What development am I doing outside of work?

Finding out what development opportunities fit your lifestyle

Suit: You outside the organisation

Gone are the days of waiting for your organisation to approve sending you on a once-yearly stuffy leadership course in beige hotel lobbies with terrible biscuits. These days, development opportunities can take so many forms, it’s actually gone the other way round: there are too many options to choose from. From books to blogs, from podcasts, to online training courses, apps and volunteering opportunities, the sky’s the limit. 

So how do you pick and choose? Step one should be finding out what your primary focus is. Do you want to develop a specific skill in order to get a promotion? Would you like to be more involved in the community? Is it all about staying abreast of the latest industry news or trends? Do you want to focus on building your technical knowledge on a specific topic of interest? 

Once you’ve mapped out your development plan, find out what format works best for you.

• Are you a visual person and learn better when watching videos?
• Do you need to learn in smaller chunks rather than long training courses?
• What restrictions do you have on your time and what fits your lifestyle best?
• Can you listen to podcasts whilst running so you can take a few minutes each day?
• Do you prefer to immerse yourself and focus on absorbing the material in one go? 

Development is all about getting to know yourself, your goals and objectives and your limitations so you can find the best option available. And if you’re thinking you don’t have time, just remember that personal development can be anything from a five minutes meditation session daily to a quick read of a single chapter of a book or a 10-minutes YouTube video. 

If you’d like a taste of what’s out there, have a look at the Udemy or Coursera librairies for some fresh motivation.