The Growth Mix: Making Professional Development Actually Worth It
Professional development is one of those things we all say we value, but let’s be honest — sometimes it feels like a complete waste. We head off to conferences and trainings full of promise, only to come back to a mountain of emails and slide decks that never see the light of day again.
It’s not that the sessions were bad or that the ideas weren’t good. The problem is that most of the time, professional development is treated like an isolated event instead of part of a bigger recipe for growth.
Why Professional Development Falls Flat
Research on adult learning tells us something important: real growth doesn’t come from a single workshop. It follows the 70-20-10 rule:
70% of learning happens on the job — by practicing, experimenting, and stretching ourselves.
20% comes through others — mentoring, coaching, or peer learning.
10% comes from formal training — conferences, courses, or workshops.
The mistake we make is treating that 10% as the whole pie. Without a plan to apply what we’ve learned, connect it to our day-to-day work, and share it with others, professional development becomes a nice field trip instead of meaningful growth.
The Growth Mix: A Bigger Recipe for Growth
At Brico Works, we use a simple framework called The Growth Mix to think about development more holistically. It’s the recipe for better work, better leaders, better lives.
The Growth Mix brings together four key ingredients:
Personal – Your Inner Work: intentional reflection and mindset work that shapes how you show up.
Professional – What You Can Do: the skills and knowledge that make you effective in your role.
Leadership – Building Skills & Practice: developing and applying the habits that create the conditions for others to thrive.
Team – How We Work Together: the trust, rhythms, and culture that turn individuals into a cohesive unit.
When we attend a conference or PD event, we can use this mix to decide what we want to focus on — instead of treating everything as random inspiration.
How to Make Professional Development Stick
The secret isn’t just what happens at the event, but what happens before and after. That’s why we created the Conference Prep & Apply Tool — a simple template that helps you plan, engage, and follow through.
Here’s how it works:
Before You Go: Plan Your Mix
Set your purpose for attending.
Choose one focus for each of the four Growth Mix areas.
Write down 2–3 questions you’re hoping to answer.
While You’re There: Capture & Connect
Take notes by category (Personal, Professional, Leadership, Team).
Capture “so what” and “now what” after each session.
Write down who you met and how you might reconnect.
After You Return: Apply & Share
Turn your notes into a 30-60-90 day plan, using the 70-20-10 lens.
Apply one idea on the job within 2 weeks.
Share insights with your team so the learning spreads.
Why This Matters
Professional development stops being a waste when we stop treating it as a one-off and start treating it as part of a growth system. The conference itself may only be 10% of the mix, but if you intentionally fold it into your personal growth, your leadership practice, your professional skills, and your team rhythms, the impact multiplies.
Because at the end of the day, the goal isn’t just to attend more PD. The goal is to build better work, better leaders, and better lives — together.
