Introduction
The Employee Development Program is designed to help you set and complete your professional goals. You can take on all of these sections all at once, focus on them individually, or come back to them again and again. Remember, the most important part of this program is YOU! This program contains six sections:
- Align
- Assess
- Prepare
- Plan
- Do
- Review
Action Items
- Review and complete the resources on this webpage to learn more about the Employee Development Program
Align
To begin this professional development process, it is important to connect with why you are here at BYU. Take time to reflect and note what parts of the mission and aims are important to you, your job, and your career aspirations at BYU.
Action Items
- Reflect and connect why you are here at BYU
- Learn more about the mission and aims of BYU
- Complete any required training modules
Resources
- Training modules
- Envisioning BYU Series
Assess
In this stage of the Employee Development Program, you will assess where you are now and the professional development goals that matter to you. It is important to approach this process with a growth mindset. This means recognizing that hard work and good planning can make a difference in our careers and our lives. Additionally, you also want to identify your strengths and consider any gaps in your knowledge, skills, or experience that you would like to improve. Don't get discouraged! Identifying where you are and what you want to improve is an essential part of creating a plan of action to get you there. Stretching in your professional development can help you grow and often leads to an increased feeling of fulfillment and accomplishment.
Action Items
- Reflect and identify the specific knowledge, skills, and abilities you want to develop as part of your professional goals
- Identify and make a list of your strengths
- Identify and make a list of any gaps in your knowledge and skills
- Collect constructive feedback from your supervisor, co-workers, and customers
Resources
Prepare
In the Prepare stage, you will use your identified goals, strengths, and areas of opportunity to prepare your employee development plan and goals. After you narrow your aspirations to 1-3 areas of focus, you will then meet with your manager to discuss your initial plans. Collaborate with your manager, record any feedback, and adjust your plans accordingly.
Action Items
- Identify 1-3 areas of focus
- Create an initial plan
- Meet with your manager and seek feedback about your initial plans
- Schedule a meeting
- Prepare to lead the meeting
- Help your manager see why you want to work on your chosen area(s) of focus
- Develop draft goals
- Set up a specific time to get the completed goals back to your manager
Resources
Plan
In the Plan stage, you will take the ideas and information you've gathered up to this point to finalize 1-3 specific goals that follow the SMART Method. It is important to identify and recognize the opportunities to meet these goals through both formal programs and coaching as well as on-the-job activities. These activities will have a combination of qualities such as working with your strengths and building your skills, providing engaging and challenging opportunities, focusing your efforts, and helping you get better at the things you want to learn and develop. With this in mind, once again finalize and review your goals with your supervisor and plan times to check in and discuss your progress.
Action Items
- Finalize 1-3 specific goals to work on
- Record your goals
- Use the SMART Method to create goals that are:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-bound
- Look for and identify ways to achieve your goals both through more formal programs and less formal opportunities
- Take advantage of BYU resources
- Review your final goals with your supervisor
- Set a time to check in with your supervisor on the progress of your goals
Resources
Do
Now that you have your final goals and have created a plan to meet them, you can begin to work on achieving them! Utilize any resources that are helpful to you and set aside time each week to make progress towards your goals. Schedule regular follow-up meetings with your supervisor to keep both of you on the same page. Remember that the key factor to your success in achieving your goals is YOU. You will need to drive the completion of your development goals.
Action Items
- Start working on your goals
- Utilize any resources that will be helpful to you
- Have regular follow-up meetings with your supervisor
- Prioritize and make time to consistently work on your goals
Resources
- See the Resources Tab
Review
Once you accomplish each goal, take time to celebrate your success. You can then decide to create new goals or shift your focus to completing one of your other goals. Reviewing and identifying new goals should be a continual practice and ongoing discussion with your manager. Use this webpage often to review these videos and resources to continue to identify, set, and achieve your professional development goals. Remember that the point of this program is to help you achieve your goals. As we all continue to develop, we will not only find career success but be able to contribute to the mission of BYU in a meaningful way.
Action Items
- Celebrate your successes
- Review and record your development progress
- Use this program as a continual progress and identify and create new goals
There are many resources available to you as a BYU employee to aid in your professional development. This page gathers a number of those here, but this is not a comprehensive list. Depending on your job and field, there may be a number of other resources to explore.
EDP Documents
- Career Exploration Guide
- Strengths Analysis
- Goal Setting Guide
- EDP Conversation Agenda
- Individual Development Plan
Training
Online Training
Other Training
- HRD Workshops
- Certificates
- Conferences
- Coaching
Things to Watch, Read, or Listen to
- Books
- Articles
- Podcasts
- Videos
Development Activities Ideas
- Running a meeting you do not normally run
- Mentoring a colleague or student in your department or on campus
- Shadowing someone in a role you would be interested in pursuing
- Take on a role for a committee, project, or task that goes outside of your job description or your department
- Join a professional organization in your field or an aspirational field
- Meet 10 BYU employees in various departments – ask them about their jobs.
- Do at least two informational interviews with people whose roles interest you and discuss what you learned with your manager
- Serve on a hiring committee for a full-time position
- Build a business case for a change in your department and present it to your manager
- Do research on a topic of interests to you that is related to your role or department, or BYU, and present it to your team or department in a staff meeting
- Create a process map for a service you provide to students or other customers. Interview key people in the process to learn more about it. Analyze it for potential improvements.
- Form and lead a team to improve hand-offs between your department and one of your customer groups or departments.
- Teach someone a skill or expertise you have.