Thanks for raising this, Lindsay - the topic resonates with me and, I hope, will be of continued relevance through the whole life (including, yet not limited to, the actual career).
In the Quality field, which today, as I see it, increases its expectation of practitioner's ability to expand their knowledge and competencies, where the latter needs to work even more interdisciplinary/cross-functionally and across industries.
I am the believer that professional growth is a personal responsibility of an individual.
On the other hand, thinking organization-wise,it will be hard, if not impossible, to expect a long-term success for the entity, if it does not effectively recognize that the choices and commitments of the employees are highly impacted by their opportunities to grow professionally with their current organization.
To sum up, there is
needs & expectations aspect, both for the team (company) and the employee, that should have sufficient "contact area" for both sides to succeed/thrive. The important for the individual is to realize if there is a match between one's aspirations and the team (company) culture, and vice versa (for the team).
Importantly,
needs & expectations is not something static, but continuously evolving/developing process, so it is good to assess not the snapshot of now (today), but "motion vector" for own aspirations and those that are expected/encouraged by the team/organization.
Alexander Kholodov
ASQ CQE