Personal and Professional Development

This document discusses personal and professional development in the workplace and beyond. It covers approaches to self-managed learning, ways to encourage lifelong learning, and the benefits of self-managed learning. It also evaluates own current skills and competencies, identifies development needs, and explores development opportunities to meet current and future defined needs.

Personal and Professional
Development

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1 ...........................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Evaluation of approaches to self-managed learning.........................................................3
1.2 Ways of encouraging life-long learning...........................................................................4
1.3 Evaluation of benefits of the self-managed learning........................................................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
2.1 Evaluation of own current skills and competencies.........................................................6
2.2 Own development needs and activities ...........................................................................7
2.3 Development Opportunities To Meet Current And Future Defined Needs.....................8
2.4 Personal And Professional Development Plan.................................................................9
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................10
3.1 Process and activities required to implement development plan ...................................10
3.3 Reflect and critical evaluation of own development plan..............................................11
3.4 Updated PDP plan..........................................................................................................12
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................12
4.1 Solution to Work Based Problems.................................................................................12
4.2 Communication Styles....................................................................................................13
4.3 Reflective Report............................................................................................................13
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Personal and professional development refers to the development or growth of an
individual at the workplace and also other than the workstations. The aim and objective of this
development plan is to help in managing the learning of the employees at the workplace and also
the learning of an individual at some other place. This project report lays its emphasis on the
approaches that an employee is required to follow at the workplace and also to do their
evaluation at the workplace in respect of whether these approaches are favourable or not for the
employees working over there. The assignment further, lays its emphasis on the ways that should
be encouraged in the learning process along with the benefits of the self-managed learning. The
project further, lays its emphasis on the skills and the competencies that are required to fight
against and to do the evaluation of the professional standards and the objective that are set by the
organisation. Here, the organisation is Travelodge. It is a private company in the hospitality
industry. As an assistant manager, I along with my staff members required to perform, better in
the organisation with the help of development programme.
TASK 1
1.1 Evaluation of approaches to self-managed learning
Self-managed learning is a process with the help of which an individual takes the initiative to
do something new and creative (Ariza-Montes and et.al., 2017). Here, the individual at
Travelodge are, motivated and forced through his will to take some new steps for the
achievement of his desired objective. This process also includes the development of individual
through the approaches that are adopted by an individual and also on the ways of working in the
organisation. Here, prioritizing of the short-term goals is considered to be most important.
Prioritizing is just in the respect of what is required to be executed at first. Following are the
approaches that are required to be used self-managed learning: -
Seminar And Conferences: - It is the first and foremost approach which is required to be
followed for bringing improvement in it and for making an individual completely fit in respect
of creating new ideas and gaining new experiences. It focuses on the learning techniques and
experiences of other people in the corporate sector.
Internet: - It is the very crucial tool that plays a very important role in the self-learning of an
individual. Through internet an individual at Travelodge, gets in touch with the various sources

of self-learning. Knowledge can be acquired through surfing on the internet by visiting a
number of websites that are providing training to an individual in the form of managing the
staff and the contingent risk that can take place in the organisation at any point (Foucault and
et.al., 2018).
Social Networks: - These are those networking sites that are available to an individual as a
source of help. Social sites like; - Facebook; LinkedIn; YouTube; Twitter and many others are
offering the individual a platform where, by working an individual can take experience from the
various personalities that belong to corporate world. It is helpful in the self managed learning
because, increasing range of the social networks helps in gathering knowledge from the wide
range of people who are around us. The more an individual will be involved and interactive
with different types of personalities whether from corporates or from somewhere else the more
knowledge he would be having by working with them.
In my point of view, seminars and conferences can prove to be the best approach for the
self managed learning in the Hotel. Because, it will help me in getting interacted with more and
more of people and also it would be helpful in learning a lot of new things in the hotel
Travelodge. Self manage learning refers to achieve learning; through personal experience and
efforts.
1.2 Ways of encouraging life-long learning
Life Long Learning can be encouraged in many ways in the personal and professional
context. This type of learning at Travelodge, is beneficial for the entire life of an individual. This
learning plays a very important role in making an individual fully independent. The process of
lifelong learning is very flexible and plays a very important role at various levels and at different
time frame (Korthagen, 2017). The value of this learning period varies from the childhood in
school to become an adult. Following are the ways:- Observation:- By being a manager at Travelodge, its very necessary for an individual or
the person working as a manager that he observes very keenly to the entire working
process of an individual in the organisation. He is required to divide the tasks in an
effective manner among the workers or the subordinates working in the organisation. In

