Skills Development: Personal Development Plan and Action Plan

This document discusses the importance of personal development and skills in various aspects of life. It explores the experiences and lessons learned in different stages of education and career. The document also introduces reflection models like Borton's model and Gibbs reflective cycle. It concludes with an action plan for personal development.

Professional and Academic
Skills Development

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Self reflection plan......................................................................................................................4
Personal development learning log ............................................................................................6
Action Plan..................................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
The study is on personal development plan of an individual. It focuses on the skills an
individual possesses and the skills one would like to develop in the future (Kivimäki and
Meriluoto, 2018). The usefulness of skills in various aspects of life are highlighted. It
goes on to build a personal development plan with action plan.
Self-reflection plan
Speaking of my approach to personal development, I have been from an army
background where emphasis on personal development is given the most. The way of
leading life with importance to the country first has been etched in my mind since
childhood. The feeling of unity in work force is what I have learnt from my childhood to
youth experience.
Moving on to my education, I have studied in convent schools and imbibed many
personality traits. I have got to learn punctuality and discipline as the first lessons which
are the foundation basis for any individual. The team spirit feeling actually starts from
this stage when students are divided in team groups to participate in an event or to do a
project. This has developed qualities like adjustment within a group, being assertive,
creativeness to give ideas etc. The other quality which came out was team cooperation
which is another influential factor influencing in future life. When working in a team,
communication is another factor which is developed on itself. One has to communicate
and convince the team members about their ideas and eventually the qualities of
leadership can also emerge which I got to experience while leading my football team in
school.
In higher studies, during my college days, I got to learn presentation skills in
which we had to prepare on a given topic and prepare a power point presentation. The
presentation was to be informative as well as appealing to the audience. This also
helped in giving a chance to come in front of a group of people and speak. This instilled
confidence in me and also made me learn how to deliver a presentation which can have

a lasting effect on the listeners, answering their questions and speaking with eye
contact and precision.
My career started in back-end operations in which I got to work both individually
and in team. Both had a learning effect on me. I got to learn time management while
being on a task and to present my work before manager on time. This instilled
confidence and self-esteem in myself that I can achieve the said work on my own. While
working in a group, I learnt about team management, being a good listener, cooperation
and enthusiasm to accomplish objectives on time. The environment taught me the
practicality which was completely different from the conceptual studies in schools and
colleges. Another quality I imbibed was accuracy and bringing presentation in my work
which is necessary for the client.
Borton's model of reflection
This model I will be using to reflect on one of my life experiences will reflect the
situation, my action during the period and future learnings given it to me.
The model has three questions to answer: What, so what and now what? (Rimmer,
2018)
I will be taking example of my real-life situation when I had to give my first presentation
at college with my team. It goes through the Borton series in this way:
What
We were a small group of 4 members and had to give a presentation on Finance. My
role was on factoring which I had to explain with relevance to western countries. The
problems faced by us was that we did not have sufficient time to prepare for it. We just
practised our parts once and went for the presentation. It so happened that the mike
systems went bust and we had to speak at pitch of our voices to be audible. This really
made me a bit anxious in the beginning but slowly I was able to gather myself and
elaborated on my part clearly.
So what
The outcome of the project was that I got to learn how to accomplish task within given
time frame. This made me learn how we can use limited resources available to us and
still make an outcome by presenting in a manner which can relate with the audience. I

had also learnt that the topic content may differ from one being asked for. One has to be
confident in the content one has made, The second thing which I learnt from this
experience was that confidence comes from the in depth study of the matter. The
important thing which we missed upon was that we took the arrangements to be
working fine and did not have a suitable plan B in case the first plan does not work.
That's what happened with the mike system not working. It is necessary to have another
support system ready and also checking in advance of all the control system.
What now
This made me aware of the tasks coming beforehand, the kind of preparation required,
the resources which may be needed to accomplish the task. It also taught a lesson of
team bonding which later on comes very useful in corporate life. The ultimate thing to
carry is confidence and convince people about the matter which you are speaking. The
link formation which should be present in team mates to come in when other is facing a
difficult situation is what I learnt as outcome (Radu, 2017).
Gibbs reflective cycle
This approach follows a good way to work through one's experience. It offers a
framework for examining experiences and its cyclic nature relates to repeated
experiences. It covers six stages:
a) Description: It relates to the event which happened in the past and has impacted in
a way to make changes. This experience of mine has been of my presentation while
doing my MBA. This was completely different experience from the earlier mentioned.
We were a group of four and had to do a presentation on factoring. It is a type of
financial transaction in which business sells its account receivables to a third party at a
discount. Our professor of credit investment was present along with college students as
audience. We had distributed our parts among ourselves and I had got my part as
factoring in North America.
b) Feelings: It was a mix of feeling of excitement and slightly nervous as we were
presenting to one of the most learned professors. I was feeling like we will be able to do
justice. Other people were also feeling confident that it will work out well. After the

