Love a life of learning
I’ve always considered myself lucky in my career. It seemed like I was always in the right place at the right time, because opportunities seemed to come my way. It wasn’t until I moved to the other side of the world, and spend hours updating my resume before it became apparent (to myself) that opportunities don’t appear, they are what you make of them.
In embarking on a new direction in my career I have made an effort to consciously identify the skills I do and do not have. This allows me to proactively engage in professional learning opportunities which make my day-to-day work activities easier each week. For a long time, I took a “sink or swim” attitude to my work. I’ve always managed to keep my head above water, but I can now admit that thrashing about in the water, is definitely not swimming.
While a can-do attitude will get you started, knowing how to learn is an important skill for ongoing professional development. I operate off the assumption that if I can think of a process I want a programme to do (e.g. a formula in Excel), the programmer who built the product will have also have thought of it. A well worded internet search is worth its weight in gold when it comes to upskilling on the job.
Tips that support my professional learning
Read organisation wide correspondence
Not only does this provide context to ongoing projects, and established processes, it provides insight into the actions being taken to deliver on long-term strategies. It helps minimise big workplace surprises.
Schedule regular time for professional development
Whether it is half an hour a week, or a half day once a month, put time in your calendar for regular learning. More than blocking out the time, plan what you will do. This can be as simple as saving a list of blog posts or articles to read, work through a LinkedIn Learning (or other eLearning) course, or write a professional diary reflecting on your successes, challenges and goals for the week. If you plan an activity for this time, you are much more likely to actually engage with it.
LinkedIn Learning Login (Free access for University of Edinburgh staff and students)
Ask questions
In meetings (or when you receive emails), ask the speaker to clarify exactly what they mean, especially if they are prone to speaking in acronyms and initialisations. Asking questions not only shows you are actively engaged, but it also helps you process what you need to do to effectively action your tasks.
Use your calendar as your to-do list
This has the dual benefit of protecting your time to balance meetings with individual work time, and it helps set realistic timeframes for commitments you make. Instead of adding actions to a never ending to-do list, you can add it to a specific day and time, which provides clarity for when you can deliver for your colleagues. A well managed calendar makes balancing work priorities easy. I picked this tip up from a Harvard Business Review article on how CEO’s manage their time (I work off 30 minute increments though!)
How CEOs Manage Time (Harvard Business Review)
