Whatever your line of work, professional development is essential for advancing your career, enhancing your skills and staying competitive in an ever-evolving job market. Whether you prefer formal or informal learning, there are many ways to develop within your profession, ensuring that you invest in yourself for the benefit of your skill set and the organization you work for.
In this article, we’ll discuss the concept of professional development and why it’s important, and we’ll also explore 15 professional development examples and activities that will help you remain professionally credible and competitive, allowing your career to reach new heights.
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What is professional development?
Professional development is the continuous process of acquiring new skills, knowledge and experience to enhance your career and job performance. Sometimes referred to as continued professional development (or CPD for short), it can take many different forms and help you stay up to date on industry trends, adapt to the changing workplace or simply learn new things.
Professional development is encouraged by employers as part of a benefits package to ensure the organization remains competitive as much as the employee. As such, professional development truly is win–win.
The importance of professional development
As discussed, professional development benefits both employees and organizations. Here’s a list of the main reasons professional development is so important:
- Enhanced career progression: CPD improves skills and demonstrates a commitment to growth and adaptability, meaning that individuals are more competitive when it comes to promotions, leadership opportunities and salary increases.
- Improved job performance: Professional development for employees can enhance technical and soft skills, which can benefit both themselves and their employers, leading to increases in productivity and efficiency.
- Increased job satisfaction: Learning new skills results in greater confidence, autonomy, motivation and job fulfillment. It can also help to reduce distractions such as stress and burnout.
- An expanded professional network: Professional development goes hand in hand with networking, whether attending conferences or training, and creates opportunities to build connections and share best practices.
- Staying up to speed with industry changes: Professional development will help you keep up with emerging trends, new technology and other pertinent changes to your industry, helping you remain competitive in the job market.
Examples of professional development
There are plenty of ways to bring professional development to life in the workplace, ensuring that every employee, regardless of their attributes, behaviors and learning styles, can benefit from it. Here are 15 examples of top professional development activities for staff that you can consider trying out.
1. Attending industry conferences
There are many benefits to attending industry conferences. Indeed, they can help you expand your knowledge, stay updated on new and emerging trends in your field, explore ways to collaborate, navigate inroads to new business ventures, or simply network with like-minded professionals.
Industry conferences offer a variety of ways to develop yourself. These can include expert-led seminars, panel discussions, workshops, networking events and visiting booths, whether in person or virtually.
Either way, you’ll benefit from access to industry leaders, new ideas and best practices. You can share insights when you’re back at work, helping to train others on what you discovered.
2. Joining a professional association
Becoming a member of a professional association provides ample networking opportunities, access to incredible industry resources, as well as access to certifications and career development support. Membership can also enhance your credibility through obtaining credentials and demonstrating your commitment to professional growth. Plus, you’ll get access to related publications, exclusive networking events and training courses.
Some examples of professional associations include the National Association of Women Business Owners, CompTIA, the American Marketing Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
3. Taking online courses
Online learning platforms, such as Coursera, LinkedIn Learning and Udemy, offer flexible and easy-to-access opportunities for employee development. Such platforms offer a plethora of courses, ranging from technical topics like coding or data analysis through to transferable skills like leadership.
Often, online learning platforms offer self-paced courses, meaning that you can learn in a way that is comfortable for you. Additionally, some will offer professional qualifications or certifications once you’re finished.
Using online learning opportunities is an easy way to stay up to date in your field, while it also fosters a culture of continuous development. Many employers will use these as part of their internal resources for upskilling.
4. Earning a professional certification
Most fields of work will offer opportunities for professional accreditation or certification; your employer might support the cost of obtaining them. Some examples of professional certifications include Society for Human Resource Management Certified Professional (SHRM-CP) for HR professionals, Professional Engineer (PE) for engineers, Certified Management Accountant (CMA) for finance workers, or Six Sigma Certifications for project managers.
Studying for these certifications requires structured learning and can be a lengthy and demanding process, but the effort is totally worth it. Obtaining a certificate will help you stay competitive in your field and stay up to date on what’s moving and shaking in your area of expertise.
5. Engaging in peer learning and knowledge sharing
One of the greatest gifts you can give others is knowledge.
Collaborate with colleagues to exchange skills, insights and experiences to benefit all your areas for development. This can take the form of lunch-and-learn sessions, meetings, mentoring or coaching. Learning from others, and passing learning along to them as well, can result in real-world insights and a direct way to develop yourself.
You’ll also enhance your teamwork, communication and leadership skills in the process. This is an informal way of learning that has a direct correlation with career development.
6. Job shadowing
Job shadowing is where you visit other professionals in different locations to learn about what they do and how they do it. You can shadow people who do what you do to learn about best practices or new approaches, or shadow people in different fields (particularly if you’re considering a career change.)
Job shadowing can encourage interdepartmental collaboration, improving communication and teamwork. As such, employers often encourage it and even organize it for you, making job shadowing an accessible and easy-to-use form of professional development.
By gaining varied insights into how others work, you can identify new skills to develop, making job shadowing a practical approach to professional growth.
7. Attending networking events
Networking events come in all shapes and sizes, from informal networking breakfasts and drinks after work to more formal industry-wide meetups. Networking isn’t easy for some, but it can be fun — and a great way to professionally develop yourself.
