One professional development topic that has been talked about forever in many sectors is the expectations that surround the term: Personal Responsibility.  In the consultant arena, the discussions most often center on the need for employees/students/co-workers to be more personally responsible for their activities/actions.  However, the potential suggestions or plans to directly improve someone’s Personal Responsibility capacities, often lack “enforce-ability” and therefore fall into that “good intentions” area of professional development.

Well, it is time to allow innovation to offer an alternative contribution to this age-old development challenge! So, outlined below are a TOP 10 List of Personal Responsibility “EXERCISES” that if applied correctly…could generate quality results!

1. Personal Responsibility SIT-UPS

Personal Responsibility SIT-UPS would require everyone to volunteer to take on one new professional responsibility each week. The size of the new SIT-UPS responsibility would not be the main issue.  Instead the EXERCISE of identifying and assuming a special Personal Responsibility task would be the progressive SIT-UPS action.

2. Personal Responsibility SPRINTS

Personal Responsibility SPRINTS would be organized to build everyone’s “sense of urgency” responses to matters requiring timely action.  Specific timeframes would be applied to project/product assignments…therefore encouraging Personal Responsibility SPRINTS to occur in order to complete tasks in an efficient/effective manner.

3. Personal Responsibility TOE-TOUCHING

Often professional development requires employers/students/co-workers to “go back…to go forward”. Personal Responsibility TOE-TOUCHING would focus on having everyone bending down and reaching back to their past experiences on an issue…pull out the positive (or the negatives) and apply them effectively to improve the new/current progress issue.

4. Personal Responsibility PULL-UPS

Personal Responsibility PULL-UPS would serve as an EXERCISE in developing group leadership skills.  Periodically assigning everyone to assume the leadership role for a project would be a solid Personal Responsibility PULL-UPS EXERCISE and facilitate the need to be a good prioritizer/scheduler/partner when leading.

5. Personal Responsibility MARATHONER

Being assigned the role of Personal Responsibility MARATHONER would ensure that everyone would EXERCISE their professional development patience. Certain project/product assignments may require even a year to be completed.  Therefore, understanding the value of serving as a Personal Responsibility MARATHONER would offer a great example setting option to others in your organization on the benefits of appropriately applying progressive patience .

6. Personal Responsibility CRUNCHING

Sometimes being personally responsible requires you to say “NO” to an idea/action/project!  Allowing personnel to hide from this type of responsibility is not appropriate.  Therefore, establishing an organized means of ensuring everyone must EXERCISE Personal Responsibility CRUNCHING is a natural area of professional development.

7. Personal Responsibility JUMPING JACKS

Taking personal responsibility for organizational promotion is the exclusive purpose for including Personal Responsibility JUMPING JACKS in this EXERCISE list.  Sometimes it is just everyone’s responsibility to find their special way to “spread-the-word” and/or “brag” about who you are or what you do as an organization.  Ensuring all participate in Personal Responsibility JUMPING JACKS will build organizational strength.

8. Personal Responsibility POWER WALKS

Personal Responsibility POWER WALKS would be customized professional development EXERCISES that enable everyone to confidently “walk-past” non-positive, repetitive, minutia and progress hindering conversations (enough said!)

9. Personal Responsibility PUSH-UPS

Effectively completing Personal Responsibility PUSH-UPS is the toughest of all professional development EXERCISES!  PUSH-UPS require everyone to listen…listen…listen more…listen better…and listen completely.  This Personal Responsibility PUSH UP EXERCISE will then enable everyone to “push-up” employees/students/co-workers by better understanding their issues and make suggestions of progress and continuous improvement.

10. Personal Responsibility YOGA

The final…but most important professional development Personal Responsibility EXERCISE is YOGA.  EVERYONE…yes EVERYONE needs to practice stretching their work-life (and home-life) service capacities, idea-generation, product upgrades, innovation concepts, etc. Personal Responsibility YOGA would require everyone to stretch, bend, reach, extend and dream…because everyone can help build their own future.

This TRIPLE III TIME message is a little longer than normal…so maybe take each EXERCISE as a separate message and make it count for you and those around you.