Report on Personal and Professional Development and Self-Learning

This report provides a comprehensive overview of personal and professional development, examining self-managed learning approaches and their benefits. It explores various strategies for lifelong learning, including setting goals and embracing opportunistic approaches. The report delves into the pr...Read More

Running head: PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Personal and Professional
Development

PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
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Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Task 1..........................................................................................................................................................3
Approaches to self-managed learning and its evaluation.........................................................................3
Conducts through which lifelong learning in personal and professional contexts could be promoted.....4
Self-managed learning benefits to the individual and organization and its evaluation.............................5
Benefits to the individuals...................................................................................................................5
Benefits to the organization.................................................................................................................5
Task 3..........................................................................................................................................................5
For implementing the development plan required processes and activities..............................................6
The scope of professional/personal development plan.........................................................................6
Execution and support.........................................................................................................................6
Influence..............................................................................................................................................6
Personal development plan......................................................................................................................6
Undertake and document development activities as planned...................................................................7
Reflect critically on own learning against original aims and objectives set in the development plan......8
Preparation of the first meeting............................................................................................................8
Past practice and awareness.................................................................................................................8
Motivation and anticipation.................................................................................................................8
Update the development plan based on feedback and Evaluation............................................................8
Planning...............................................................................................................................................8
Revising...............................................................................................................................................8
Task 4..........................................................................................................................................................9
Identify work-based problem in your job and resolve the problem..........................................................9
Examination of the work based problem.............................................................................................9
Solution of the problem.......................................................................................................................9
Variety of styles in communication at various levels...............................................................................9
Controller style of communication....................................................................................................10
Promoter style of communication......................................................................................................10
Supporter style of communication.....................................................................................................10
Analyzer style of communication......................................................................................................10
Use of effective time management strategies and its evaluation............................................................10

PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
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Time should be scheduled properly...................................................................................................11
Spending time....................................................................................................................................11
Organizing time.................................................................................................................................11
A multi-tasking must be avoided at highest priority..........................................................................11
Priorities to be decided......................................................................................................................11
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................11
References.................................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction
Personal development means improving skills with the help of activities like increasing
confidence, wealth building and self-observing. (Cottrell, 2015). Personal development is very
useful for the organization development. Personal development results in the success of the
professional and personal life. With the help of different ways of learning individual can develop
its personal skills. Professional development means enhancing skills and increasing capabilities
of the employees of the organization. Professional development help employees in improving
their performance, they get motivated and confident this will result in attracting skilled
employees (Education forum. 2013). The employee becomes expert in his/her subject. This
assignment involves three task.
Task 1 explains that how people can improve their performance and can increase their
knowledge and capabilities by adopting the approaches of self-managed learning. To prove this
evaluation is done of different approaches to self-managed learning. Different ways are specified
by which life-long learning can be promoted in professional and personal context. Self-managed
learning benefits to the individual and to the organization are evaluated. Task will explain
process and activities required to implement the development plan, undertake and document
development activities as planned, Reflect critically on own learning against original aims and
objectives set in the development plan and update the development plan based on feedback and
evaluation and task 3 involve my experience in the organization about a problem and its solution,
explanation of the variety of styles of communication in the organization, Use of effective time
management strategies and its evaluation.
Task 1.
Personal and professional development is influenced by the self-managed learning. Self-
managed learning is a process of managing own learning by an individual. Organizations should
be engaged in the programs of self-managed learning which is beneficial for the organization and
development of staff can be done (Puckering, 2017).
Approaches to self-managed learning and its evaluation
Self-managed learning is method in which an individual work to increase his skills, capabilities,
and knowledge in the subject he is related and wants to gain success. An individual can adopt
any of the self-managed learning approach (Cunningham, 2017). Self-managed learning can be

PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
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encouraged with one of the main approach i.e. visionary approach. The visionary approach
means having a clear idea about activities to be done in future or the future goal. If visionary
approach is followed by an individual then it can help in developing self-managed learning and
in recognizing the trend of future (Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee, 2002). Capabilities can be
raised through visionary approach as it helps in recognizing the requirements of the future by an
individual. Self-managed learning has another strategy named as Goals were setting. Visionary
approach and setting the goals have one difference that is visionary approach is focused on the
trend of future whether setting the goals strategy to involve individual focused towards particular
aspects. One of the important aspects of visionary approach for self-managed learning is that it
makes an individual very flexible.
Self-managed learning’s another important approach is being an opportunistic. The opportunistic
approach means taking things as they come or using immediate opportunities. Being an
opportunistic can help an individual in increasing the learning in huge scale (Bennett, 2004).
Important aspects of the environment can be learned by anyone it can be teacher, parents,
situations of the environment and friends. The opportunistic approach is important as it develops
the feeling of respect for others. These approaches are very helpful in the sector of travel and
tourism as it leads to increase the motivation and confidence. In the end, it can be said that self-
managed learning approaches contribute to personal as well as professional learning.
Conducts through which lifelong learning in personal and professional contexts could be
promoted.
Various ways are available for boosting personal and professional learning by an individual. An
individual should set short term and long term goals for boosting the life-long learning to receive
an advantage on capabilities and potentials with increased life-long learning scope (Siminica and
Dumitru, 2013). Goals, whether it is short term or long term, shows us the navigation to an
individual towards achieving the goals and opens the path of life-long learning for longer period
(Attwell, 2007). The segment of tourism is interesting as well as dynamic so it helps person to
stay with lifelong learning. According to a research capacity of learning increase with the
increase in the working pressure and motivate an individual to get involved in the process of
learning which is natural. However, an individual himself set the challenge that will help him in
long-term learning. Learning attitude can be developed through this practice. Life-long learning
can be encouraged through another excellent technique is to involve in a healthy competition.

PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
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Healthy competition is initiated for the personal development (Olsen, 2015). Therefore, these
practices could be very helpful in professional and personal context for encouraging the
approach of lifelong learning.
Self-managed learning benefits to the individual and organization and its evaluation.
Benefits to the individuals
The benefit of self-managed learning for individual is that it helps them to achieve their set goals
in different phases of life. Competitiveness of the individual increases who have the attitude of
self-managed learning. Those individuals reach the highest position in the organization.
Confidence and intellect of the individual increases that leads to the improvement in the
capabilities and they receive a lot of opportunities compared to other individuals (Cunningham
and Bennett, 2017). Another major benefit of self-managed learning is that individual receives
maximum growth in the organization with minimization of their errors and professional life.
Thus, improvement can be shown in professional and personal life that is considered to be the
self-managed learning advantage.
Benefits to the organization
The dedicated and responsible workforce is the advantage of self-managed learning to the
organization as allocated responsibilities (completion of target, maintaining the decorum of the
team, etc.) can be handled by them, can improve and take the accountability of the duties
assigned to them (Mossman, 1987). The benefit can be availed by the tourism sector as they can
get the dynamic employees with the knowledge of various fields. Therefore, business can trust
these employees and can involve them in the decision-making process. Those companies who
have employees of the attitude of self-managed learning will be benefited with the improved
capability and can create their brand in the market as a leader. Further, innovations can be done
and they can represent their brand s innovative brand. Employees with attitude of self-managed
learning can receive promotion in the organization and can motivate other employees by
becoming the role model for them for developing the attitude of self-managed learning. All these
benefits to the organization of self-managed learning.
Task 3

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For implementing the development plan required processes and activities.
Professional and personal development ideas are changing regularly. New and updated schemes
are the focus of organizations to execute professional and personal development (Kumar, 2016).
For implementing the development plan required process and activities are as follows.
The scope of professional/personal development plan- Personal development plan can be used by
any person whether it is a student or an employee of the organization (Krueger and Casey, 2014).
For the development of professional and personal skills different objectives are decided as shown
below in the table- Diploma in hospitality, Coaching, learning through research, self-managed
learning, to improve communication skills and to improve management skills. According to the
needs of the development, a person receives help from these objectives or guidelines.
Execution and support- Two issues can be faced regarding executing and support in
implementing a professional/personal development plan. First, there will be need of effective
communication while implementing the plan. Second, self-managed learning; occasionally
employees need to upkeep in rational their own decision (Goetsch and Davis, 2014). Support is
needed in both the cases for encouraging development planning.
Influence- Professional/personal development leads to change in the culture of the organization.
Employees are the one who takes the accountability for their own professional and personal
development. Development plan will help in improving the skills of employees and can see the
final results of the plan such as improvement in his/her communication skills, effective
management of activities, time management skills, etc. Activities and process of development
plan are given below (Parmenter, 2015).
Personal development plan
S.
No.
Objectives Present
position
Target Available
development
opportunitie
s
Judgment
Criteria
Time
scale
1 Diploma in
Hospitality
1st year
completed
Score
distinction
marks
Attentive in
the class
Good grades 1 year
2 Coaching Half course Course Regularly Good grades 1 year

PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
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completed learning attending
classes
in the
practice
paper.
3 Learning
through
research
Collecting the
data for the
research
Attaining
the research
objectives.
One year
time is
available
Result of
research
question.
1 year
4 Self-managed
learning
Poor in time
management
Self –
development
Adopt
approaches
of self-
managed
learning
Development
of time
management
skills.
6
months
5 To improve
communicatio
n skills
Poor
presentation
skills.
Boosting the
confidence.
Reading
books
Confident
while
speaking.
1 year
6 To improve
management
skills
Lack in
managing task
and
responsibilities.
Management
expert
Work on
assignment
provided by
the tutors.
Effective
management
of different
activities.
1 year
Undertake and document development activities as planned.
There are many activities to undertake and document development. Requirements that are
specific does not contain any specific activities. Thus, activities that are related to the specific
requirements should be performed properly. For preparing the development document some of
the important points that must be considered are-
 Generate the idea or thought, collect all the relevant information for the document and
add in the document.
 A decision that has been made and all the notes of the meeting must be included in the
document.
 Recheck the document that has been drafted for finding the problems and rectifying them
in the final document (Hayek, 2014).

PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
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Reflect critically on own learning against original aims and objectives set in the development
plan.
Preparation of the first meeting: At all the levels i.e. academic, professional or personal level
preparation is must. Balancing the expectations of the team members is the biggest reason for the
preparation (McMurray, 2017).
Past practice and awareness: Work becomes easy when we have the practice and awareness of
the development plan that also boosts the confidence in the individual (Bratt, 2013).
Motivation and anticipation: For professional and personal development expectation level is very
important to know. Type of skill required can find out through the expectation level, future
objectives can also be identified about the professional and personal development and short-term
and long-term goals can be defined through this (King, 2014). Criteria for motivation can be
derived from the expectation of the employees.
Update the development plan based on feedback and Evaluation.
Feedback can be taken from employees in the organization and for defining the proficiency of
the development plan evaluation of the employees can be done. Development plan with feedback
and evaluation can be updated, for this, there is a process.
Planning- For achieving the objectives planning is important and need to identify the information
about the development plan. Objectives and goals can be easily defined with the help of useful
resources and it can give a fresh start. Results and future events can be analyzed and identified
with the defined goals (Cummings and Worley, 2014). Thus, it shows that planning and defining
the goal are very important aspects and should be done very carefully.
Revising- Planning and implementation make the work easy but revising can make the work
more specified and flaws can be minimized. For understanding the professional and personal
development effectively process should be revised properly and carefully. It will help
organization to find out their strength and weakness and how much expectations have been
achieved. A Clear image can be seen in the development plan and will be helpful in the present
scenario as well as in the coming future.

PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
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Task 4
Identify work-based problem in your job and resolve the problem.
Work-based problems are faced by the employees in the organization regularly. These problems
should be solved by the employees so that flow of the work in the organization can be
maintained. Employees solve these problems with zeal as they consider these problems as a
challenge. Many times different skills are evaluated of the employees like self-learning through
these work-based problems. Examination of the work based problem and its solution are
discussed below.
Examination of the work based problem- Normally in my organization we face problems of
teamwork between the employees even when they are working on important task or event they
do not work in a single team and the major problem is about the difference in the salary of the
employees because of the target of the sales. Rewards are awarded to those employees who
perform excellently in the organization and complete the targets in the organization but
transparency in the issues was lacking for a certain period.
Solution of the problem- Identified problem's best solution is to create supervisor-led teams. The
bonding and teamwork between the employees can be increased by making the small groups of
employees consisting 5/6 members in each team. The goal of the team's, problems recognizing
and suggesting solutions for the problems can be identified with the help of the supervisor of the
team. The system of rewarding will be defined and competition will increase by implementing
the group of the employees. Time to time issues of the transparency will be solved. Besides this,
working in the team have many advantages like there is a positive collaboration through
supportive effort (Derry, Schunn and Gernsbacher, 2014). Self-evaluation and self-managed
learning are encouraged to contest with people of different group. It will lead to the positive
results like confidence of the employees will increase, excitement and passion within the
employees, employees will work with more efficiency and cooperation with this they will be
devoted towards their duties and responsibilities.
Variety of styles in communication at various levels.
Communication is a process of transferring thoughts, imagination, emotions, ideas, feeling and
information from one person to another through channel of communication. The process of
communication involves different elements like sender, channel of communication, receiver and

PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
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feedback (Communication studies. 2017). Different person has different style of communication
and personality. Style of communication is not same it varies from person to person. In the
places where people work they try to communicate with others in their own communication
style. The communication styles that are considered to be important and common are explained
below.
Controller style of communication- Communicators who are controller demand for the facts.
They are focused toward completing the task and objectives, their goals and concepts are clear,
specify objectives and solve the problems effectively. People in the organization who possess
controller style of communication are chief executive officers, managing director (Christopher,
et al 2015).
Promoter style of communication- Promoter are those people who are extrovert like to be
socially involved and life of the party. These type of people like to have a long time period
conversation and love to talk more and more on different topic. The personality of these type of
people is very attractive, exciting and curious, they love to express their feelings in all the
conditions.
Supporter style of communication- Supporter communication style people are those who have
low personality. These type of people are very good in behavior have calm personality, they are
patient and they believe in listening to others also. People who are generally included or have
supportive communication style are as follows guard, workers, and all low-level employees
(Delgadillo, 2015).
Analyzer style of communication- People who have analyzing style of communication collect the
detailed information for setting the goals and objectives in the organization. These type of people
are very straightforward and are very serious at the time when they are communicating with
others. Generally, people who have analyzer style of communication work at the level of
research in the organization (Hoffmann & Sap Se, 2017).
Use of effective time management strategies and its evaluation.
Time can never be managed by anyone. Events can only be managed by people in their life
which is in the relation of time. Time management means achieving the decided outcomes by
utilizing time effectively (Adair & Allen. 2008). Self-motivation ability, level of self-confidence

PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
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and individual’s personality are the aspects on which strategies of time management are
dependent. Strategies evaluation is discussed below.
Time should be scheduled properly- Scheduling is very important for making time management
effective. If scheduling will not be done properly then strategies of time management will not be
effective besides the fact that person knows how time can be spent, priorities setting, organizing
the task (Pedler, Burgoyne and Boydell, 2013). Work of the person becomes easier with the
proper scheduling it also increase the knowledge of the person with increase in his/her
efficiency.
Spending time- Time can be managed by keeping the records of time in which explanation will
be given about the how much is used and where it is used. If record of the time will be
maintained then it will help person to identify where he/she is lacking, which part is consuming
more time and will help to define the important task.
Organizing time- Results of the time management will be poor if it will be not organized
properly. The task will not be completed and utilization of time will not be done properly if time
management is disorganized. Thus, individual must be organized in time management as it is
very important and useful.
A multi-tasking must be avoided at highest priority- If individual is involved in different task
then strategies of time management will not show effective results. Many people think that
working on different task at the same time is time-saving but research shows that working on
different task at single time is not atoll time saving infect it is time-consuming.
Priorities to be decided- Priorities can be set by the individual easily and can follow them if
he/she maintain the records of time. Time will be consumed less if a task is completed according
to the priorities set as it provides us planning to complete the task and finalize it (Pugh and
Nathwani, 2017).
Conclusion
In the conclusion, it can be said that for successful life whether it is professional or personal
professional and personal skills should be developed by every person which is proved in task 1.
Influencing personality can be developed with the help of different approaches of life-long
learning and self-managed learning. It will also help in adjusting smoothly in workplace as it will

PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
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increase the level of understanding. Knowledge, capabilities, and skills can be developed with
help of various approaches of self-managed learning like visionary approach and setting the goal
approach. These approaches are very helpful in tourism sector as it increases the confidence and
motivation. For this, a proper development plan should be established which is explained in task
2. Some important activities are required in development plan such as scope of
professional/personal development plan, execution, and support, Influence.
When development plan is implemented it should be monitored and anticipated and changes in
the plan should be done according to the time duration. Thus, it will be a better idea to
implement flexible development plan so that update can be done in the development plan
according to the feedback received. Task 3 involves a work based problem and its solution.
Problem is teamwork spirit is lacking within the employees of the organization and difference in
the salary due to the sales target. Solution of the problem was given that all the employees to be
divided into different groups of 5/6 members in each team. This solution was given for raising
the spirit of competition and teamwork. Styles of communication that are available at various
level are Controller style of communication, promoter style of communication, supporter style of
communication and analyzer style of communication. At the end, time management should be
considered at the highest priority as without this effective plan cannot be developed for
enhancing the professional and personal skills. Besides this, motivation, career development is
the important points on which organizing ability, leaning way, learners development and
performance improvement are dependent.

PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
13
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