Create Your Personal Training Plan

by Rob Houser

Have you created your personal training plan for 1999? If you haven’t, are you planning to work the year after that?

Keeping your skills current is the only form of job security you can count on in today’s workplace. No company can promise you continued full-time employment. No contract will last forever. Even if you like your job and the people around you, you should always think of yourself as on the market, because one day you will be, and you don’t want to be unprepared for that time.

Creating a personal training plan is one way to keep yourself on track with your professional development and to give yourself peace of mind about job security. Every technical communicator, full-time or part-time, should have a personal training plan. Here are some suggestions on how to create one.

Step 1: Know what tools and skills are in demand

It is important to know what tools and skills are in demand now as well as what may be hot in the next few years. When potential employers search resumes (and resume databases), they look for certain keywords like RoboHelp or GUI design. This procedure has implications for your resume design–especially if you don’t have the abilities they need. Without the proper tools and skills, you won’t even make it through the initial screening.

Unfortunately, many companies are making the mistake of equating tools with skills. They assume that people who know RoboHelp know how to design usable online help, or that people who know PhotoShop have the same skills as a graphic artist. You not only have to learn the hot new tools, you must acquire new skills, because while the tools quickly become outdated, the skills make learning other tools easier.

To find out what tools and skills are hot, keep an eye on the job listings in the paper (and in the "Employment Opportunities" section of the STC office web site at http://www.stc-va.org). Even if you’re not actively looking for another job, see what kinds of tools and skills employers are seeking. Pay special attention to the salaries offered for candidates with different abilities so you can see which ones result in the best pay. Also, make sure you read the trade magazines and journals in technical communication as well as those in your area of specialization. What abilities do they say will be in demand for the year five years and beyond?

Some of the specific skills I’ve seen listed in "help wanted" ads include the following:

• RoboHelp
• Doc-to-help
• RoboHTML
• Visio
• Framemaker
• Visual Basic
• Windows NT

For a long-term perspective on how the profession of technical communication is evolving, you may want to read "Future Travels of the InfoWrangler" in the September/October 1998 issue of Intercom.

Step 2: Assess your own abilities honestly

Before you can develop a training plan, you have to know what you already know and what you have the aptitude to learn in the future. Make a list of the tools and skills you use on the job (and the ones you may not be using). Next, go back through the list and rank each ability with a category such as: Know very well, Know well, Know enough to get by, Barely know, and Don’t know at all. In determining the rating for each ability, ask yourself how you would fare if you had to take a job where the ability was the primary one required to be successful in the job. You don’t have to share this list with anyone–it’s just for your self-evaluation. Figure 1 is an example of such a list.

If you’re a full-time employee, you should know that most contracting agencies will require you to fill out a form like this before they will place you in a job.

Figure 1. Tools and skills inventory

Step 3: Decide where you want to go

Decide what direction you want your career to take. Do you like technical information? Do you think it would be fun to program? Do you like to design? Do you like managing? Do you like the industry you are in enough to learn more about it? How are your people skills? How well do you do with public speaking, facilitating meetings, or training others? Are you interested in human factors or quality or customer support? Do you want to continue working for the same company? Do you want to remain in the same city or state? Would you rather be working at home? (For more thoughts on this subject, see "Taking Control of Your Goals" in the September/October issue of Intercom.)

You may find you that like where you are and that you want to ensure that you can stay there. You may find you need to make some changes in the near future to end up where you want to be. Regardless of what you decide, you have to know where you want to go before you can make any progress. As the Chinese philosopher Lao Tsu said: "What is the use of running if you’re not on the right path?"

The important part of this step is identifying the direction you want your career to take. Don’t let it just happen. Employers may pigeonhole workers in an area or job function because its expedient for them and because it does not involve the investment in additional training. If you take more than two jobs in the same industry, people may start to view you as a specialist in that industry. This situation can be good or bad, depending on what you want. The key is controlling the direction of your professional development.

Write a mission statement for your career. An example of a focused mission statement would be the following: "I want to continue developing online help and computer-based training for the financial industry, eventually working my way into a management position in a publications and training department."

Step 4: Set long-term and short-term performance objectives

Performance objectives are measurable accomplishments. You are responsible for setting your long-term objectives—broad goals achieved over a period of years that may influence your career. Your manager usually works with you to set short-term performance objectives—the specific tasks you are expected to complete over a clearly defined interval.

Long-term objectives mean goals to be achieved roughly five years from now. Planning beyond five years is difficult to do because so much changes every year. But it is important to have long-term direction for your professional development. Setting long-term performance objectives allows you to evaluate your progress yearly to see whether you are moving toward your goals. It also helps you take small steps toward a change you can’t make in one step. Finally, following long-term performance objectives will show up in your resume, demonstrating to potential employers that you have direction and drive.

