In the movie Casablanca, Rick looks at Ilsa and says, “Who are you really, and what were you before? What did you do and what did you think, huh?” Every useful development plan begins with who you are. And make sure that you know who you are instead of defining yourself by someone else’s standards.
In our last posts on this topic, we discussed different ways to approach the construction of your personal development plan (PDP) as you consider where you are and where you want to be in your career. This post will focus on how you are performing in your current role.
Based on the feedback you’ve reviewed (a few of the places to look were outlined in the previous posts), what have you learned about how you are executing the responsibilities of your current job? Have you determined areas at which you are excelling and other areas that could be optimized? This is a great start!
Competency models are valuable tools that drill down on the many skills associated with a specific role and help you evaluate your ability to do those skills and behaviors in a successful and efficient way. If you don’t have these at your company, review your job description, or work with your manager to drill down on the various skills expected of you in your current position, considering several aspects of each responsibility. This list of competencies will be long and detailed covering the many aspects of the role from communication to presentations to scientific knowledge based. For example, scientific knowledge skills may include knowledge of product, disease, competitors, and your ability to communicate this information to different audiences such as KOLs, peers, nursing staff, and sales. List each of these as a separate competency (since they are!) and you will see the list of competencies for your role grow. If you already have a competency model, you’ve got the keys to success already outlined for you.
More in our next post…