Entering the last month of 2020, we have a great deal to reflect back on, particularly when it comes to our careers. The changes in how we successfully navigate the workplace have been vast, and for now, there doesn’t seem to be a definitive end to our new way of working. That said, we still need to consider developing our career amongst these unique circumstances. Today we’ll discuss some ways we can accomplish that, despite the current climate.
Even though we’ve been caught up in the seemingly endless virtual meetings, we need to take time to evaluate not just how we’re working, but look at our current performance and future goals. It may seem counterintuitive at the present time when some days it may seem all we can do to accomplish our norm, but the time is right to do a lot of introspection. How has working from home affected your performance? Did you acquire new leadership skills or become more self-reliant in your home office? No longer surrounded by the office noise, have you discovered that you really love what you do—or discovered that it’s time to change directions? It’s just you working away solo now—you can be honest with yourself. Express your feelings by journaling or whatever notetaking system works best for you.
Self-study
Once you’ve laid your thoughts out, it’s time to formulate a plan which includes the necessary education and certifications. To that end, you may not be aware of how many free or low-cost opportunities are at your disposal. Let’s take a look at some resources:
Certifications You Can Obtain for Free! From AES Certification to Project Management, check out these great ideas: https://www.jobscan.co/blog/5-certifications-add-resume-free/
Recent College Graduate? Check out Handshake, a job portal that has become a leading community for those early in their career: https://joinhandshake.com/
Continue to Build Your Tribe: Take advantage of the virtual meetings to introduce yourself with a brief “elevator speech” if you will, and actively engage with other meeting/event participants. Pay special attention to opportunities to share contact information. Check out some of these great apps to make your virtual business card:
HiHello: https://www.hihello.me/
Haystack: https://thehaystackapp.com/
Inigo: https://inigoapp.com/
Managing Your Mind: The very habit of practicing mindfulness is a deliberate action, and one that can not only help us through current career challenges, but in our personal development as well. Here’s a mindfulness quiz that can help you evaluate where you are in the mindfulness sphere. After your score is tabulated, a list of valuable recommendations are given. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/quizzes/take_quiz/mindfulness
Learn, grow, and document: Be proactive and go a step above and beyond (perhaps use that time was formerly spent commuting). Use tools like Google Drive, Evernote, etc. to document what you have done in the way of continued development so they are easily accessible for future reference. In the event you’re asked to perform a self-evaluation, you’ll have this information at hand. As far as sourcing the courses, you’ve undoubtedly heard of Udemy, Coursera, LinkedIn Learning, and other major players. Here’s some interesting alternatives:
A Collection from The Muse – 41 Free Classes from Various Sources: https://www.themuse.com/advice/43-classes-you-can-take-right-now-to-advance-your-career-and-theyre-free
Free Professional Development Courses: https://www.futurelearn.com/subjects/business-and-management-courses/professional-development
500 Free Learning Resources for Nonprofit Professionals: https://www.nonprofitready.org/
Performance Assessments
Another method that can be utilized is the 360-degree Performance Review, which can be adapted to the remote office situation. This is where the employee, managers, subordinates, and a cross-section of peers perform a review, as well as extending this to outside sources such as vendors, associated companies in different cities, etc. In the remote situation, this is a great tool to assess communication, conflict resolution, and interpersonal skills. Communication can be a bit off kilter in our virtual world, and this assessment reinforces its importance. There are a variety of tools that can be utilized including Doodle or Survey Monkey polls, or even the poll feature in Zoom. Managers can take the existing performance evaluations and with some creativity adapt them to the remote learning environment. With continuous improvement in mind, this exercise is extremely valuable.
Continuous Improvement of Soft Skills
Now more than ever, we need to master our soft skills so that we can communicate effectively from a distance. Problem solving is paramount, and being able to devise adaptable solutions allows the team to flourish. Strong flexibility and adaptability skills will serve us well during the pandemic and going forward in our careers. We had to switch gears so fast with the onset of the pandemic that we just did whatever we needed to do to get our work done; now we can refine processes such as responding to new challenges, continuous learning, and even some novel improvisation when things in our virtual world don’t go as planned. By encouraging employees to stretch their creativity and step outside their comfort zone, you may find a plethora of great ideas to strengthen the sense of community while accomplishing goals.
There is so much to be learned from the times we are faced with in regard to continuous career development. If you’d like to speak with Marshall about coaching services, please contact him at 202-669-2065. Visit the website for more information, and follow us on our social channels. www.mbrownassociates.com.
Wishing you a healthy, safe and successful new year!