Saturday, May 17, 2014

Musings on Professional Growth

What surfaces to the top of my mind each day as I ponder upon my upcoming entry into a new educational community is professional growth: my own, my colleagues as well as the organizational climate for professional growth. I believe there are two main reasons behind these consistent and on going thoughts that persist in my head each day.

From my perspective as an individual – I yearn to learn and grow each day; I view professional growth as a necessary component to my success within an organization, and I believe my ability to model and share my professional growth process and thoughts will ultimately contribute to or in the least influence the professional growth of my colleagues. Second, the rapid and continuous changes affecting organizations in general, and educational systems in particular, due to technological advances, globalization, and information flow and processing, requires practitioners to adapt, change and grow professionally. Thus, it does not mater if I am entering a new community or if I continue to be a member of the community I have been in for 15 years – both professional growth and cultivating a learning climate within all educational organizations is needed to keep up with the demands of our global society.

I hope to spend some time, as I read and reflect over the next few months, setting the stage for optimal professional growth and to begin to cultivate a learning environment for the organization and for the individuals within it – me included.

Here are some questions I am pondering:

  • How do we create optimal environments for professional growth?
  • Is there a correlation between the environment we create and the personal growth initiatives of each individual?
  • What are some strategies or processes that would help professionals reflect upon or record their professional growth?
Here are some topics I am pondering:
  • Relationship building
  • Goal setting
  • Reflection
  • Risk taking

What do you think I should think about in regards to professional growth for individuals and within organizations?