Professional development is important for every person’s career. You can also carry your learnings into your personal life in a meaningful way, from conflict resolution to better communication skills.
But how do you know where to start and which resources to utilize when it comes to developing yourself?
I recently sat down with Rebecca Farno, a Digital Office Sales Manager at Insight Global, to discuss the importance of continuous professional development. She shared how she identifies areas of growth, the resources that have helped her grow, and the mindset necessary to develop yourself successfully.
Interview has been lightly edited for length and for clarity.
Q&A: Continuous professional Development
What does continuous professional development mean to you personally?
We’re all in a position where we’re typically working at least 40 hours a week full-time or part-time, plus other obligations. So, work is not something we can get away from. Because of that, I’ve used professional growth or the need for professional growth as a vehicle to grow personally too.
To give an example, conflict resolution or communication skills—especially in a marketing and sales recruiting type of role—that you can extrapolate to your personal life and how you break down situations.
At Insight Global, everybody is on a mission to grow. I think that that’s always really fulfilling. And to get through something hard and to look back on it and be like, “Yeah, I did, that!” brings a lot of personal fulfillments on top of professional fulfillment.
Have there been any specific professional learnings that you have carried over into your personal life?
Specifically, I would say putting myself in other people’s shoes as much as possible. In sales, recruiting, and marketing, everything you do is based off of the customer or your target persona. That forces you to really think about why people make the decisions that they make, whether it be why they click a link, why they would want this job over their current job, or why they would want to pay for our services. You always have to ask why people are making the decisions that they do.
Taking a step back and putting yourself in other people’s shoes before you address their decisions is something that I use all the time. Even when I’m trying to have a hard conversation in my personal life, I feel like I’m posing it like it’s a one-on-one.
How do you identify areas in which you need to grow professionally?
I think the biggest way of how I identify areas is soliciting feedback obviously from my boss, but then my peers—other sales managers—and the people who report to me. You can always ask for feedback, but you know, it can sometimes feel like posturing or like, “Hi, how are you? Let me know if you have any feedback.”
But if you take a step back and build a culture where feedback is so comfortable that people will actually give feedback, I think that is the biggest way to make space for those conversations. With my team, my whole mission is to provide a safe space for people to fail and learn fast.
Being self-aware enough to know that I’m less comfortable going into this person’s one-on-one than I am someone else’s. Or I really don’t want to go to this meeting and trying to put myself in my own shoes and think is this a skill or will issue? Do I not feel comfortable going into this meeting because I don’t really know how to pitch a specific service? Or is it just because I’d rather be doing something else?
I think backing up and really being self-aware regarding the areas that I naturally feel uncomfortable in is the best way to force it out of myself and feel more comfortable in those areas.
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What learning resources do you rely on most? Do you follow a structured learning plan or prefer a more organic approach?
I utilized a more structured plan for a couple of years, and I feel like that changed my professional knowledge and career. Actually, I went to school for nutrition science and was pre-med. I thought I was going to go into psychiatric medicine. But then I realized I don’t actually want to go into medicine, swerved hard once I graduated college, and went into sales marketing and was just voraciously learning.
I started with free LinkedIn learning classes and then the books that Insight Global would recommend—like Grit by Angela Duckworth or Culture Code by Daniel Coyle—those kinds of things. I spent so much time learning through LinkedIn, YouTube, podcasts, and books. And I read the top ten professional development books and then picked out phrases and terms that were relevant to what I needed to learn. I used Twitter during COVID to teach myself HTML and CSS.
I like the organic approach, but it has to be intentional. You have to take action. Work is like school in the sense that you get out what you put in, and it takes studying. Even if it’s 30 minutes during the work day, it takes learning.
Have you ever leveraged mentorship as a resource for development?
I did actually have a couple professional mentors. One was somebody I just called and asked, and the other was a past colleague of my dad’s. Having that mentorship just once monthly—where you need to bring stuff to them and not the other way around—I thought really, really helped my ability to have an executive presence and go into something where there’s no substance and build substance.
How do you apply what you learn to your day-to-day work, and how do you share these learnings with your team?
I don’t always plan for this, but if I listen to a full podcast episode or if I read a chapter of a book, I usually only pull one or two things out of it that are relevant. The rest is educational, but it just helps provide context. I’ll take those one or two things to my team and say, “Hey, I read XYZ in this book yesterday. I think it could be really helpful for us because of ABC. What do you guys think?” And always soliciting feedback when it’s something that is a new topic or a new way of thinking.
I think bringing my people to the table of where my learnings are coming from and not just spitting stuff out is really helpful. It builds credibility and opens a window for people that want to do more of that learning to ask, “What did you read or what were you watching?”
I have a core couple of books that I’ve read over and over and over. I have a copy of each book at home, and I have another copy next to my desk in a little library. When I mention topics that come from one of those books, I’ll literally grab the book and hold it next to me while I’m talking.
People absorb things through repetition. Repeating these topics tangibly, holding the book, shows people, hey, this isn’t just coming from my brain. This is a tried-and-true opinion and reason and published thoughts.
I’m always—once again—putting myself in my team’s shoes and thinking like, “What would my team get out of this? Or what would I take out of this to bring to my clients?” If you’re listening with no goal, sometimes that’s good, but you’re not usually able to get stuff out that you can apply to your team.
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What advice would you give to someone who wants to build a habit of continuous professional development?
I’m a big routine person, so fitting development into a routine and holding yourself accountable to it is important. But you can also leverage the time you’re already using in the day.
The loftier the goals, the harder they can be to hit because you’re dealing with a social life, maybe kids, maybe a partner, and physical health. Then you have to go home and eat, and by the time you blink, it’s 10:00PM.
So utilizing things like your way to work—maybe your commute’s 15 minutes, maybe it’s an hour and a half. Use that time you’re already spending and add something to it. Then once that habit builds naturally, maybe you’ll do it while you’re making dinner, or maybe you’ll do it in the morning. You have that time built in that you know isn’t going to overextend you.
That’s super practical advice.
As much as you can do, do it. If it’s listening to one YouTube class while you get ready in the morning or a podcast on the way home, that’s it. Anything you can get, I think, is honestly helpful. And there are so many free resources.
How do you stay committed to professional growth when work gets busy or stressful?
At the end of the day, you have to want it. You can’t force yourself into developing yourself professionally or personally. If you don’t have the discipline or motivation to keep it up, I think the key question is to ask yourself why and start there because you have to want it badly enough.
Resources for Continuous Professional Development
From podcasts to LinkedIn classes to YouTube tutorials, there are a multitude of ways to further your development. For some resources to get you started on your professional development journey, here are some of Rebecca’s book recommendations—straight from her bookshelves!
- Untamed by Glennon Doyle
- It Takes What It Takes: How to Think Neutrally and Gain Control of Your Life by Trevor Moawad
- A Life Worth Living: Finding Your Purpose and Daring to Live the Life You’ve Imagined by Kevin John Delaney
- Getting to Neutral: How to Conquer Negativity and Thrive in a Chaotic World by Trevor Moawad
- The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups by Daniel Coyle
- Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth
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Start Developing Yourself Today
Professional development can seem daunting, but like Rebecca said, the journey to continuous professional development starts with using the time you have—even if it’s only a few minutes to read a book or listen to a podcast.
At Insight Global, we believe pursuing development opportunities within your workplace can be a great way to engage in company culture with your coworkers. If you’re a manager, consider how you can go one step farther to help your team grow professionally by using your learnings to benefit and challenge your direct reports.
Looking for ways to develop your career alongside your professional and personal growth? Check out our jobs board to see if any of our roles fit your growth plans.
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