How and why leaders should engage in professional development

Why professional development for leaders is important

Professional development is when you undertake learning to maintain professional credentials and, more importantly, maintain the relevance of your knowledge to your role and organisation. 

Managers and C-Suite leaders might wonder, what a two-day workshop or a six-week course can teach them that decades of hands-on experience can’t. 

But professional development is not about building experience, rather it’s about developing new ways of thinking. 

It’s about keeping abreast of the techniques your colleagues are using or could be using, and strategies your organisation could be implementing, to do things better. 

This is why professional development becomes more and more important as the areas, types of professionals and types of processes you are leading diversify and expand. 

For example...

I recently undertook a course in Design Thinking with two colleagues. Design Thinking refers to a specific method of problem solving that has come to prominence recently. It’s familiar to people in creative industries, however, it was never something I learnt in my MBA or in my study of ICT. 

After learning how to implement Design Thinking, my colleagues and I identified a project to apply it to. 

Vision Australia has now used Design Thinking to innovate a more time-effective and engaging way to induct new staff. We wouldn’t have been able to do this without first dedicating time and attention to learning a new method of approaching tasks. 

How to identify learning areas

Identifying areas for professional development requires some honest reflection. The ven chart above is a visual representation of these three steps.  

1. Write down what you are curious about. As you wander through LinkedIn or publications dedicated to your field, what is stimulating your interest?
2. What is the gap between your knowledge and expertise and what is being taught on MBA programs (or the qualification relevant to your work) today? Check out the curricula for current qualifications and see which boxes you can’t confidently tick.
3. What topics are going to be most relevant for your career over the next decade? This question is the most challenging because we must think about our next career stages.

Following this process, a list of topics I recently came up with for my own professional development included: Design Thinking, Artificial Intelligence, Data Analytics, Digital Disruption and New Tools for Developing Strategy. 

Of course, your list is going to look quite different! Below, however, I have included a chart mapping the skills and mindsets required of future leaders. This might spark some ideas on your end!

How to pick your program 

Depth: Finding the right programs is difficult. Senior executives usually only need to understand the concepts, not the detail. They need enough knowledge to lead teams of experts, not to do the expert work themselves. I don’t need a course that teaches me the statistical theory behind data analytics but I do need one that shows me the practical applications of analytics so I can confidently discuss with my colleagues where we can use data analysis to improve our processes. 

Time commitment/ Location: Lots of universities run short courses online that require about 90 minutes of work a day for six to eight weeks. But that kind of ongoing commitment might not suit everyone, especially if your days are consistently full or you don’t control your calendar. 

In this case a workshop at your workplace or somewhere nearby over one or two days might be easier to plan for. 

Accountability: When you are balancing competing priorities with learning, you need to be realistic about what motivates you to commit to tasks. If it’s deadlines, consider a course that has regular assessments. If it’s working for the benefit of a team, complete a workshop at your workplace or take on a special project with your colleagues. If it’s recognition, pick a program with an expert or organisation you admire. 

How to evaluate a program: 

As mentioned, I recently completed a Design Thinking program with two of my colleagues online. My own answers to these questions supported my decision to engage more of my colleagues in the program in future. 

Did it do what it said on the box? - Were the learning objectives stated clearly? Do I feel I have succeeded in accomplishing them?

Was the delivery style effective? - Did I gain what I needed to know for tasks, activities and assessments largely from the teacher/lecture/class/assigned readings? Was the online learning system functional and easy to navigate? Was the quality of the tutors adequate? 

Have I found ways to implement what I’ve learnt? - Was I confident in doing this? Did other colleagues express interest in the knowledge I was using?

Would I recommend this course to others? - Who are the sorts of people this course would be best for? What advice would I give to them going into it?

Another marker of a good professional development program is if you feel motivated to think about the concepts you are learning outside of your course. Thinking about how new concepts might apply to diverse areas of your work or life demonstrates the course has successfully engaged you in a new way of thinking.