What do you do if your coaching and mentoring career goals require a personalized continuing education plan?

In the dynamic fields of coaching and mentoring, the pursuit of learning is perpetual. However navigating the vast sea of available resources can be daunting. Over the past decade, I've grappled with this challenge, making significant progress but still encountering occasional struggles due to time constraints. To embark on your learning journey, start by examining the needs of your niche clients. Understanding their challenges is pivotal. Next, select authentic resources to acquire the necessary knowledge. Completing this learning journey requires choosing the most effective method for you. For some, books is ideal, while others thrive on podcasts,or workshops may be the preferred route. Find what resonates with you for optimal learning.

Once you have a clear understanding of your learning objectives, explore a wide range of educational opportunities. Look beyond traditional classroom settings and consider online courses, workshops, conferences, and webinars. Many professional associations offer specialized training programs and certifications tailored to coaching and mentoring professionals. These programs often provide a structured curriculum, expert instruction, and opportunities for peer learning and networking. In addition to formal educational programs, seek out opportunities for experiential learning. Engage in pro bono coaching or mentoring projects that allow you to apply your skills in real-world settings.

As a coach who aspires to continue learning and growing to better serve my clients, I think it is very important to continuously monitor clients` feedback. Reflection after each coaching session is a very healthy practice: looking at own notes or listening to the session`s recording (ask for your client`s consent for this) is also another way to identify areas of improvement. Last but definitely not least, Coaching supervision is also a powerful tool that can give us a very valuable feedback on aspects that can be further improved.

1. Identify Needs: Think about your career goals in coaching and mentoring. What specific skills or knowledge do you need to develop to achieve those goals? 2. Set SMART Goals: Don't just aim for "better coaching." Instead, set Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound (SMART) goals. For example, instead of "improve coaching skills," aim for something like "complete a course on active listening techniques by June." This way, you'll have a clear path and can track your progress. My perspective: Remember, lifelong learning is key in coaching and mentoring! There are many resources available, so don't be afraid to explore different options to find what works best for you.

Let's use a GPT to help you find resources. Below is a prompt that will ask questions to uncover your needs & desired outcomes to create your personalize education plan. "Develop a personalized continuing education plan for a coaching and mentoring career. Begin by asking me 5 questions to identify my specific needs for my personal learning and development. Then, identify a variety of resources that match these goals, such as online courses, workshops, books, and peer groups. Ask me any further questions you will need to ensure the resources accommodate my learning style, are easily accessible, and fit within my time and budget constraints. Recommend practical experiences such as volunteering or shadowing a mentor to enhance learning."

Make it easy for yourself to be surrounded by fitting resources. Change your habits away from social media for example and substitute them with interesting blogs, newsletters or micro-learning apps for example. Change the places where you work - find a spot in a library for example. Try to surround yourself by people and media that tick the way you want to tick.

Creating your plan is only part of the equation for success. I’ve found that proactively time boxing my calendar helps protect the necessary time to move projects forward and not get hijacked by false urgency.

To creatively manage your ongoing development in coaching and mentoring, design your own personalized curriculum tailored to meet your personal rhythm and lifestyle. Instead of generic time blocks, integrate your learning activities into your daily routine in a natural and inspiring way. For instance, I love to pair audiobooks and podcasts with my morning walk. I'll also listen to recordings of skills-based webinars and sample laser-coaching sessions with my outdoor activities. This approach not only keeps me engaged and moving on my personal development goals, but it also makes the learning process an integral, enjoyable part of my health and wellness routine, helping me avoid burnout!

Keep it simple! It's important to monitor your progress, but don't create a system so hard to use that you abandon it. You may want to consider using simple Notes apps, Google Sheets, or a bullet journal to keep track of your progress. These tools are simple but excellent ways to keep track of the skills and knowledge you acquire. Set up your Google Sheet to log completed courses, key learnings, and upcoming training sessions, or use a bullet journal to creatively chart your learning journey and reflections. This method will keep you organized and visually display your progress, helping you stay aligned with your career goals and celebrate wins along the way.

Once you set a goal that excites you, a true north star, it's time to take action by breaking the goal down into actionable steps. The reality is action requires you to move from the theoretical into the real world; which often brings surprises. My approach is to break down goals into quarterly objectives. From there I frame up my objectives in the form of a hypothesis that I'm testing. This allows me the mental and emotional freedom to pivot at the end of a quarter after I've gained new insights that will help me reach my goals by defining new quarterly objectives. Some quarters you will "fail" but with the right mindset FAILURE BECOMES LEARNING and you can accelerate your growth. "Plans are nothing; planning is everything." Eisenhower

Assess what is required and think laterally as to how to get it. Take advice - there are so many courses and in my experience businesses desperate to sell product - it is your job to work out does it meet your needs. Always consider how the training links strategically to goals such as gaining national / international accreditations

On my journey of becoming (and being) a coach I almost always had the feeling that whatever interests me and feels like I'm learning automatically might be useful at some point to give it back while coaching. Either by having another story to tell or by understanding my own dynamics in the learning progress or by having information to give to my clients. My very own personalised education plan was thereby less a concrete plan but the plan to create a good learning surrounding for myself. For example by bringing the right people into my life (and letting go of some). Creating the habits (for example listening to audiobooks) that push me in the "right" educational direction. Going with the flow helped me to stay curious.