The Importance of a Professional Development Plan

A professional development plan is very important and beneficial to your career journey. If you don’t currently have one, it may be time to start creating or planning for one. A plan like this can create opportunities for you and identify areas where you can improve.

Development plans can be created by an individual worker for themselves, or by a supervisor or manager to assist an employee’s performance. Either way, a professional development plan is beneficial to both the worker and company.

What is It?

A professional development plan is simply a plan to schedule and track the progress of an employee relative to their work and industry. This can be in regards to a new task or training they are learning, a plan for promotion, improvement in a specific area, overall improvement, or anything else that might help an employee progress and improve.

Different Benefits

Again, there are several different benefits to a professional development plan, for both the individual worker and the company as well. We’ll discuss some of these benefits more in detail.

Latest Trends

One of the less obvious benefits of a professional development plan is keeping up on the latest trends for an industry. No matter what the industry is, we all live in the age of information, and so things move and grow much more quickly than ever before. Certain trends can be taken advantage of no matter what industry or market your company is in.

Credibility

Implementing a professional development plan will also increase a worker’s credibility, and by extension, the company’s credibility as well. By taking classes, training, or gaining certifications, it will increase the knowledge of the industry for any worker, while providing proof for it as well.

Providing proof of training or certification will increase potential clients’ or customers’ trust in your expertise. Showing that you are up to date on the latest training and certifications will show clients and customers that your company cares about how well they do their jobs.

Confidence

Implementing a plan for a worker can also increase their confidence. When a worker feels comfortable and confident, they are more willing to communicate more. This helps team communication, and a confident worker will be more likely to generate new ideas and contribute more overall.

New Opportunities

Through a development plan, new opportunities can arise for both the worker and the company. Following a development plan can highlight certain skills from an individual worker that might not be currently utilized. This might identify the worker for a valuable promotion, or a lateral move that might suit them better.

Identify Weaknesses

One other benefit of this type of plan is that it will also identify any potential weaknesses a worker might be struggling with. As we are all humans, none of us are perfect, and so there will be concepts we might struggle with or need to brush up on.

This can also help the company to identify weaknesses within itself. If several people seem to struggle with the same concept, it may need to be revamped or updated.

Professional Development Info from VOC Associates

VOC Associates understands the workplace and has created a selection of resources for you to read from! We have articles on things like professional growth, project management, and remote working.

The workplace for any company has a lot of moving parts, and it’s always evolving. It’s best to stay up to date on workplace tips to keep your company running smoothly and as efficiently as possible. Visit our website or call (216) 284-4492 today for more information!