Given that we’re now months into our response to the coronavirus pandemic, I bet you’re getting used to working remotely. In fact, many people are considering the benefits of making work-from-home a more regular and permanent facet of our professional lives. Once you’ve adapted to new technology and created a personalized workspace, you may find that doing your job at home is just as feasible as doing it in an office. However, it’s important to remember that the daily tasks of your role don’t make up the whole of your professional existence. There are lots of other aspects to our working lives, some of which are harder to replicate at home than simply getting the job done. One of the biggest is professional development. If you’re not careful, it’s easy for your development to plateau while working remotely. 

The most obvious reason for that is much of your opportunities for professional development come as a result of being in the office. If you work at a larger business, your company may have offered in-house development courses in the past. Today, those courses don't exist like they used to and they’ve likely been cut from budgets or were not readily available for online learning. On top of that, the casual conversations between coworkers that could lead to spontaneous development opportunities are on the decline. Science backs up these observations, too. Studies have shown that remote work may decrease promotional opportunities and “limit visibility and relationship development opportunities, indirectly leading to limited advancement opportunities despite improved performance.” 

It’s not an entirely grim situation, though. Working at home doesn’t mean that development is impossible; it just means you have to take more initiative. You can no longer rely on a suite of options to be presented to you. Aside from mandated continuing education sessions, which we all know vary in quality and value, you can’t assume any development will come to you. You have to go out and find it. A great first step in this process is to set goals for what areas of your career you want to develop, along with specific tasks and milestones to achieve. I found this great document from the University of Indiana that can help guide you on your way. It asks some deep and probing questions that will lay a foundation for what you want your development to look like, which is hugely beneficial when you need to be self-directed.

After you understand what kind of development you’re looking for, it’s much easier to narrow down helpful resources. Look to books, online programs, podcasts, and other resources to bolster your learning. As you progress, engage fellow team members and superiors about ways to apply your newfound skills to your work. In changing times, needs spring up at a moment’s notice. If you refine skills that are useful to your organization, there’s no telling when and where you’ll be able to use them. 

I understand that at a time like this many people are just looking to secure their current place, to hold on, rather than looking to expand it. Eventually, though, there will come a time when treading water is no longer enough. The faster you can go from surviving to thriving in our work-from-home-leaning present and future, the more you stand to grow and advance. If you can begin developing yourself now, when many people aren’t taking time for it, you’ll have a huge leg up once things settle down.