Discussing your EDP with your Leader

Questions you may be asked during a conversation with your leader:

• What are you looking for in terms of job satisfaction?

• If you could do anything you want in terms of a career, what would it be?

• What are your goals?

• Do you want to change jobs but stay in the same field? Or change to a totally new career?

• What steps are necessary to have control over your situation? How can you position yourself to succeed?

• What are your areas of greatest strength? What areas need improvement?

• Are you hoping for promotional opportunities?

• What is the present situation?

• What are your obstacles, both internal and external?

• What have you done so far?

• What are some of your achievements?

• How do you want your career to develop? What constraints do you see?

• What resources do you have available to you?

Questions specific to course/conference/class:

• How will taking this class/course/conference fit into your career plans?

• What are your other options?

• What are the plusses and minuses of each choice?

• What other things might you consider doing to meet your goals?

• What could you do to learn besides taking classes through Professional & Organizational Development (POD)?

• What about strengthening some other skills?

• Are you seeking a leadership position in your future plans?

• How will this class enhance your abilities?

• Have you developed a timeline to complete this work?

• Who else needs to be involved? How will they be affected? How will you gain their support?

• How can you pursue this course and maintain your current workload?

• How do you plan to apply the knowledge you gain through training?

• Is this the best fit for your goals, or are there other possibilities?

• On a scale of 1 to 10, what is the likelihood that you will do this? If it’s less than a 7, do you really have the motivation to do the necessary work?

Follow-up questions (after the training is completed):

• What did you learn?

• How will you use this training in the future?

• Did you encounter unexpected obstacles?

• Will you be able to use this training immediately?

• How will you put your new knowledge to work?

• What are your next steps?

• Is it time to develop a new EDP?