Your Guide to Your Career and Learning Plan

Your Guide to Your Career and Learning Plan June 2013

Contents Page Introduction....3 What is a Career and Learning Plan?...4 Where does it fit in?...5 Why is it important?...6 Where do I start?...7 Step One: Identify your development...8 Step Two: Consider current and future roles..9 Step Three: Determine the best learning activities......10 Step Four: Manage your plan.....11 Step Five: Report on your accomplishments 11 Resources..12-13 2

Introduction Welcome to the guide to Career and Learning Plans. This guide is intended to assist you, as a Government of Alberta employee, in creating your own career and learning plan each year. Planning your career and learning helps you set development goals to: enhance performance in your current role, and prepare yourself for future roles. The Government of Alberta is committed to supporting continuous learning for its employees. What does this mean for you and your career and learning? Your career is a lifelong learning process. There will be many factors that influence your career decisions, but nobody is more interested or qualified to determine its direction and timing than you. You will likely have several different jobs and career shifts in your lifetime. It is about making informed career and learning decisions. Ideally, your Career and Learning Plan is not something that happens only at the beginning of each fiscal year, but something that is a continual, living document adjusted to meet your changing needs and learning acquisitions. APS career paths are often as unique as individuals, and ultimately you will make choices to meet your individual needs. You are in charge of managing your own career. 3

What is a Career and Learning Plan? A Career and Learning Plan is a tool to help you capture information related to your development goals, which are discussed and agreed to between you and your supervisor. A Career and Learning Plan generally: Includes development goals, the specific actions you will take to meet your development goals, when you will do them and the results you achieve throughout the year. Is flexible and allows for individualization; considers that people work and learn differently and have different development needs depending on where they are in their careers. Is open to adjustment as things may change throughout the year. 4

Where does it fit in? This diagram shows the linkage between your Career and Learning Plan and your Performance Agreement. It is important to keep in mind that your performance commitments and your career and learning goals should fit together. CAREER PLANS: usually take a longer-term view, typically 2-5 years. Here you need to factor in long-term work/life goals and issues depending on your stage of life (e.g. family responsibilities, geographic concerns, financial plans, health issues, etc.). Some of the career plans you have will directly influence your immediate learning plan. LEARNING PLANS: mostly concentrate on the next 1-2 years and focus on current or transition jobs. They need to be in sync with your career plans and may also be influenced by your immediate Performance Plan. PERFORMANCE PLANS: are linked to the achievement of business plan goals. They are defined for the current fiscal year and highly focused on job-related deliverables. 5

Why is it important? For You? Research has shown that people who set career and learning development goals: Have a strong sense of purpose and connection. Have more personal satisfaction in their work. Are more open to new opportunities when they come up. Are better prepared for the future and better able to cope with change. And thus have less stress. For the Organization? Clarifies expectations and commitments between you and your supervisor. Strengthens current and future capacity of the organization. Supports succession planning. Supports continuous learning throughout the organization. Creates an environment where employee s are engaged and want to stay. Remember you are not alone as you work through your plan as you can talk to your supervisor and Human Resources. The plan is best implemented using a phased approach and it does not have to be done all at once. It is also important to remember that it is up to you to create the future you want and nobody is more capable of creating that future than you! Have a look over the rest of this guide to find answers to frequently asked questions on each section of the Career and Learning Plan. You will also find links to resources to help you as you create your development goals and select the best mix of learning options to help you reach those goals. 6

Where do I start? In the following pages, there are a number of key questions and resources to help you as you work through each section of your Career and Learning Plan. The Career and Learning Plan is part of your annual Performance Agreement form and looks like this: CAREER AND LEARNING PLAN Click here to see a Sample Plan When developing your Career and Learning Plan, focus on your learning needs to enhance performance in your current role and actions to prepare for longer-term career opportunities. Prioritize your learning needs into 1-3 main development goals. Click here to access resources to help you develop your plan. My Development Goal: Focus: Current Role (State the specific Knowledge, Skill or APS Competency to be developed) Future Roles Actions/Timing Results Achieved/How I Applied What I Learned Too busy to think about your career and learning? Planning your career and learning does not have to be an arduous task. Taking a bit of time throughout the year to revisit your learning needs and progress can keep you on track, better prepare you for new opportunities that arise and allow you to make any changes if needed. Have a look at Career Management for Busy People on the Career Management Portal to give you a quick overview of the portal and to get you started. (Click on the links or see the Resources section on page 13 of this guide for the website address). 7

Step One: Identify your development goals My Development Goal What is a development goal? A development goal is a statement describing how you want to enhance your skills, knowledge and competencies. Development goals can be short-term or long-term, depending on what your learning focus is. They can help you develop yourself for your current role as well as for your future career aspirations. What is an APS Competency? Competencies are behaviors that are essential to reach our goals in serving Albertans. Where do I begin? Ask yourself: What learning (knowledge, skills, competencies) would help me be more effective as an employee? What do I need to learn to prepare for the future? Compare your current knowledge, skills and competencies with where you want to be and determine where there are gaps or areas to develop. Reflect on your strengths and consider areas for further development. Talk to your supervisor and Human Resources for advice. APS members need to demonstrate two types of competencies: technical competencies and behavioral competencies. Technical competencies are generally the focus of what you do in your job. Behavioral competencies are the observable characteristics or behaviors that are critical for individual or team performance and success. They focus on how you approach your work. The APS Competency Model focuses on behavioral competencies. Check out all the APS Competencies. 8