this manner it would be very helpful for the individual to work and use this experience as
a key learning.
 Internet:- It is considered as the best source of learning in the organisation. Taking the
help of internet one can learn a lot from the web. It would be helpful for the individual
working over there to learn new techniques and methods of working effectively in the
best way. It includes:- self directed learning. With the help of internet one can learn
directly and can continue its higher education along with the industry.
 Credit Accumulation And Transfer Schemes:- Credit Accumulation refers to the process
of collection of credit for learning towards a qualification. Here, life long learning can be
achieved by accumulating credit in the role of assistant manager in Travelodge. These
credits or achievements can be helpful in the continuous development in career.
1.3 Evaluation of benefits of the self-managed learning
Self-Managed Learning is having following benefits in the respect of an assistant
manager:- Self-managed learning is a self-initiation process in which assistant manager is able to set
clear objectives for personal and professional development. It depicts strengths and
weakness of individuals personality which can help me in boosting own learning and
orientation. Assistant manager can be promoted in the organisation on the basis of
performance. If an assistant manager at Travelodge is performing good then, it will assist
to get promoted to a senior position. An individual would be able to learn new techniques
and policies by learning everything from self in the organisation. In this way, it would
help to be more confident in the respect of those policies and the strategies, that he would
be planning to implement at Travelodge. As an assistant manager of Travel Lodge, it
would be easy for me to get familiar with my weaknesses that are playing the role of
hindrance in the tasks assigned at Travel Lodge (Kumaria, Bhola and Orlinsky, 2018).
 Improvement In Skills: - This type of learning at Travel Lodge will definitely go to
provide an individual an opportunity that he enhances his skills by learning over there.
By taking practical experience in Travel Lodge, an employee would be able to identify
his mistakes and can improve them. So, in this way, the skills and capabilities of an
individual will be enhanced.
Benefits Of Assistant Manager In Travelodge:-

 Supervise The Team:- Its the role of an assistant manager, to supervise the employees
that are working under him. It includes organising the team scheduling and handling the
queries of staff members.
 Standing For The Management:- The assistant manager is required to take a stand for the
management. It means the manager must be familiar with the main aspects of the job that
he has been assigned.
 Handling The Complaints Of The Employees:- As an assistant manager I used to handle
the complaints of the customer and to resolve them and because of this, I was familiar
with all the employees and the staff members. Because of this, I was comfortable in
listening to their grievances.
TASK 2
2.1 Evaluation of own current skills and competencies
For every type of specific job role, one is required to have some set of skills that are very
necessary. Following are the skills that are required to fulfil the role of assistant manager of
hotel: - Leadership Skills: - The assistant manager of the Travel Lodge Hotel must have these
skills in order to fulfil the requirement of the desired post. The manger is required to
troubleshoot all the problems, that are arising at the workplace. He is usually in charge of
the handling all the tasks that are assigned to him when the manager or the boss is not
available in the hotel (Lunenberg and et.al., 2017). I am resolving the problem of the
entire team members and guiding them to attain the organisational goal. This is my core
skill.
 Communication Skills: - The assistant manager should be nimble/skilled in
communicating with the guests that are arriving in the Travel Lodge irrespective of any
motive or the purpose. Communication skills plays a very crucial role in the hotel
industry. The assistant manager should be familiar and should also have command over
five to seven languages with the motive of attracting more and more customers at the
hotel. I am able to communicate within the organisation in an effective manner. I feel
that, my communication skill is really good in Travelodge. I take formal and informal

