I’ve had a few friends and colleagues change jobs in the past 2-3 months, which has naturally triggered a series of thoughts, questions, and feelings on my part. As employees (me included) move from job to job more frequently, I started thinking about the knowledge, tools, and other artifacts we accumulate as professionals with each job we hold. What steps can we take to maintain momentum as we move from job to job? Starting from scratch takes quite a bit of time, and it’s ridiculous to leave behind all aspects of the work that you do in each position you hold. I’ve come up with one idea, and I call it a portable toolkit. I created my toolkit about 4 years ago, and I’ve carried it along with me like a trusted briefcase wherever I go.
What is a Portable Toolkit?
I define a portable toolkit as a collection of useful documents, spreadsheets, presentations, reports, dashboards, and any other materials that you carry with you from job to job. (Important note: Don’t carry any information that is proprietary or contains the “secret sauce” of any of your previous employers. You don’t want to get yourself into legal trouble.)
These documents may be templates, frameworks, models, checklists, tools, communication plans, project plans, etc., that you have created, picked up from colleagues, acquired at conferences, and so on. This shouldn’t just be a huge pile of documents, it should be resources you’ve found especially helpful and could see yourself using again in the future. Oh, and books! Don’t forget any books that you reference on a regular or semi-regular basis. Bring those along, too.
What’s in My Portable Toolkit?
Here’s a sample of the various documents I keep in my toolkit, in no particular order:
- A huge list of performance consulting / needs analysis questions
- Several flavors of learning measurement strategy, focusing on ROI, efficiency, and effectiveness
- Organizational diagnostic questions, processes, and checklists
- Industry research reports
- Team activities, team assessments, team trust surveys
- Change management resources
- Performance management tips, phrases, and resources
- Tips for writing all varieties assessment questions and simulations
- Organizational learning models: centralized, de-centralized, and hybrid – along with pros and cons of each
- Estimates for the amount time to create instructor-led training materials, eLearning, job aids, etc.
What’s in Your Toolkit?
How will you keep momentum when changing jobs?
The post Thinking of Changing Jobs? What’s in Your Portable Toolkit? appeared first on Better, Smarter, Faster.
