Let me ask you a question: if you’re a training facilitator, have you ever thought about writing a professional development plan? I must admit until recently, I have not. Maybe it’s all this pandemic stuff or something, but I’ve been quite contemplative the last few months. I’ve thought about everything from my marriage to my career. When I had an opportunity to do a sample training facilitator professional development plan, I jumped at the opportunity.

My most recent post is on professional development planning.

It’s good to be satisfied with one’s career, but it’s better always to have a pulse on where you might want to go should an opportunity arise. Growth and development is not something you do as a trainer; it’s what you’re all about – especially when it comes to yourself.

Trainer, take care of thyself.

I am fully convinced I cannot help, support, or inspire others unless I’m helped supported, and inspired myself. As a result, I work hard to ensure my interior self is balanced and satiated so I can project that wholeness when I facilitate training modules.

This is especially true as I think of training online – the direction my career has taken me lately. Everything lives and dies in the voice and tone. Trust me; dissatisfaction comes through one’s voice when training. I’ve sat through many online sessions, and I can tell when someone is bugged, nervous, or unhappy. Can’t you tell?

Online training is like social media that way – nothing is hidden. All is revealed in time. I don’t know if it is the Blue in me, but I can discern when folks aren’t genuinely happy. You can tell by what they post and their word choices. But I digress.

My point for this blog post: have a clear pathway for yourself in every area of your life. Know where you are, why you’re there, and definitely know where you’re headed.

A training facilitator professional development plan will help. It helped me anyway.

I’ve always flirted with the idea of teaching in a community college primarily because it’s a venue where those disenfranchised or nontraditional students explore higher education.

The reason why I love community colleges and why they are part of my trainer professional development plan.

Community Colleges (CCs) serve the community in various ways – hence the name. You can find adult basic education, English as second language programs, continuing education programs, and even training courses contracted by local businesses. I know because I’ve done a little of the latter.

Some CC’s even have senior programs. That means something to me. It means something to be of service.

Although I never attended a CC, I would love to teach a class there one day. In doing so, I could satisfy my life mission of training facilitation while empowering people to reach their goals.

Here’s mine…

I’m sharing my personal, professional development plan as inspiration for yours. I also welcome constructive feedback. 🙂

Without further adieu, here is my training facilitator professional development plan – draft 1. It will change as I change, adapt, grow, and expand. I think that’s normal, don’t you?

What I’ll do…	Evaluation Method
Objectives…	Bulleted list of what I’ll do

Objective 1:

Self-Assessment. Conduct a self-assessment to aggregate my current skills and identify my current knowledge and skills gaps.

Steps to meet objective 1:

• Research the requirements/trends skills, attributes, and knowledge to become a part-time adjunct instructor.

• Compare my existing skill set to those requirements.

• Create pathways and plans to bolster areas in which I must improve.

• For accountability, I will conference regularly with my mentor, an instructor at a four-year university.

Evaluation Method:

•Revisit and draft a new and current resume to create a fresh inventory of my skills.

•Review five job descriptions for part-time faculty and instructors at the community college level.

• Compare and contrast my existing skills, education, and qualifications with those I need to acquire or strengthen.

• Check in with my mentor every few months to speak exclusively about my progression.

Objective 2: Learn.

Research and regularly read books, white papers, and topics covering the latest business trends in community college faculty.

Steps to meet objective 2:

• Explore scholarly journals and articles to see what the top five magazines and resources are in community college education

• Research to identify who/what is considered the premier subject matter expert in community colleges, such as the American Association of Community Colleges.

• Find out what books and scholarly articles exists relative to community college culture, hiring practices, instructor competencies, etc.

• Create a journal to keep notes and other relevant information so I may refer to it and keep the vision “fresh” as I work toward the goal in school.

Objective 3: Network in order to learn.

Steps to meet objective 4:

• To meet more people who work in this sphere, I’ll attend more Kansas City Together meetings (often held at a local community college) as well as local ATD chapter meetings.

• I’ll learn about the trajectory of others who are teaching at the community college level. I’ll also inquire about how they came to teach and what challenges they faced.

• Consistently follow, review, and learn from resources such as Community College Journal, Association of American Colleges and Universities

I didn’t like this sample training facilitator’s professional development plan.

This format wasn’t working for me. So, I created the one below. The margins are all off, so if you want to see it as I wrote it, click here.

Goals	What I Need to Learn	What I Have to Do	Resources I Will Need	Target Date
1.) Earn a part time or adjunct professor position at a local college.                     2.) Self-Assessment. Conduct a self-assessment to aggregate my current skills and identify the knowledge and skills gaps I currently have.	Learn local college/university curriculum delivery expectations.	Schedule meetings with the two community college presidents I personally know.   Request to observe 3-5 community college class sessions.             Review five job descriptions for part-time faculty and instructors at the community college level.   Compare and contrast my existing skills, education and qualifications with those I need to acquire or strengthen.   Check-in with my mentor every few months to speak exclusively about my progress.	1.) Earn a part time or adjunct professor position at a local college.                     2.) Self-Assessment. Conduct a self-assessment to aggregate my current skills and identify my current knowledge and skills gaps.	February 2021                                                       Immediate and ongoing

What I think you need to think about as you draft your PDP.

So that’s my sample training facilitator professional development plan. Have you created a professional development plan?

If you haven’t, I approached it as a strategic planning process.

1. I brainstormed future career goals and where I’d like to be in 10 years.
   
2. After that, I thought about what my existing skills were and what needed to be augmented or developed to reach my goal.
   
3. Then I started researching job descriptions and googling articles written about community colleges. I was very interested after reading them.
   
4. Then I started thinking about the education and the credentials I need to be successful in my future career path.
   
5. From there, I started charting my course and determining what to do. Assigning dates to those tasks helps me stay focused.

If this season has taught me anything, it’s taught me to be prepared for anything!

Well, that’s it for my trainer professional development plan. Wish me well! I certainly wish you much success too!