Personal & Professional Development : Assignment

PERSONAL AND
PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Evaluation of approaches to self-managed learning and understanding which approach
would be the best....................................................................................................................1
1.2 In what ways lifelong learning can be encouraged at Travelodge hotel..........................2
1.3 The benefits of self-managed learning as an assistant manager to me and Travelodge...3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
2.1 Evaluation of my own current skills and competencies against professional standards and
organisational objectives........................................................................................................4
2.2 Identification of own development needs and the skills required to meet them..............5
2.3 Development opportunities to meet my current and future defined needs.......................5
2.4 Personal and Professional development plan based on identified needs..........................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
3.1 Process and activities required to implement the prepared development plan.................8
3.2 Documenting development planned activities..................................................................9
3.3 Reflection.......................................................................................................................10
3.4 Updated development plan ............................................................................................11
Task 4 ............................................................................................................................................13
4.3 The use of effective time management strategies used within Travelodge....................13
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
It is important today for an individual to have good interpersonal skills in order to
achieve desired goals and results. The below report explores the importance of personal and
professional skills of an individual in context of Travelodge hotel, London. The report evaluates
the approaches of self-managed learning and proposes ways in which lifelong learning in
personal and professional contexts could be encouraged at Travelodge. Also, the benefits of self-
managed learning as an assistant manager at the Travelodge have been explored. The evaluation
of own current skills and competencies against professional standards for a hotel manager and
against organisational objectives of Travelodge hotel have been explained. Along with it,
solutions to work based problems have been made later in the report. These all evaluation and
identification is going to help one in determining the importance of interpersonal skills within an
organisational environment, and would make it easy to understand what can be done in order to
make or develop improvements (Hildebrand, 2018).
TASK 1
1.1 Evaluation of approaches to self-managed learning and understanding which approach would
be the best
Below mentioned are the approaches used in self managed learning:
1. Clear goal setting: Clear goal setting is one of the best approaches that is used in
self-managed learning. This approach allows one to easily set goals and achieve
required goals and objectives. For example, an individual while learning a new
language can set goals such as learning two new words daily, watching videos of
that particular language daily etc. This type of clear goal setting will help one to
determine the needs and wants of the goals and track the achievements as well.
2. Usage of the internet: Internet usage is another approach where an individual can
ensure better learning and understanding of anything desired. Internet provides a
vast variety of available resources that helps an individual in learning. Along with
it, internet is cost-effective and a very easy approach that can be used to learn
anything (Derrick and Wighting, 2019).
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3. Learning from others: Learning from other is another approach that can be used
by one in order to learn the desired skills. For example, in order to learn to type an
individual can learn it from the one who already knows typing or can join the
typing classes and learn it from a teacher. Learning from others ensure one to
learn the skills better and have someone around who has already mastered the
skill which the individual desires to learn (Maloney, 2016).
The approach of learning from internet would be the best one for me and my staff at
Travelodge hotel. It is because internet is cheap and cost-effective.
1.2 In what ways lifelong learning can be encouraged at Travelodge hotel
Below mentioned are the ways in which I as a manager will encourage lifelong learning
at Travelodge hotel:
1. Connecting employees with inspirational mentors: As a manager of Travelodge I
can connect my employees with inspirational mentors. These mentors can
motivate the employees of Travelodge in lifelong learning (Dawson, 2018). Good
mentors can make the organisation's employees learn and develop required skills
and make sure that they are regularly moving towards their own and
organisational growth as well.
2. Linking higher education with industry: Linking higher education with
Travelodge is another approach that I would use as a manager to encourage my
employees in lifelong learning. This can make the organisational environment
inclined towards learning and development. Employees would find more
opportunities in growth and this would make the organisation earn new
employees which are seeking industrial growth.
3. Apprenticeships: Apprenticeships allows employees to grow and develop their
own skills while working with the organisation. Also, it provides them with an
opportunity to develop and change themselves completely. This would make the
employees earn while they are learning and is going to encourage lifelong
learning as well (Ford, Eshbaugh and Branson, 2017).
