Professional Development and Self-Awareness are Interconnected
Does your professional development plan reflect this?
When we consider professional development, we know that it includes gaining and advancing our skills and competencies through continuing education, that will ultimately contribute and grow our success in the workplace.
So, how do you know what you need to focus on or address in your professional development?
Well, it could be part of a requirement for your role or an expectation within your organisation, but most of the time it is down to you to set the balls in motion to identify what you need and why, so you need the self-knowledge and self-awareness to make the best-informed decisions.
Having good self-awareness provides you with the ability to build strong foundations to have effective professional development. Therefore, self-awareness and professional development are interconnected.
At UPPO we promote, encourage, facilitate and challenge people to find these foundations by using techniques, tools and coaching to focus on self-awareness. Through having self-awareness provides the clarity and insights to allow people to;
Identify their strengths and weaknesses to know where to build on their strengths further, or address opportunities for growth where they are not so strong, competent, skilled or confident.
Know their own behavioural and communication styles and preferences and how they may align or differ from their colleagues. This can help focus development on adaptability of different styles.
Review their levels of emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is a skill and can be learnt and refined, so having self-awareness in this area can be a powerful indicator if professional development is needed in this area.
Review their purpose and values which can align professional development with career aspirations.
Reflect on their effective leadership skills to focus on areas where they need to enhance specific skills or traits.
By focusing on your self-awareness in these different areas will help target more purposeful direction in your decisions for your professional development.
So, are you up for moving your mind forward? Increasing your self-awareness will inherently feed into your professional development, so let’s make 2024 your year! Get in touch with our team at UPPO and see how we can work with you to make this happen! Hello@uppo.co.nz