Personal and Professional Development

The given assignment revolves around the topic of personal and professional development, highlighting the significance of this process in academic and professional settings. It delves into the concept of self-awareness, goal-setting, and effective communication as essential components of personal and professional growth. The assignment also touches upon the importance of continuous learning and development, enabling individuals to improve their weak areas and resolve conflicts within the workplace. It draws references from various books and journals, providing a comprehensive understanding of this topic.

PERSONAL AND
PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
1.1: Compare personal values and principles..............................................................................3
1.2: Assess how personal culture and experience influence own role in supporting users of
services........................................................................................................................................4
1.3: Discuss how new developments and changes to your personal values can impact on your
work.............................................................................................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
2.1: Assess your current skills ability and learning style............................................................5
2.2: Produce a holistic development plan...................................................................................6
2.3: Monitor your progress against the plan................................................................................7
2.4: Evaluate the effectiveness of the development plan............................................................7
Task 3...............................................................................................................................................8
3.1: Explain the nature of different professional relationships...................................................8
3.2: Evaluate your personal effectiveness in promoting and supporting the rights of the
individual.....................................................................................................................................8
3.3: Discuss ways to resolve issues encountered in professional relationships..........................9
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................10
4.1: Evaluate the effectiveness of your personal contributions.................................................10
4.2: Explain how the limits of your work role impacts on work with others............................10
4.3: Analyse your role in minimising barriers..........................................................................11
4.4: Discuss how to improve your personal contributions........................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Personal development refers to the self improvement which are essential for the future
success of the individuals. Whereas professional development refers to the development of skills
and capabilities for future time period in order to become successful in the career or workplace.
Personal and professional development is very essential for the individuals in health and social
care sector in order to treat the patients with care and support using the help from principles of
support. Taken firm in this assessment is NHS hospital which is a UK based organisation
providing health services and treatment to the people in UK. This report will compare personal
values and principles along with the personal culture and experience of individuals. Further,
ability and learning style, development plan and its effectiveness will be discussed. This report
will also cover the nature of different professional relationship and discuss the ways to resolve
issues encountered in professional relationships. In the end, this report will evaluate the
effectiveness of own personal contributions along with limits of work role in minimising
barriers.
TASK 1
1.1: Compare personal values and principles
Personal values and principles are the beliefs and norms of the individuals which are
followed by them in their daily life for doing their activities ethically and properly (Cooke,
2012). I am from Somalia which is located in east Africa coast. Somalian people deeply value
their family. The strength of family ties provides us a safety in times of difficulties and loyalty is
a crucial value and can extend beyond family and clans. My personal values are highly
influenced by my culture which does not discriminate based on gender. However, there are
certain roles between genders, which are influenced by the teachings of Islam. I follows the
Islamic religion in which it is absolutely forbidden to discriminate against others based on their
class, ethnicity, religion and also their gender which is what most of the people in Somalia
practice. I value principle of care in health and social care setting in order to improve the quality
of life of the patients. Also confidentiality between me and my clients is important for building
trust and maintains a good practise. Similarities between my personal values and principle
support is that of following the ethical path for treating the patients at NHS. My personal values
and principles of support are similar because both are associated with providing equal care and