4. Further education: I would provide my employees with further education
opportunities to encouraged them towards lifelong learning. Further education is
going to make sure that the employees are learning and developing new skills and
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are gaining more knowledge. Further education is one of the best opportunities
that can be developed and would make the employees learn and become aware of
required knowledge and skills. Along with it, it would make the employees grow
and learn as per their needs and wants (Patton, Parker and Tannehill, 2015).
Above mentioned are the ways in which as an Assistant Manager I will encourage
lifelong learning in Travelodge.
1.3 The benefits of self-managed learning as an assistant manager to me and Travelodge
Below mentioned are the benefits of self-managed learning to me and Travelodge from
the above given examples:
1. Clear goal setting: Clear goal setting is going to allow me in achieving my goals
and targets easily. Along with it, this approach is going to take out the distractions
and would make my path clear and concise in achievement of my goals and
objectives. Clear goal setting is another way of learning the desired skills step by
step. It is going to make this fast and easy for me to learn the required skills. It
will help Travelodge in numerous ways, firstly, it will make the organisation work
efficiency smooth and easy (Swain, 2016). Secondly, the organisation will save a
lot of time if my goals are clearly set and are being accomplished as well.
2. Usage of the Internet: Usage of the internet will make sure that I am learning the
required skills smoothly and easily. Internet is cost-effective and would not cost
me a lot while gaining new knowledge and learning new skills. Along with it, the
usage of internet is going to make the organisation spend less while making its
employees learn new skills and gain new knowledge. Internet is a cost effective
way of learning skills new skills fast and easy.
3. Learning from others: Learning from others will not just make me learn a new
skill but would make it easy for me understand new core areas easily. Other
people can provide me the knowledge which they have and in that order I am
going to develop new knowledge while learning a skill. It is an effective approach
that is going to make me grow (Pennington and Richards, 2016). It is going to
help Travelodge as the organisation will be having better communication going
within its employees when they are learning from each other. Also, the
organisation will see development of new skills and knowledge.
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TASK 2
2.1 Evaluation of my own current skills and competencies against professional standards and
organisational objectives
Below mentioned are my current skills and competencies against professional standards
and Travelodge objectives:
1. Leadership Skills: My current leadership skills are good but they lack better
direction. It is important for me as an Assistant manager to direct my employees
towards growth and ensure that they are achieving required goals and objectives.
Travelodge is a large organisation and it requires better leadership in order to
achieve organisational goals and objectives. Not having better direction is going
to make it difficult for me to direct my employees towards better achievements of
goals and objectives (Cruess, Cruess and Steinert, 2016). It is important for me to
develop better directing skills to achieve required goals and objectives.
2. Responsibility: I am good at taking responsibilities but it is difficult for me to
handle too many responsibilities at a time. It is important for me to learn to take
numerous responsibilities at a time because the role of assistant manager in
Travelodge requires a good command over the responsibilities which are assigned
to me. If I am not responsible enough it can make my organisation suffer from
achieving growth and success.
3. Decision Making: Decision making is an important skill needed while working in
an organisational environment. Travelodge being a huge organisation expects
good decision making from its assistant manager. My decision making skills are
weak. I tend to feel pressurised while making decisions at some situations. I need
help of my employees or organisational managers while making desired
decisions. It is important for me to developing decision making skills to ensure
growth and development in Travelodge.
Above mentioned are my current skills and competencies against professional standards
and Travelodge objectives.
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2.2 Identification of own development needs and the skills required to meet them
As an assistant manager of Travelodge I have observed that I lack good communication
skills. I fumble when it comes to speak English fluently and feel there is a need for improvement
in my overall communication skills. Along with it, I am not having good writing skills as well. I
find myself not able to write letters, applications, prepare neat reports etc. It is important for me
to develop both of my communication and writing skills in order to be a better professional
individual in Travelodge (Macià and García, 2016). Below mentioned are the set of skills I can
use to better my communication and writing.
For communication
 Practising : In order to be a better communicator, I can practise my communication
skills by speaking with my employees and colleagues.
 Reading: Reading new things would allow me to learn new words and is going to impact
my overall communication skills. Along with it, it is going to improve my speaking
skills.
For writing
 Writing: Writing new things would allow me improve my overall writing skill.
 Training: In order to improve my writing skills I can make use of training classes and
coaching.
