How to Select Your Next Project: 7. Education & Training

by | Dec 24, 2017 | Project Management

Presentation How you are presented and represented in marketing materials, in conversations, in any form of communication surrounding this project will impact your value. How are you asked to present yourself in this project? Is there anything that you have been asked to do that compromises your vision and values? In all, it is important to understand that you bring tremendous value everywhere you go. While on this journey you have to maximize your output, energy, mental clarity, work ethic. Your health, education, community and your value creation must be carefully monitored to achieve your vision.

How will this project support your career development goals and objectives as an artist? To achieve your artistic vision, you will need to select projects that move you closer to the goals and objectives in your career development plan. Project selection involves setting goals and objectives to obtain your artistic career vision. In this article, the third in the series, How to Select Your Next Project, I will discuss how to select a project by evaluating how you will accomplish your career development goals. Career development includes the actions that you take to achieve your artistic vision. The plan consists of purpose and vision-aligned goals and objectives that you believe will lead to your desired career. Successful career development is directly linked to the goals and objectives you set and the work that you do to pursue them. The foundation of career development is a clear understanding of your artistic vision, disciplined management of goals and flexibility in strategic goal setting alongside the ability to adapt to new information, opportunities and connections to maximize them and pursue the best course of action, today.

To achieve your vision, you will need to have goals and objectives that support your plan for career development. The project’s that you select should be aligned with the goals that you set for yourself. For example, as an actress, I may want to practice stage combat, dialect, foreign language, dance or singing on stage. In this case, I will select projects that will help me to gain that experience. You want to create a list of goals and objectives every year. Then, each quarter you will revisit your list of goals and select projects that will help you to achieve them.

I believe the difference between myself and others is my ability to accept that the artistic vision is the only constant, we cannot control how the vision comes about. I respect new information, connections and experiences and I never operate a plan for today on last year’s or even last months information. Because we are creating our own paths, the path itself appears only as we travel on it. I realize that only a fool thinks he knows the future. But there are some things that we can control right? Those are the things that we must focus on in career development. Therefore, career development involves a plan that includes education and training, community building and value creation. These are things that you have direct control over and that will have a direct impact on your success. In this article, I will discuss how you can define goals and objectives for for these three areas in your career development plan.

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7. EDUCATION & TRAINING

What do you need to learn to achieve your artistic vision? Set education and training goals that will align with your career development goals and objectives.

How will this project advance my education/training goals? The professionals who make a lasting impact on their industry are those who are constantly learning and developing new skills. Knowledge is a key to success. Skills are what help us to apply and share that knowledge in the most effective way possible.

Education is defined as information about or training in a particular field or subject and Skill is defined as a particular ability. I divide my education and skills goals into three categories: artistic, managerial and industry.

ARTISTIC My artistic goals are those connected to my artistic vision that related to improving my education and skills with respect to my artistic creations. Goals include education and skills pertaining to acting, writing and more. In the first article in this series, I asked that you evaluate whether a project will provide you with experiences related to your goals. Preparation for those experiences includes training. For example, if I wanted experience with dialect or foreign language, I might find a dialect expert or foreign language tutor who could help me to prepare for the role.

MANAGERIAL My managerial education and skills related goals are goals that will improve my ability to organize and manage myself as a business.

INDUSTRY Finally, my industry related goals are related to learning and developing skills required to be successful in my industry.

Each industry is different with a number of distinct challenges and opportunities. Be sure that you include those industry specific standards when evaluating your project options. Learning and skill development will continue until you retire. Keep a list of ideal roles, training, experiences and courses based upon what you want to achieve in your career. Reflecting on your goals and considering feedback you have received in past projects, determine a list of career development goals.