Learning Styles & Professional Development

This assignment examines the relationship between learning styles and professional development. It involves analyzing a provided PDP focused on enhancing professional knowledge, skills, and people skills. The analysis includes identifying strengths and weaknesses within the PDP framework, considering the impact of learning styles on its effectiveness, and suggesting improvements for maximizing skill development.

Leadership In Action

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
1..............................................................................................................................................1
2..............................................................................................................................................3
3..............................................................................................................................................5
4..............................................................................................................................................5
5..............................................................................................................................................6
6..............................................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
APPENDIX....................................................................................................................................10
Obstacles faced while executing the designed measures of above developmental plan......11
Updated developmental plan................................................................................................11
SWOT analysis.....................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Leadership in action could be considered as the skills required to build loyalty and
teamwork so that success can be attained within firm. It also helps individual to improve their
skills by using effective learning style and thus accomplish the mission (Conway and Andrews,
2016). There are certain leaders who possess effective skills and qualities such as motivation,
communication and analytical skills so that performance of team can be improved. In the current
study, effectiveness of leadership within firm has been identified and thus it assists individual to
assess the personal skills and capabilities through improving learning styles and attaining
organizational goals. Here, I need to prepare personal development plan and SWOT analysis to
enhance the learning ability while working in a team.
1.
Following is the brief summary of education learning, career plan for next five years and
learning styles such as-
 Education- Currently I am pursuing Masters in Business Administration from the
London University. The course curriculum introduced by the college was very
knowledgeable and interesting. Also, the lectures were inducing using creative
presentation which helps me to learn different theories and models quickly. Furthermore,
I also carry out my basic education in London and thus it helped me to understand the
language and does not face any issues related to education and learning.
 Learning- Through carrying out my MBA degree it helps me to improve my skills and
ability to indulge in creative thinks and enhance my learning process. During my final
semester of MBA, I preferred to collect information from internet and books so that skills
and knowledge can be enhanced. Also, I maintained notes for the topic which helped me
at the time of completing the projects assigned to be by the tutor. Furthermore, during my
bachelors degree, I joined part time management firm for gaining knowledge and
expertise and thus it helped me to understand the concept of management and leadership
that I could implement later in future. Through this way I could accomplish desired task
and thus attain best results. During my part time working, it was first time when I worked
in any team as a member and learn different skills of team working and leadership so that
task can be accomplished. I also try to provide my opinions and views so that team
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working can be carried out. I was directly under the supervision of team leader and thus it
helped me to enhance my learning ability and thus uses different models and approaches
to enhance my career development plan.
 Career plan- Through preparing appropriate career plan it helped me to improve my
skills and knowledge in a timely manner so that I can enhance my capabilities in regard
to enhance my career goals. I need to develop my career plan for the next five years and
aims to become a good HR manager in a reputed MNC. Through preparing career plan, I
need to focus upon what I want to do and how to attain the desired goals. In regard to
develop t he career development plan I need to focus upon different career elements such
as-
Career development plan
Components Aim
Job aim To gain the position of HR manager in MNC.
Skills and capabilities  Conflict management
 Record keeping
 Leadership and motivation skills
Needs  Attending workshop
 Improving interpersonal skills
 Computer courses
To attain career objective Reach to the objective of working as a
professional trainer and helping other workers to
attain objectives.
Hindrances Communication skill needs to be improved to
attain desired success
Requires to overcome hindrance Participating in training programs so that
communication can be empowered
Learning style
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Here, I am focusing upon selecting Honey and Mumford learning style, that tends to
prefer a particular learning style over others. It involves different learning style such as Activist,
Theorist, Pragmatist and Reflector. Through understanding all such learning styles it helps me to
assess my own learning styles which can be concluded that I possess Activist learning style as I
tend to learn fast through implementing my skills and knowledge and applying the same within
the real world. I possess open minded approach of learning and tend to learn different innovative
and creative things so that career plan can be developed. While, pursuing my degree, I actively
participated in group discussions, role plays and thus improve my communication skills which
would later help me to attain best results. Further, using Theorist style helps me to learn different
theories that is behind any action with very minimum level of practical exposure (Hansen, 2013).
