Career Development Frameworks and Tools - Business Tool (Part 2)

On the last newsletter “Career Development Frameworks and Tools – Business Tools (Part 1)” we covered: The GROW Model, PDCA Cycle and the 70-20-10 Model.

?

We will stay on the same topic, business tools for professional growth and getting acquainted with what you may expect in your future employment. These resources will assist you in determining how to approach acquiring new skills, organizing your path, and establishing professional objectives. But what if we are still attempting to figure out which job route to take? What if we already have a job but are stalled with your professional development?

In the last newsletter my recommendation was to start researching IKIGAI. While you have some answers you might also have more questions, do not worry that means you are just discovering YOURSELF, and learning more about where you want to go.

You have just started a journey to discover your inner self and a road to finding meaning and harmony in your life. Knowing yourself will be one of your most important life goals, a voyage of discovery that will offer you the greatest rewards as well as the most difficult challenges and decisions.

1. The Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

?

Beginning your path of introspection, the MBTI will be a great instrument to help you better understand how you view the world, make decisions, and an indicator of your psychological preferences. Some of the most typical uses and benefits of this tool include assisting your growth journey, learning more about your communication, negotiating, and leadership style. The idea is simply to assist you in learning more about yourself.

The scales that make the personality types are spread across:

-?????????Extraversion (E) – Introversion (I) Where you get your energy from (“MBTI | BRS”)

-?????????"Sensing (S) – Intuition (N) What kind of information you prefer to gather" (“Assessments - Wilson Wellness Counseling, Consulting & Coaching, LLC”)

-?????????Thinking (T) – Feeling (F) How you make decisions

-?????????Judging (J) – Perceiving (P) How you deal with the world around you

Taking the personality test and determining the four-letter code associated with your personality would be a simple and enjoyable exercise, and you will receive a nice report outlining your preferences and how to deal with some of the things you don't feel as comfortable with as everyone else (if you are an Introvert (I), you prefer spending time inside your mind rather than in crowded places). Whatever the "code," there is no right or wrong and it will only aid you in discovering yourself.

There are few places where you can do this, but my personal choice would be this one (because it was shared with me by my wife a few years ago ??).

·????????https://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test

Make sure you are allocating an hour, to complete the personality test and read the report.

A couple of articles that you also might want to check:

·????????Myers-Briggs Personality Types and Their Job Compatibilities

·????????The Best Career Paths based on Your Myers-Briggs Personality Type

·????????Here’s What You Focus On, Based On Your Myers-Briggs Personality Type

·????????MBTI Test INTJ Information Security Analysts

MBTI might be considered trivial and not supported by the whole academic and research community but is still a very useful resource to many people.

2. The Social Style Model

?

Based on research and observable behaviors of how people think, behave, and react, this Model will not only help you understand how you interact with the world around you, but will also teach you how to make decisions based on your strengths and weaknesses.

The Four SOCIAL STYLEs are the Driving Style, the Expressive Style, the Amiable Style, and the Analytical Style. TRACOM created the SOCIAL STYLE Model based on the four unique Styles, with each having different ways of using time and predictable ways of interacting and making decisions. (“SOCIAL STYLE Model - TRACOM Group”) With the SOCIAL STYLEs assessment, you can observe a person and determine their preferences or Style (Source: https://tracom.com/social-style-training/model ).

You can check the official website and learn more about the different styles and what they tell about us, our needs and growth.

·????????You can also take a quick quiz here:

https://www.trainingcoursematerial.com/free-assessment-tools/what-is-your-personality-style or even take more free assessment here: https://www.trainingcoursematerial.com/free-assessment-tools/

Additional resources:

·????????Social Style Technical Report

·????????Social Style – TRACOM Sneak Peek Report

3. The Herrman Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI)

?

Everyone is unique, and everyone thinks differently, which is the beauty of our world, but knowing how our brain works is a completely different challenge. We started with a personality test to figure out who we are, and then we dug further into our social styles and how we interact with the world around us.

Taking an HBDI test can help you better understand your thinking preferences as well as measure your creativity, strategic thinking, problem-solving, learning, communication, and growth.

