How to write a personal development plan that inspires you (clue: it's the opposite to 'fake it till you make it')
A leader I worked with recently had an objective on his personal development plan that made him shudder.
Yes. Shudder. He actually used that word.
He wanted to get more visible and have a greater impact beyond his day-to-day role, but the solution his boss had suggested turned his stomach.
One thing you’ll never be short of in your career is well-meaning advice from other people. And it’s easy to believe that those further down the career track automatically know what’s best for you and your development.
But there can be a thin line between which advice is helpful and which is not.
So many of the leaders I work with think growing their leadership looks a certain way. And they feel uneasy, because ‘that way’ doesn’t feel authentic. They’re cringing at the thought of putting into action what’s on their development plan, and they’re getting ready to brace themselves and ‘power through.’
I see that ‘powering through’ is overrated as a way of living. It can be useful for short-term stuff we just need to get done, but when it comes to creating sustainable change in ourselves and others, it’s rarely the way to go. Gritting our teeth and ‘just doing it’ can feel incredibly stressful, and our brains are not wired to learn when we’re stressed and unhappy.
Imagine this:
You want to get more visible in your industry, and when your boss was at a similar stage in his career he had a breakthrough moment when he did a high profile presentation at swanky conference. Off the back of that, he got his dream job and his career really started to take off. He realised that big crowds were his thing, and so he suggests that you should look for opportunities to present at similar events.
If you follow his advice, it’s likely it will take you forward in some way. What he’s suggesting isn’t wrong.
It’s just heavily coloured by his view of how careers are accelerated (based on his own experience).
It is actually only one of an infinite number of paths you could take to achieve the outcome you want. It might be that his suggestion delights you…and if so, that’s wonderful! Go for it.
But if it doesn’t, and particularly if it triggers a strong response (like shuddering for example), it’s worth pausing and looking a little deeper at your development plan.
Which is what I’d love to support you to do.
I’m guessing you’re reading this because you don’t love your development plan enough to pin it to your wall and read it every morning as an inspirational pick me up :)
To start us off, let’s dig into where you are with it right now. And let’s use a metaphor:
Many people run as a way to exercise. And how they see running affects how it feels for them and the results they achieve.
The internal ‘window’ they are looking through as they run is colouring their experience.
Let’s take a look through three possible windows:
Window 1: “I should go running. I know it’s a way to get fitter. Brian runs every morning and he’s convinced it’s the way to go…But I hate it. I’d rather stick pins in my eyes. But when I do run, I guess I feel fitter. Oh well..no pain no gain…I’m going to brace myself and just do it.”
Window 2: “It’s not my favourite thing to do, but once I start I feel good. When I run, I can feel it making my body stronger. I can see the difference it’s making to my health and energy levels and that’s important to me. It’s not easy, but I know it will get easier.”
Window 3: “I LOVE how it feels when I run. It gives me energy. It starts my day off right. When I run first thing, everything else that happens today will feel better. There is nothing else I’d rather be doing right now!”
Of course there are many other windows, and like these three, all will have some value. None of them are right or wrong.
Now - back to your development plan.
Which of the three windows I’ve described, feels closest to the one you were looking through when you wrote your plan?
Maybe you were looking through different windows for different objectives.
Just notice which it is for you.
My hunch is, if you’re reading this, it might be that at least one of them comes from writing your development plan through window 1.
Here’s the thing:
If it feels like that, it’s unlikely to be sustainable and very little will change without INCREDIBLE will power. It will feel like climbing up a mountain whilst dragging a heavy suitcase behind you. It’s possible, but for many of us, if we are honest with ourselves, it’s not what we’d choose to do.
The client I mentioned earlier was already a successful leader and leading his team to deliver great results. But he wanted to be more visible in his organisation and have a positive impact on customers and colleagues more broadly, beyond his day-to-day role.
His ‘dreaded run’ was promoting himself on social media because that’s what his boss does. He had been coached into putting up posts about his and his team’s successes on LinkedIn and Twitter. It had also been suggested he should make a video on Tik Tok.
After his one-to-one with his boss he wrote it down.
But every cell of his body was screaming NO.
It was a big, fat, red flashing light telling him that maybe…just maybe…that approach wasn’t the best next step for him.
If you have an objective on your development plan that feels that way, do yourself and your career a favour and don’t just power through.
Powering through is useful for some things.
But if it means you are doing something that fundamentally feels inauthentic, people will feel it. And it won’t have the desired impact.
So if powering through isn’t the way…what is?
Ask yourself what you care about and start there. These questions might help:
1) What is important about growing this aspect of your leadership?
2) What difference is it going to make (beyond your own career development)?
3) In five words or less, why does it matter?
When you dig into these questions, you’ll be more able to create a path for your development through window 2.
You’ll likely end up with something that feels like a stretch, but it will resonate. It will feel right. It will fit you.
As my client explored these questions, he realised he wanted to influence the things that weren’t working for customers and colleagues. He cared about supporting his peers and wanted to help them grow their collective performance as a team. All of that fitted with his values as a person and what he stands for as a leader.
So we explored what getting visible could look like from this window.
And it had nothing to do with social media :)
He decided to start having deeper conversations with his peers about their challenges and what support they needed. These conversations led to three practical ways he could work across the wider team to support collective performance improvement. He started to step into his leadership in a whole new way. His boss’s boss heard about one of the initiatives and mentioned it at an Executive Team meeting. Before he knew it, my client had a call from the MD and was being asked for his opinions on strategic initiatives that impacted every colleague and customer.
By starting with what felt right for him, he became more visible than ever, and had a tangible impact on what he cared about.
And the added bonus was that it felt enjoyable. Like riding his bike down a hill, cruising effortlessly, rather than puffing and panting up the way and hating every minute of it.
As you grow your leadership, trusting your instincts and staying close to your bigger ‘why’ is a powerful stance to take.
The ‘new thing’ you’re trying will feel more authentic. What happens as a result will excite you. The growth you experience personally will make you want more. Because you’re hyper aware of why the thing you’re doing matters, the discomfort you feel will be insignificant and you will keep going.
And then you take it off your development plan, because it’s just how you operate.
Which brings us to window 3. When we do something because it feels good. And it works.
In my client’s case, it meant closer, more enjoyable and authentic relationships with his peers and other senior stakeholders who previously he’d barely known. And with that came opportunities to make a bigger difference well beyond his immediate team.
Despite how it may sometimes seem, you don’t need to sell out on who you are to get on in your career.
The most powerful and enjoyable way to grow your leadership can be to find what nourishes you and start there.
Do something that contributes in a way that delights you. Even if it’s uncomfortable, if the delight is there, the discomfort will be something you can move through with greater ease.
When we’re making a difference to the things we care most about, we expand into new possibilities.
What are you expanding into?
What did you discover about your own development plan as a result of reading this blog? Email me at claire@clairemackinnon.com with your reflections, comments and questions, or join the conversation on LinkedIn.
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