Through carrying out Honey and Mumford learning style it helps me to establish that I
am a Kinesthetic learner and thus I start carrying out physical activity rather than listening to
lecture of watching visual images (van Deusen Hunsinger and Latini, 2013). In regard to this, I
also develop interaction with other team members in regard to learn new concepts in best
suitable way. It helps me to learn different things in a better way and actively participate in team
activities so that my skills and capabilities are enhanced to carry out new things.
2.
In regard to carry out the career development plan, I need to assess different personal
development priorities for improving my managerial skills and lead the team to attain desired
results (Lee and Manjit Sidhu, 2013). Here, being manager I focuses upon adopting professional
knowledge and skills, analytical skills and people skills etc. that helps me to successfully
improve my career plan. Such development skills enables me to assess the capabilities that is
required to attain an effective career development plan (Burgoyne and Boydell, 2007). It also
enables me to assess the capabilities that are required to be attained in regard to accomplish the
career plan. Here, being a manager I need to possess various skills and qualities for becoming an
effective manager and thus helps in improving my development qualities so that best results can
be attained.
Self assessment is the technique that is considered as the most effective and specific task
and help me to accomplish the area in which I am not performing well and requires improvement
so that best results can be attained. However, in regard to execute the career plan, I need to
develop a weekly self evaluation technique which helps me to analyse the strengths and
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weaknesses so that best results can be attained. Through carrying out proper observation, I need
to review my work accordingly and thus try to improve my skills which helps me to work
effectively in a team to attain organizational goals. Through career development plan, I found
that I need to improve upon certain skills in which I am lacking such as professional knowledge
and skills, people and analytical skills. Thus, there are various areas in which I want to improve
and thus overcome the deficiencies to attain best results. Also, carrying self evaluation assists me
to complete the task and thus progress could be attained in an effective and efficient way-
 Professional knowledge and skills- It is one of the crucial skill for development and
thus helps individual to manage their time appropriately and keeping up to date records
so that career plan can be developed in an effective way (Özyurt and et, al., 2013).
Further, it is also essential for manager to improve its communication tool as it is the
best way through which capabilities can be enhanced. Such skill is also useful for
managers to improve their career development plan and thus effectively manage the
tasks according to the time. However, if such skill is not attained, then it is difficult for
me to build my career goals.
 People skills- It is another skill which is essential for me to develop as a manager and
thus it assists me to improve my career development plan (Mak and et, al., 2014). With
the help of such skill I can handle the conflicts effectively and thus obtain best results
within the groups so that capability of individual can be enhanced efficiently. Here,
managers of firm need to play a crucial role in developing virtual leadership and thus
manage the other team members so that success can be attained.
 Analytical skills- Further, such skill is also crucial for me to enhance my career
development plan and thus analyse the set objectives that helps in fulfilling the career
aims and objectives (Shukr, Zainab and Rana, 2013). Therefore, being a manager I need
to improve my analytical skills and thus generate new ideas for working that prove to be
effective so that career objectives can be attained.
Thus, through identifying the development activities it helps in evaluating the skills and
abilities require to evaluate them and thus use self assessment technique which helps in gaining
opportunity for managing the people and increasing professional knowledge so that best results
can be attained to improve career plan (van den Berg, 2015). Being working as a manager, there
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are various responsibilities that needs to be accomplished by me on time and thus use such skills
to improve the career plan and attain desired objectives.
3.
Through carrying out personal development plan it helps me to identify the required
skills and capabilities that needs to be improved using particular skills and capabilities and thus
attain best results. Personal developing plan is considered as a continuous process that helps in
improving my efficiency and knowledge (Polat and et. al., 2015). It is considered as one of the
crucial forces for attaining success and thus developing SMART objectives helps in
implementing the development activities so that best results can be attained. It involves
professional skills and knowledge, analytical and people skills etc. that helps in focusing upon
improving career development skills and thus attain organizational goals. Following are different
activities in regard to improve the development needs such as-
 Training sessions- It is crucial for me to attend different training sessions so that I can
improve my learning ability and thus enhance my skills and abilities. Thus, it would help
to enhance my development activities and thus enable me to communicate with different
people to attain goals Conway and Andrews, 2016).
