Comprehensive Report: Personal Development for Employment

This report delves into the critical aspects of personal development for employment, providing a comprehensive overview of various learning styles, including Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle and Honey Mumford model, and techniques for identifying individual development needs, such as SWOT analysis. It explores potential barriers to learning, like financial constraints, geographical limitations, and work-life balance challenges, and offers strategies to overcome them, such as early contact with instructors and providing effective feedback. The report further analyzes learning and development options to meet specific needs, emphasizing the importance of improving soft skills and utilizing training programs and e-learning tools. It outlines support mechanisms for personal growth, including mentorship, feedback from colleagues, and practical application of learned concepts. A detailed personal development plan is presented, incorporating objectives, success criteria, and action steps, alongside methods for monitoring self-development, such as learning logs and feedback analysis. The report concludes by emphasizing the significance of personal development in enhancing employability and achieving career goals.

Personal Development
for Employment

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
SECTION 1......................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Identify own learning style....................................................................................................1
1.2 Technique for identifying own development needs..............................................................3
1.3 Potential barriers in learning................................................................................................4
1.4 How barriers can be overcome..............................................................................................4
SECTION 2......................................................................................................................................5
2.1 Analyse learning/ development options to meet your needs.................................................5
2.2 Support mechanisms for own development..........................................................................5
2,3 Own personal development plan...........................................................................................6
2.4 Methods for monitoring self development............................................................................6
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8
.........................................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Personal development is a lifelong process because it is required at every stage of life for
getting specified goals. If people will not develop themselves then they will not be able to
achieve success in their life which is very important for survival in the society (De Vos, De
Hauw and Van der Heijden, 2011). It is a way for people to assess their skills and qualities so
that he can reach to his decided destination. This project will state about different learning style
model, techniques for identifying own development needs and potential barriers to learning. It
will also explain the way by which these barriers can be removed and mechanism by which
development can be done.
SECTION 1
1.1 Identify own learning style
Learning style can be referred as a process of by which individual begins to concentrates,
absorb and retains important information. There are various types of models of learning style that
are given below- Kolb's Experimental learning cycle- This model states that there are four types of
learning style which is based on two dimensions, one is how people perceives data and
process information.
◦ Convergers- In this, learner learns things by doing practical as well as via solving
problems.
◦ Divergers- In this, individual prefer to learn things via observation, brainstorming
etc.
◦ Assimilators- These persons like to learn things by putting information in concise
logical order and using reflective observation.
◦ Accomodators- They are people oriented who believes in feelings rather than logical
things.
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 Honey Mumford model- This concept has defined four style of learners which are given
below-
◦ Activist- These individuals want to take challenge by doing new experiments and
activities.
◦ Reflector- These persons learns things by observing and thinking. They investigate
the things before doing any commitment.
◦ Theorist- They want to think things through step by step. They like complex and
logical concepts (Fullan, 2014).
◦ Pragmatist- These people apply things practically whatever they learned via
observation.
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source 1: Experiential learning, 2017

1.2 Technique for identifying own development needs
For identification of own developmental needs, SWOT analysis is very important because
with the help of this, individual can know about his strengths, weaknesses etc. This analysis is as
follows-
Strengths
 Good communication skills.
 Leadership style Complete own task on time effectively
and efficiently.
Weaknesses
 I can not say “No” to anyone if they
need my help.
 Quick to judge.
Opportunities
 I use motivational technique for
motivating people which increases
overall performance.
Threats
 Hurts easily
 More competition in the firm which
decreases my productivity.
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source 2: Learning styles quiz, 2017

