Is This a Fit?
These practices and resources are designed to support professionals (current and aspiring) in similar contexts. We think you will find these resources helpful if you seek values alignment, are wrestling with career ambiguity, must navigate contradiction, need reflection, face institutional change and crisis, or find working in the public sector very hard (join the club). In other words:
You desire for professional work to align with personal values.
You face amorphous career paths, with too many options and too few guideposts indicating milestones of achieving “success.”
You have seen how contradictions and tensions erode organizations from within when left unresolved.
You find limited opportunities in a workplace to reflect on personal progress in a professional setting, beyond achievement of workplace outcomes.
You have been trained to think about institutional change as an object of practice, but struggle to move them as they face a crisis of legitimacy.
You experience an amplification of all of this within the public sector due to rapid political shifts, serving as a public face of unpopular policies or administrations, lack of direct translation of skills to success or acknowledgement, and tensions with outside organizers with whom you share values and objectives, but at times different approaches.
But Why?
Before jumping into the process, take some time to reflect on why you, in particular, are here. What’s drawing you to develop a PTOP right now? What are you hoping to get out of this process? Maybe you’re seeking clarity in your work, direction during a job transition, a deeper understanding of your values, or a way to connect your experiences across different areas of your life. Next:
Define success for yourself. What does an effective PTOP look like to you? What role do you imagine it playing in your life or work?
Choose your process. Do you prefer to work through this alone or in a group? Why? What might you gain from a group process that you can’t get alone? What might you gain from working solo that you might miss in a group setting?
Let these questions guide your entry into the PTOP process. If you’ve decided on a group-based process, review the considerations below. If you’ve decided on a self-guided process, skip ahead to Process.
Forming a Group
A small group (an ideal size is three to six people) allows everyone to give and receive focused attention, helps trust develop more quickly, and improves mutual accountability. To connect with potential group members, consider sharing this guide, particularly the framing in the Introduction and this Preparation section. If you’re in college or graduate school, you might approach peers in similar programs. If you’re a professional, consider inviting work buddies (i.e., only those colleagues you can be fully honest with) or friends interested in personal development (your professions do not need to be in the same field). You could consider forming a group through an online community. That said, this works best with at least some initial in-person sessions, and building trust upfront with people you don’t already know becomes even more important.
Session 0
This introductory group meeting is your opportunity to share individual intentions for the group, talk through past group experiences, and to take time to get to know one another better. Building trust is vitally important: writing and sharing a PTOP is an intimate, often vulnerable experience. Being realistic about expectations of one another, especially in terms of time commitment, is critical to setting yourselves up for success. Overly optimistic timelines at this stage can hinder the process later on, turning an intentional, desired commitment into something that feels compulsory. A sample agenda for this session is available here; once mutual interest is established, we recommend agreeing on some basic logistical matters and ground rules. Consider the following topics:
Logistics
Discuss total number of meetings, meeting frequency, scheduling, location, and attendance. The process of writing a PTOP, either individually or in a group, can expand to fill the space it’s given — it could be done in a week, or it could take months. How long you take depends on your goals, schedules, and bandwidth. Considering other life and work commitments in your group, what frequency would allow you to spend a few hours of solo reflection between group meetings, if desired? We suggest planning four to six meetings:
- This introductory meeting (Session 0)
- Four PTOP development sessions (Sessions 1–4)- One final reflection (Session 5)
Facilitation
Unless you are working with a dedicated facilitator or someone volunteers to lead, there is no one person in charge, meaning the group is everyone’s responsibility to shepherd. Assign rotating facilitators in advance of the meetings. This person sends out calendar invitations, sets the agenda, and keeps the meeting on track.
"Homework"
Discuss levels of work during and outside of meetings, including the amount of “homework” between meetings and/or building solo work time into group meetings.
Communication
Decide how you want to communicate between meetings for rescheduling, updates, follow up, etc.
Ground Rules
Consider the following:
Take turns talking and listening.
Make space for everyone to speak. Don’t interrupt.
Confidentiality
What’s shared in the group stays in the group.
Speak from personal experience.
Use “I” statements. Avoid generalizing or giving unsolicited advice.
Assume good intent, but own your impact.
Be open to feedback. Be mindful of how your words may affect others.
Practice active listening.
Stay present. Don’t plan your response while someone else is speaking.
Allow for silence.
Reflection takes time. Embrace pauses rather than rushing to fill space.
Be respectful of time.
Start and end on time. Share airtime equally.
Create a judgment-free space.
Be curious, not critical. Value different perspectives.
Take care of yourself and the group.
Step back if you need space; step up if the group needs your voice.
Check-in and check-out.
Begin and end meetings with a quick personal or emotional check-in/out.
Practice virtual courtesy
If you're meeting online, make a commitment to keep cameras on, avoid multi-tasking, and refrain from recording.