How can we measure the value of our personal and professional growth? This post offers several suggestions for measuring the value of growth.
Begin With Intentionality
To be most valuable, our personal and professional growth must be intentional.
Consequently, growth cannot be unplanned, where we take only those opportunities that happen to come along. Instead, we must have awareness about gaps, that is, places where we need to grow. At the same time, we deliberately seek growth opportunities to close those gaps.
Growing intentionally matches Covey’s Habit 1 of being proactive. That is, of taking responsibility for our life outcomes. As well, intentionality fits Habit 2 – Begin With The End In Mind.
In regard to growth, those two practices mean we are self-aware enough to recognize where we have gaps, and willing to accept recommendations from others. Then, we find ways to close those gaps in our capabilities.
Areas for Growth
I like to think of personal growth as focusing on WHO I am as a person. Thus, I build traits like my character, communicating effectively, and an abundance mindset.
Professional growth is much more career focused, in my opinion. It builds skill sets in areas such as decisiveness, setting priorities, executive presence, and effective planning and execution.
Without question, our spiritual development is equally as important as personal and professional growth. I’ve focused on the importance of spiritual growth elsewhere. Therefore, it’s not covered in this post.
What is important is that we choose to change. Thus, to grow. And, that we are deliberate about how we will grow, both personally and professionally.
Going to Graduate School
Here’s a simple example of professional development: getting a graduate degree.
Now, after the fact we can ask “Was getting a graduate degree worth it?” It’s much easier to answer the question if we have a clear sense of direction prior to entering a graduate program.
So, if graduate school is simply a way to avoid entering the job market, then I increase the risks that “Was it worth it?” will be answered by a “No”! Why? Because the delay took me off the job market for a year or two. Consequently, I bypassed those years of earnings while accumulating debt from getting another college degree.
Actually, my MBA came immediately after I completed my undergraduate degree. I viewed it as a one-year extension to that bachelor’s degree. The costs were modest (state school, lived at home). Plus, I was better prepared to enter the job market after getting an MBA. Consequently, the extension gave me some much needed time to mature professionally.
For me personally, I went back to school in my late 30’s to get a Ph.D., after twelve years in industry. Getting a Ph.D. was part of an intentional plan to change careers as I moved from industry to academia.
Why such a dramatic career change? Most simply, I was dissatisfied with my career progress, especially in regard to the level of my annual income. If I was to earn more, I had to become someone different than who I was at that point in time. The result, after prayer, counseling, and talking together as a family, was to go to graduate school.
What are the Costs?
If you are single, the costs of a graduate degree are mostly out-of-pocket expenses for things like tuition, books, and housing. That was the case with getting my MBA.
However, if you are married with children then there are other costs to consider. As such, going to graduate school involves not just the student, but the entire family.
Therefore, for me, getting a Ph.D. wasn’t simply an individual decision. Instead, the decision involved our entire family. Everyone in our family paid some of the costs of earning that Ph.D.!
How did those family costs play out while in school? Well, most obviously, when living off of student loans and a graduate assistant’s stipend we were really poor!
There simply wasn’t anything extra for luxuries, like vacations!
Or, the luxury of a decent car. We drove an old, compact Datsun that clanged – loudly – every time we turned a corner. Two adults, three children and one large black lab made for a really crowded car. And, that was before we added luggage!
Life as a Ph.D. Student
My weekly schedule involved me being gone from home long hours because Ph.D. programs are very demanding.
Normally, I worked Monday through Saturday. Then, I took off Saturday evening for family time and Sunday morning for worship. But, after lunch on Sunday I was back at school working.
So, how about between semesters? Well, for most of those breaks I was so exhausted that I slept longer hours trying to make up for living off of five to six hours sleep while classes were in session.
How about studying for written and oral comps after completing course work? Actually, I sent the family to Florida to see friends and family.
Me? I focused on the exam prep for a month!
My last semester in college, I taught during the summer before I joined the family at our new location. My family was in Ohio unpacking a little each day, then shopping a lot each day!
Me? I was in Georgia teaching and working on my dissertation!
However, on one of those shopping trips they picked up a nice wool sweater for me that, years later, I still wear on really cold days. Then, at the end of the summer, the family went to Disney World as a reward to the kids for surviving graduate school.
