Personal and Professional Development: A Comprehensive Guide to Self-Managed Learning and Problem-Solving

This report delves into the crucial aspects of personal and professional development, exploring various self-managed learning approaches, the benefits they offer, and the application of these skills in addressing work-based problems. It examines the VARK and Honey and Mumford theories, providing a framework for understanding individual learning styles. The report also outlines a comprehensive personal development plan, incorporating critical evaluation and revision for effective implementation. Furthermore, it analyzes popular problem-solving strategies like Kurt Lewin's change management model and Kotter's eight-step model, highlighting the importance of teamwork, training, and time management in achieving successful outcomes.

[Personal and Professional Development]

Contents
INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................................2
LO 1............................................................................................................................................3
1.1...........................................................................................................................................3
1.2...........................................................................................................................................5
1.3...........................................................................................................................................7
LO 3............................................................................................................................................8
3.1...........................................................................................................................................8
3.2.........................................................................................................................................10
3.2.........................................................................................................................................12
3.3.........................................................................................................................................13
LO 4..........................................................................................................................................14
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................27
REFERENCES.............................................................................................................................28
1

INTRODUCTION
Learning and development is a constant process and there are various factors that are
associated with the process of learning, learning helps to improve the personal and
professional life and also adds required skills that are crucial for life (Graves, 2013). This
report highlights the important aspects related to personal development, various
approaches with which personal development can be addressed and the benefits of
personal development for individuals and organizations. The report also focuses on personal
development plan drafted with the help of assessment of personal and professional skills
and it also highlights the application of the skills in various work-based problems.
2

LO 1
INTRODUCTION
This report helps to develop an understanding of the various methods of self-managed
learning. The report also helps to perceive the VARK theory and Honey and Mumford
theory.
BODY
1.1
Different approaches that can be applied for self-managed learning
In the recent time, many methods are available for self-managed learning, out of which the
methods that are widely used by me for the development of learning are as follows:
Books
Books are known to be the best source of knowledge and information and they carry the
experience of writer and scholars, additionally, the book can also help to address a specific
topic that lacks in the personal development or that has been identified as significant of self-
mangled learning. I personally have considered the method for self-managed learning, I
have identified them as the best source and they have contributed significantly to my
personal growth.
Internet
The Internet is the other method that has helped to connect with a lot of information that
proved to be powerful for self-managed learning (Pedler, 2011). The content forms the
scholars and the general public help to get lessons that help in self-managed learning.
E-learning
Professional development course that is available on the internet by learning websites
provides a systematic method to learn courses and skills. The courses on this are arranged
on the form lessons and there are tests to know about the level of development. I have
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been using these E-learning modules to help my self-managed learning; I have learned
varieties of skills with the help of this method.
Mentors
Help and support of the mentors help to identify the weakness and moreover they provide
the right path for personal development and growth, the mentorship method has helped
me for my self-managed learning (Cunningham, 2017). I consult with my mentors that help
me for development and solve the issues that I face in my personal and professional life,
which adds to my learning experience.
4

1.2
Methods in which the process of life-long learning can be encouraged
The theories that can be applied to the life-long learning process are as follows:
VARK Theory
The VARK theory suggests that there are four methods that can be applied to the process of
learning, this four methods are depended on the senses of the human body, the theory
suggests the ability of the individual human learning is different and each human has a
sense that helps him/her to learn better (Sarabdeen, 2013). The acronym VARK stands for
visual, auditory, read/write and Kinaesthetic.
I identify myself with the process of learning through Kinaesthetic, as the real-life
experience related to the theory and the text help me in learning better, A learning process
that is associated with kinesthetic will be better for my self-managed learning ( Ramsay et
al. 2010)
Honey and Mumford theory
This theory suggests that there are four styles of learning that are activist, reflectors,
pragmatist and theorist (Atkinson, 2017). The activist is people who learn by doing things,
the theorist like to perceive the theory behind the happening, pragmatics are the people
who like to learn the idea or theory and then put it in the application and the reflectors are
the people who like to think they understand by observation (Atkinson, 2017).
Figure 01: Honey and Mumford theory
Source: Atkinson, 2017
5

Applied to myself, I associate with the activist, I like to learn new things by doing a certain
activity that is associated with it. I like the open-minded approach and my learning
effectiveness improves with the help of actions.
6

