Personal Development Plan: Goals, Skills, and Career Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of a personal development plan (PDP) within the context of business management. It begins by defining personal and professional development, emphasizing their role in enhancing skills and capabilities. The report then explores the value of short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals, offering personal examples to illustrate each. Short-term goals include improving communication skills, achieving a better work-life balance, and attending personal development seminars. Medium-term goals involve completing a digital marketing course, going on a trip, and making investments. Long-term goals focus on developing leadership skills, aspiring to a managerial position at Unilever, and establishing an NGO. The report highlights the significance of a PDP as a blueprint for personal and career development, emphasizing its role in identifying strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement. It concludes by summarizing the key takeaways and reinforcing the importance of PDPs in achieving both personal and professional success. The report is intended to help students understand and apply the concepts of personal development in a business context and is available on Desklib for further study.

Business Management with
Foundation.
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Table of Contents
1. INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................3
2. Concept of personal and professional development ...............................................................3
3. Value of short term goals........................................................................................................3
4. Value of medium term goals ..................................................................................................4
5. Value of long term goals .......................................................................................................5
6. Value of a Personal Development Plan...................................................................................6
7.0 CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES LIST.......................................................................................................................8
Appendix 1: Personal Development Plan........................................................................................9
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1. INTRODUCTION
Business management is the planning, organizing, directing and controlling the business
activities through innovative activities and effective marketing. It is managing the resources of
the business in such a way that they can meet the objective of the policy. Personal development
plan is a blueprint of the individuals vision of future of the targets and goals what it has to
achieve (Ashurst, 2017). The aim of personal development plan is to help the individual in
reaching the short term, medium term and long term goals.
2. Concept of personal and professional development
Personal development relates to the enhancing the skills and capabilities of an individual
for future life. It is to make a positive impact on the life and learn from the practicality of life
which helps to enhance the quality of life. Personal development is the way of growing rather
than just sorting out the issues and also making improvements in various aspects of the life
(Shaheen. and Hameed, 2020). Professional development related to enhance those skills which
makes the job easy to perform. It is continuous training and learning about the current trend in
the market related to the career (Bates. and Morgan, 2018). Through both the personal and
professional development an individual adds on to its own learning and growth by increasing the
confidence, keeping up to date with current trends and it also helps an individual to achieve their
career goals and become a better human being and employees. The goals must be specific,
measurable, attainable, relevant and time bound to be effective.
3. Value of short term goals
Short term goals are those goals that an individual wants to achieve in the near future say
in few months or even weeks and days. It is the roadmap for achieving the long term goals and
also it helps to keep the focus. These gaols need to be achieved in a short span of time. These
short term goals reduces the chances of procrastination and helps the individual to stay
motivated.
Improving communication skills – There are various types of communication skills that
can be developed to increase the skills and capabilities such as verbal, non-verbal, written etc.
This will help me to enhance my relationship with colleagues and other clients. By improving
the communication skills the value of individual in the workplace increases and also by
developing this skill helps an individual in career progression. A good rapport can be build
through effective communication and by this the professional image of the individual can be
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enhanced. Apart from professional life the individual can also make friends easily and can build
good relationship with family members. Stress can sometimes build up due to poor
communication. For improving the communication skills the individual can ask for feedback and
can identify the loopholes and can make efforts to improve the same.
Improving the work life balance – Work life balance is very important as it provides
equilibrium and equals the scale of personal and professional life. By maintain proper work life
balance and individual can reduce the stress and health issues. For improving the work life
balance the individual should prioritize the important work and postpone the work which is not
urgent. It improves the relationships with both the clients and colleagues and also with family.
Attending personal development seminar – My last short term goal is attending a
personal development seminar. It helps the individual to know new things and helps them to
keep motivated. It also helps the individual in getting clear vision of the future and career goals.
It also gives an opportunity to meet like-minded people. It will help the individual in building
different areas of skills strong and increases the productivity.
4. Value of medium term goals
Medium term goals are those which takes little longer time to achieve the goals. It
bridges the gap between the short term goals and the ultimate objective which we have to
achieve. It takes around few months to years to accomplish medium term goals. The medium
term goals helps in keeping the burning fire alive in the individual. There are certain medium
term goals as specified below:
Completing a digital marketing course – As the technology is advancing there are
greater opportunities in digital marketing as everything is going online. Digital marketing course
consist of many areas in which an individual can become proficient such as search engine
optimization. Search engine marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, blogging and
many more. This course takes around 3 months to 6 months and also various certificates are
received for completing the course. This field has a very great future ahead. There are many
career opportunities and jobs in the market in coming future such as digital marketing manager,
web developer, content writer and many more.
