aligns them with your career goals.

Your career development starts now

Whether you're just starting your career, or you’re a seasoned professional looking for more direction and growth, there’s always time to give some love to your career development. Maxme is here to help. 

Maxme's human skill development programs equip you with critical skills to thrive in work and life. Through exceptional learning experiences, we help you develop the human skills to thrive and create a future-proof career. 

If you’re an individual, get started today with Hodie, our first-of-its-kind human skills app. We've designed Hodie to help career starters, movers, and advancers build critical human skills to supercharge their potential and productivity. Download Hodie now. 

If you’re an organisational leader, be sure to peruse our complete menu of Maxme human skills programs and reach out anytime. We’d love to chat! 

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