1.3
Merits of self-managed learning to individual and the organization
The benefits of the self-managed learning to me, as a result of the approaches that I used,
are as follows:
 It helped to develop an understanding on the personal and professional level, due to
which I can get a deeper insight into the different situation
 It helped me solve the problems that I faced on personal and professional level
effectively (Sarabdeen, 2013).
 The approaches that I used, helped to improve my performance
 Due to the self-development, I am able to achieve a better balance between work
and personal life (Davis, 2011).
The self-development approaches also helped in the organization that I work with, the
benefits that the organization got are as follows:
 It helped to improve my work efficiency due to which, the quality of the work
became better
 It also helped to improve my professional performance, which helped to improve the
profits for my organization.
 It also helped to develop the understanding of the customer needs, which helped to
improve the customer satisfaction for the organization (Pedler, 2011).
CONCLUSION
The report helped to gain undertraining about the significance of the self-learning and the
benefits that can be achieved with the self-learning process. The study of various
approaches for the self –learning also helps to understand in detail about self-development.
7

LO 3
3.1
PROCESSES AND ACTIVITIES REQUIRED TO IMPLEMENT THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN
The activities that I can do for the implantation of the personal development plan are
mentioned below:
Improvement in team-work
In order to improve the teamwork, I will undergo courses that will help me to develop my
ability to work as a team, this skill will help me in management and leadership roles are I am
likely to work with many teams at the same prod of time (Cunningham et al. 2000). This will
also help me to develop my team management skill with which I will be able to improve the
performance of my team,
Improvement in personnel management
In order to improve the personal management, I will make sure that I learn about personal
management tools, such as proper scheduling, effective allocation of work and tools to
manage my routine (Thorpe, 2016). This will help me in making the managing the personal
aspects in a better manner.
Improvement in professional skill
To improve my professional skill, I will undertake certain courses that will address my
weakness that I have identified in my professional life, in addition to this I will also try to
develop my professional skill by giving extra time to my job and take feedback from the
mentors.
Improvement in communication
To improve my communication skill, I will take certain courses; this will help to make verbal
and non-verbal communication better. Improvement in this skill will support my growth in
professional cares, as I will be able to address my team and customers properly.
8

Reducing stress and anger
To reduce the stress and anger, I will make sure that I do meditation and yoga daily; this
exercise will help to reduce the stress and anger and will also help to improve the
performance in the work. In addition to this will help to improve the work concentration.
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3.2
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN
The personal development plan explains about the long term, short term and medium term
goals that I have identified for personal development (Bouman, 2018)
TIME
PERIOD
SKILLS ACTIONS OUTCOMES
Short term
(1-3 months)
Communication Skill
(1 months)
To improve my
communication skill, I will
take communication skill
class
Better communication
skills will help me to
make my
conversation better
with my team and the
leaders of my job
Leadership Skill
(2 months)
To improve leadership skill
I will take a course on
leadership for business
and also read books on
leadership (Pedler, 2011)
Improved leadership
skills, will strengthen
my position in my job
and I will feel more
confident
Better Decision Making in
personal and professional
life (3 Months)
To improve the decision-
making process, I will read
the books available on the
topic and watch content
on the net
Improved decision
making, will help me
to save time and
money and improve
my work effectiveness
Medium
term
(3 -9
Months)
To improve professional
Skills
( 9 months)
To improve my
professional skills, I will
take the course and give
extra time to my job
Improvement in my
professional skill will
help me to be
confident in the job
and apply for higher
positions
Promotion in Job
(8 months)
To get a promotion for a
job, I will improve my work
A promotion in the
job will help me to get
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performance by improving
work efficiency and give
more time to the job.
better financial
income and it will also
help in reaching a
higher position.
Reduction in anger and
street
( 4 months)
To reduce anger and
stress, I will do meditation
and yoga. In addition to
this, I will also read some
books on stress and anger
management.
Reduction in anger
and stress will help to
make a better
personal relationship
and perform better in
personal and
professional life
(Beausaert et al.
2011).
Learn New Language
( 6 months )
To learn a new language I
will join a weekend class.
Learning a new
language will help to
develop my
personality and
improve the scope to
reach to a new
position in the job
Long Term
(More than
1 Year)
Take additional
qualification (2 years )
I wish to take additional
qualification for the better
known in my field
Addition qualification
will help to improve
my performance and
will also help to reach
a higher position in
the job
Better health ( 1 year ) To get better health I will
do exercise daily
Better health will help
to improve my
performance and also
help to stay happy
.
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3.2
CRITICAL EVALUATION
Critical Evaluation is the process in which the past experience is used to develop and
understand the goals of the future, critical evaluation help to develop detail understanding
about the past and the information proves to be very fruitful for the future (Chang et al.
2012).
By undertaking the process of critical evaluation the I have identified that the process of
improving my communication skill with the help of class is not sufficient, I also found that I
lack in appropriate written communication due to which I am facing difficulty. Based on this
assumption I came to know that I need to improve my written communication and I also
need to develop my communication skill with the help of support groups. During the
process of improvement of my decision making skill, I understood that the goal can be
achieved with the help of decision-making exercises and the case study that are available on
the net, and this method is suitable for my learning style as well. With the method of
understanding with the help of case study and exercise I identified that I will be able to
achieve this goal in one month of time.
I also learned that the in order to develop a detailed understanding of the team, I also need
to develop my team management skill and I also need to give more time to hobby and
leisure activity. With the help of hobby and leisure activity, I can support the process of my
personal development more effectively.
I also perceived that If I adopt the methods that help to learn and understand with the help
of Kinaesthetic methodology, I am able to absorb the knowledge and information properly,
moreover the time for which the knowledge and information stay with me is higher and
better. I also understood that I am also able to learn better with the game and problem-
solving method. I will adopt the understanding in the future application so that my learning
can be made better (Tattum and Tattum, 2017). In addition to this, I also understood that I
am not effective at planning and development of the process, due to which most of the time
is wasted and not utilized in a productive manner, to develop the planning and development
process I need to study the methods that are used by the experts in the process.
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3.3
The REVISED PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Based upon the critical evaluation the revision in the personal development plan is as
follows:
TIME PERIOD SKILLS ACTIONS OUTCOMES
Short term
(1-3 months)
Team Management To improve my team
management skills, I
will do join a focus
group of the manger
that helps to develop
team management
skills
With better team
management skills, I
will be able to
perform in better in
the team, and guide
my team that will help
to improve the
performance of my
team
Medium term
(3-9 Months)
Time management I will try to schedule
my work daily with
the help of
applications
Better time
management
Planning and
development
I will understand the
theories related to
planning and
development and
apply them
Better planning and
development
13

