Personal Development Report: Communication Skills and Self-Awareness

This report details a personal development plan, focusing on enhancing communication skills and self-awareness. It begins with an introduction to personal development planning, emphasizing its role in self-improvement and career growth. The report outlines personal goals, such as improving confidence and active listening, and discusses how these goals align with the overall development plan. It explores different learning styles, including behaviorism and cognitivism, and identifies personal strengths and weaknesses. The analysis covers techniques for improving communication and self-confidence, as well as the application of different learning theories to skill development. The report concludes by summarizing the benefits of a personal development plan, highlighting the importance of continuous self-assessment, and the achievement of set objectives.

RUNNING HEAD: Personal Development Planning
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Personal Development Planning

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Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Personal Development Planning..................................................................................................................3
Personal Goals.............................................................................................................................................4
Be confident........................................................................................................................................4
Ask questions to clarify........................................................................................................................4
Keep an open mind..............................................................................................................................4
Focus on your strength and weakness.................................................................................................4
Developing learning and Study Skills...........................................................................................................5
Behaviorism.............................................................................................................................................5
Cognitivism..............................................................................................................................................6
Identification of strength and weakness.....................................................................................................6
Strength...................................................................................................................................................6
Weakness................................................................................................................................................6
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................7
References...................................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
Personal development planning is the procedure of developing an activity plan which relies upon
awareness, indication, values, setting objectives and organizing self-awareness in relation to the
context of a profession, knowledge, connection or for self-development (Cottrell, 2015). This
report will assess my personal development in regarding communication skills and self-
awareness. The concept of the personal development plan is not just restricted to self-
advancement, but also involves formal and informal activities intended to make other too. The
report explains the advantages of personal development, outline the objectives set for self-
development and the progress that has been made towards in accomplishing these objectives.
Personal Development Planning
In my opinion, personal development planning refers to a set of activities that one can involve in
for increasing self-knowledge and character. According to De Vos et al. (2011), personal
development planning includes abilities and potential advancement, establishing of human
capital and employability, enhancing the personal satisfaction, and has a vital role in the
acknowledgment of aspirations and dreams. In other words, I can say that personal development
planning is a procedure that is created to enable us to think about and arrange for your own
personal, academic and career growth. The main goal of personal development planning is that it
guides the individuals towards accomplishment of their long term and short term objectives
(Sadri, 2012). For example, there are many points in the student lifecycle at acceptance, in
consider skills units, arrangements where the technique of self-improvement planning is already
embedded. The active participation of students in the process, and as a segment of the
educational programs, and may be motivated to proceed with the practice throughout their
studies and beyond their time at University. According to Leigh & Blakely, (2016), the main
advantages of involving in Personal Development Planning may help students to:
 Be more encouraged
 More participative in the development
 Better learners

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 Enhance self-confidence
 Enhance their employability
 Perceive and satisfy their potential
Personal Goals
According to Braat & de Groot (2012), goal setting is a strong procedure for thinking about our
ideal future, and for encouraging and change our vision of this future into reality. In order to
enhance my decision making skills and self-confidence, I set the following goals to make
improvement in self-development plan:
Be confident: Being assertive means standing up for what we think and stand on our principles.
To enhance our confidence, we should listen others carefully and understand what they are trying
to say. We can participate in the activities to increase our confidence and can grab the
opportunities which motivate us to take appropriate decision for solving the problems. For
example, I set the goal to speak in front of 50 people to enhance our self-confidence and also
improve communication skills.
Ask questions to clarify: Another goal set for enhancing listening skills is to ask the questions to
clarify our point of view. We should ask the questions when the subject is unclear to us or not
able to understand properly. It is better to ask the questions than to presume that we know do not
know (Northouse, 2015).
Keep an open mind: We should have the ability to keep an open mind in order to express our
ideas to others. We should research and investigate the subject and express the information to
audience. According to Woodcock (2017), team work is also helpful in expressing your ideas
and thoughts to the audience. We should be capable to work well with others, and deliver that
subject to teachers, and prospective employers. The more open we are to others, the more
imaginative we become (Arnold & Boggs, 2015).
Focus on your strength and weakness: According to Komarraju & Nadler (2013), self-
awareness people were aware of their strength and weakness and are capable to work in that
environment. In my opinion, being aware of our skills means that we know when to reach out for
assistance, and when we are depend our own capabilities.

