Personal Development Plans

Introduction

Personal development plans are very important as they ensure timely and effective completion of duties. After preparing a PDP it is important that it is put in practice and ensure that what has been agreed with the top management is actually undertaken. It requires commitment, self driven and motivation to see it through to a successful conclusion (Smith, 2006).

3.2 use suitable methods to assess the outcomes of a personal development plan against personal work objectives

It is always important for any organization to assess the outcomes of the development plan against the personal objectives. This is a very essential step in enabling organization to appraise the effectiveness of the leadership. The level of competition in the modern business world has been very stiff thus making it difficult for organizations to maintain their market positions. In order to maintain the desired level of competitiveness, it is the obligation of the organization to ensure that they constantly review the effectiveness of the strategies the step taken by the organization (Armstrong & Armstrong, 2009).

The evaluation of the planned development activities that have been undertaken remains a critical aspect for successful implementation of PDP. This evaluation should be completed using individual development courses listed under the planning of your development. This would then build up into a series of evaluation documents that can be collated and concluded upon.

A proper assessment of the PDP should contain a critical analysis of what went well and not so well.  It should be unbiased and a balanced description that includes negatives as well as positives (Rughani, 2001). The assessment can also be concerned with the advantages and the disadvantages. Elements of justification can also be included within any descriptive text. The assessment can be undertaken by drawing tables and filing the necessary information.  After drawing such tables, essential information can be completed as follows;

  • A cross –referencing of development plan number.
  • A description of development work undertaken.
  • An outcome in the form of yes/no to its achievement.
  • The date that this was achieved and so you can map this against the time frames on the development plan.
  • An evaluation of the activity was undertaken.

There may be a mixture of work objectives focusing on the appraisee’s agreed and expected contribution to the organizational goals over the coming period and personal development objectives based on areas of agreed improvement in job performance as described in the development plan (Smith, 2006). However, it is important to understand that the word improvement can unfortunately suggest that objectives are purely about correcting poor performances. In essence, personal development objectives can be used to manage performance in a number of ways:

  • Remedy – to address poor performance
  • Consolidation – to maintain and push forward an acceptable level of performance.
  • Growth/diversification – to encourage and stretch individuals who exceed normal performance standards.

In order to have an effective assessment of development plan and work objectives, it is important to set good objectives.  Effective objectives should be SMART i.e. specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound. Having such objectives will always ensure successful valuation and assessment of development plan against work objectives. It is important to have a constant review of the objectives since writing and agreeing objectives that are never reviewed is considered as wasted effort (Armstrong & Armstrong, 2009).

3.3 evaluate the impact of own learning against the achievement of strategic goals

Realization of strategic goals of an organization depends greatly on the skills and traits of the individuals working within an organization. It is for this reason that one should be greatly concerned with the impact of own learning against the achievement of strategic goals. One should find ways through which he or she can understand his capabilities for the achievement of strategic goals. There are different methods of learning styles that can be adopted in ensuring that own learning can be realized (Cottrell, 2010).

Personal audit is a very important step in strategic development and career change.  It is at this juncture that individuals must construct a detailed perceptive of our strengths and talents. Improvement of personal skills is normally accompanied by professional skills are getting developed when we work in an organization. In addition, this leads us to improve our knowledge and strategic goal (Rughani, 2001).

In order to achieve own learning and its impact in strategic achievements, it is important to carry out a SWOT analysis. This is a very important analytical tool that helps one understand his strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. When used in this path it can show us how to take full advantage of pupils’ talent and abilities. It can help to expose new learning opportunities and eradicate perceived threats in the learning environment. The individuals are expected to take advantage of the strengths and opportunities at our disposal to achieve our strategic plan. For instance, self motivation and self confidence are key strengths that should be adopted for effective strategic plan. It will also be important to understand ones weaknesses and threats and ensure that they are dealt with accordingly to ensure strategic plans are achieved.

There are different ways through which own learning can be achieved. One of the most notable learning tools is the theorists.  These are the kind of people that learn from excellent activities where they observe and assume before speaking. They work with unstructured principles and their uncertainty is really high (Smith, 2006). It is the tendency of theorists to think problems through step-by-step where they tend to be perfectionists who like fit things into rational scheme. It is also important to understand that theorists put them in complex situation where they are really needed to use their skills and knowledge. It is also important to understand that theorists do not like hesitation as well as bias and are purely guided by principles. All these beliefs are very critical in realization of a strategic goal.

References

Armstrong, M., & Armstrong, M. (2009). Armstrong’s handbook of performance management an evidence-based guide to delivering high performance (4th ed.). London: Kogan Page.

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Cottrell, S. (2010). Skills for success: The personal development planning handbook (2nd ed.). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

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Introduction to team and personal development. (2009). London: Chartered Institute of Bankers.

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Rughani, A. (2001). The GP’s guide to personal development plans (2nd ed.). Abingdon: Radcliffe Medical Press.

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Smith, E. (2006). Learning and development for managers perspectives from research and practice. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub

 

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