Engaging in networking discussions can lead to collaborations, membership opportunities, new business and even job opportunities. Tight professional networks will share best practices and even provide industry insights into new trends and updates.
Getting involved in networking discussions can bring its own benefits, as well, such as developing public speaking and interpersonal skills. Attending networking events will demonstrate to your employer that you’re serious about your development and might also inspire others to do the same, leading to broader and larger networking opportunities.
8. Mentoring and coaching
Mentoring is where a more experienced professional expertly guides a junior colleague, typically over a longer-term period. Coaching, meanwhile, is typically a more linear and structured support that can help you improve in a specific area.
Both interventions can enhance professional growth through developing skills, focusing on career progression and helping you grow your confidence. Meanwhile, they’re also especially useful, as they focus on critical transferable skills such as leadership, communication and problem-solving.
Workplaces actively encourage mentoring schemes and will also likely have coaching programs in place that you can get involved in. You can also benefit from being a mentor, developing your own skills through learning how to support others.
9. Writing professional articles or blogs
Contributing to industry blogs, magazines and company newsletters is a great way to enhance your credibility and professional professional influence. Writing these articles also allows you to develop your knowledge through researching what you’re going to write and sharing your expertise with a view to showcasing thought leadership.
When you publish the post, meanwhile, you might find many opportunities to engage with industry peers through discussions and networking events.
Writing is also a great way to develop your communication skills. Regularly contributing articles will help you grow your network and increase your knowledge of your specialist subject.
10. Volunteering for leadership roles
There are many ways to develop your leadership skills before being offered a ‘typical’ leadership role in an organization. Seek out these opportunities and grab them with both hands to give yourself a head start in developing this essential ability. Some examples of how you can do this include volunteering to lead a work project, chair a committee, be a treasurer for a good cause or charity, or organize work events. All of these can provide experience in decision-making, problem-solving, motivating others, and strategic thinking. Being able to talk about your experiences in these areas, the changes you made, and the achievements you oversaw, will stand you in good stead when the time comes to interview for leadership roles in your organization.
11. Public speaking and presentation training
Developing public speaking skills is one of the most important areas to focus on if you want to develop yourself professionally. Effective presenters not only feel more comfortable engaging larger audiences, but they also see their confidence grow, become powerful networkers and influencers, and motivate and inspire others. Therefore, mastering this skill can open development and leadership opportunities for you.
Employers often provide public speaking workshops, but joining public speaking clubs like Toastmasters can be another great way to develop this skill. Nevertheless, workshops will only get you so far, so practicing public speaking whenever you get the chance will help your confidence and allow you to develop this important ability.
12. Taking on stretch assignments
Stretch assignments are those which require you to go above and beyond the scope of your usual responsibilities, pushing you to develop new skills and experience. They might feature cross-functional collaboration, leadership tasks, or completing complex challenges.
If presented with the opportunity to get involved in such an assignment, take on the challenge, as it can accelerate career advancement, raise your profile in your organization and lead to you learning new skills.
13. Writing and presenting research papers
Publishing research papers is a huge undertaking, requiring you to collaborate with fellow researchers, deep dive into a chosen topic with a unique and interesting angle, write a credible research report, and present it in front of large audiences.
Because of this, undertaking a research paper will help you develop many different professional skills, such as networking, technical ability, public speaking and influencing ability.
Completing a research report will help establish you as an industry thought leader, fostering organizational recognition and leading to many career advancement opportunities.
14. Reading industry journals and publications
Keeping up to date with professional journals and magazines is an important aspect of continuous learning. Most industries have dedicated publications that are readily accessible, such as Forbes for business professionals, the Journal of the American Medical Association for healthcare professionals, and the ABA Journal for legal professionals.
Ensure you regularly read publications for up-to-date information on new and emerging trends, meaning that you can make better decisions and contribute effectively to workplace discussions through being informed.
Subscribe to these publications, follow them on social media and join industry forums to immerse yourself in what they share. This can be a passive, accessible and powerful aspect of professional development.
15. Taking a sabbatical for professional development
As we all know, life and work can all too easily get in the way of professional development. Taking a sabbatical can, therefore, provide you with an opportunity to pursue further education, develop new skills or gain fresh experiences in your own time, free from many distractions. Some employees take time off to study for a qualification, undertake research or engage in international work experiences.
Whereas employers are beginning to truly see the benefits that a sabbatical can bring, it’s up to you to ensure you structure your sabbatical to achieve all the goals you set for yourself. This ensures that this period of self-improvement can lead to career growth, personal fulfillment and job satisfaction.
Key takeaways
Professional development is as important a part of working life as the tasks you undertake. Here are the key points of professional development to keep in mind:
- Professional development is important and beneficial for employers, employees and clients. In short, it’s a win–win for everyone.
- As industries and job markets become ever more competitive, professional development is becoming more important than ever before.
- Professional development is best approached as an ongoing process, defined through the concept of CPD.
- There are many different ideas on how to approach this; both informal and formal interventions that will suit all learning styles. Set SMART goals to stay on track.
- As well as undertaking your own learning, you can stay developed through helping others, such as mentoring them, sharing knowledge with them, or writing articles or research papers.
By staying focused on your professional development, continuous learning will become second nature for you. Effortless learning and growing will do wonders for your career and allow you to pay forward the learning experience to others.
Can you think of any other ideas for professional development? Let us know in the comments section below and tell us what works best for you.