Professional Development
As this new year starts picking up steam, I find myself in a good position for self-reflection. I am moving to a different state, back on the job market, and looking towards a year full of potential. What better time could there be for professional development?
Professional development isn’t easy though. Not only does it require an honest self-reflection of one’s abilities and failings, you also need to seek out honest, constructive feedback from others that you are willing to actually listen too. Those are hard things to do but both are necessary, even if you find yourself stumbling through it.
So far, I think I have identified a few areas of professional development I should focus on:
Communication – Now, I pride myself on my communication skills because I have worked hard over the years to develop them. Through Debate, Speech, Theater, past jobs, and even this blog I feel I have built a strong foundation for these skills. But I think I need to continue refining them, especially because while I feel my written communication continues to improve, I think my verbal communication skills development may have stalled. And that’s a shame because I love presenting and speaking to people. So the question becomes, what would be the best way to improve my verbal communication?
Emotions – I’m sure this may come as a huge shock to all of you, but I tend to be a casual person who wears her heart on her sleeve. Surprised right? Yeah, I didn’t think so. One thing I’ve always struggled with was perfecting the “HR Mask of Neutrality” that is so important sometimes. Happy, sad, frustrated, or excited; you always know what I’m feeling. While I find that it helps people relate to me in some occasions, like recruiting, it’s not the best when handling tough situations. But my biggest question for this area is not so much “How do I improve this?” as much as “Can I/Should I change this?”
SPHR – My current PHR certification expires this year and I have been debating whether I should attempt the SPHR or not. Is it worth it? Will it help my career significantly? Wouldn’t I benefit from the studying regardless? Should I just renew my PHR? In 2008 when I first decided to go for my PHR I always planned the next step to be my SPHR. But I’ve been through a lot over the last 3 years, maybe that shouldn’t be my goal anymore. Clearly, I have a lot to think about on this one.
Whew. Professional development really is hard. I would love to hear any suggestions you all have, what you have done in the past, and even what professional development goals you are setting for yourself so hit me up in the comments!