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On the other hand, I set the benchmark or blueprint to make the progress in achieving these
goals. At present, I am capable to speak in front of 30-40 people carrying the positive traits, and
also have the capability to act as leader in order to build forward-looking and estimated growth. I
am capable to take responsibility for my personal activities, positive adaptability which can help
me to get along with the others, and positive body language, gestures which make my speech
more effective and attract the audience to listen.
By analyzing the above goals setting for improving the personal development, I also develop the
knowledge, capabilities and competence in a wide range of information and communication
technology which empower me to collect variety of information and progression for further
education (Kukulska-Hulme, 2012). The positive attitude and body language make my speech
more effective and enhance self-confidence to present myself in a more appropriate manner and
also enhance motivation skills (Eisele et al., 2013).
On the other side, the main difficulties still I faced in speaking is little hesitation of audience
response and not make proper eye contact with the audience In order to overcome these
problems, I should make my speech more effective which attract the audience attention, make
eye contact with the audience which enhances my self-confidence, data should be authentic, and
information should be unique.
Developing learning and Study Skills
According to Schmeck (2013), learning theories refers to the conceptual platforms explaining
how learning is immersed, prepared, and retained during learning. Often, the similar content can
be made in different ways. Learning theories gives a structure for such learning results. The key
learning styles and methods that I have focused on enhancing research and interpersonal skills is
explained as follows (Sekaran and Bougie, 2016):
Behaviorism: According to Alzaghoul (2012), behaviorism learning style is depending on the
observable modifications in the behavioral patterns of an individual. This learning style
concentrates on the new behavioral model being rehearsed until the point when it turns out to be
automatic. In behaviorism learning style, the learner relies on a teacher for procurement of

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knowledge. For example, in an online learning course which needs learners to remember the
capital cities of states show the following outcomes:
Learning results tried how efficiently learners consume the data.
Practice opportunities were given to the learner using a basic diversion based approach.
The suitable response was given.
Cognitivism: According to Huang et al. (2012), cognitivism learning style depends on the
adjustment in conduct through the successive advancement of a person's psychological
capacities. This learning style shows the thought procedure inside the student's brain. For
example, in an online learning course that included two arrangements of groups with different
knowledge levels taking similar application training.
A pre-test was used to explain the suitable learning way for each learner profile.
A visual coordinator was composed, which enabled the learners to expand the subjects to their
knowledge levels.
The intellectual stream was identified as per the current ranges of abilities and the substance was
accordingly pieced into important subjects or lessons.
Identification of strength and weakness
In my opinion, the main strength and weakness in the learning environment are described as
follows:
Strength:
 My communications skills and self-confidence increases, and basic skills are improved
and now my comprehensive knowledge is basically good for my level of training.
 I can take responsibility for my actions and can take initiative for executive those actions.
 Having the chance to lead over a group an expanded over time, I showed that I have the
capacity to speak in front of the large audience and also attract their attention towards my
speech.

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 I can express my ideas well and motivated towards our thoughts.
 Building the quality of team work, analysis the situation, time planning, and openness to
express the ideas.
For example, good command on language, fluency in English languages, improvement in
personality traits such as positive attitude and body language, eye contact, no hesitation, enhance
self-confidence, clarity and a good listener in order to become a good communicator.
Weakness:
 I have to take time in presenting a speech thoroughly before briefing to the audience.
 I cannot handle pressure.
 I cannot provide relevant ideas and thoughts on specific topics.
 I cannot solve issues easily.
For example, still need to improve many things like not having the sufficient knowledge of the
topic, ignoring the rumors or whispers.
Conclusion
In my opinion, from this report, it has been concluded that personal development planning is a
procedure of reflecting on success, learning to benefit from the strengths, determining and
assessing the areas of development. This report makes a personal development plan in relation to
communication skill and self-confidence. The personal development plan is very imperative in
empowering the tracking of development modifications that are essential for the
accomplishments of objectives. My personal development plan will confirm that I acquire skills
that enhance interpersonal skills and independence. This personal development plan helps me to
think and comprehend that there are lots of skills that I want to gain. To improve communication
skills and enhance self-confidence, we need to know how to communicate with the various
individuals. This planning also helped me to understand that I should not be waiting for the ideal
time to begin accomplishing my goals and objectives. The different learning styles also helped
me to improve my personality traits and increase self-development. This learning style also
helped the learner to know the important factors which should be considered in achieving the
goals and objectives.

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References
Alzaghoul, A. F., 2012. The implication of the learning theories on implementing e-learning
courses. The Research Bulletin of Jordan ACM, 11(11), 27-30.
Eisele, L., Grohnert, T., Beausaert, S. and Segers, M., 2013. Employee motivation for personal
development plan effectiveness. European Journal of Training and Development, 37(6), pp.527-
543.
Kukulska-Hulme, A., 2012. How should the higher education workforce adapt to advancements
in technology for teaching and learning?. The Internet and Higher Education, 15(4), pp.247-254.
Cottrell, S., 2015. Skills for success: Personal development and employability. Palgrave
Macmillan.
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), 438-
447.
Huang, E. Y., Lin, S. W., & Huang, T. K., 2012. What type of learning style leads to online
participation in the mixed-mode e-learning environment? A study of software usage
instruction. Computers & Education, 58(1), 338-349.
Komarraju, M., and Nadler, D., 2013. Self-efficacy and academic achievement: Why do implicit
beliefs, goals, and effort regulation matter?. Learning and Individual Differences, 25, 67-72.
Woodcock, M., 2017. Team development manual. Routledge.
Northouse, P. G., 2015. Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.
Sadri, G., 2012. Emotional intelligence and leadership development. Public Personnel
Management, 41(3), 535-548.
Schmeck, R. R. (Ed.). (2013). Learning strategies and learning styles. Springer Science &
Business Media.
Sekaran, U. and Bougie, R., 2016. Research methods for business: A skill building approach.
John Wiley & Sons.