meetings with my team members that help me to understand issues related to the work
and collect effective suggestions or ideas.
Competencies of the assistant manager in respect to the hospitality sector are as follows: - Expertise in resolving conflicts: - The assistant manager in the Travelodge is having
expertise in resolving the conflicts and also expert in this respect. The manager keenly
observess the situation and then, takes action and gives judgement in any perspective.
(Lunenberg and et.al., 2017).
 Supervising Others:- The assistant manager in the Travelodge is supervising other
employees. The assistant manager has to establish relationship with others with the aim
of resolving conflicts among the subordinates and the team members.
2.2 Own development needs and activities
The activities that are required to be performed by me in the Travelodge are as follows: - Evaluating Employee Performance:- Being the assistant manager of the Travelodge Hotel
I am required to perform this activity in the organisation. Here, I am required to evaluate
the complete performance of the employees in respect of the work being done by them.
Here, I am also required to check the performance of the employees on all those
standards that are set by the Travelodge hotel. I am good in this skill an dis not required
to be improved. Understanding the scheduling and needs of the staff members:- I have to do the
scheduling and to understand the needs of the staff members with which he employee is
working and not only this, I am also required to schedule the tasks and to get those tasks
done by the existing staff members in a given time frame. Here, I am required to check
whether, each and every employee in the Travelodge is working properly and work of
every employee is managed or not. This skill is required to be improved and for this I will
have to get interacted with all the employees working in Travelodge. It will take 2
months.
 Promoting the company products:- I am required to work on promoting the existing
products of Travelodge. In UK. the customers have been given all those products that are
designed or the production of which are done in the hotel itself (Ariza-Montes and et.al.,
2017). Here, I will have to improve this skill by doing research in the market and it will
take 2 months.

2.3 Development Opportunities To Meet Current And Future Defined Needs
With respect to meet out the existing and the upcoming needs the assistant manger of the
Travelodge Hotel is required to work on the personal as well as on the professional skills. The
assistant manager of Travelodge has acknowledged the areas with motive of improvising the
existing skills to make sure the survival of hotel in the short term as well as long term objectives.
In this situation, the assistant manager of the Travelodge will work on following trends: - Use Of New Technologies: - By using new technologies and knowing their use and
importance in the hospitality sector the assistant manager can perform better in fulfilling
the future needs of Travelodge. The organisation can make available to its employees the
facility of using the navigation bar with the help of which they can easily search that,
where this reputed hotel is located. The assistant manager of Travelodge can suggest its
superiors in the respect of using the social media. By the score of, the social media
networks are an integral part of the customer experience (Meijerand et.al., 2017).
 Collecting The Data To Improve The Customer Experience: - This is the another trend
which is required to be improvised from the Travelodge point of view. Here, the motive
behind collecting the data is to improvise the interaction with the customers. By the score
of, until and unless the Travelodge will not ask its employees or the research and
development department to take the feedback from the customers the organisation will
not be able to make necessary changes in the services being given to the customers (Perry
Boylan, 2018).
Illustration 1: SWOT Analysis
(Source: SWOT Analysis, 2017)

Strengths Weakness
Time Management and Team Working is one
of my biggest strength as an assistant manager.
Communication Skills are my weakest point
and I as an assistant manager making efforts in
improving it.
Opportunities Threats
Leadership skills are an opportunity for me
because, due to good leadership skills, there
are chances that I might be hired in a bigger
organisation.
Lot of candidates are available for the
organisation who are better in using new
technologies.
2.4 Personal And Professional Development Plan
Skills Areas Of
Improvement
Action Plan Time Frame for
Improvement
Evidence
Communication
Skills
Command over
other languages.
It could be
improved by
taking training
sessions and
joining the
classes. Also, by
motivating the
interaction with
the international
visitors (Segovia-
Pérezand ey.al.,
2019).
6 months Taking feedback
from the senior
staff members.
Leadership Skills Motivation skills
and anticipation
By doing
monitoring of the
3 months By keeping a
sharp eye on the

of the team
members
supervisors and
by reading the
quality books of
the top most
leaders.
work process of
the employees
and the team
members assisting
the assistant
manager.
TASK 3
3.1 Process and activities required to implement development plan
Training: - In order to improve the communication skills, training is the best and
effective method. For the implementation of the assigned tasks in effective and efficient manner,
training helps an individual to learn the ways in which the assigned tasks and goals can be
accomplished successfully (Swennen, 2017).
Process of Training:-
 In the first step, to assess the needs for training to the employee in which basic needs are
identified. In this case, communication skills needs to be improved, therefore, training is
designed to enhance individual efficiency (Su Fengand Hsu, 2017). For eaxmple:
mentoring is also an effective tool and it also works in an effective way. Every individual
is required some sort of mentoring at some point of time. By the score of, mentoring
helps and guides an individual towards the achievement of the desired goal. Not only this,
it also directs the individual, in respect of how, the goal can be achieved in the best
manner.
 In next step, objectives are assigned which help to asses the gap between the prior
training and present performance. For example: meditation can be used as the sole
remedy for improving the plan and bringing it to the work in the form of result in the best
possible way.
 Further, designing of the training session in which the objectives are meet that includes
the training content material, some theories which help to provide best training method.
 By hiring proper trainee who provide training session to the employee so that the
weakness will be easily minimized.

