Define and write your professional learning and development identity

Define and write your professional learning and development identity Write your professional identity, Training Journal Its not an accident that one of the West Ends most popular stage shows at the moment is about a character in search of his purpose. The protagonist in Avenue Q is a comedy puppet searching for direction. But his questions of Who am I? and What am I here to do? are not just New Age, mystical musings; they are at the core of what it means to be successful in any business. In fact, if you scratch the surface of most successful companies, youll find whole departments set up to create a brand identity that lets customers know exactly who they are and what they do. Take the brand Innocent Drinks, for example. If you buy an Innocent smoothie, youre not just buying a drink. Youre buying a fun, fresh and completely natural experience that contains two of servings of fruit in a 250ml serving. Its a tasty little shot of good health. And the witty words on the Innocent website, bottles and advertising campaigns tell you so. But its not just companies that need to create this type of brand identity. You need to forge your own voice within your organisation. The employees you work with need to know who you are; what you stand for; what you do and why they need to take notice of you and your work. Communicating this in a powerful, succinct way isnt always easy. Employees often get caught up in the ins and outs of their particular roles and forget about issues outside their immediate remit. They may even feel that taking time out for professional development is an unwelcome diversion from the work at hand. For this reason its essential that you as a learning and development specialist develop a strong professional identity to enable you to have greater influence over the people you work with. Your skills, personality and values are integral to your brand. But its also vital to develop a strong, human, written voice to ensure that you present yourself in a positive light. Innocent have cottoned on to the fact that creating a distinct written voice is an effective way of connecting with their customers. You also need to ensure that your writing style is an integral part of your personal brand. Your written voice is the end result of the words and phrases you use in order to communicate your ideas and recommendations. It needs to be bright, concise and speak directly to your reader. But it should also reflect your personality, vision, achievements and goals. So here is a blueprint for creating a written voice that is distinctly yours. Laying the foundations You need to do some groundwork before working on your writing style. Grab a pen and paper and jot down words, phrases and sentences that describe your skills and personality. You might write, I am someone who sees potential in others, or My core skills are motivating and empowering others. Spend time thinking about your values and all the facets of your personality that make you who you are. And dont forget to note down examples of the value that you create for your organisation. Next, decide which points are most relevant to your work. Organise these into the headings values, personality traits, skills and results. Finally, combine all of this into a powerful statement of purpose. Decide what the overall purpose of your job is. And make sure that this is aligned with the purpose of your organisation. Remember, this foundation work is integral to creating the brand that you will express through your written voice. So dont feel that this has to be a one-off exercise. You can keep coming back to this until you feel youve completely brainstormed everything about you and your work. And keep this work safe its a powerful document that you should keep referring to. Sizzling sound bites In order to create a strong professional identity through your writing, you need to develop ways of succinctly communicating important information about you and your work. Imagine that youre in an airport when you meet a powerful business leader, such as Richard Branson. You strike up a brief conversation and he asks you what you do for a living. You have about 30 seconds to impress before you go your separate ways. Most people would say something such as, Im a learning and development manager for a large pharmaceutical company. But describing yourself in terms of your job title and company doesnt give you a strong identity. Throughout the world there are thousands of learning and development managers in pharmaceutical companies. So set yourself apart by communicating whats special about your brand of learning and development. The way to do this is to explain the context of your role, the issues you deal with and your results. For instance, you could say, I help pharmaceutical research teams to increase their productivity. I do this by transforming the way they approach their work. By finding out what makes them tick, I help each person add more to the business bottom line. Now it probably wouldnt sound natural to deliver this statement in its entirety in one go. But if you have it committed to memory, youll be able work each of its component sentences into most introductory business conversations. By speaking in this way, you explain who you are, what you do and what value you bring to your organisation. Practise developing these compelling two or three sentence summaries of what you do. Write out several of them, referring to different areas of your work. And begin to use them when people both internally and externally ask you about what you do. What does your writing really say about you? Gather together some recent documents that you have written. These could be reports, briefing documents or even emails that you have sent to other employees. Critically look at what messages your writing sends. For example, if one of the things you most value is clear communication, then look at how clear your writing is. If your purpose is to make other peoples jobs more efficient, is your writing clearly structured so that its quick and easy to read? And do you refer to psychometric models or