In today’s rapidly evolving workplace, traditional approaches to career growth no longer deliver the professional development that many employees crave and demand. Reduced budgets, restrictions on promotions and movement. The skills gap is evolving dramatically. There are few formal learning opportunities. Managers working to their limits lack visibility into remote and hybrid employees. Is this a recipe for the end of career development?
At least not! In fact, it makes the current situation more vibrant, meaningful, and personal because it emphasizes what we have known for a long time: that the ultimate responsibility for fostering growth lies with the individual. This is a recipe for a satisfying approach to. Promoting development today means adopting a “scrappy” style. That means taking advantage of what’s available, enriching your current role, being creative, and squeezing every ounce of development from your daily activities within your personal sphere of influence. Are there any promotions or training programs? No problem. There’s no reason to be dissatisfied. Just rustle it up.
Embracing “roughness” means being more resourceful, agile, and innovative in identifying and exploiting available opportunities for growth. Scrappy is an active agency. It is a mindset that recognizes that growth is an internal job that individuals must own. This is a lens that recognizes the nearly limitless opportunities for development that are hidden in plain sight but invisible to most people. This is a set of DIY (do-it-yourself) practices that enable independent development actions.
Sloppy self-developers see the “day-to-day struggles” as the crux of their learning, and that every experience is already incorporated into their regular job, learning from what they’re already doing, and adding value to their career journey along the way. provides an opportunity to add They know they don’t have to wait for a new role, project, or impossible assignment. They are just carefully looking to the next job.
Want to incorporate further development into your work? Consider some bold strategies.
practice with a purpose
Purposeful practice is an organic, mindful approach to skill development that turns everyday activities into opportunities for growth. It is important to be curious and approach tasks consciously in order to connect potential opportunities with the skills you want to develop.
To implement purposeful practice, start by setting an intention for your next interaction, such as focusing on a specific skill you want to improve. Next, select behaviors and techniques to apply during specific work-related events and activities. Then let’s give it a try. Approach required tasks with the intention of applying the desired skills, behaviors, and techniques. And once you’ve done that, take the time to draw lessons from the experience and notice what worked and what didn’t.
This is a practical example of purposeful practice.
Set the intention: Based on some feedback I’ve received recently, you should avoid dominating the meeting with your technical expertise.
Plan: At our next team meeting, we’re going to practice cultivating curiosity. Ask more questions, hold back your opinions and comments until the end, and only share what you need to know.
Reflection: I asked 4-5 questions to facilitate a good conversation. I asked for an explanation, which Roger seemed grateful for. I probably only jumped in once when I didn’t need to. Next time, I’d like to find a way to ask questions that get the team to discuss essential topics, rather than expressing my own opinion.
This simple process transforms everyday tasks into powerful learning moments that foster personal and professional growth.
Search for opportunity zones
Every organization has unclaimed areas where the needs are known but someone needs to take ownership. This is an opportunity zone for change. Perhaps it’s a gray area between departments, or a pinch point in the customer journey. When you venture into these realms, you are offered a rigorous and informal course of study in complexity, collaboration, creativity, execution, and more. By tackling these uncalled for areas, you can differentiate yourself with your initiatives, gain visibility, and learn valuable lessons that you wouldn’t learn within your regular job responsibilities.
Optimize extracurricular activities
Work cannot meet all developmental needs. Look to volunteering outside of work to learn new skills. For example, if you want a supervisory role but aren’t ready yet, look for leadership opportunities in extracurricular activities. Develop these skills by chairing committees and leading projects. Bad self-developers find learning opportunities in the most unlikely of circumstances and squeeze development out of even the most mundane of experiences.
cast a wider net
In many cases, an organization may not be able to provide the necessary development within its four walls. Bad self-developers don’t give in to these limitations. They are seeking upstream and downstream partnerships for development. How can relationships with suppliers, vendors, and even customers be leveraged for growth? Is there a possibility for external rotational assignments? When necessary developments require you to think outside the box? There is.
Please soak
Mentorship is invaluable. But what if you don’t have access to such relationships? You can learn from those you admire, even from a distance. Enjoy career development by osmosis by observing how successful people accomplish important things. How do they deal with the challenges? Do you want to manage your time? Are you leading their team? Soak up the free wisdom around you, notice new strategies, and incorporate them into your practice. Your best mentor may be someone you never interact with directly and don’t even realize you’re watching, but who provides important lessons through example.
The benefit of a “scrappy” approach to career development is that you’re making the most of what’s already around you. It’s not about waiting for the perfect opportunity, it’s about seeing every moment as an opportunity to stretch, learn, and grow. When formal structures are inadequate, tenacious self-developers create their own path by drawing lessons from routine tasks, untapped areas within the organization, and even external relationships.
By utilizing this way of thinking, anyone can transform the ordinary into the extraordinary and turn every experience into a stepping stone to growth. It’s not about having more resources, it’s about being more resourceful. This approach reminds us that we have the power to direct our development, regardless of our circumstances.
The opinions expressed by SmartBrief contributors are their own.
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