Going on a trip – Another medium term goal is to go on a road trip with friends. Also,
doing adventures and trekking. The adventures that can be done on the trip are river rafting,
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mountain climbing, camping, exploring new places and many more. Going on a road trip with
earphones and a good playlist can make a road trip successful and playing a road trip game with
the friends is the utmost adventure. Also stopping in between the staring point and the
destination and exploring different places are the goals.
Making investment – My last medium term goal is to make investment to direct my
earnings for a productive and sky-high returns. I want to invest in debt mutual funds and in real
estate. Through debt mutual funds I can get fixed income and also returns on this are not affected
by market fluctuations. The risk in debt mutual funds are not that high and there are many types
of debt mutual funds in which the money can be invested such as liquid funds, money market
funds, floater fund etc.
5. Value of long term goals
Long term goals requires proper planning and longs for several years. These goals are
time-consuming and also challenging and need dedication for achieving. These goals are
important as they give direction to our life and also in the process of achieving the goals we
encounter self-improvements which makes are future all the more bright (Höchli, Brügger. and
Messner, 2018). The following are the long term goals:
To develop leadership skills – Leadership skills are one of the most important skills and
through developing these skills I will be able to handle the situations more effectively and will
become flexible in solving the problems in personal as well as professional life. Leadership skills
are of various types such as communication skills, motivating skills, setting goals etc. Also, by
developing the leadership skills team work can be fostered.
To become manager at Unilever – Another long term goal is to become a manager at
Unilever as Unilever is my dream company to work from many years. The company is
committed to development of their people and also takes care of their employees and helps them
in reaching their highest potential. They focus on well-being of the employees and also takes
suggestions and feedback from the employees. Also, the package is fantastic and satisfactory
because of which employees also fee motivated to work. The core values of the company are
integrity, respecting and pioneering, and they have also applied in their practical scenario as
well.
To open a NGO – My last long term goal is to open a NGO. As it is my passion to serve
the people who are less fortunate and are suffering. My goal is to bring a positive change in the
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lives of people and also to do welfare activities for them. Also in want to serve animals and
making shelter for them and treating the sick animals. My objective will be to improve the
quality of live of the disadvantage section of the society and people and provide social justice
and to make aware them about their rights.
6. Value of a Personal Development Plan
A personal development plan is a blueprint of vision of an individual about their skills.
This tools helps in assisting the employees in their personal and career development (Lejeune,
Beausaert. and Raemdonck, 2018). The objective of developing personal development plan is to
improve the current job performance, capabilities and potential and also achieving the goals.
Personal development plan helps an individual in determining their strengths and weakness and
also identifying the areas of improvement. This plan is made to self reflection and helps both in
the personal and professional development. It also helps in developing the career goals and
building a roadmap for the future. By developing the personal development goals an individual
will be able to analyse where he or she is lacking and what skills are needed to be developed.
There are certain skills which are needed to be inculcated and improved to gain an
advantage in both the personal and professional life. These personal development plans gives
clarity of the vision and also sharpens the existing skills. It also motivates and drives the
satisfaction of the individual. If the personal development plan is made effectively then it
reduces the turnover of the employees. It helps in achieving great heights in the career and helps
in brushing up the existing skills. The following are skills which must be developed :
First is the leadership skills as a great leaders pays a great path and ensure success of the
organization. To develop good leadership skills one must actively listen, practice discipline,
take more responsibilities and handle complex projects, strive towards learning new things
everyday form others and sharpening the skills. Lastly one must celebrate small victories in
order to keep motivated and enthusiastic.
The second is the problem solving skills and to develop this skill one must focus on the
solution and not on the problem, determining the objective which has to be achieved and
understanding the nature of the problem, all the facts and figures must be analysed properly and
a clear picture must be created. Determining various solutions that can be taken out of the
problem and analyses of same must be done and the best solution must be implemented.
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The third skill which needs to be developed is the ability to work under pressure for that
a list of work which are urgent and important and the work which can be postponed, forget the
future and focus on the present and maintain a positive attitude towards the work is the strategy
to learn how to work under pressure. One should break the task which are urgent and important
determine the direction of undertaking those tasks and take the help of the team and colleagues.
Focus should be on effective planning and time management of the task.
7.0 CONCLUSION
It can be concluded that personal development aims to help the individual in reaching the
short term, medium term and long term goals. Personal development is the way of growing
rather than just sorting out the issues and also making improvements in various aspects of the
life and professional development enhances those skills which makes the job easy to perform.
