Unlike the resolutions that so many of us make in January and discard just as quickly by February, our own professional development requires a deliberate and consistent effort to improve.

While most people in our organizations run in place when it comes to their own skills and knowledge development, a few committed souls manage to fight the gravitational pull of doing-nothing and break-away from the pack.

Is this your year to break-away?

Professional Development Success Stories to Motivate & Inspire:

Here are just a few of the examples I encountered in my work last year. They are to be commended for their efforts and results.  Names changed for privacy purposes.

  • Julie set her sights on moving into a front-line leadership role last year and was just promoted. Along the way, she took on every possible assignment she could glom on to that taught her what it took to lead. Not only did she prove to herself she was cut out for the role, she proved it to the people she worked with and importantly, she proved it to the person who had to select her for success…her boss.
  • Mark had long struggled mightily with self-esteem issues in spite of his stellar performance. With guidance, coaching and a lot of effort on his part, he’s become more comfortable with himself, and his excellent performance is now matched with an appropriate level of self-confidence.
  • Susan was given a battlefield promotion into what seemed like a no-win situation with the project from you-know-where. She inherited a demoralized and burned-out team and cost-overruns that would choke a good-sized horse. Six months later, after working unceasingly to lead and support this team and project back to health, the organization is looking to Susan and this groupas the model for how a high-performance team should function.
  • Juan, consistently displayed great passion for his work, but was limited by his confidence…in part due to his struggles to master English. He did it…and his boss described to me that he could see Juan’s confidence and contributions grow overnight. 
  • A little over one year ago, Adam was told that he needed to develop more “executive presence” to break through to the next level. Armed with the world’s most ambiguous advice (“You need more executive presence”) he researched and worked to strengthen his presence, authenticity and yes, confidence. He got the promotion.

I love these stories…because their examples inspire us all. Will you write your own success story in the next year?

7 Quick Ideas to Help You Take That First Step Forward:

1. Call a personal time-out. Stare in the mirror for a few minutes and think about where you are going professionally and if you are comfortable with your vector, pace and progress. You know if you are running in place. You also know in your heart of hearts when it doesn’t suit you.

2. Ask Questions About You. While uncomfortable, you will be well served to find someone or some small group in the workplace and ask them what they think of your professional performance and areas for development and your visible strengths. Fair warning…not all feedback is created equal, so you need a few perspectives before you decide where to focus.

3. Mine the Performance Feedback on Your Reviews. While there’s not enough space here for me to pick apart most review processes, I’m a fan of mining them for nuggets of truth or at least clues to the truth.

4. Start Small and Build. You’ll be tempted to tackle the Ironman of professional development and “fix” yourself all at once. Resist this temptation…it’s a formula for failure. You’re better off running a 5K.  Identify one thing to get better at…and develop a strategy for doing just that. Remember, if you improve 1% per day… , well, you do the math. The outcome will be impressive. Expand your areas of emphasis once you score some victories and build confidence.

5. Read Widely and Read Mostly from Outside the Business Genre. Regardless of my role as a management and leadership author, you’re much better suited reading about people who have overcome adversity and accomplished great things in the process. Histories and biographies are great!  (Although, my Leadership Caffeine book, makes a nice mid-day energy boost!)

6. Get Away from the Naysayers. You are better off reorienting your workplace relationships to those who like you are striving and moving forward. Don’t let the “Run in Place” crowd hold you back.

7. Celebrate the Victories, No Matter How Small. Give yourself a psychological break or reward. When you’ve scored a point, moved the bar a bit, overcome a historic weakness or fear, celebrate for a few moments. And then get back to it.

The Bottom-Line for Now:

Remember, if you are running in place, you’re falling behind. Here’s to moving forward!

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Art Petty is a developer of leaders and a strategy consultant. Art frequently speaks on leadership and management, and his work is reflected in two books (Practical Lessons in Leadership and Leadership Caffeine-Ideas to Energize Your Professional Development) and over 1-million words published at The Management Excellence blog. You can reach Art via e-mail to learn more about his leadership development, speaking and management consulting services.