Professional growth: which path to take?

Growing professionally does not only mean career advancement: it also means increasing one’s self-esteem and having greater personal satisfaction. A career growth path therefore also implies discovering and recognising what drives one to do one’s job, the values one believes in, the dreams one aspires to realise. Growing professionally also implies relating with other people and, in this respect, it is necessary to select those who are best suited to building a collaboration that will enable us to achieve our goals together.

Professional growth starts with personal evolution.

Who am I? And why do I do what I do? Answering these questions leads us to greater and much-needed awareness: a prerequisite for feeling good about oneself, others and facing more serenely the challenges that one’s profession presents on a daily basis.

Awareness is a pillar on the path to self-discovery and involves recognising and understanding one’s own thoughts, behaviour and emotions. Only through an introspective look can we understand why we do what we do, what is the engine that drives our choices and why we react to situations in a certain way.

With reference to personal evolution, self-awareness is a beacon that guides one’s behaviour also in the working environment, reflecting the true self and helping to identify one’s strengths and weaknesses, but also the values one believes in.

Analysing one’s self, which leads to greater awareness, also allows one to identify one’s strengths and to exploit them for personal evolution and professional growth: as one becomes aware of one’s talents and, consequently, of the activities in which one excels, one can channel one’s energies to this end, which not only increases one’s self-confidence but also improves one’s ability to contribute effectively to the success of one’s company or the company in which one works.

Equally important is the recognition of habits – even unconscious ones – that can hinder professional growth: analysing the person allows one to deal with these barriers with greater awareness and to find solutions and alternative models marked by positivity.

Vision, values and target market constitute other very important elements within a professional growth path.

As far as vision is concerned, it is what one wants to achieve in one’s life, both on a personal and professional level. In a work context, being aware of one’s vision means having a guide to orient oneself with respect to career decisions, but also to the impact one wants to have on society through one’s work. Being aware of one’s vision also helps to realise one’s dreams and achieve one’s goals.

Like the vision, the values that help build our personality and guide our actions are also fundamental in the context of professional growth. Considering that personal analysis and introspection are indispensable prerequisites for building one’s career, expressing the values one believes in is very important in order to give meaning to the profession one practises. These values can be, for example, honesty, autonomy, creativity… Understanding what matters most to oneself helps align professional decisions with one’s convictions, increasing satisfaction in the workplace and also on a personal level.

In order to make coherent and conscious decisions about one’s career, it is necessary not only to know the professional context in which one moves, but also to be moved by one’s values, exploring the opportunities that best suit them. For example, if you have environmental sustainability as one of your core values, you can focus on sectors or roles that aim to increase environmental awareness; there are many companies that undertake ecological initiatives to which you can apply or, if you already have a satisfactory position, you can still work to increase sustainable practices within the company where you work.

The third element to consider is the target market, i.e. that specific group of people, with common characteristics, to whom you address to sell products or services. Identifying one’s target market is the basis not only for the success of the company, but also for implementing personal satisfaction. Within a path of personal growth, the target market assumes great importance: it is not only a matter of identifying one’s own customers, but also of understanding which ones one attracts more and which ones one would like to appeal to more, categories that do not always coincide.

These three aspects of our evolution are essential both for business owners and for those who have to choose the company in which to work. Creating or finding a context that is aligned with one’s values allows for more effective and faster evolutionary growth in an environment that will be empowering for all who are part of it.

The P.E.P (Personal Evolution Path) program is a personal and professional growth path aimed at entrepreneurs, freelancers, team managers and area managers structured in several modules, one of which focuses on acquiring the tools to build an effective network of contacts. An activity that brings numerous benefits: it puts you in contact with new potential customers, helps you identify opportunities for personal growth, find experts in your business sector, acquire useful technical knowledge, to name but a few. But how do you build a professional network? Also through self-knowledge: only by acquiring greater self-awareness is it possible to identify the most suitable people with whom to collaborate to achieve dreams and goals. An operation that is by no means simple: regardless of the sector in which one operates, in fact, a careful selection of contacts is an indispensable prerequisite for professional growth. Looking for people who share one’s values, striving to build relationships based on honesty and transparency, but also being willing to offer support – and not only to receive it – makes it possible to put together a network that can really make the difference in growing professionally, but also personally. One way to build an effective network of contacts is also to participate in industry events, without forgetting the tools that technology nowadays offers to expand one’s network online as well: a balanced web and offline presence, together with the expression of consistent values, is the key to building and enhancing one’s personal and professional relationships so that they are effective and long-lasting.