Short term goals are those goals that an individual wants to achieve in the near future say in few
months or even weeks and days. Medium term goals bridges the gap between the short term
goals and the ultimate objective which we have to achieve and long term goals are important as
they give direction to our life and also in the process of achieving the goals we encounter self-
improvements which makes are future all the more bright. A personal development plan is a
blueprint of vision of an individual about their skills. The objective of developing personal
development plan is to improve the current job performance, capabilities and potential and also
achieving the goals. Some skills which are being determined in the personal development plan
is leadership skills, problem solving skills and ability to work under pressure.
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REFERENCES LIST
Books and journals
Ashurst, A., 2017. How to… develop a personal learning and development plan. Nursing And
Residential Care. 19(4). pp.236-236.
Bates, C.C. and Morgan, D.N., 2018. Seven elements of effective professional development. The
Reading Teacher. 71(5). pp.623-626.
Carranza, E. and et.al 2018. Working Under Pressure: Improving Labor Productivity through
Financial Innovation. Policy Brief. (31).
Höchli, B., Brügger, A. and Messner, C., 2018. How focusing on superordinate goals motivates
broad, long-term goal pursuit: a theoretical perspective. Frontiers in psychology. 9.
p.1879.
Iordanoglou, D., 2018. Future trends in leadership development practices and the crucial
leadership skills. Journal of Leadership, Accountability and Ethics. 15(2).
Lejeune, C., Beausaert, S. and Raemdonck, I., 2018. The impact on employees’ job performance
of exercising self-directed learning within personal development plan practice. The
International Journal of Human Resource Management. pp.1-27.
Proctor, T., 2018. Creative problem solving for managers: developing skills for decision making
and innovation. Routledge.
Shaheen, S. and Hameed, M., 2020. Personal Development Plan (PDP). Middle East Journal of
Family Medicine. 18(4).
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Appendix 1: Personal Development Plan
Development plan Resources
1. Leadership
skills
My leadership skills are moderate. And I
would try to find out my weak points and start
working on it.
To develop the leadership skills first of all I
will practice discipline while working at the
workplace. This will also determine the self-
control abilities.
The next thing I will do is to take more
responsibilities and handle complex projects
which will helps in stepping out of my comfort
zones.
The third thing that I will do is to practice
appreciating the ideas and suggestions of
others both in the personal and professional
terms.
I will strive towards learning new things
everyday form others and sharpen my skills.
Also, on achieving nay target or goals I will
celebrate them even if they are small which
keeps me motivated and strive to perform even
better.
Holt, S., Hall, A. and Gilley,
A., 2018. Essential
components of leadership
development
programs. Journal of
Managerial Issues. 30(2).
pp.214-153.
2. Problem
solving skills
I am little confused when all the options in
front are equally good. Therefore, to brush up
my problem solving skills I will not ignore the
conflicts taking place and try to understand the
roots and causes of the problems.
This skill is very important especially in the
professional terms as there are many instances
Rahman, M., 2019. 21st
Century Skill'Problem
Solving': Defining the
Concept. Rahman, MM
(2019). 21st Century Skill
“Problem Solving”:
Defining the Concept. Asian
9

and situation when at the workplace I have to
take the decisions and opt for the best option.
First of all I would focus on the solution and
not on the problem. As focusing on problems
develops a negative atmosphere and solution
cannot be derived. And I would try to remain
calm while understanding the situation.
The second thing I would do is to determine
the objective which has to be achieved and
understanding the nature of the problem.
The third thing which is to be done is to gather
as much information as possible. All the facts
and figures must be analyzed properly and a
clear picture must be created.
Determine various solutions that can be taken
out of the problem. As many alternatives
which can be taken on the list and the best
solution must be implemented.
Lastly the implemented solution must be
evaluated and feedback must be taken to make
changes if required.
Journal of Interdisciplinary
Research. 2(1).pp.64-74.
3. Ability to
work under
pressure
I am very poor at working under pressure and
this is the skill which I need to develop in
order to enhance my performance.
First of all I will make a list of work which are
urgent and important and the work which can
be postponed and create a strategy.
The next thing I will do is to forget the future
and focus on the present and maintain a
positive attitude towards the work.
The third thing I would do is to break the task
Miletić, S. and van
Maanen, L., 2019.
Caution in decision-
making under time
pressure is mediated by
timing ability. Cognitive
psychology. 110. pp.16-
29.
10

which are urgent and important determine the
direction of undertaking those tasks.
I will also take the help of the team and
colleagues.
I will also focus on effective planning and time
management of the task.
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