 In the last step, the evaluation is done by taking proper feedback to those employees who
take training sessions. So that it will help to evaluate the outcome by analysing current
performance.
3.2 Documentation of the development activities
Skills Activities Time Implementatio
n
Short term Communication
skills
Training session 1 week Start giving
Presentation in
meetings.
Medium Term
Skills
Decision making
skills
Start taking training
sessions
3 week Start taking
small decision
for welfare of
the company.
Long term skills Leadership Skills Reading books,
biographies of top
leaders.
5 week Lead team of
15-20
employees
3.3 Reflect and critical evaluation of own development plan
With the motive of improvising own skills and gaining higher position within the
organisation, I have followed and bring in action the activities related to the personal and
professional development plan in the Travelodge (Tan, Van der Molen and Schmidt, 2017). By
following such type of process, and the activities, in Travelodge, I have worked on improving
my set of skills and my own interpersonal capabilities with the motive of attaining the desired
objectives of this respected organisation. I have worked on improving my communication as well
as the skill of speaking different languages. I tried to bring improvement in these areas, by
starting the communication with customers.
My leadership skills have improved a lot by taking decisions from my own end just to
become independent in the organisation. I started taking initiative in the respect of guiding and
leading the team in Travelodge. But still I have to bring improvement in many other qualities
that are required to be develop to work in the organisation as a team. Now, the feedback that, I

have received from the Top-level managers of this organisation is satisfactory. My skills of
leading the team members in the organisation and guiding them has improved and developed
(Tour 2017).
3.4 Updated PDP plan
Skills Lacking Updated Action Time frame
Time Management Not able to meet the
deadlines
Scheduling of the
tasks assigned.
4 months
Team Working Unable To distribute
the work
Interaction with the
staff members and the
employees has
improved
1 month
Leadership Unable to guide team
members
Reading the books and
observing the senior
people.
1 month
TASK 4
4.1 Solution to Work Based Problems
The solution in the respect of problems that are arising at Travelodge could be resolved in
following ways: - Rewards And Incentives: - With the motive of holding the employees in the organisation,
Travel lodge can offer them, such rewards that prove to be helpful in sustaining the
existing employees in the organisation. Travelodge can offer them, incentives that are
based on their performance in the organisation. The very simple reason behind this is
every individual is having a desire to gain recognition and appreciation from the top
management (van den Bogaart and et.al., 2017).
 Proper Allocation Of Work: - Work will be properly allocated to every individual in the
departments they are working. Allotment of working according capabilities of staff will
help in improving customer care because it supports sorted role and responsibilities. .

4.2 Communication Styles
For making the communication effective in the best way, the organisation can take
various steps. The styles of communication that can be used by Travelodge are as follows; - Emails: - It is considered to be one of the most effective way of communication. It is not
only fast but also efficient and also allows facilitates the user to have a look on the
recorded communications. With the help of this, the employees or the managers of
Travelodge can transfer file in any format among themselves (Walker, Reedand, Sutton-
Tsang, 2018). Video Conferencing: - It facilitates the management level personnel to have a face to face
interaction with the team members and the employees working over there. Respect of Others:- At time of communication it is very necessary to respect others
because, if the management personnels will not respect each other than, the
communication will not be effective any further.
 Presentation Skills:- It also plays a very important role in making communication
effective.
4.3 Reflective Report
Time management Strategies
Managing the time is the biggest issue at the workplace. The employees and the working
staff members at Travelodge are facing the issues in the respect of completing the work on the
deadlines that are set by the top management. I observed that, the management of this hotel is
exercising a conscious control over the time which is spent by the managers and the working
staff members on various activities. By managing the time, I along with the management of
Travelodge is able to maintain discipline and punctuality in the organisation. Following are the
steps that are adopted by me to complete the work in the given deadlines (Maherand, et.al.,
2018). Prioritization: - It refers to setting the priority in respect of which work or task is to be
given priority to be completed at the assigned deadline. By working, I was able to set the
priorities and to complete the assigned work in the given time frame. This helped me in
gaining employees interest and active participation in different work.
 Scheduling: - It refers to the process of arranging; controlling and optimizing the work
and the work pressure. By working at Travelodge, I was able to manage the complete

