Learning doesn’t stop when you leave school or get your first promotion. Most companies support continuous learning of their employees by providing professional development opportunities. I spent 12 difficult months in a role that didn’t provide either.  While this was demoralising, in hindsight I had become complacent and wasn’t actively driving the progression of my own career. The one thing that made the role bearable was taking back some of the control and ownership I’d lost.

When my job lacked direction I reached out to my network and met with former colleagues.  The occasional catch-up and professional discussion became a weekly fixture.  I didn’t realise it until several months later, but we’d accidentally co-founded a learning and development group.  

Our format is simple:

• Nobody dictates what we learn – we’re self-directed.  We are each responsible for our own development.
• We each learn at our own pace and in the format that works best for us as individuals, whether it be reading a book, listening to podcasts, watching Ted Talks or something else.
• We measure our success by the value we get from what we learn.  We’re not judged on the topics we learn or the progress we’ve made against corporate SMART goals or OKRs.
• We meet up once a week to share what we’re learned.  By teaching our learnings to each other, we reinforce the learnings within ourselves.

Taking control of my professional development has had benefits far beyond just merely taking in new knowledge.  It’s opened me up to new ideas and concepts that have enabled me to have better conversations because I’m more informed.

Peer-to-peer engagement is one of the most powerful aspects of the group. We share the challenges we’re having in our jobs and provide support and advice to each other.  Our conversations are constructive because we have a high degree of trust in our relationship and can speak openly without fear of reprisal.

Having regular conversations with my peers has also given me insights into how other companies do things.   I’ve made improvements at work based on the the insights from my peers at other companies, in conjunction with my own learnings.

My advice is don’t fall into the trap (accidentally or otherwise) of thinking your career will drive itself, or that someone else will step in for you.  While your manager has a significant role to play in guiding and developing your career, ultimately you are accountable for how you develop.  And if you don’t like the direction your manager is (or isn’t) guiding you in, do something about it and take back control.

Photo: Story of the Forest exhibition at the National Museum of Singapore.