treatment to patients without based on discrimination. However, the differences is of the culture
in personal values and principles of support. This difference can heavily impact my working in
both positive and negative manner as I can face issues in treating the people from other culture
due to the cultural barriers which can leads to rise of ethical dilemmas. Such ethical dilemmas
can be resolved by taking the support from team members and other staff of the hospital.
1.2: Assess how personal culture and experience influence own role in supporting users of
services
Personal culture and experience in life can also impact the attitude of the medical
practitioners such as doctor, Nurse or any other employee in health and social care sector. The
life of individuals is reflected based on the way an individual has been treated or taught up in his
past life (Dixon and et. al., 2014). The upliftment of individuals also plays a major role in
deciding their attitude towards people. When the medical professionals are brought up in a very
affectionate, friendly and helpful environment, then they can also act same with their patients in
providing them treatment. My Culture and personal experience includes my family whose nature
reflects on to me. My nature towards the patients in providing them care is helpful and caring
which is also taught be my family to me. My culture and value also taught me to treat each and
every person equal through which I am able to provide equal treatment and care to the patients.
My culture and values also taught me to give the elderly their freedom. I am not discriminating
anyone during my work due to which I am able to treat every person equal. So, I can provide
equal service to whomever requests for my care.
1.3: Discuss how new developments and changes to your personal values can impact on your
work
New development and changes in personal values refers to the new thoughts or changes
in the values of an individuals which occurred due to experience and knowledge. There are
various recent changes are occurring in the health and social care sector which are associated
with health and social care regulations and legislations, e.g Data protection Act, the Care Act
2014, etc. The change in the data protection act will impact my work due to the changes in
personal values regarding the confidentiality of information of the patients (Floyd, 2012). I needs
to determine the changes in the health laws and regulation so that proper changes can be done in
my working and serving the patients. If such changes are not identified then it can negatively

impact my working performance and results which will also impact my reputation. The
determination of changes in these laws is essential for providing ethical treatment to the patients
so that they can spent their time in hospital properly without facing any issues. I also needs to
ensure that the privacy of the patients is not disclosed to anyone which can negatively impact
them too.
TASK 2
2.1: Assess your current skills ability and learning style
Skills and ability refers to the strengths of the individuals which support them in learning
and carrying out their work properly. These skills and abilities are determined by individuals by
using the skills audit form. This form is very important for the individuals in determining the key
strengths and weakness which should be determined for executing the work properly. Through
the skills audit form, I determined that my communication and coordination skills are very good
due to which I am communicating with patients effectively. However, my technical and
problems solving skills lacks due to which I face issues in handling the technological
equipments. Honey and Mumford Learning styles were given by the Peter Honey and Alan
Mumford which are based on the work done by Kolb. This model identified four types of
learning styles which are used by the individuals in performing their work. These styles are
Activist, Theorist, Pragmatist and Reflector which are developed by using the questionnaire
(Hildebrand, 2018). This model is useful for individuals in understanding their learning style as
well as to seek out opportunities to learn using that style. My style is Activist which assist me in
understanding the work at school and office effectively by practising it instead of learning it.
Through this style, I am understanding the situation practically rather than learning it
theoretically due to which I grasp the things quickly. SWOT analysis is very useful for
individuals in determining their key strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats.
Strengths Weakness
 My communication skills are very good
 Also the coordination skills are strong
 Technical skills lacks
 Problem solving skills lacks too.
Opportunities Threats
 Improvement in technical skills can  Threats of replacement due to strong

leads to promotion.
 Improvement in problem solving skills
will leads to resolved or reduced issues.
competition.
 Threats in terms of future development.
From above SWOT analysis, it can be said that there are opportunities exists if the
technical and problem solving skills improve. Through this improvement, I can grasp future
opportunities for future development of skills and career.
2.2: Produce a holistic development plan
Personal and career development refers to the commitment of individuals for achieving
the personal growth and professional development for accomplishing their goals and objectives.
Personal development plan is the document in which the improvements in the skills along with
the time frame and methods are given which should be improved by individuals. This plan is
very important for the people in developing their weak skills by determining their long as well as
short term goals (King, 2014). The long term goal for the PDP is to get the promotion at the
workplace. The medium term goal is achieve high performance from the executed work. Short
term goal is to improve the weak skills which needs improvements
S.
No.
Learning
target
Present
Proficiency
Target
Proficiency
How these can be
improved
Criteria for
Judging
Attainment
Time
Scale
1 Technical
skills
8 10 These skills can be
improved by taking
the technical classes
as well as to learn
new ways for
operating software
and equipments.
Supervisor 60 days
3 Problem
solving skill
7 10 These skills can be
improved by solving
complex and mock
tests as well as by
Mentor and
managers
90 days

