By IBM Smarter Workforce

Leap Year naturally makes us reflect on our past four years and consider what the next four might have in store. At work, it’s a time to look ahead and ponder how to get where you want to be professionally by Leap Year 2020. We asked some industry leaders for their thoughts and they agreed: With the pace of change today, you should begin your journey toward 2020 right away.

In fact, why not use February 29, 2016, as your starting point? As Debbie Landers, IBM General Manager of Kenexa and Smarter Workforce, says, “Every leap year we are given an extra day, one that we won't have again for another four years. Use that day to lift your head up from today's challenges and think about where you want you, your family, your team and your business to be – not next week, next month or next year – but four years from now.”

Organizational psychologist Dr.  Woody, aka Dr. Michael Woodward, agrees that our focus should be on the future. “Time is always in forward motion and it can move even faster when we are leaping,” he says. “It’s easy to get stuck looking backward, but just know that time won’t cooperate, particularly when that backwards gaze is a bit too long.”

As we look forward, we need to keep sight of the most important part of our personal growth: ourselves. This is particularly true of people in the HR field, who are in a great position to help others achieve their goals but sometimes need to be reminded of their own development. In fact, the two can go hand-in-hand, as David Green, Global Director of People Analytics Solutions at IBM, reminds HR professionals: “Take advantage of the leap year and don't wait another four years to get started with analytics in HR as it will help propel your career by focusing on providing people insights that drive business outcomes.”

In Green’s advice we see how our personal development can further business goals. Louis Richardson, Storyteller and Enthusiast, IBM Social Business and Smarter Workforce, points out how human engagement can connect the two: just as our growth can take the form of becoming smarter, it can also mean becoming a better bridge or conduit connecting other people to each other. “HR is realizing that an individual is not only valuable for what they know, but for who they know and what those people know,” Richardson says.

So to be the most valuable employee and colleague we can be, we must remember to take the time to focus on our personal growth, even as we are examining the past and taking care of the present. “Learn from your past but don’t live in it,” Dr. Woody tells us. “There is an opportunity for a positive learning in every event. … Keep your eyes and your mind forward as you leap towards 2020.”