Step Two: Consider current and future roles Focus What should my development goal focus on? That depends! Are you new to your role and are just learning the ropes? Are you looking to continually improve yourself in a job you love? Are you looking for more challenge? Are you looking to move to a different role? Are you looking at changing career paths? The focus of your development goal can be towards improving your performance and proficiency in your current role if you are new or want to improve your performance. It can also be focused towards preparing you for a future opportunity if you are potentially looking at a career shift. Or, you may find that your development goal overlaps both. Do you love your current role? That s great! Many employees are happy in their current role. Focus your learning on staying current with new knowledge in your field and skills that will help you enhance your performance. If you have a lot of experience in your job, you may also want to consider helping to teach new or less experienced co-workers. Are you thinking of a future opportunity? Have a look at the Career Management Portal. (Click on the link or see the Resources section on page 13 of this guide for the website address). It is a great resource which provides information to help you manage your career. It also contains activities which are selfdirected and can trigger thought and conversation to help create a picture of yourself and your career options. 9

Step Three: Determine the best learning activities Actions What should I consider when identifying learning actions and activities to support my development goal(s)? Get creative! Learning opportunities are all around you! First, focus on your development goal. What will you need to do to meet that goal? For example, if you are new to your role, your career and learning plan may include orientation or a job shadow. If you are looking to retire soon, your development plan may include ways you can share your knowledge with others, such as through coaching and mentoring. What are the options for learning and development? The Government of Alberta offers a wide range of options from formal, classroombased training to learning on-the-job. Consider what you need to learn and how you learn best when looking at your options. Next, consider your personal learning style. How do you learn best? Some people learn best through doing, others can pick things up through reading or in the classroom. Most people learn best through a mix of different learning methods. What if something unexpected comes up and impacts my planned timing? It is quite common that this will occur. Ensuring you have an on-going dialogue with your supervisor and keeping on top of your career and learning plan will help you to adjust your plan and the timing of your actions. Remember your plan is meant to be flexible and changed throughout the year as needed. 10 Click here to explore these options in the Career Management Portal. What support will you need (e.g. time, money)? Once you have figured out your options and have discussed them with your supervisor, list the actions you are going to take to increase your knowledge and/or abilities and skills to do your current job or to prepare for a future role. Give yourself some reasonable timelines to complete them.

Step Four: Manage your plan Ready, Set, Go! Now that you have gathered your information together, you are ready to meet with your supervisor to finalize your Career and Learning Plan. Review your development goals and priorities and focus on 1-3 key goals you wish to accomplish this year. Bring in all your documents and a draft of your Career and Learning Plan to the discussion with your supervisor. It is important to remember even the best laid plans are subject to change. When you come up against an obstacle, figure your way around it and update your plan accordingly. Review your plan as often as possible throughout the year, individually and with your supervisor to monitor, reinforce and challenge your learning. Continually work through your plan to modify and adjust as new learning opportunities emerge. Remember this is not always a linear process! You need to constantly review where you are at and where you want to go just like driving on a long vacation! It is up to you to create the future you want and nobody is more capable of creating that future than you! Step Five: Report on your accomplishments Results Achieved/How I Applied What I Learned You can complete the Results Achieved/How I Applied What I Learned section throughout the year as you accomplish your development goals, or you can complete it all at fiscal year end. Once completed have your supervisor review it and prepare to discuss it. Reflect on what you accomplished and how you have applied your learning. Start to think about your next steps and where you would like to go with your career and learning for the year ahead. 11

Resources Here are the web addresses to some great resources which you can use to help you as you work on your Career and Learning Plan: Explore and be aware of any department-based learning and development opportunities available to you through your ministry. alis - provides information to all Albertans on career planning, post-secondary education and training, educational funding, job search, labour market trends and workplace issues. http://alis.alberta.ca Alberta Public Service (APS) Competencies - are the underlying characteristics that enable people to deliver superior performance in a given job, role or situation. Consider these as you determine your development goal. http://psc.alberta.ca/competencies APS Vision and Values - in all of the work we do, including career planning, it is important to keep the Vision and Values in mind. 12

Resources continued Career Management Portal - provides information to help you manage your career and acts as a guide. The activities within the portal are self-directed and act to trigger thought and conversation to help create a picture of yourself and your career options (see page 7 and 9). http://psc.alberta.ca/careerportal Career Management for Busy People - gives you a quick overview of the four sections in the Career Management Portal (See page 7). http://psc.alberta.ca/practitioners/?file=learning/careermgmtkit/ resources/careermgmt-for-busy-people&cf=9 Government of Alberta (GoA) Jobs Website - provides you with a link to job opportunities across the GoA and other job search resources. http://www.jobs.alberta.ca Research Careers & Calculate Pay and Benefits - enables you to research careers across the GoA based on job category, type of work and level of work. You can also estimate the total compensation for a position by calculating the pay and benefits. http://www.jobs.alberta.ca/explore/research.html Ask Our Employees - watch videos featuring a variety of GoA employees to learn more about their jobs and the work they do. http://www.jobs.alberta.ca/explore/profiles.html GoA Learning Centre Catalogue - helps you identify training opportunities to achieve your career and learning development goals. http://psc.alberta.ca/learning/goa_learning_catalogue.pdf 13