Introduction

Many companies offer their employees professional development because they see the benefit and value in doing so. They have more engaged and satisfied employees. You may not be one of the privileged few who have such an employer. It's common these days for employees to pay for their personal career development.  So what do you do when this happens? Not doing anything simply isn't an option. Things are too volatile right now with rapid technological changes and a global pandemic that drags on. In this post, you'll learn how to invest in your professional development.

The days when a company took care of all your Professional Development needs are dwindling. One of the best approaches for you is to take control of your career and manage it. Before you can get started though, it's important that you know where you'd like to take your career. When an employer doesn't allocate a professional development budget for employees, a good option for you is to read books that have the information you need to help you get to where you need to in your career.

Chart your career path

As I said before, to figure out a career path, you need to know where you want to take your career. This can be hard to do, especially if you're feeling stuck. You don't want to leave your career development up to chance. It's so much easier to stay with the flow of your current career and have the employer or your peers in your current profession push you down those directions rather than create the pathways for you.

You need to decide now what your career path is for the next few years. What do you really want to do? What would you like your next role to be? How will you make sure you get there? Figure out which industry, industry segment, business, company or career field you want to get into. Also determine what skills and qualifications are necessary to achieve your career goals.

Determine your resources and needs

Once you've decided on the career path for you, and you figured out the skills you need to get there, it's time to invest in your professional development. One of the best forms of professional development that doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg is reading books. Applying the information in books can help you to acquire in-demand skills.

You'll use these skills in your own career as you advance in it. And you also learn about how others developed the same skills and what they did to get where they are. As you read, you'll identify opportunities for your own skill growth and to position yourself for a more lucrative role. When reading the right books, you could easily identify a few areas needed for your own professional development.

Now, it's time to take a step back. You know the skills you need to grow professionally, so how do you decide what books to read to get those skills? To find the books to read, ask for book recommendations from family, friends, colleagues, or the librarian at the public library. You could also request a 15-minute information interview to talk to people who are where you're headed in your career. I'm sure that they'd have some good advice for you and they’ll know which books are the right books for you to read..

Other skills to work on

You've determined the skills you need to get for your career path. But have you thought about other skills you should acquire as well? The following are skills that will allow you to thrive in any career, and on any career path.

• Complex Problem-Solving

• Critical Thinking and Analysis

• Creativity, Innovation, Ideation, Originality, and Initiative

• People Management

• Collaboration

• Emotional Intelligence

• Negotiation

• Judgment, Reasoning, Analytical Thinking, and Decision Making

• Active Learning and Learning Strategies

• Resilience,

• Stress tolerance

• Flexibility

Anyone learning the above skills cannot go wrong in his or her career. There are some excellent books that can teach you the above skills. And on top of that, many of the skills are related, so you can learn them together. In fact, some books will teach you complex problem-solving, creativity, critical thinking and decision-making.

Invest in your professional development: The benefits of stacking skills

I came across the concept of skills stacking a few years ago. I always meant to explore the concept more deeply, but never got around to doing it. According to the Ladders:

“Skill Stacking is not a new concept, but it’s an approach to learning that can help you become a better version of yourself. The idea is that you learn new skills, often unrelated, and then combine them to make yourself more efficient, or valuable.”

I've presented you with some skills I think would be worthwhile to learn. You don't have to become proficient in all. Imagine if you became proficient in two to four complementary skills such as complex problem-solving, creativity, critical thinking and decision-making. If you build a strong foundation for each of the four complementary skills I mentioned, that act will catapult your career in expected and unexpected ways.

Looking at what you've accomplished so far at work and in your life, what would your skills stack look like? I studied computer science in college, and I studied human resources and management information systems in university. Additionally, I've taken many writing courses and attended a couple of writer's retreats. I've read a few books on marketing and digital marketing.

And I worked as Director of Research for a multinational. I've created a few reading challenges. On top of that, I've read several books to learn the key skills the World Economic Forum says professionals need to thrive in the future. And I'm a small business owner. And I’ve sat on boards and committees.

Have you read?

My Wage by Jessie B. Rittenhouse (a poem worth thinking about)

My stacked skills could look something like this.

• Small Business Owner
• Computer Science
• Management Information Systems
• Human Resources
• Research
• Writing
• Training
• Leading
• Marketing
• Sitting on Boards
• Problem Solving
• Creativity
• Reading Challenge

Is skill stacking enough for you to become successful?

You become proficient at a skill when you use it. Or what's the point? That's why I advise my clients to apply the information they learn from the books they read. I don't think skills stacking is something that most people do. So, it's not part of their professional development. Skill stacking can help you to stand apart from the crowd, if you find ways to integrate the different skills into what you do professionally.

The bottom line is that if your company doesn't invest in your professional development you can invest in yourself. And do so in an affordable way. Figure out where you want to go, and how you're going to get there. And when bridging the skills gap to become more marketable, make sure you incorporate skills stacking into your professional development.

Next Steps

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