 Identifying targets- It also helps me to improve my skills and capabilities so that set
targets can be identified and attained effectively. It proves to be a challenge for me and
thus I need to overcome the obstacles so that proper action could be attained. I need to
manage my time accordingly so that goals could be identified and possible outcomes can
be attained.
 To attend workshop- I also need to focus upon attending different workshop that would
be beneficial for me to improve my ability and thus accomplish my work on time.
Therefore, it is crucial for me to enhance my knowledge and thus carry out best
marketing activities which helps in carrying out proper learning process.
4.
It can be evaluated that the above discussed development activities helps in proving to be
of great benefit in regard to enhance the development needs and thus attain best skills and
capabilities that were lacking in my role as a manager (Hansen, 2013). Also, focusing upon
improving developmental activities helps me to improve my learning abilities and thus
implement the same within business to attain desired results. Hence, I would focus upon
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improving my professional knowledge and skills so that desired results can be attained in an
effective and efficient way. Therefore, it is essential for me to improve my skills and capabilities
and thus improve my development activities and identify the problems of unexpected obstacles
so that it could be overcome effectively and efficiently.
 It is crucial task that helps me to participate in different conferences and seminars so that
I can enhance my skills and knowledge through communicating with different people.
However, I found it difficult to interact with people and thus improve my voice while
carrying out the discussion. Further, using an inner force helps me to interact with
different people and thus analysing different subjects so that I can manage and lead the
assigned operations. I also face issues as initially I hesitate to develop conversation with
another individual and thus it leads me to become an introvert. But later on, I overcome
such difficulty and started improving my developmental needs through reviewing and
improving my networking and communication skills.
 However, through carrying out the strict routine activities of setting daily short term
objectives it enables me to carry out desired workload through managing the operations
by dividing task and thus attaining best results (van Deusen Hunsinger and Latini, 2013).
Through following proper schedule, it helped me to undertake proper people skills and
thus encouraging other people to get motivated while accomplishing the work and
success can be attained. It also helped me to improve my working style and thus keep a
track record of all the assigned work. However, at beginning I faced certain difficulty in
order to prioritize the work and thus develop systematic approach to accomplish the
desired work.
 Moreover, also attending formal training sessions could help me to learn theoretical
knowledge and thus benefit in terms of improving my skills and capabilities so that best
results can be attained. Further, I also required to attend such training courses which help
me to improve my efficiency and thus learn diverse ways of improving the efficiency.
With the help of attending formal training sessions it would help me to enhance my
knowledge and learning capacity and thus attain best skills and capabilities so that
efficiency can be improved.
Personal developing plan (PDP)
Skills needed to be Planned events to Allotted time period Allotted date for
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improved enhance the
determined deficit
skills
for improvement improvement
Professional
knowledge and skills
It is essential for me to
improve professional
knowledge and skills
and thus assign goals
for the same.
I hour Improvement can be
attained within 3
months time frame
People skills To attend conferences
and workshops
2 hours Within 2 months
Analytical sills To attain training
sessions and
communicating with
each other
3 hours Improvement within 6
months
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Different Obstacles identified while carrying out the designed measures of above PDP
Skills
needed to
be
improved
Planned events for it Allotted
time
period for
improve
ment
Allotted
date for
it
Obstructions faced
Profession
al
knowledge
and skills
To set short term
objectives and allocate
the resources effectively.
1 hour Improve
ment can
be
attained
within 6
months
time
frame
 I faced issues regarding
setting the most crucial task
to be completed first.
 I also face challenges
regarding timing.
 It also requires long time
period of 6 months.
5.