continuously
learning new and
innovative ways for
determining the root
cause of problem.
2.3: Monitor your progress against the plan
Monitoring personal and professional progress is very important for the individuals in
health and social care so that they can determine whether they are doing their activities and
operations in proper manner for getting the desired success. This progress monitoring can be
done by taking the feedback from own self-analysis, managers, supervisors, colleagues, family
and even lecturers (Lumpe and et. al., 2012). Also it is important for the individuals to monitor
their PDP in order to determine whether their activities are going aligned with the objectives of
plan or not. I achieved the goal of improving technical skills by using the help from technical
professionals as well as by taking the technical classes. However, problem solving skills are not
improved yet which will be improved by solving the complex situations and problems arised in
the past time. Through such approach, I can determine the effective solutions based on the
solutions implemented for resolving the problems in past time.
2.4: Evaluate the effectiveness of the development plan
Effectiveness refers to the degree upto which something is successful in producing a
desired result or getting the success. I needs to improve my technical and problem solving skills
for which a professional development plan has been prepared by me. Through this personal
development plan, I improved my technical skills upto a huge extent. Apart from this, my
problem solving skills are improving slowly. I can now operate the technical equipments and
software easily due to having knowledge of operating them. An effective PDP consist of
SMART objectives which can be measured and executed in a particular period of time. Benefits
of having an effective PDP is that individuals can use the tools such as SWOT, skills audit, PDP
and reflection through which individuals can determine their strong and weak areas which needs
improvement for performing well in future (Moon, 2013). However, if the plan is not effectively
developed, then it can leads to negative impact on the performance of individuals working for the

health and social care. Also individual could not determine the path which should be taken for
improving the skills if effective PDP is not developed. Through the improvements in the skills by
using the assistance from PDP, I can perform the future technical activities in proper manner so
as to obtain good results.
Task 3
3.1: Explain the nature of different professional relationships
Professional relationship refers to the relation between the different individuals at the
workplace through which they can provide shared efforts to the patients of health and social care.
There are various relationship at the NHS hospital between the care assistants and clients, care
assistants and nurses, doctors and nurses, care managers and care workers, care assistants and
occupational therapists etc. The relationship among these individuals should be maintained in
order to provide effective treatment and care to the patients at workplace (Mwalongo, 2012).
Relationship among care assistants and nurses at NHS is good due to which they are
coordinating effectively in handing over the patients. Also the doctors and nurses are
coordinating effectively with each other due to which they are simultaneously providing
effective treatment to the patients. Also the relationship between the care assistants and clients at
NHS is good due to which they are effectively coordinating and communicating with each other
in an effective manner. I am performing my work with these different individuals at the
workplace due to which my relations are good with them. I am working in line with professional
code of conduct and principles while working with the patients and doctors. Also I am
communicating effectively with the patients in order to share the information. I am also
maintaining the confidentiality of the patients and staff as well as respecting their views and
opinions in order to bring favourable results to the firm.
3.2: Evaluate your personal effectiveness in promoting and supporting the rights of the individual
Personal effectiveness refers to degree up-to which the individuals becomes successful in
their working. This is very essential for the workers in health and social care in promoting and
supporting the clients or patients. Through the personal effectiveness, individuals can determine
whether their support is contributing in the success of their work or not. If not then proper
measures can be taken by them for successfully supporting the individuals. It is the right of the
patients to get the respect from the workers of the hospital and other patients admitted at the

