Who's ready to grow?

The crucial role of learning in your career journey

Drawing by Tineke Tammes

If there’s one thing my clients have in common it’s the eagerness to learn. Or, I should say, their LOVE of learning.

It comes out of pretty much every Strengths Profile we do. It is evident from our conversations. It’s a clear theme in pretty much ALL the Career Stories I draw.

And yes, when I did the inevitable LinkedIn poll it was clear there too! (At time of writing 83% - yes, the VAST majority - answered that learning was VERY important to them in their work. The poll is still going, come and play!)

So yes, when I read this article in Forbes magazine about the importance of learning for employee retention I wasn’t surprised.

But it did make me wonder. Because in it, there were two things that drew my attention:

1. Somehow it appeared as if employees’ love of learning - and the constant eagerness to grow - came as a surprise to managers. It made managers afraid of losing their employees if they supported this eagerness with training and learning.

2. Managers - apparently - find it difficult to have conversations about career development

It made me think about the role of learning. And about YOUR role in learning and growing.

These are my thoughts.

Key moments to learn

Growing into a role

Remember getting your very first proper job? How you stepped into the office, fresh-faced and eager to please?

Oh gosh, how much we learned! About getting on with people. About repairing the photocopy-machine. About time-keeping and prioritising. About the actual work we were doing.

THIS learning of course never stops. Every new role, heck, even your current role requires you to adjust to changing circumstances, new people, a new aspect to the job.

Skills required whilst doing your role

And then there’s change. The inevitable IT changes. The new systems being brought in. The technical skills that need brushing up or need to be acquired to be able to do your role.

But also: the interpersonal skills. How to navigate your way in your current workplace. Networking and office politics. Managing stakeholders and communicating clearly and concisely.

Getting promoted

The time comes that your current role starts to feel … boring, samey, no longer challenging, like a cage that you’ve outgrown.

THIS - or preferably BEFORE you feel like that - is the time to get serious about making that next step. To consider how YOU can become THAT person.

And yes, that’s the time to grow and learn: from employee to manager, from manager to leader. What are the skills required for you to take that next step?

And then there’s also this:

Personal growth

If you’re working for a modern forward-looking workplace, your place of work values not only the ‘hard’ technical skills, but the ‘soft’ skills as well. (See my rant about so-called ‘soft’ skills here).

After all, leadership skills ARE interpersonal skills: communications, vision, (office) politics.

However, your interest might go well beyond that. You may want to grow as a person too. Which you can do through coaching (ahem), training, or informal learning.

Learning for interest

And then there are the skills and knowledge you would NEVER get through work. The things that have your passion and interest OUTSIDE of work. (Unless, you know, you can get your painting class paid for through work? In which case, where do you work and can we all come?)

HOW to learn

It’s often the first thing you think of: I’ll go (back to) university. I’ll do that (Masters/PhD/University course).

But there are so many different ways of learning:

* In a formal setting - yes, going (back) to university, do a Masters or a PhD, doing courses

* In an informal way - through reading, networking, work experience, volunteering

* At work - by gaining more experience, volunteering for projects, getting involved in or leading employee networks

* Or in your spare time - by working on your self-development, or learning about things that interest you that may or may not have something to do with work.

What you want to DO with all that learning

You see, there are MANY ways of learning, and many ways of growing, personally as well as professionally. Some of the courses you’ll do throughout your career are mandatory and paid for by your employer.

What I want to say is: YOU are responsible for your career trajectory.

YOU are responsible for figuring out WHO you want to become, WHAT you want to do and what learning (formal or otherwise) you need to do to get there.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m NOT saying NEVER to do any learning without having a clear end goal in mind!

I’m ALL for exploring and following your nose, getting curious and doing a course or reading a book because your curiosity got aroused.

But relying on your employer to initiate the conversation about what learning you’d like to embark on? ESPECIALLY if we (now) KNOW that that conversation is not always easy for them.

Surely that’s your responsibility?

How to have the career development conversation

First of all, I’d like to think that you’re receiving regular feedback on your performance. Not only a once-a-year performance review only.

These regular 121s are YOUR opportunity to bring up your development needs.

What that requires though is TWO things:

1. Being clear on your long-term vision and dreams for your career, and

2. Being clear on your goals and how far off achieving them you feel you are.

(And if you want to work with a career coach on establishing these, then say the word! Or rather, book your call here).

What it also needs is this: Trust

Trust between you and your line manager, and trust of your manager and you in your organisation.

So, whilst YOU can reasonably expect your organisation and manager to support you in achieving your objectives, including through training, there will still be a level of trust required to help you move beyond those objectives.

And I think you have a role to play there too.

Because you can build trust through hard work and thus creating leverage, and through effective stakeholder engagement (read: managing your manager) too.

The conversation itself?

Could consist of:

• Your goals and what learning you require to help you get there

• Your long-term vision and dreams for your career, and your proposal on how to grow

• Available resources to fund your proposal.

And don’t forget to tend to your other passions too!

(One of my employers had a scheme that paid for outside interests, within reason. Those were the days. Lots of employers have volunteering days.

See what’s available in work. But DEFINITELY make time to explore your interests outside of work too!)

What I’m saying with all of this ⬆️ is that YOUR learning is important.

Yes, to your employer. But most DEFINITELY to you!

The only person who KNOWS what they want in their career - is YOU!

So, especially considering that managers *might* feel poorly equipped, poorly supported or uncomfortable talking about career development discussions (at least that’s what the Forbes article makes us believe), let’s not wait!

Let’s have that grown-up conversation about our performance, the gap in our knowledge, experience or skills and our plans to bridge that gap.

Let’s build that trust, so that we can openly speak about our dreams and vision for our careers.

Or - as the article says - go and find that trusting workplace elsewhere. That place where you CAN do the learning and growing you so clearly crave.

That’s me off my soapbox.

What about you? Do you LOVE learning? And how do YOU go about addressing your development needs and wants?

Let us know by writing a comment below.

Tineke X

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Book YOUR Saboteur Discovery Call

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What is it?

The Saboteur Assessment session is a 45 minute 1:1 session aimed at getting clear on YOUR Saboteurs, those fears and niggles and excuses and coping mechanisms that have helped you get all the way to where you are today, but are now keeping you stuck!

Before the session

Before the session I will ask you to complete the online Saboteur Assessment. We will discuss the results in our session.

What happens in the session

In this session we will:

• Use some of the techniques that will help you reduce the inner mind chatter 

• Talk about your assessment results and explore in more depth your top 1 or 2 Saboteurs

• Consider how your Saboteur shows up for you and what the impact of him or her is on your performance, your relationships and your stress levels

For part of the session I will ask you to close your eyes. So please ensure you feel comfortable doing that in the environment you're in. 

Besides the above, there will also be an opportunity to ask any questions you may have about coaching and my services. 

That's it! 

Oh, and did I mention it is completely FREE? Yes. Yes, it is.

So book your session NOW! I am looking forward to meeting you!

🔴🟡🟠

Tineke Tammes is a Career & Creativity Coach and supports professional women in making successful transitions to careers of Freedom, Flexibility and Fulfilment! Besides that she is also a lifelong feminist, part-time portrait artist, never-only-read-one-book-at-any-time reader, and obsessive doodler.

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