Through carrying out personal learning it helped me to gain benefit within both personal
and professional life. Thus, I work effectively as a activist learner and thus learns effectively
through carrying out practical learning and thus avoiding theoretical lectures. As practical
learning is more effective that helps in carrying out the best activities to attain best results.
However, learning is considered as effective when it is carried out unplanned. All this process
helps me to improvise my personality and thus I am able to communicate with each other
effectively. I develop effective communication and overcome gap through maintaining
successful communication with both strangers and known people. I also focused upon
developing a completely new approach towards life in regard to handle deficiencies and thus best
results can be attained. Another crucial change that is being involved within me is to maintain
my personal life efficiently and thus develop a balance between both work and personal life.
Additionally, I also improve my learning through developing effective communication skills and
thus there involves a drastic improvement within my skills and enhance both verbal and non
verbal communication so that best results can be attained.

However, I also learned different skills which are crucial for me to implement the same
while working as a leader and thus it would benefit me to attain success. Thus, it improves my
leadership ability and carry out operations in regard to attain results. Through participating in
different training sessions it proves to be beneficial for me so that I get encouraged to work hard
towards business goals. It also proves to be to remain focused and concentrated and thus I
achieve overall targets. All these skills are attained by me through participating in training and
development sessions as well as attending workshop and thus increases my skills and ability.
One of my weakness was that I was very shy and thus not able to integrate with team members
and thus it results into affecting my communication skills. Therefore, it is essential for me to
overcome my shyness through developing communication skills and interacting with individuals
and developing network. Hence, such barrier could be overcome by me through involving more
and more into group work and attain best results. Implementing the technique of enhancing
communication and networking requires leader to attain desired results and thus carry out group
work.
Further, I also learned from my past experiences and thus improve my role within firm
and thus carry out appropriate culture and structure within business. Thus, it would assists in
enhancing my personal learning plan in regard to adapt the changes and thus carry out effective
results. I also aim to overcome my shyness as it is affecting my role within team and thus try to
more and more communicate with team members in regard to attain best results. Due to
enhancement in learning it would result in improving my communication network and thus result
in carrying out appropriate targets and overcome competition in market. For improving my
learning experience I also participated in different coaching and training programs so that it
helped me to easily handle the difficulty and overcome conflicts among workers. Also,
discussion is considered as an effective factor that helps in improving my personal learning and
thus I obtain different ideas to handle the diverse situation and thus implement the same so that
appropriate results can be attained.
All such activities are immensely beneficial for me to improve my personal learning and
thus enhance the professional life as well. Thus, I play the role of activist learner and thus carry
out practical experiences rather than theoretical studies. All such activities helps me to bring
positive results within me and thus improve my personality to work in a professional manner and
resolve the issues of team workers. It also helped me to improve my networking skills through
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communicating with different number of people who possess diverse skills and attributes and
thus imbibe their knowledge into me which would result in enhancing my current skills and
capabilities to attain results up to a large extent. All the discussed personal learning ways, I also
need to improve my analytical skills and thus results in improving the evaluation skills so that
analyse the improvements required within me to attain success.
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6.
It is essential for me to carry out continuous development process and thus benefit me for
long time period helps in carrying out current activities in the following way-
 Preparing check list- It is essential for me to evaluate the assigned work and prepare a
check list so that priorities can be assigned accordingly. I focus upon using notepad so
that proper notes could be prepared which helps me to write down the crucial task and
thus accomplish the same on specific time. Also, short term objectives needs to be
assessed which helps me to manage the time and thus set my priorities so that work can
be carried out effectively (Mak and et, al., 2014). Moreover, it also helped me to focus
upon most crucial task that needs to be carried out in regard to attain personal
development. It also helped me to continuously develop my work by using several
methods which helps me to carry out proper learning process and thus overcome
obstacles faced by me. I also need to enhance my learning skills and thus maintain my
daily needs so that I could remain updated and thus increase interaction among each other
to accomplish task.
