Last week, ASTD celebrated Career Week with fantastic career-building activities and events. If you missed any of them, use this link to take advantage of the webcasts, articles, and more.
During Career Week at ASTD, Annabelle Reitman and I had a great time celebrating the launch of our book, Career Moves, and presenting a webcast on how to leverage the latest workplace trends and the 2013 ASTD Competency Model to move your career ahead.
During our webcast, a participant submitted an important question: “In addition to using the trends and the ASTD Competency Model to help those we train and coach, how do we use this information for strategizing our own careers?” Though we discussed it a bit during the webcast, here are some further ideas on how best to apply trends and competency information for your own career growth.
Step 1
First, take a look at the ASTD 2013 Competency Study, which updated and redefined elements of the ASTD Competence Model. (Download the free chapter to see the model.)
From the Competency Model, choose one of the Areas of Expertise (AOEs) that represents the type of work you do now or want to do in the future. For instance, let’s assume that you are primarily a trainer in your current role, which is represented by the AOE of Training Delivery in the model. Let’s also assume that you want to grow in your position, gain more visibility and become an even more valuable resource to your organization while doing the work you love doing—training.
There are several ways you could expand and deepen your skills. Look again at the model and choose one or two other AOEs. Perhaps you are interested in furthering your study in Instructional Design and Learning Technologies—areas in which you can build on your current skills and focus your own professional growth. If you love delivering training, these two additional AOEs would be great places to expand your skill set and expertise.
Then consider these questions:
- What would it take to “up your game” when it comes to delivering training?
- Are you up to speed on your knowledge of all the options for delivering training through the full range of learning technologies?
- Where can you go to build on your current training skills? Check out the ASTD Learning Technologies Community of Practice for some ideas.
Likewise, here are some ideas for stretching your skills in instructional design:
- Participate in one of the ASTD Certificate programs, including the Master Trainer Certificate or the Designing Learning Certificate.
- Listen to a podcast on the subject, such as “Matching the Right Design Strategy to the Right Content.”
- Peruse the dozens of thought-provoking ideas that Jane Bozarth describes on her site http://bozarthzone.blogspot.com.
You get the idea. There are countless ways to polish your skills. Your job—if you want to move your career forward strategically—is to decide which opportunities would work best for you and then take action.
Step 2
Take a look at the eight workplace and workforce trends discussed in our webcast. Pay particular attention to the trends that will affect your work in Training Delivery. For example, “Trend #3: Shifting Demographics and Increasing Diversity” will likely mean that the “audience” for the training you design and deliver will come from different generations and have different preferred styles of learning. And, because they will be a very diverse group, they are likely to have different expectations about how and when your training will be delivered.
Ask yourself: What do I need to know and do to make certain my learning solutions engage my audience and produce the results I want?
Or review “Trend #8: New Work and the Skills It Will Take to Do It,” which highlights the need for learning opportunities that target the emerging 21st century workplace skills in order for companies to remain competitive and successful.
Ask yourself: How much do I know—or need to learn—about the skills that will be most in demand in my organization? Are the training initiatives I’m designing and delivering aligned with where my organization is going?
It’s true that you are strategizing solutions to meet your audience’s needs. But at the same time, you are building your own skill base, visibility, and savvy by demonstrating cutting edge skills that employers everywhere are looking for right now.
These are some initial thoughts on what it will take to be exceptional in the T&D field. What skills do you think you’ll need to be outstanding in delivering training? What other trends do you need to pay attention to so that your training initiatives align with the realities of today’s global workplace?
Future posts will explore leveraging other AOEs and Workplace and Workforce Trends to strategize your next career move.