training processes that only a training specialist would really grasp? Does your writing really reflect your values and personality? If you tend to use lots of long sentences, your writing may not reflect a decisive personality. Similarly, a long document that lacks subheads to break it up is not the best way to reflect that youre excited by change. Your writing needs to communicate your brand the elements that make you different. If it doesnt effectively communicate the changes that you have made happen, then it wont be representing you and your work. The principles behind the following techniques can help you to analyse your current documents. Applying them to any new written work can transform the way you (and your documents) are perceived. And crucially, they can help you to effectively communicate the underlying purpose of your work. Seven techniques for honing your written voice One Focus on your reader Before you begin writing a document, ask yourself the following questions: What is the document about? Who will read it? How much do they already know about the subject? What do they absolutely need to know? How important is the subject to them? How interested are they in the subject (which is not necessarily the same question as above)? Focusing on your readers in this way will help to make sure that you present yourself as helping their work lives. Training may be top of your agenda but others may not see it as a business priority. Thinking about the needs of your readers will help you shape your writing so that its relevant to them. Two Clarify your main message If youre unsure of your main message, you can be certain that your readers will be equally bemused. So spend time thinking about what you really want to say. Brainstorm ideas by asking yourself the questions: What? Where? When? How? Why? and Who? Group together the points or ideas that have things in common. Then decide what is important and essential for your readers to know. Your main message is among these points and it can vary depending on which stance you want to take. For example, if youre writing a report on psychometric testing as a training tool, your main message might be to outline the cost savings to your organisation. Alternatively, you may want to stress how employees work better as a team once they become aware of their own personality traits. Next you need to plan which order to put your points in. Your main message is the golden nugget of any document. So make sure it stands out by including it in the first paragraph. Then arrange your other points in order of importance. Three Create snappy titles and subheads Journalists know that a headline is the most powerful tool for winning over a reader. So take a tip from professional writers and make yours arresting. If your report is about the cost savings of psychometric testing, your title could be Psychometric testing: how a fifty-minute quiz has saved 50,000. This is much more powerful than a functional title, such as The results of workplace psychometric testing Similarly, break up the text with subheads that are equally attention-grabbing. For example, if youre writing about an initiative that will be happening shortly, you could include a subhead that reads The final countdown. This creates an image of the initiative as being exciting and worth waiting for. Four Keep it short and sweet Short sentences are effective as they break up ideas into bite-size chunks. Aim for each sentence to be between 15 and 20 words. If your sentences are any longer, its difficult for your ideas to stand out. Similarly, never write a 1000-word document when a 500-word one will do. Always go through your work and cross out any meaningless words or sentences. And aim to make every single word count. Its better to do several drafts of a document than to rush out the original long, rambling version. Five Use active language Use the active voice where possible, as it gives your writing movement. For instance, write This technique has really improved productivity, instead of A real improvement in the productivity of employees has been noticed following the application of this simple technique. Notice that the first example uses the verb improve rather than the noun improvement. Opting to use verbs over nouns helps to make your writing punchier. Six Share your success For any training programme to be a success, it needs to address core business needs or goals. Ask yourself why your organisation exists, why it matters and what difference it makes in peoples lives. Always communicate the success of any learning and development initiatives in terms of specific business objectives. For example, you can write Performance management training reduced staff turnover by 5 per cent in 2009, saving 100,000. By sharing specific business results in this way, you enable others to perceive your initiatives as having true value and being dynamic enough to improve the business bottom line Seven Be accurate To gain credibility, your writing needs to be flawless. So pay particular attention to grammar, punctuation and spelling. When youve worked long and hard on a document, it can be easy to gloss over typos and other mistakes as your eyes begin to see what they expect to see. For this reason, you need to proofread documents very slowly. It helps to take a pencil and stop it at every word. Always double check facts and figures, and if possible, also ask a colleague to proofread it too. A fresh pair of eyes can work wonders. Make your own writing a focus at the outset of any new initiatives and training programmes. And ensure that you apply your new written voice consistently. It is well worth the effort, as a strong written voice is an ambassador for all you do. Remember, in these troubled economic times, excelling in all areas of your personal brand is a must. And using language effectively can propel you to the next tier of success. Whats more, mastering writing skills not only helps to cement your own professional identity, but it can inspire your colleagues to do the same. Leave others in no doubt about who you are and what youre here to do, and theyll be more likely to follow your lead.