Get the Most Out of Your Professional Development
By Iain McCormick.
A wealth of evidence now shows that there is little clear relationship between years of professional experience and client outcome (Ericsson, 2008). As a professional you might feel that you have developed a lot over the course of your career, being more confident and being able to undertake a wider range of actions, but sadly the evidence suggests that this counts for little in terms of the impact on clients.
Equally surprising, it appears that only about 10-20% of what we learn in professional development is implemented in practice (Vellios & Kirkpatrick, 2008; van den Ouden, 2018).
What can be done to make the most out of your professional development and to grow real expertise that has a positive impact on clients?
The answer is deliberate practice.
While this article and my ABP webinar use the executive coaching profession as a case in point, the suggestions are highly relevant to any professional.
What is Deliberate Practice?
Deliberate practice offers a systematic way to develop expertise through a focused and intentional approach (McCormick, 2025). The process has seven characteristics:
- Having clear improvement goals
- Undertaking systematic and intentional practice
- Getting clear actionable feedback from clients
- Working with a coach, supervisor or other professional to support you through the process
- A willingness to push yourself beyond your comfort zone
- Building a clear mental image of yourself as a successful professional who creates meaningful client impacts
- Developing your skills in a systematic way by building on your current abilities
Let us consider each of these characteristics at a practical level.
1. Clear Improvement Goals
A clear and specific improvement goal means one that sets out exactly:
- What is to be improved
- How it is measured
- What success looks like
For example, a poorly written goal is: ‘To attend a course on coaching skills’. A clearer improvement goal could be: ‘To use the coaching approach with 40% of my clients in the next calendar year’.
The first is an action, not a goal, while the second has a clear measurable outcome. The improvement goal is one that contains a simple observable behaviour that represents a change, and is described in terms of a time-bound, measurable, and values-aligned outcome.
2. Systematic and Intentional Practice
Undertaking systematic and intentional practice means using disciplined repetition of a skill or ability until you can undertake it with unconscious competence. This needs focused attention and a way of assessing your progress.
For example, you may work with a coach or colleague to practice your paraphrasing skills for an hour or two until you do this effortlessly and authentically, as assessed by both yourself and your coach or colleague.
Overlearning skills is critical. This involves practising beyond the point of competence to the point of automatic, reliable ability even under pressure. It is going beyond mastery so that you can perform the skill in complex, real-world situations.
3. Feedback from Clients
Getting clear actionable feedback from clients means going beyond the idea of simple client satisfaction with your service. It means asking for specific behavioural changes that may improve the quality of service to them. There is little point in getting vague thoughts or opinions. This requires structured prompts, such as:
- ‘In this session, what happened that was helpful for you?’
- ‘What could I have done that would have made the session more useful to you?’
4. Working With a Coach
Deliberate practice requires focus and motivation. For most of us, this means having a supportive person to work with.
Working with a coach, supervisor, or other professional to support you through the process means this individual can provide feedback, encouragement, challenge, and perspective as you move towards mastery. Dedicating the time and energy for improvement is much more likely if we have social support.
5. Willingness to Push Beyond Your Comfort Zone
A willingness to push yourself beyond your comfort zone is important. This means developing a mindset that enables effective development. We need to stretch ourselves and push to the point of discomfort but not overwhelm.
Learning to tolerate mild discomfort and awkwardness until the skill is developed is essential. We may need to let go of the view of ourselves as an expert and once again become a student who is open to challenge and learning.
6. Visualising Your Success
Build an effective mental image of yourself as a successful professional that has a clear impact for clients. This means having a clear, vivid picture of yourself as a calm, highly engaged professional. Develop this by thinking of others in your field who you admire and asking:
- What do they consistently do that you can learn from?
- How do they portray themselves during sessions?
- What impact do they have and what do their clients experience as a result of their work?
- How do they project clarity and confidence?
Spend time visualising yourself as a trusted strategic partner working at the highest level.
7. Systematically Develop Your Skills
Develop your skills in a systematic way by building on your current abilities. This means undertaking an objective skills audit of your capabilities with a coach or colleague. Once you understand your areas for development, you can practice one skill at a time until you can perform it effortlessly. Often the best way to do this is to break the particular skill into micro-skills and then practice these.
A micro-skill is a small observable behaviour that you can practice, refine and overlearn. For example, communication micro-skills may include;
- Waiting before responding
- Paraphrasing the client’s views
- Asking one thoughtful question and waiting in silence until the client has finished
Conclusion
With all the time and money we spend in professional development, it makes perfect sense to get the most out of it. This can best be done by using a systematic deliberate practice approach that helps us set measurable goals and achieve them (see McCormick, 2025). By doing so, we are in the best position to turn the time we invest into real results, both for ourselves and our clients.
For ABP Members:
Not a member? We invite you to join us at The Association for Business Psychology!
About the Author
Iain McCormick is an Executive and Schema Coach, PhD (Psychology), and Chartered Member of the Institute of Organisational Psychology, New Zealand. Iain trained in clinical psychology and then completed his PhD in work stress. Today he coaches a wide range of executives, writes books, supervises and trains coaches in New Zealand, Australia, the UK, Hungary and India.
References
Anders Ericsson, K. (2008). Deliberate practice and acquisition of expert performance: a general overview. Academic emergency medicine, 15(11), 988-994.
McCormick, I. A. (2025). Coaching Expertise: Six Practical Steps for Every Effective Coach. Troubador.
van den Ouden, L. (2018). Transferring learning to working. Association for Talent Development, March 28. https://www.td.org/insights/transferring-learning-to-working
Vellios, G., & Kirkpatrick, D. (2008). On the level. T+ D, 62(12), 26-29.