2.3 Development opportunities to meet my current and future defined needs
Below mentioned are my current and future defined needs:
 Current needs: Improvements in leadership, communication, and decision making Future needs: Problem solving, time management, relationship building
Development opportunities in order to meet the defined needs:
As an assistant manager in Travelodge I am having a numerous responsibility which
requires better leadership. I can observe at what places I lack good leadership skills and improve
myself accordingly. To improve my communication I can speak more and more with my
employees and managers. This opportunity is going to make myself better in communication and
is going to develop my overall speaking abilities. In order to improve decision making I will take
help of my managers and senior colleagues (Dorociak and et al., 2017). I can observe what
impacts my decisions are creating and at what places they need improvement.
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To improve my problem solving skills as an Assistant Manager I will constantly look for
new problem areas in the organisation. Observing these problem areas are going to help in
finding the required solutions. This can improve my overall problem solving skills and will make
me a good problem solver. In order to improve my time management skills, it is important for
me to learn how I can manage my time better (Nias, 2017). I will seek opportunities in
Travelodge where I am going to have a lot of work in hand and will improve my time
management skills. In order to improve my relationship building skills, I can constantly seek
opportunities to find new people in the organisation and build better relations with them. It is
going to help me in learning better relationship building and exploring growth opportunities.
The above mentioned development opportunities can help in meeting my current and
future needs.
2.4 Personal and Professional development plan based on identified needs
Below explored are my personal and professional development plans:
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN
“What” are my needed skills “How” I am going to do it “When” I will be developing
intended skills
Communication To improve my
communication I will make
use of Internet and my senior
colleagues. This is going to
help me in learning and
becoming a better
communicator.
2 months
Writing To improve my writing I am
going to start reading new
things and will write more.
This will develop my overall
writing skills and will help in
my improvements as well.
3 months
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Decision Making To improve my decision
making skills I will improve
my researching skills. Good
researching and critical
thinking skills. Both of these
skills will provide me with
good command over my
decisions and their making
(Biberman-Shalev, 2018).
7 months
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN
“What” are my needed skills “How” I am going to do it “When” I will be developing
intended skills
Time management In order to improve my
achieve better time
management I will learn to
schedule, prioritize, not
procrastinate and setting
boundaries.
3 months
Leadership To improve my leadership
skill I will make use of internet
to learn new leadership styles
and will apply them as well.
4 months
Relationship building To improve relationship
building I am going to build
new relations with people of
my organisation. Along with
it, I will take help of my senior
members to learn better
2 months
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relationship building.
Above explored are my professional and personal development plans.
TASK 3
3.1 Process and activities required to implement the prepared development plan
Personal development
Communication:
Required Process
1. Writing things down
2. Having one conversation at a time
3. Asking questions
4. Creating a response schedule
5. Practice speaking for longer periods
6. Communicating face to face
7. Taking feedbacks
Required Activities
The activities required to improve my communication will be reading a lot more than I do
now. Reading will help me in learning new words and improve my overall vocabulary. Other
required activities are joining communication classes and improve my fluency with the help of
Internet. Along with it, I will look for opportunities such as public speaking and usage of
communication proficiency apps to develop my communication skills (Cottrell, 2015).
Writing
Required Process
1. Write more
2. Reading
Required Activities
To improve my writing the required activities would be to keep writing about new things
and reading newspapers, books and articles. These activities can make me become a better writer
and would help me to write effectively as well.
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Decision making
Required Process
1. Researching
2. Critical thinking
Required activities
The activities required to make my decision making is to learn to research from internet. I
am going to make use of YouTube and other websites to learn better researching. Other activity
is to learn critical thinking from the help of mentor or a coach. These activities will help me to
improve my decision making process.
Professional development
Time management
Process required
1. Prioritising workload
2. Setting work objectives
Required activities
The activities required to improve my time management skills would be to understand the
value of time by regularly keep prioritising. Along with it, I will learn to schedule the tasks from
my seniors in order to achieve them successfully (Rowe, 2017).
Leadership
1. Developing a plan
2. Understanding leadership models and theories.
Required activities
The required activities to improve my leadership is to first make a plan to improve my
leadership. Other activity is to learn new leadership models and theories from the help of the
internet or my seniors.