Me? Still working!
Calculating a Payoff
But, “Was it worth it?” For me, the answer is “Yes,” very much so.
What followed my Ph.D. was a 30-year academic career that I found to be very rewarding. As such, I retired as a business school dean to end of my professional career.
In what respects was it worth it?
Certainly financially, as business faculty salaries were getting bid up as I exited graduate school. As a result, my starting salary as an untenured, assistant professor was significantly higher than what I was earning in industry. When I shared with my major professor the starting salary, his response was “that’s a very good offer!”
That salary increase paid off, even when considering three-years out for the Ph.D. program. Actually, the payback period was about that same length of time as graduate school. More specifically, in less than four years as a faculty member, I quickly made up those three years of lost income while I was a full-time Ph.D. student.
Moreover, it was worth it to me in regard to feeling personally fulfilled. And, well worth it in regard to opportunities to continue growing professionally that I didn’t have when I was in industry.
Moreover, my move from being a full-time faculty member to full-time administrator half way through my academic career started me on a completely different career path.
The Value of Growth
Ok, earnings potential and growth in annual income are easy to calculate.
A sense of satisfaction and fulfillment are less easy to monetize, but certainly valuable.
How else can we measure the value of our personal and professional growth?
For me, about twelve years into my academic career, I became much more intentional about professional growth. I began to take advantage of options such as books, Webinars, mentoring, and other opportunities.
One very significant opportunity for growth was a fellowship, funded by my home university, where I made regular visits to another university to learn about how they operated.
My home-university project for that fellowship was to shut down an external, down-town located, public service initiative for which we could not develop a sustainable revenue model. That project enabled me to work closely with my university’s president, provost, and chief finance officer, as well as an agency that had provided some of the initial funding to set up the initiative.
As I moved into academic administration, I continued that intentional growth. And, as a result, I was prepared for opportunities to advance as they opened up. Now, the path wasn’t a nice, straight-line upward. Nevertheless, over time I was able to build out a skill set that prepared me to become a business school dean.
Indicators of Impact
The value of that professional growth, I believe, was much more than moving from associate dean, to interim dean (twice), to interim associate provost, to business school dean late in my career.
How so? Well, for one as we grow professionally we have opportunity to increase our impact on an organization and on those around us.
Some examples of impact, for me personally, include being Chairman of the Board of the Chamber of Commerce, thus having an impact on the local community.
Career Development of Others
Also, I was the school-level hiring authority for a number of faculty members. I watched their career progress to the point that I got to write their tenure letters. Then, a few years later, I wrote the letter for their promotions to full professor.
I hired staff for the business school who provide essential services, such as external relations. Also, I reallocated those staff within the College of Business as needed to help control costs. By budget reallocations, I was able to get a portion of two staff member’s salaries off of “soft” or non-state funds to provide greater security for their annual income.
Relationships and Resources
Additionally, I was able to build some very rewarding professional relationships with alumni, advisory board members, and fellow administrators. Similarly, I enjoyed interacting with fellow business deans at conferences and on accreditation visits to other business schools.
As dean, the fundraising was very fulfilling. Those scholarships and other endowments that are now funded will have an impact on students for generations to come. For example, our family has endowed a needs-based scholarship in memory of a grandson.
More generally, finding resources to support faculty and students in the College of Business was personally rewarding. I got the see the impact of those efforts in the form of student trips, their professional development, and in physical improvements in the historic building that housed the business school.
Some Takeaways
None of those satisfying memories of impact would exist if I had not been intentional about my own personal and professional growth.
Obviously, getting a Ph.D. mid-career set the stage for those opportunities to have an impact. Why? Because a Ph.D. is the price of admission to an academic career.
Regarding benefits, my mid-career change was most certainly a family affair. Everyone in the family benefitted from my increase in earnings and the promotions I received.
Regarding costs, everyone in the family paid the costs of the three years in graduate school, followed by two years of all-but-dissertation status after I started teaching.
Back to the original question. Was it worth it? That’s impossible to answer without a clear plan in place for why you are considering a career change because “worth it” can be measured in a number of different ways. For me, the answer is Yes!