Seeing Personal and Professional Development as They Really Are!

Well, when it comes to both personal and professional development, people complicate things a bit too much. However, if we were to simplify these concepts to their most basic form, we would find that personal development is something that helps you grow as a person, while professional development being the element that helps you have a successful career.

So with that being said, in this article, we will rather focus on the simple but core aspects of the two arguably most important elements of your life.

Personal Development

Personal development is basically something that involves identifying your goals in life, and figuring out ways to achieve them. It’s a very simple way to put it, of course, but it works great if you know how to go about following and implementing it in your life.

When you’re aware of the ways that will help you achieve your goals, you will be able to discover the skills you need to do so. This is true not only with regards to your career, but also your life as a whole.

Suggested Read: How To Become A Better Leader

It should go without saying that when it comes to personal development, your career or success at work is just a part of it, perhaps not even a very significant one. In other words, personal development goes well beyond how much money you make.

Anyway, coming back to being able to identify and gain the skills needed to achieve your goals in life, let’s take a look at an example, which also tells us about the importance of personal development even at work.

Let’s say there are two people working in your office. They are both highly skilled at the things their work’s success depends on good leadership skills.

They are great at managing a budget the right way to achieve the desired results. They are analytical, accurate and result-oriented. This helps them complete the tasks they are assigned very efficiently.

But wait, there’s a bit more to it. One of them is really good at communicating with people. He manages to connect well to his colleagues, and hence getting the required information from them is a very effective process for him.

On the other hand, the other person has poor communication skills. He would regularly get into arguments or other issues while getting information from his colleagues, which hinders his chances of success, or delays his success, especially when it comes to projects that involve active communication with others.

So, who do you think is in need of some personal development training here?
The intention behind sharing this example was to make you realize the importance of identifying the skills you need to achieve your goals in life. In this case, the other person needs to get better at communicating with people if he is to enjoy better success at work, or even in other departments of his life if you really put some thought into it.

Finally, here are some of the more common areas of personal development management skills:

Management training (being able to effectively manage people)
Leadership training
Communication skills
Resourcefulness — ensuring optimum use of resources
Resolving conflicts and other similar issues

Professional Development

Professional development is a lot more narrow concept than personal development. It’s pretty much all about developing the qualities and skills that you need to perform your job — and your role at the job — as effectively as possible.

However, something to keep in mind here is that you need to be rather flexible with regards to your professional skill set given that the modern work environment is ever changing. The changes can range from an important process change within the company, or an internal change, to an external and much more complicated change, such as an economical or political change. In addition to that, the advancement in work technology, too, is something you need to constantly make an effort to adapt to.

Similarly, it’s crucial to consistently keep improving your understanding and expertise in the area of work that your career is particularly based around. However, something you shouldn’t ignore is the fact that even professional development would include an element of personal development, making the latter much more important in most cases.

To wrap it up, here’s a look at some important types of professional development training:

Training in the field of IT
Health and safety
Legal and other similar areas
Managing budgets or accountancy skills