3.2 Documenting development planned activities
Below documented are my planned development activities:
In order to implement my personal development plan I have started with improving my
communication first. To improve my communication I have made usage of activities such as
asking questions, mirror practising, taking feedbacks etc. The second step is to improve my
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writing. For this, I have started writing more and reading new materials. This has gradually
allowed me to develop my writing skills (Schmidt, 2017). My next step is to developing my
decision making. In order to do this I made use of activities such as learning critical thinking and
learning to make better decisions from my managers and leaders.
In order to implement my professional development plan firstly, I have started with
improving my time management skills. To improve my time management I have started
prioritising and scheduling my work. In my next step, I have started improving my leadership
skills. To improve my leadership I have made a development plan and have learned to
understand leadership theories and models. Learning new leadership theories and models have
allowed me to develop professionally and personally as well. In my next step to learn better
relationship building, I have managed to improve my overall relationship building skills by using
activities such as building relationships with new people (Bukor, 2015). Talking to my
colleagues and spending time with them etc.
Above documented is my implementation of professional and personal development plan.
3.3 Reflection
In my own learning against original aims and objectives set in the development plan, I
have observed that I have managed to learn most from the set aims and objectives, yet I have
found few difficulties while developing myself at some places. While improving my
communication I found that I was not able to speak for longer periods of time. Also, it was hard
for me to listen for longer durations as well. While improving my writing, I found some
difficulties in improve my grammar as there was no availability of the things on the internet
which I wanted to learn. While improving my decision making, I managed to learn critical
thinking easily because I found it easy to develop critical thinking. I do not think that I was able
to learn and develop the skills perfectly, yet I managed to do my best and learn whatever was
possible (Ermasova, Wagner and Nguyen, 2017).
While improving my leadership skills, I saw that some theories and models were not
relevant for me. I have to take help of my seniors to understand what theories should I make use
of while learning. Developing my time management skills was easy for me. I am now able to
manage my time effectively. While improving relationship building skill it was hard for me to
communicate with some people to an extent. From time, it got easy and now I find easy to build
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relationships. Although, I managed to develop the required skills but I lacked efficiency in
developing them. I think there's a need for new development plan to improve my efficiency in
these skills.
3.4 Updated development plan
Below mentioned are my updated personal and professional development plans:
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN
“What” are my needed skills “How” I am going to do it “When” I will be developing
intended skills
Communication As per my findings, I found it
difficult to speak and listen for
longer time periods. This time
I will make a habit of speaking
for longer periods to gradually
develop my speaking skills.
Along with it, I will make use
of Television and YouTube to
improve my listening and
understanding ability as well.
1 months
Writing As per my findings, it was
hard for me to develop my
grammar while my writing
improvements. This time I will
use methods such as coaching
and training from my seniors
to improve my grammar.
2 months
Decision Making I have learned critical thinking
effectively. This time I am
4 months
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going to take my learning
further by understanding and
developing complex decision
making in required situations.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN
“What” are my needed skills “How” I am going to do it “When” I will be developing
intended skills
Time management I have effectively learned time
management. This time I am
going to make sure that I am
managing time effectively in
stressful situations and if not,
then I am going to evaluate
and analyse the needs to
improve my time management.
2 months
Leadership This time I am going to learn
effective leadership from
reading books and materials of
successful leaders in the world.
Along with it, I will take help
of my seniors to learn better
leadership from them.
3 months
Relationship building In order to improve my
relationship skills (Lee and
Choi, 2015). This time I will
make use of techniques such as
learning to talk better, making
1 month
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eye contact, understanding
people etc.
Above mentioned are my update personal and professional development plans.
TASK 4 IN POSTER (4.1 & 4.2)
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1
Solutions to work-based problems
Below listed are the solutions to work-based problem used by Travelodge to deal with employee turnover and customer care:
Identifying the issues: To deal with employee turnover and customer care Travelodge can identify what issues the organisation is facing while dealing with these
situations. Identification of issues can help Travelodge in understanding the occurring troubles and finding required solutions for them.