presentation was over it was elation for us as we were applauded both by professor as
well as colleagues.
c) Evaluation: The good part was majorly prevalent in our experience. In little time for
rehearsal, we were able to present on the topic with detailed approach. Speaking of my
part, it was completely different from the topic given. As it was, in North America asset-
based lending was in prominence than factoring. I had done a complete research to
make it sure about the fact. When delivering my part, I was questioned about the same
by my professor. I cited the sources from where I had got the information. The professor
was convinced and we were applauded for our work.
d) Analysis: I think what worked in favour for us was that we were well researched and
had adequate knowledge about the topic. We had rehearsed and discussed linkages in
our parts with each other and also formed a list of queries we may be asked by
audience. I was especially ready for my topic as it diverted from the given topic to us.
The professor was also kind to acknowledge that some diversification may occur in
factoring or lending methods region-wise. Thus, I could make out that if you are
confident of what you are speaking, it is bound to make an impact on your audience.
e) Conclusion: The most important lesson it taught me was to have knowledge and
confidence whenever you have to present something new. Secondly, it taught me that if
a team is supportive and follow an organised way it would surely make the output a
success. I think it would have become more positive had we received a few more
queries on the new lending approach.
f) Action Plan: I think if I have to do the same thing, I would try to increase my
knowledge further through academic journals and add more content to the matter. I
would like to emphasise as to why this approach is being followed at a particular region
and the causes for its popularity. As of team management, a bit of more rehearsal can
certainly help and incorporating each other’s opinions to make the presentation a
success are steps to be taken in future.

Personal development learning log
Date of event What was the
development
activity?
What was I
expected to
learn?
What have I
learned?
How will I
apply this
learning?

11/ Jan/ 2021 Presentation
Skills
Presenting
information in a
better and
effective way is
a key skill in
getting your
message
forwarded to
others. Now a
days,
presentation
skills is required
everywhere and
in almost all the
companies
employees are
required to give
presentations
for transferring
their opinions
and
understanding
about a
particular topic.
Some persons
are taking it as an
opportunity to
describe the
opinions and
talent of
understanding in
front of their
subordinates and
managers while
on the other hand
some peoples
find it as a
challenge in their
life. For
presentation one
will have the skill
of:
1) Effective
preparatio
n of the
concerned
topic
(Utting,
2017).
2) Need to be
clear
about the
audience.
3) Never
overrun
I will apply
these points in
my
presentation
as when I will
prepare my
presentation
topic (Radu,
2017). I will go
through about
the detail of
the topic many
times so that
nobody from
audience
make me feel
under
confident. I will
use precise
points on my
slides and
more of visual
format in the
form of
pictures to
make it more
interesting for
the audience.

allocated
time
duration.
4) Create
connection
with the
audience
so that
they did
not feel
bored
while
presentati
on.
13/ Jan/ 2021 Logical
Reasoning
Logical
reasoning tests
and questions
are designed to
measure the
power of
reasoning and
problem solving
capability
(Nguyen,
2017).
I have learned to
be able to
analyse visual
graphics or
graphs logically
to analyse the
correct outcome
from the graphs
or pictures.
When I will use
this skill in
company to
analyse
company's
graphs, charts
and reports
(Day-Calder,
2017).
11/01/21 Self motivation The inner
driving force to
take myself out
of negative
situations, to
The experience
which I got was
that inner
motivation does
not only depend
I will constantly
remain in
touch with
people who
are my well

make the
people go
wrong who
underestimated
me and making
self realise that
no task is
unachievable if
done with
dedication and
responsibility.
on oneself but
also on factors
which surround
us. One has to be
in touch with
positive people,
reading positive
journals and do
something better
to help out
others. This is
what will boost
motivation.
Family and
Friends can be a
great booster
when ever some
one wants help. It
is the social circle
which helps bring
positivity and
ultimately
motivation.
wishers. I will
try to help my
team mates at
work or at
some point of
time
underprivilege
d sections of
society which
will give me a
sense of
accomplishme
nt and
ultimately
motivate me.
An optimistic
look towards
life will
certainly
benefit self as
well as people
around us.
CV
Name: Tom Hanks
Age: 28 years
Aim To carve out my potential in public

speaking and presentation skills
Education BBA from University of Cambridge
(2013)
MBA from University of Cambridge
(2015)
Experience Sales officer at Richer Sounds since
2015
Hobbies Reading fiction and motivational
journals
Listening music
Skills Presentation Orator,
Statistical Reasoning, Programming
language
Action Plan
What do I want
to learn?
What support
and resources
will I need?
What do I have
to do?
How will I
measure
success?
Target date for
review
Corporate style
presentation
Experienced
Professionals
guidance
Practice and
help from my
friends
When I will get
applauded by
my manager
12/01/22
Statistical
Reasoning
Online course Study and make
research
When team is
able to
understand it
better than
theory
13/01/22
Motivation Practising to Inculcate my life This will be 14/01/22

orator audience experiences in
speech
through my
audience
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded that the personal experiences of an individual motivate a person to
face situations of different types and ultimately develop qualities in oneself which can be
at childhood stage, during school or even corporate. Personal development is
something which has to go on continuously. Having a plan in mind for self-improvement
is definitely useful as self-improvement actions taken will eventually develop those
qualities also which one had not charted in mind. The most important thing is to learn
from the outcome and implement those learnings to grow oneself for the future.
REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Rimmer, A., 2018. How do I prepare a personal development plan?. Bmj. 363. p.k4725.
Nguyen, H.L., 2017. Thesis C-Personal Development Plan in Windsor (Doctoral
dissertation, Saxion).
Utting, H., 2017. A case for a personal development plan. Planning News. 43(2). p.26.

Radu, C., 2017. Self-awareness and personal development plans of students. New
Trends and Issues Proceedings on Humanities and Social Sciences. 4(8).
pp.176-183.
Kivimäki, V. and Meriluoto, S., 2018. Holistic Perspective to Individual Study Plan:
Personal Development Project Plan. Studies in health technology and
informatics. 256. pp.514-526.
Day-Calder, M., 2017. Put your development plan into action. Nursing Standard (Royal
College of Nursing (Great Britain): 1987). 31(32). pp.33-34.