LO 4
1
14

2
15

3
There are certain methods that are devised that help to address the problems that one
encounter in personal and professional development, these systematic methods suggest a
step by step approach that must be applied to the problem to get the solution of the issue.
These approaches are known to be the problem-solving strategies.
16

4
The Kurt Lewis strategy suggests the three-step solution to solve the work-based problems
that are
• Unfreeze: In this step, the team member is told about the change and all the
arrangements are made to make the desired change
• Change: In this step, the main change is initiated and the team member is guided by the
change
• Freeze: After the team member are easeful with the change them and the change process
is a production that the change is fixed in the company
17

5
Kotter suggested an eight-step model that can be followed to bring the change in the first
step of the model is to create an urgency related to change my motivation the team
members about the change, after this the next step is to convince the team member that
the change is necessary. The third step that is suggested by Kotte is to create a vision for the
change and tell the team member about the vision. The fifth step is important as it suggests
that the next step is to remove the difficulties that come in the path of the change. The sixth
step is creating short-term goals related to change and achieve the goals, this will help to
motivate the team. The last steps are to bring the change and, make the change a part of the
culture of the company.
18

6
19

7
The skill that helped me in the process of work-based problem solving are as follows;
Training and Development skill: With the help of this skill I was able to learn new thing and
apply them in the real-life context, this skill helped me to learn new things rapidly and also
helped me to apply them properly
Team Work: With the teamwork skill I was able to the take the advice of the team on the
problem-solving issue that helped me the gain insights in the topic and the corporation of
the team also helped me in doing the work in a better manner.
20

8
In the process of time management, a schedule is made that acts as a reference and helps to
guide the flow of activities during the day, the process of time management is very crucial
and followed by everybody.
21

9
The Swiss cheeses strategy is based upon division of work, it can be applied to a wide range
of daily practices, For example If anyone wants to read a book of 600 pages that he/she can
read it for 10-15 minutes whenever he/she gets the time during the day, this helps to divide
the work and also helps to add extra work hours to the job
22

10
The pickle jar stagey is one of the most popular methods that is used for the time
management, it suggests that the work of the day must be divided into three types stages
that require most of the time, small that requires fewer times and the pebbles that required
the least time, It adds that while scheduling the work, one must make sure that he perform
the rock category first then the pebbles than the sand.
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11
24

12
25

13
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CONCLUSION
The learning’s and outcomes of the report help to understand the significance of self-
learning for growth. Study of various approaches of that are used by oneself for self-
learning, the process of life-long learning and the advantages and disadvantage that the
individual gets with the help of this process self-learning are also highlighted in the report.
In addition to this, the report also proposes the practical methods of time management.
The information that is gained from the report is very significant for the promising
upbringing of skills and qualities at the personal and professional scale.
27

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