work and the workload over there. This helped me in meeting business objectives as it
reduced the risk of mismanagement and over lapping. In my point of view, by accepting
these strategies of time management, this organisation would be able to stand in the
competitive market (Mair Lockstone-Binney and White law, 2018).
CONCLUSION
The project report concludes that, the personal and professional development plan plays a
very crucial role with the motive of gaining competitive advantage over the others. The report
further lays emphasis on the evaluation of the approaches and the ways of lifelong learning in
personal and professional development plan. Evaluation of current set of skills and the
competencies against the organisational objective of Travelodge. Finally, the report ends up by
focusing on the implementation and taking a review on the personal development portfolio,
development plan and time management strategies to meet goals and objectives of firm.

REFERENCES
Ariza-Montes, A. and et.al., 2017. Employee responsibility and basic human values in the
hospitality sector. International Journal of Hospitality Management. 62.pp.78-87.
Foucault, M. L. and et.al., 2018. Utilisation of an electronic portfolio to engage rehabilitation
professionals in continuing professional development: results of a provincial
survey. Disability and rehabilitation. 40(13).pp.1591-1599.
Korthagen, F., 2017. Inconvenient truths about teacher learning: towards professional
development 3.0. Teachers and teaching. 23(4).pp.387-405.
Kumaria, S., Bhola, P. and Orlinsky, D. E., 2018. Influences that count: professional
development of psychotherapists and counsellors in India. Asia Pacific Journal of
Counselling and Psychotherapy. 9(1).pp.86-106.
Lunenberg, M. and et.al., 2017. Collaborative teacher educator professional development in
Europe: different voices, one goal. Professional Development in Education. 43(4).pp.556-
572.
Maher, B. and et.al., 2018. Survey of Irish general practitioners’ preferences for continuing
professional development. Education for Primary Care. 29(1),pp.13-21.
Mair, J., Lockstone-Binney, L. and Whitelaw, P. A., 2018. The motives and barriers of
association conference attendance: Evidence from an Australasian tourism and hospitality
academic conference. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management. 34.pp.58-65.
Meijer, M. J. and et.al., 2017. Professional development of teacher-educators towards
transformative learning. Professional development in education. 43(5).pp.819-840.
Perry, E. and Boylan, M., 2018. Developing the developers: supporting and researching the
learning of professional development facilitators. Professional development in
education. 44(2).pp.254-271.
Segovia-Pérez, M. and ey.al., 2019. Incorporating a gender approach in the hospitality industry:
Female executives’ perceptions. International Journal of Hospitality Management. 76.
pp.184-193.

Su, Y., Feng, L. and Hsu, C. H., 2017. Accountability or authenticity? The alignment of
professional development and teacher evaluation. Teachers and Teaching. 23(6).pp.717-
728.
Swennen, A., 2017. We are not stuck! Professional development across generations.
Tan, C. P., Van der Molen, H. T. and Schmidt, H. G., 2017. A measure of professional identity
development for professional education. Studies in Higher Education. 42(8).pp.1504-1519.
Tour, E., 2017. Teachers’ self-initiated professional learning through Personal Learning
Networks. Technology, Pedagogy and Education. 26(2).pp.179-192.
van den Bogaart, A. C., and et.al., 2017. Comparing collective and personal professional theories
of experienced practitioners. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research. pp.1-15.
Walker, R., Reed, M. and Sutton-Tsang, S., 2018. Effect on students from attending a university
degree programme run in partnership with further and higher education
institutions. Journal of Further and Higher Education. 42(5).pp.623-632.
Online:
Time Management Strategies. 2018. [Online]. Available Through:
https://www.liquidplanner.com/blog/7-essential-time-management-strategies/