Understanding employees’ interests: Travelodge can understand its employees’ interests in finding work-based solutions. It can take feedbacks, interviews to understand
at what places the organisations employees needs improvement Also, they can look for ways to provide them with better satisfaction and fulfilment to ensure better results
to work based problems.
Listing out the best solutions for the problems: Travelodge can list out the solutions for the problems that the organisation is facing in employee turnover and customer
care. Listing out solutions will make it easy for the Travelodge to solve the work-based problems easily. These solutions can be listed out by arranging staff and
management meetings, understanding and evaluating occurring problems etc.
Variety of styles and appropriate manner of communication used at various levels in Travelodge hotel
Below listed are different styles of communication which can be followed in Travelodge to solve work-based problems:
Open communication: Open communication is known as an informal way of communication. It is free of feelings and emotions and is convenient with friends of
colleagues. In this communication on is able to express his emotions to anyone without any fear. In Travelodge, to solve work related problems open communication can be
used within its staff members. It will help them to build a professional partnership in order to take the business further.
Reserved communication: Reserved communication is a type of private communication where the communication takes place between two people. The discussion is
never shared with anyone else and they simply keep that to themselves. This type of communication takes place between senior members of the organisation where things
are kept private. The senior members of Travelodge can make use of reserved communication while communicating private information in order to solve work related
problems.
Indirect communication: Indirect communication is based on facts and figures. The people which are part of indirect communication never trust on assumptions. Indirect
communication takes places between stakeholders and top management in the organisation. Indirect communication requires proofs and figures. To solve work related
problems Travelodge can make use of indirect communication as it is very effective and is based on proofs.
Direct communication: Direct communication is often very straightforward and done with full confidence without any hesitation. An example of such communication in
Travelodge is when the manager gives direct instructions to its employees. Direct communication takes place without any confusion or doubts. Direct communication can
be used by the managers of Travelodge to ensure that the employees are following their orders as required and needed while solving work-based problems
.
REFERENCES
Dorociak, K. E. and et.al., 2017. Development of the Professional Self-Care Scale. Journal of counseling psychology. 64(3).p.325
Macià, M. and García, I., 2016. Informal online communities and networks as a source of teacher professional development: A review. Teaching and Teacher
Education. 55.pp.291-307.
Time management tips. 2017. [Online]. Available through. <https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/careers/soft-skills/time-management-list-tips/>.
WORK BASED PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS

4.3 The use of effective time management strategies used within Travelodge
Below mentioned are the effective time management strategies used by me as an
Assistant manager in Travelodge:
1. Setting Priorities: In order to improve staff's desires to continue their work
and improve customer care, I have made sure my employees set priorities as
per their given works and assignments (Maloney, 2016). Setting priorities has
made it easy for them to work effectively and has increase their attentiveness
as well.
Source: Time management tips, 2018
2. Scheduling: Scheduling is another strategy of time management that I have
used to schedule employees work and make them manage time accordingly. It
has made it a lot easier for my employees to work perfectly and achieve
required success.
3. Delegating: In order to ensure better time management I have started
delegating tasks to the employees as per their set of skills and understandings.
It has made it a lot easier for the employees to manage time effectively and
Travelodge to gain better results.
Above mentioned are the Time management strategies used by me to improve
Travelodge's staff's desires to continue their work and improve customer care (Patton, Parker
and Tannehill, 2015).
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Illustration 1: Time management

CONCLUSION
The above report explores a number of personal and professional development skills
to promote career development and future growth. The report showcases the importance of
self managed learning where various explanations describe why it is important for an
individual to acquire the self-managed learning skills to enhance his/her own lifelong
development. Along with it, the personal and professional developments plans in the report
have been made to understand the core areas of improvements and their necessities in an
organisational environment. Effective time management strategies have been used in order to
develop an understanding of time management for employees within Travelodge. These time
management strategies concludes the importance of time in organisational environment and
how effective it can be managed as well.
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REFERENCES
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Maloney, K. J., 2016. Leveraging the potential of personal learning networks for teacher
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Nias, J., 2017. A more distant drummer: teacher development as the development of self.
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Online
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<https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/careers/soft-skills/time-management-list-
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<https://www.entrepreneur.com/topic/personal-development/>
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