Written by Lucy Woolrich
Personal Growth Plan
“The most important investment you can make is in yourself”- Warren Buffet
Wise words indeed from Warren Buffet, whose quotes we frequently use in our communications. Taking the time to develop yourself may well be the most lucrative investment you choose to make. It often elicits immediate changes and has the potential to yield significant future returns too.
At Equilibrium we are redesigning our annual review process, as we believe formal performance reviews have become somewhat outdated. A couple of opportunities each year to celebrate your successes, discuss what could have gone better and consider progression is a lot to fit into a couple of hours and mainly focuses on the past.
With growth as a core value and our mindset of continued learning and development, looking back over the past year at the expense of focusing on current development and future potential felt misaligned.
With this in mind, we have developed our Personal Growth Plan (PGP), and are moving to more frequent, development focused coaching conversations between our people managers and their teams.
We will start with an initial meeting to discuss goals and agree what people want to achieve over specific time periods. These don’t have to be big, audacious, shoot the lights out goals, the PGP allows our team to set clear, detailed and achievable professional and personal goals, no matter how big or small.
These differ from person to person and consider strengths, areas for development and allow the individual to prioritise what matters most, creating real impact to both career and life. This could be to get that promotion or gain a qualification, it could also be to feel more confident presenting or to master time management.
With quarterly meetings and focused weekly 1-2-1s, we are creating a proactive framework for continued learning, with ongoing guidance, feedback, and clear accountability.
In addition to this, meeting more frequently allows time and space for connection, direction and regular reflection, all of which are conducive to personal and professional growth. We are all relational beings, we want to be seen and feel that our efforts are recognised and appreciated. These check ins create the perfect environment to do just that.
In any organisation, significant amounts of time can be spent on paperwork, completing surveys and evaluating and ranking performance before anyone has even sat down together for a conversation, let alone an effective one.
Our purpose is a simple one, making people’s lives better. To us, that’s spending our time raising people rather than rating them. It’s supporting our team in realising and reaching their potential and achieving the outcomes and goals they set for themselves. After all, a goal without a (personal growth) plan is just a wish!