 I maintain healthy relation with my
colleagues which increases efficiency
of myself.
 Negative talks by customers and team
members.
1.3 Potential barriers in learning
There are various types of barriers which may come in learning new things that are given
below- Financial barrier- If I want to learn new things then there will requirement of financial
resources if it will not be available then to learn things may not be possible for me. It will
create disturbance in learning (Govaerts and et.al., 2011). Geographically- It is another barriers that creates disturbance in learning. For example-
My class are too far away from my home and there is no proper transportation facility
then I will not be able to go there for learning. So it is the biggest barrier. Work-life-balance- If I will have more work responsibility then it will not be possible for
me to maintain balance between professional and personal life.
 Social barrier- It is the biggest factor which creates disturbance in learning new things. If
family will not support then I will not go anywhere for acquiring new knowledge.
1.4 How barriers can be overcome
As above discussed, there are various barriers which may come in learning of an
individual. It can be removed by following the certain things that are given below- Make first contact before course begins- Learner should introduce himself before
learning things. It can be done by sending mail or short video message relaying same
information so that he will get sense of personality. Provide direction in various ways- Learners should get proper guidance and directions so
that he can learn new things effectively and efficiently. Directions should be given in
various ways such as through emails, online courses etc.
 Provide effective and timely feedback- It is very important element in online courses.
Make your presence known in a discussion forum by getting involved early and asking
questions that will help in keeping discussion going on.
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SECTION 2
2.1 Analyse learning/ development options to meet your needs
For personal development, there are various options by which a person can remove their
weaknesses and can achieve his decided objectives and goals. My SWOT analysis identifies
various developmental options which are as follows-
 For improving myself, firstly I need to improve my soft skills such as assertiveness,
communication skills as well as decision making ability. It will aid in meeting the needs
of organisation along with my goals (Hunter And et.al., 2013).
 I can improve my weaknesses by doing some practical things by which it can be
understood that how situation can be controlled effectively and efficiently.
 Other developmental option is training which is very beneficial for own development.
This programme increases the knowledge and skills of a person and tells how to perform
their job so that specified objectives can be achieved effectively and efficiently.
For own development, I can use e-learning tools in which learning will be done through
internet as well as ask to my line manager to give me that project which will aid in improving
and developing soft skills.
2.2 Support mechanisms for own development
There are various supporting mechanism which aids in self development that are given
below-
 I can take support of line manager and team members to review my progress.
 “Leading and managing team” course, teleconference and face to face meeting with
members are very helpful in self development because in these activities, discussion is
carried out on own personal progress and problems.
 I would like to involve some experts who will provide suggestions and advice by which I
can improve myself.
 Apart from this, I can take feedbacks from my colleagues and team members who will
tell about my behaviour. With the help of this, I can improve myself by removing a;;
drawbacks.
 By applying learning things into practical will aid in self development.
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2,3 Own personal development plan
My own personal development plan is as follows-
Objectives Priority Success criteria Actions
Want to improve my
communication skill
At present, my written
communication is
good but oral is not
proficient.
When I will get job
according to my
expectation then it will
be assumed that I got
my objective.
For improving, I will
take coaching and will
also learn from
internet source.
To improve my
leadership style
I can handle a team of
5 people but to control
more than five
individuals is totally
impossible for me.
I will achieve this
objective when I will
generate positive result
with the help of team
members.
For improving this,
learning ability should
be analyse on a regular
basis.
For obtaining these
objectives, there is
requirement of various
sources like time,
money etc. If there
will be proper time
then it can be given to
carry out activities.
I will obtain specified
goals within period of
1 month.
If I will attain this
target within period of
2 month maximum.
If my communication
and leadership skills
are improved then It
will help in carrying
out business activities
effectively and
efficiently.
2.4 Methods for monitoring self development
There are numerous methods for evaluating self development that are given below-
 I can monitor own development by using learning log. It gives permission to users to
concentrate on particular learning areas which are important for that person. With the
help of this, manager and team members can easily understand that what I am trying to
achieve and if there is needs of support then they will provide to me.
 With the support of learning log, feedback can be recorded easily and effectively as well
as can know about my improved soft learnings area of me (Schmeck, 2013).
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 If getting positive result is also a symbol of self development.
 By taking feedback from colleagues and team members can also be known about own
development.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it is concluded that personal development is very important for
employment because employer hires only to that person who have good skills and knowledge.
This assignment has stated about different learning style like Kolb's Experimental learning cycle
etc. by which an individual can learn about various things along with it has explained about
barriers that comes while acquiring knowledge and skills. These hurdles can be removed from
various ways like by doing planning. There are various tools by which self development can be
done like training programme, feedbacks from team members etc. So if a person wants to know
about his development then he can take suggestion from his seniors as well as from colleagues.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
D'Amore, A., James, S. and Mitchell, E.K., 2012. Learning styles of first-year undergraduate
nursing and midwifery students: A cross-sectional survey utilising the Kolb Learning
Style Inventory. Nurse Education Today. 32(5). pp.506-515.
De Vos, A., De Hauw, S. and Van der Heijden, B.I., 2011. Competency development and career
success: The mediating role of employability. Journal of Vocational Behavior. 79(2).
pp.438-447.
Fullan, M., 2014. Leading in a culture of change personal action guide and workbook. John
Wiley & Sons.
Govaerts, N. and et.al., 2011. Influence of learning and working climate on the retention of
talented employees. Journal of Workplace Learning. 23(1). pp.35-55.
Hunter, E.M. And et.al., 2013. Servant leaders inspire servant followers: Antecedents and
outcomes for employees and the organization. The Leadership Quarterly. 24(2). pp.316-
331.
Klašnja-Milićević, A. and et.al., 2011. E-Learning personalization based on hybrid
recommendation strategy and learning style identification. Computers & Education.
56(3). pp.885-899.
Marković, S. and Jovanović, N., 2012. Learning style as a factor which affects the quality of e-
learning. Artificial Intelligence Review, pp.1-10.
Schmeck, R.R. ed., 2013. Learning strategies and learning styles. Springer Science & Business
Media.
Shaw, R.S., 2012. A study of the relationships among learning styles, participation types, and
performance in programming language learning supported by online forums. Computers
& Education. 58(1). pp.111-120.
Online
Learning styles quiz. 2017. [Online]. Available through: <http://www.emtrain.eu/learning-
styles/>. [Accessed on 14th August 2017].
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