List your long-term performance objectives as single-sentence, bulleted items. Limit the list to three to five objectives. Prioritize the list in order of perceived benefit to you in your present job as well as any possible future jobs. At this point, you should not be concentrating on tools or skills as much as what kind of projects you want to be able to complete and what advances you would like to make in your career..

The following are examples of long-term performance objectives:

• Develop subject-matter expertise in the financial industry (terminology, process, resources, trends)
• Move closer to product development to create integrated user assistance
• Increase my leadership abilities and opportunities
• Establish a reputation as a leader in the areas of online help and CBT design and development

If you are a full-time employee, ask your manager during your performance review what accomplishments (performance objectives) the manager would like to see you achieve over the next year. Make sure you get concrete answers, at least three to five performance objectives. If your manager can’t think of any objectives immediately, follow up with an e-mail message and additional meetings until you get some. Seize the opportunity to let your manager know what kind of objectives you would like to set for yourself to increase your contribution to the department. Confirm these objectives with your manager through e-mail as soon in the year as you can, so you can be sure you’re working toward the right goals. Save the e-mail, because you’ll want to take it with you to your next performance review.

If you work for yourself, set performance objectives based on the type of projects you would like to do in the future. Make sure you are working toward some goals that will advance and strengthen your career.

Examples of short-term objectives include the following:

• Performance Objective #1: Complete a project using alternative training delivery methods such as computer-based training.
• Performance Objective #2: Represent our team at the product release meetings.
• Performance Objective #3: Strengthen our ties with Engineering by getting involved with the user interface design of a new product.

Step 5: Identify learning objectives

After you have established performance objectives, you are ready to identify learning objectives. Learning objectives are tools and skills you can learn to help you accomplish your performance objectives. The tool or skill need not be completely new to you; you may need to improve an ability you already have. The important point is that you choose learning objectives that move you in a particular direction. You don’t just take classes because someone sends you a flyer in the mail—you take them to advance your career. For instance, if your performance objective is to create an HTML Help project, your learning objective might be to learn RoboHTML or more generally to learn how to design effective online help. You may be able to address multiple performance objectives with a few learning objectives.

When identifying learning objectives, you should attempt to choose objectives that are aligned with the goals and objectives of your company or department. Start by identifying one or two tools or skills you can learn to help you accomplish each performance objective. If the performance objective from your manager is vague, use your long-term objectives to make it more specific. For instance, in the example included in this article, my manager set this performance objective: "Complete a project using alternative training delivery methods such as computer-based training." I can combine that with my five-year objective to obtain "Learn to create computer-based training using Macromedia Director." The learning objective would be to "Learn to use Macromedia Director," which satisfies the requirements of my manager as well as my long-term objectives.

All of your learning objectives do not have to apply to immediate projects. As long as the tools and skills fit into your long-term objectives, you can use one or two of your learning objectives to prepare yourself for future projects. For instance, you may not be responsible for Web page development now, but you may have set a five-year objective to develop Web pages for your department. Setting a learning objective to learn Web design and Frontpage would be a good move. If you can create one learning objective that covers more than one performance objective, then you open up more room to pursue tools and skills for future projects. Also, if you do not need to learn anything for one or more of your short-term objectives, you may be able to focus on your long-term objectives. Figure 2 shows learning objectives that could be used to support performance objectives.

Figure 2. Learning objectives supporting performance objectives.

Step 6: Investigate ways to achieve your learning objectives

Once you know what you need to learn this year, you need to investigate all of the options. It helps if you (or your department) save all the advertisements and catalogs for training that you receive in the mail through the year. Check with local and national workshops and training courses, local colleges, and continuing education programs. Surf the web for classroom training, computer-based training (CBT), and even Internet-based courses. Many large corporations offer skills training for their associates. You can also reap a lot of training rewards by attending a conference such as the STC annual conference or conferences held by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers or the Special Interest Group for Documentation of the Associate for Computing Machinery. These organizations offer workshops before and after the main conference. Finally, don’t overlook the low-cost option of books.

Any combination of these solutions can help you learn the tools and skills you want to acquire. Your final selections will depend largely on your training budget, schedule, and personal learning style. For instance, some people can purchase one or two books about Active X programming and teach themselves a little every week; others require more structured training that gets them out of the office for a few days while they learn.

Figure 3 shows options for different learning objectives.

Figure 3. Learning objectives and options.

