Defining Your Own Career Growth

This is the final post in a three-part series on personalized professional learning and growth. In part 1, I explored the importance of understanding your learning preferences. In part 2, I shared strategies for designing your own learning experiences through intentional curation. This final post shifts the focus to career growth, and how we might better define it for ourselves and support it in others.

The Problem with “Promotion = Growth”

Because I’ve reflected on my own learning preferences (see post 1 in the series), I know that podcasts are one of my favorite ways to learn. I’ve started countless conversations with, “I was listening to a podcast…” When I hear an incredible interview, I often follow the trail, seeking out other episodes with that thought leader and curating a mini learning journey from there. (See post 2 in the series.)

One episode that continues to spark ideas for me is from the Curious Minds at Work podcast. In 2022, host Gayle Allen interviewed Julie Winkle Giulioni about her book Promotions Are So Yesterday. The episode, “Redefining Career Growth,” felt especially relevant to my work in education and to my own experiences as an educator.

I’ve never aspired to be a campus or district administrator, and I know many educators who feel the same way. But we still want to grow, stretch, feel challenged, and make a deeper impact. When the only recognized path to growth is leaving the classroom, schools risk losing passionate, committed educators. Giulioni’s ideas help us reimagine what growth can look like for ourselves and for others.

The Multidimensional Career Framework

Julie Winkle Giulioni wrote Promotions Are So Yesterday during the pandemic, a time when many of us were rethinking what work looks like and how it fits into our lives. Since then, “post-pandemic epiphanies” have prompted even more reflection about how we want to grow in our careers.

In her research, Julie asked hundreds of employees a simple question:

“What does career mean to you?”

Most people talked about values like service, contribution, learning, and connection.

Then she followed up with, “How do you evaluate career success?”

The answers shifted. This time, people mentioned title, promotions, and compensation.

That mismatch between how we define a meaningful career and how we measure success is at the heart of Julie’s work. To help people and organizations rethink what growth can look like, she developed the Multidimensional Career Framework, based on ten years of field research.

This framework identifies seven dimensions of growth that expand the idea of what it means to develop professionally:

• Contribution

• Competence

• Connection

• Confidence

• Challenge

• Contentment

• Choice

These are areas that individuals and leaders can influence directly. In contrast, two other common career factors —climb (promotion) and compensation —are often beyond our control. Climb and compensation represent the more traditional definitions of career success.

Julie emphasizes that professional growth should be job-embedded, not something that pushes you past your breaking point. These dimensions should be a two-way street. As you contribute or take on challenges, you’re also developing in a new area. She encourages us to “wring every possible growth opportunity out of your experiences.”

If you’re curious about your own areas for growth, Julie offers this free self-assessment on her website. After you complete the quiz, you’ll receive a personalized report with explanations and reflection prompts.

Applications for Individuals and Supervisors

When I first took the self-assessment, my top dimensions were contribution, connection, and choice. The contribution dimension centers on making a difference, adding value, and being of service to others. Without realizing it at the time, a former director supported those priorities by inviting me to serve on an organization-wide committee. That team worked on large-scale initiatives (contribution), and it also gave me the chance to connect with educators and leaders outside of my department (connection). The work was very fulfilling for me, and now I understand why!

The second layer of the framework focuses on how we grow and develop through those kinds of experiences. Looking back, that committee work sparked future projects, and it helped me understand the broader roles and responsibilities of educators across the region. While the work required extra time and effort, the learning and long-term impact were well worth it.

After I shared “contribution” as one of my top dimensions, several colleagues began naming the ways my work had supported their growth. Even recently, I received a text that said, “I hope your contribution bucket is feeling full,” followed by a list of specific ways I had made a difference.

This framework also has powerful implications for supervisors and leaders. When you know someone’s top dimensions, your requests can be more aligned with what motivates them. For example, if a supervisor knows that contribution and connection are important to me, they might say something like:

Kathryn, I’d like you to lead this team book study. You’ll be sharing your expertise, modeling how others can lead learning, and collaborating with colleagues outside of your usual team.

When leaders make thoughtful, intentional requests that align with what matters most to individuals, they support meaningful career growth while also increasing motivation and deepening engagement, all without needing to offer a formal promotion or title.

In today’s education landscape, where burnout and turnover are ongoing concerns, redefining growth is more than a feel-good exercise. It’s a strategy for retaining passionate, talented educators. What if we built a system that allowed teachers to grow while staying in the roles they love?

Taking Ownership of Your Growth

Over the course of this series, we’ve explored how understanding your learning preferences can deepen your personal growth, how intentional curation can help you design your own learning experiences, and how we might reimagine career growth in ways that align with what we value.

Personalized professional learning is more than a trend. It’s a mindset. When we understand how we learn best, take ownership of our path, and advocate for meaningful opportunities to grow, we become more engaged, fulfilled, and impactful in our roles.

Whether you’re a classroom teacher, campus leader, education coach, or district administrator, your growth story matters.

Your next step: Reflect on these three guiding questions:

• What kind of learner are you?

• What learning experiences will you intentionally design for yourself this year?

• What does meaningful career growth look like for you right now?

If you’re a leader, consider how you can support others in answering these same questions and offer opportunities that align with their top dimensions of growth.

In a profession that asks so much of us, one of the most powerful things we can do is take ownership of our learning and our growth. When we know ourselves, design with intention, and define success on our own terms, we not only sustain ourselves, but we inspire others to grow, too.

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Kathryn Laster brings over 30 years of education expertise as a math teacher, instructional coach, and digital learning consultant. Now, as an independent consultant, Kathryn creates and facilitates transformative learning experiences through intentional, human-centered, tech-infused design.

For a deeper dive into her reflections on redefining career growth, listen to the episode Inspired to Reimagine Career Growth from the Digital Learning Radio podcast.

Connect with Kathryn here and at Refined Learning Design.