hospital which should be considered by me in treating their problems (Pallisera and et. al., 2013).
Also it is the right of the patients to get the desired privacy and confidentiality of their
information so that these cannot be used for illegal purposes. Patients has the right to get equal
treatment from the hospital which is done by me without any issues as these are my personal
values. I promoted these rights by effectively interacting and communicating with the various
staff and patients in order to ensure that every person understand them during serving the
patients. This promotion positively impacted me in meeting the needs of the patients due to
which they get better and improved treatment and care. When such rights are promoted to the
patients, then workers at hospital can provide effective care and treatment to them in order to
ensure their satisfaction. However, if such rights are not promoted at the workplace then it will
negatively impact the performance of workers as they could not resolve the issues of their co
workers and patients due to which they performance and productivity get reduced. I need to
improve my capability of promoting the rights of the patients so that proper care and support can
be provided to them during the treatment (Reeves, 2012). I will improve the support offered to
the clients by using my communication and interpersonal skills which needs some improvement
in order to communicate with patients properly. Also I need to ensure that the services provided
by me are according to the standards and regulations set by the government.
3.3: Discuss ways to resolve issues encountered in professional relationships
Issues or conflicts at the workplace refers to the problems arose between the employees
which can impact their working efficiency. There are several conflicts which can encountered in
professional relationship such as challenging behaviour, abuse, risks, conflict etc. The
challenging behaviour among the workers can be resolved by providing them rewards and
compensation based on their performance. The abuse among the staff can be resolved by taking
strict actions against the culprit. The risks can be resolved by using the preplanning or
developing the strategies considering them (Roeser and et. al., 2012). The conflict among the
workers can be eliminated by providing them opportunities to showcase their issues and
problems to higher authorities. I usually able to resolve these issues through my personal
experience and knowledge whereas for the conflict of employees, I find it difficult to resolve due
to weak problem solving skills. However, I convey the conflict to the HR manager if not
resolved by me. These issues should be eliminated or reduced in order to maintain healthy
environment at the workplace of NHS.

TASK 4
4.1: Evaluate the effectiveness of your personal contributions
Team work says that individuals work together as a group to achieve the goals of the
company. In this all individual implement their skill for common goal without any personal issue
between them. To simply teamwork Belbin's theory is executed in NHS which show importance
of team work. This model state that there are nine different roles that are essential to adopt by
team to make effective result (Trede, Macklin and Bridges, 2012). It is further joint under three
sector which is action oriented, people oriented and last is thought oriented that help to achieve
company goal. As first communication skill help to complete my work as it also help to interact
with other different colleagues of organisation. The detail knowledge about nutrition and
medicine help to achieve my daily task easily. In health sector employ has to perform different
job operations such as care taker, assistant and mentor for this skill and potential that I learned
help me to perform my job task easily (Van Driel and Berry, 2012). As per view management of
NHS provide many opportunities to contribute my work in different job roles. Like as an
assistant to understand work in different perspective like resources which company has to
perform task and other is to find demand of customer. This also help to improve professional
skill that are essential to complete job responsibility.
4.2: Explain how the limits of your work role impacts on work with others
In considering the limit of an my work is that sometimes it is difficult to understand
customer need. Like they want to explore need in different field that are not the part of my study.
As a care taker task that relate with medical information and nutritional facts are easy to handle.
Apart form this brief knowledge about operation create a barrier to perform my work in different
field such as to help in operation activities. Several problems are faced to complete a task with
different factors such as to perform my job responsibility is to record complete work but due to
lack of resources role and late information it is not possible. While the other issue that is faced is
that there is a high rate of employ turnover as they want to perform job but the pay-scale that
provided by company are low (Visser, Evering and Barrett, 2014). The last problem or challenge
is too difficult to solve like NHS management provide job roles but they are not able make
effective training program for the employees.