Step 7: Choose the most effective training solutions

After you have listed your training options, choose the best way to develop each ability. Be aware of the cost and alternatives, but don’t sacrifice quality completely for cost. Try to make good business decisions. What options will result in the greatest return on the investment? Even if your company or department has an "unlimited" budget for training (which is unlikely), you should show your manager that you are trying to use the company’s money wisely.

For each option you choose, know the complete cost of the training, including approximate travel costs, the location, the provider, and the duration of the training. Figure 4 shows how the list developed in Figure 3 would look after some options are eliminated.

Figure 4. Narrowing the list of options

Step 8: Identify the benefits of the training for your company

You should now have a list of long-term and short-term performance objectives for your professional development as well as a list of learning objectives that will help you move toward these goals. Now describe the benefits of each learning objective to yourself and your company. Make sure you know your corporate and departmental goals and objectives for the year (or longer) so your training is aligned with their strategic planning. Your personal objectives and company/department objectives do not have to be exactly the same. You’re going to share the company/department objectives only with your manager. Figure 5 shows what such a list would look like.

Figure 5. Objectives, options, and benefits

Step 9: Document your training plan

Write a one or two-page memorandum summarizing your training plan. Describe your learning objectives, strategies for achieving those objectives, expected cost, schedule, and benefits to the company. Make sure you have an unwritten backup plan with alternatives for each item that are cheaper, closer, or quicker, just in case you have to negotiate with your manager. Schedule your training early in the year to ensure that you have time to apply the abilities you acquired and to beat the inevitable spending freezes and budget adjustments that occur during the fourth quarter of every year.

Step 10: Arrange a meeting to discuss your plan with your manager

Schedule a meeting with your manager to discuss your training plan. Request approval of the plan so you can do the following: (1) adjust your schedule to minimize the impact on others in the company when you are away from the office, (2) take advantage of early registration discounts or attractive travel rates to reduce costs, and (3) work toward the goals set for you during your performance review. Explain each part of your training plan in terms of how the solution helps you achieve your learning objective and what that means to the bottom line of the company (both in terms of expenses and return on the investment).

It’s important to consider your audience: your manager and the person authorizing funds for training are responsible for using the company’s money wisely. You have to know in advance that your training plan will help the company achieve its long-range goals, even if the return is not a literal deliverable. Make sure your manager knows that you take your professional development seriously and that you are not simply asking for a company-paid vacation. In simple terms, your manager will want to know what you will be able to do after the training that you can’t do now.

You may have to make some adjustments to your plan as you discuss it with your manager. However, if you followed all of the steps in this process, you should have some success. Problems may arise if your department does not have a budget for training, as is the case with many small companies. In this case, you can still pursue the process and request financial support from your company. If your manager balks at the cost, go to your backup or secondary training methods. If your manager still balks, ask whether the company will pay half of your expenses (and offer to pay the other half). If by some chance your manager isn’t overwhelmed by your dedication to your professional development and still refuses to provide any funding, ask for time off with pay so you can arrange for the training yourself. Finally, if the company doesn’t provide this support (money or time off), use your personal time and money to complete as much of the training as you can. Next year, repeat the process. If management does not offer to support your professional development in some way that satisfies you the next year (after they have had adequate time to budget money for training), use your new skills to find a better place to work.

If you are self-employeed, your training plan should help you see how you can get more offers and better jobs the next time you circulate your resume. Because you are independently employed, you have the responsibility of planning the time and saving the money for training every year. It’s easy to let training take a backseat when you work hourly or pay yourself, but neglecting your professional development will catch up with you eventually and may have the unfortunate cost of lowering your rate and reducing your opportunities.

If you are a manager, you need a plan for yourself as well as your employees. Make sure you plan your budget to include training, and encourage your employees to follow this process to create their annual training plans. Set a yearly figure for them, ideally between $2000 and $3000, so they can choose the appropriate means to gain the abilities they need to accomplish the performance objectives you gave them. Don’t be afraid that giving them the training will cause them to leave your company. If you show them you are concerned for their professional development, they will be more loyal than if they think you don’t care about them. And you have the advantage of their new abilities while they are working on your projects.

Conclusion

In business, it’s not even debated any longer that a company’s best resource is its people. Any company that does not invest in its people will not be successful in the long run. But an individual is really his or her own company. You are responsible for your own professional development. You are responsible for making an ambitious yet reasonable training plan that expands your abilities. Even if your company won’t provide financial support, you should be completing a training plan every year. Of course, you should be wary of companies that won’t provide any support for training, because that indicates that they don’t have your long-term interests at heart. Likewise, a company should wonder about employees who do not care enough about professional development to pursue some form of training plan on their own initiative.