The four modes of thinking:

1.??????Analytical Thinking: logical, technical (understanding how things work)

2.??????Sequential Thinking: organized, complex (step-by-step problem solver)

3.??????Interpersonal Thinking: emotional, spiritual (listening and connecting to people)

4.??????Imaginative Thinking: visual, conceptual (big picture)

Credit: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-HBDI-model-source-Herrmann-International-Europe-R-2017_fig3_316741131

Understanding our preferences and learning to adjust can only aid in the development and improvement of our work path and ambitions. Some attributes are a good fit for certain jobs while others may not be. For example, if you want to understand how things work and identify yourself as rational and technical, a career as an engineer may be your best option. If you are organized, want things to be structured, and have an eye for detail, another job option might be project manager.

In the enterprise world is the tool to help with creating inclusive and diverse teams that innovate and thrive by focusing on diversity of thought. For individuals is the tool to develop a better understanding of what we are and how we function.

·????????Learn more about this here: https://www.thinkherrmann.com/

·????????Additional read: Developing Innovation Through Knowledge of Thinking Preferences Thesis

?

Another tool that can help you understand yourself and the others around you is DiSC. Commonly used by enterprises to improve teamwork, communication, and culture by assessing different personality profiles. You can do research, learn more about this tool, and get a better understanding of what kind of career might be good for you and what kind of environment you are after.

·????????Learn more about DiSC here: https://www.discprofile.com/what-is-disc

·????????Take a free test here: https://www.123test.com/disc-personality-test/

4. The Korn Ferry Four Dimensional Model (KF4D)

?

I saved the best for last.

This is one of the tools that helped me the most with my career development, actively using it and a great resource when hiring. I highly recommend this model either if you are just developing your career and just getting started or you are looking for your next challenge and you need some help.

The KF4D Model is being used by some of the largest organizations and is commonly used for assessing employees’ strengths and weaknesses, potential for leadership and development, performance reviews, etc. There are four factors broken down into twelve clusters in the KF Competency Framework:

1.??????Thought – understand the business and find new ways to improve it

2.??????Results – take action and get results

3.??????People – communicate and manage effectively

4.??????Self – willingness to learn, self-awareness

Credit: https://focus.kornferry.com/focus/recruiting-for-culture-how-assessment-can-help-uncover-the-wiring/

·????????Learn more about Korn Ferry: https://www.kornferry.com/

·????????Korn Ferry 360 Sample Feedback Report: https://www.johnharper.com/_files/ugd/ab089b_6d27ca3acb5c4451bfe3e8c4a601aa46.pdf

The sample report will show you the competencies, how to develop them and assignments. There is a ton of great information and I highly recommend spending some time with it.

5. SWOT is another simple and great tool that is commonly used as an evaluation model by most organizations. SWOT stands for: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Using SWOT side-by-side with KF4D will help you identify and understand where exactly you are today and what you have to add to your career development plan.

If we take for example our competencies and we map out our strengths and weaknesses, it might help us with future job opportunities as well as understand what the possible roadblocks are to get there.

It is important to be honest whenever you are doing the self-analysis, do not under or overestimate who and what you are. This is where your friends, colleagues and mentors might step in to help. Build a quick form with questions and ask for feedback, this will be one of your greatest tools.

Another great resource is CliftonStrengths . The assessment is not free, but you can still read about this an get an idea about what it is and what it can do for you. Free assessments to find your STRENGHTS:

·????????https://high5test.com/

·????????https://www.viacharacter.org/

·????????https://www.strengthsprofile.com/

?

As a side note, the NIST NICE Framework is using the same terminology for competencies (knowledge, skills, and abilities) the define cybersecurity roles. A competency are your abilities and talents to complete a specific task.

Part 2 Key Takeaways

·????????Career development is a complex process that takes discovery, exploration, and action

·????????Knowing yourself, skills, abilities, interests, how you learn and make decisions will get you closer to finding a suitable career match

·????????It is continuous, challenging, rewarding, and revealing

Your professional growth and path are significantly more complicated than completing a course and receiving a certification. You have now investigated your personality, cognitive model, and social style. You learned how to put together the Korn Ferry materials and do a self-assessment using SWOT, but there is still more to study and understand.

Part 1 covered the GROW Model, PDCA Cycle and the 70-20-10 Model and assisted you with the basic tools to assess the industry, start planning your career and highlighted one of the learning models and how it is applied in real life. Part 1 was about your career.

Part 2 is all about YOU, who you are, how you interact with the world, and about making the greatest decisions based on your abilities and potential for greatness.

?

I am just scratching the surface here, but the goal is to make you aware of these tools and help you with your career goals, planning and development.

Knowing yourself, being confident on what you can achieve is going to be your greatest advantage.

Share, someone from your network will benefit from reading this.