 Attending workshops- I also require to attend various workshop so that continuous
development can be attained. Further, it also helps me in improving my capability and
thus achieving set targets so that objectives can be attained. It assists me to improve my
communication skills and thus I carry out interaction with each other in regard to attain
business targets. Additionally, over time I also enhance my relation with people so that
goals could be successfully implemented and thus knowledge could be enhance. I also
focus upon implementing different development needs and help me to participate in
appropriate training session so that networking in market can be enhanced. However, I
am a activist type of learner and thus uses effective type of learning so that it could prove
beneficial for me to attain desired goals.
 Avoiding unwanted tasks- It can be assessed that through carrying out the task, it helped
me to undergo the whole process and overcome the unwanted tasks so that best results
can be attained. It also helps me to understand the significance of prioritizing the task
which helps me to undertake the work and thus carry out multi tasking ability so that
benefits could be attained effectively and efficiently (Shukr, Zainab and Rana, 2013). I
have also learnt multi tasking ability so that I can accomplish varied task at a single time.
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However, sometimes it could hamper my productivity and thus overcome people skills in
which I require to manage different people and develop effective communication with
them. Also, it is essential for me to improve communication skill and thus develop strong
brand image in market so that negative environment could be overcome. I have also
learnt different skills that helps me to overcome any inefficiency and thus best results can
be attained.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the study to assess the different development needs that helps
me to improve my career plan. Through improving professional skills and knowledge, people
and analytical skills it helps me to become an effective leader and manage the operations
effectively. I have prepared a career goal and thus focused upon improving the skills and using
Honey and Mumford learning style to attain desired results. With regard to such evaluation
process, I have learned different techniques that assists me to improve my skills and capabilities
ad thus enhance career plan.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Burgoyne, J. and Boydell, T., 2007. A manager's guide to self-development. Maidenhead [u.a.]:
McGraw-Hill.
Conway, J. and Andrews, D., 2016. Leading with Moral Purpose: Teacher Leadership in Action.
In Leadership in Diverse Learning Contexts. Springer International Publishing.
Hansen, K., 2013. Commentary: From Theory to Practice—The Federal Executive Board:
Leadership in Action. Public Administration Review. 73(4). pp.565-566.
Lee, C.K. and Manjit Sidhu, S., 2013. Engineering students learning styles preferences using
Honey and Mumford learning styles questionnaire: A Case study in
Malaysia. International Journal of Information Technology & Computer Science. 9(1).
pp.107-114.
Mak, W.M. and et, al., 2014. The use of learning styles questionnaire in Hong
Kong. Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning. 34.
Özyurt, Ö. and et, al., 2013. Integration into mathematics classrooms of an adaptive and
intelligent individualized e-learning environment: Implementation and evaluation of
UZWEBMAT.Computers in Human Behavior. 29(3). pp.726-738.
Polat, Y. and et. al., 2015. The effect of learning styles of accounting education students on their
performance: a field study. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences. 174. pp.1841-1848.
Shukr, I., Zainab, R. and Rana, M.H., 2013. Learning styles of postgraduate and undergraduate
medical students. J Coll Physicians Surg Pak. 23(1). pp.25-30.
van den Berg, H., 2015. Changes in learning styles induced by practical training. Learning and
Individual Differences. 40. pp.84-89.
van Deusen Hunsinger, D. and Latini, T.F., 2013. Transforming Church Conflict:
Compassionate Leadership in Action. Westminster John Knox Press.
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APPENDIX
Updated PDP
Skills required to be
improved
Planned events to
improve the
ascertained deficit
skills
Allotted time period
for improvement
Allotted date for
improvement
Professional
knowledge and skills
To set short term goals
and thus assign task to
different individuals in
regard to attain best
results.
I hour Requires 8 months
People skills To attend lectures and
conferences
2 hours Within 5 months
SWOT analysis
Strength
 I possess effective interpersonal skills. I obtain effective leadership skills.
Weaknesses
 I lack in managing time so that tasks
can be accomplished.
Opportunity to attend different training sessions and
thus improve desired results.
Threat
 Outdating technology and thus affects
my skills.
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