Getting help from others, either financial support or learning from their experiences, is a great way to help you progress. Your company or professional institution may have its own programmes, or you may have to organise support for yourself.

Appraisal and Performance Review
Reviews of how you are working provide you and your employer with the opportunity to highlight your areas of competence and achievements, and plan goals or training opportunities for the future.

Some companies also offer broader career and development reviews. These can help you consider your long term career plans in more detail, and will highlight the best ways to achieve these plans.
Further assistance is available from the following websites: CIC, CIPD, Chartered Institute of Management.

Mentoring
A mentor will be a senior member of staff or a colleague who has skills and expertise that you can learn from. It’s important to think carefully about what you want their to help with. This will largely depend on your development needs at that particular time.

You also should consider the personal qualities needed to ensure that you are able to have discussions based on mutual respect and understanding.
Download a copy of our mentoring guide 36kb PDF file.

Coaching
Coaching is a more structured approach to development. It is generally a one-to-one activity and is used in a specific situation to help someone who lacks experience to gain skills and confidence.

You normally set targets together, then draw up a timeframe to achieve them. The coach will then work with you to highlight areas where you can improve, and will review your performance at key stages. Eventually the aim would be for your coach to take a back-seat as you become more competent and confident at your job.


Feedback
Advice and guidance can provide you with useful insights into the effect your behaviour has on others. Feedback can provide the motivation for personal change if the response you normally cause in others is not the one you intend.

It is important that feedback is constructive and not negative. Useful feedback is always specific and represents the opinion of the person giving it. Most importantly, it should focus on behaviour that can be changed.

Development Log / Progress File / Personal Portfolio
A continuous professional development (CPD) log can be used to store information about your achievements and progress, from reviews and results to assessments, activities and future goals.

The UK government’s Progress File (previously, the National Record of Achievement) is designed to encourage life-long learning. The Progress File is used by all organisations, as well as by schools, colleges and universities.

The achievement of some qualifications, e.g. NVQ/SVQs in Management, requires a portfolio of evidence to demonstrate competence. This can contribute to a wider portfolio to demonstrate broader competence development.

Networking
Networking relies on you making contacts within the industry and keeping in touch with them. By doing this you can improve your access to specific information, job support, ideas, feedback, new opportunities and points of entry to different companies.

Networking can be achieved either through building your own contacts base, or by belonging to professional bodies and groups, and attending meetings and conferences.