4.3: Analyse your role in minimising barriers
Teamwork are hard to manage in a company in this case an employ has to perform task
with a group. The major purpose in a service industry that consumer not touch a product. So in
this case it is difficult for company to satisfy customer need with a intangible service. Several
barrier stop me to complete my work in NHS job role. Such as experience level create barrier to
perform role that are high on post and require a special skill. The other barrier is professional
code of conduct, as the work performed by me is in health sector as they are essential to
complete a job. Ethics are not a option in medicine or health sector. Each employ has to follow
this general approach to complete a work. For the issue of experience level, a quick learning skill
is developed and adopt by me to improve my performance in doing a particular task. Like in role
of care taker an I learn to manage and handle all difficult situation. The second issue relate to
follow the guidelines that are provided by NHS department to complete goals. Like for role of
assistant there is proper dress and pattern to do job.
4.4: Discuss how to improve your personal contributions
There are various skills, abilities and experiences provided by me to the team through
which the assigned work executed in right time. These skills includes communication, leadership
and management skills which assisted me in handling the work assigned to team. I lead the team
members along with the providing guidance to them when any issue arise. Through the
management skills, I was able to manage the work allotted to the team which leads to execution
of work on assigned time. My strength includes the communication and coordination skills
which assist me in interacting with other employees effectively. The weakness includes technical
skills and problem solving skills which needs improvements. In order to improve my weakness, I
will take assistance of PDP and training so that the improvements can be done properly for
achieving desired results (Zepeda, 2013). However, these strengths and weakness are also
conveyed to me by my superiors and co-workers due to which I was able to identify them.
CONCLUSION
It has been summarised from the above report that the skills and competencies plays a
major role in the working of health professionals. They can use the PDP and skills audit for
determining the weak skills which needs improvements. Through this, they can improve their
weak areas. These individuals needs to determine the limit of their job role so that the work can

be performed effectively. Also these needs to resolve the conflicts and issues of the workplace so
that desirable results can be gained.

REFERENCES
Books and journals:
Cooke, N. A., 2012. Professional development 2.0 for librarians: Developing an online personal
learning network (PLN). Library Hi Tech News. 29(3). pp.1-9.
Dixon, F. A. and et. al., 2014. Differentiated instruction, professional development, and teacher
efficacy. Journal for the Education of the Gifted. 37(2). pp.111-127.
Floyd, A., 2012. ‘Turning Points’ The Personal and Professional Circumstances That Lead
Academics to Become Middle Managers. Educational Management Administration &
Leadership. 40(2., pp.272-284.
Hildebrand, J., 2018. Bridging the gap: A training module in personal and professional
development. Routledge.
King, F., 2014. Evaluating the impact of teacher professional development: an evidence-based
framework. Professional development in education. 40(1). pp.89-111.
Lumpe, A. and et. al., 2012. Beliefs about teaching science: The relationship between elementary
teachers’ participation in professional development and student achievement.
International Journal of Science Education. 34(2). pp.153-166.
Moon, J. A., 2013. Reflection in learning and professional development: Theory and practice.
Routledge.
Mwalongo, A., 2012. Teachers’ perceptions about ICTs for teaching, professional development,
administration and personal use. International Journal of Education and Development
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Pallisera, M. and et. al., 2013. Personal and professional development (or use of self) in social
educator training. An experience based on reflective learning. Social Work Education.
32(5). pp.576-589.
Reeves, D.B., 2012. Transforming professional development into student results. Ascd.
Roeser and et. al., 2012. Mindfulness training and teachers' professional development: An
emerging area of research and practice. Child Development Perspectives. 6(2). pp.167-
173.
Trede, F., Macklin, R. and Bridges, D., 2012. Professional identity development: a review of the
higher education literature. Studies in Higher Education. 37(3). pp.365-384.
Van Driel, J. H. and Berry, A., 2012. Teacher professional development focusing on pedagogical
content knowledge. Educational researcher. 41(1). pp.26-28.
Visser, R. D., Evering, L. C. and Barrett, D. E., 2014. # TwitterforTeachers: The implications of
Twitter as a self-directed professional development tool for K–12 teachers. Journal of
Research on Technology in Education. 46(4). pp.396-413.
Zepeda, S. J., 2013. Professional development: What works. Routledge.