Report: Self-Managed Learning for Personal and Professional Growth

This report delves into the crucial aspects of personal and professional development, emphasizing the significance of self-managed learning. It evaluates various approaches to self-managed learning, highlighting the importance of continuous improvement and skill enhancement. The report proposes ways to encourage lifelong learning in both personal and professional contexts, discussing the benefits for individuals and organizations. It then focuses on taking responsibility for one's development, including evaluating current skills, identifying development needs, and creating a personal and professional development plan. Furthermore, the report covers the implementation and review of the development plan, including documenting activities and reflecting on learning outcomes. Finally, it addresses the demonstration of interpersonal and transferable skills, offering advice on problem-solving, communication, and time management strategies within a professional context.

Contents
Introduction...................................................................................................................... 2
Task 1: Understand how self-managed learning can enhance lifelong development.......3
1.1 Evaluate approaches to self-managed learning......................................................3
1.2 Propose ways in which lifelong learning in personal and professional contexts
could be encouraged.................................................................................................... 4
1.3 Evaluate the benefits of self-managed learning to the individual and organization.5
Task 2: Be able to take responsibility for own personal and professional development...6
2.1 Evaluate own current skills and competencies against professional standards and
organizational objectives...............................................................................................6
2.2 Identify own development needs and the activities required to meet them.............7
2.3 Identify development opportunities to meet current and future defined needs........8
2.4 Devise a personal and professional development plan based on identified needs. 8
Task 3: Be able to implement and continually review own personal and professional
development plan.............................................................................................................9
3.1 Discuss the processes and activities required to implement the development plan
...................................................................................................................................... 9
3.2 To undertake and document development activities as planned...........................10
3.3 Reflect critically on own learning against original aims and objectives set in the
development plan........................................................................................................11
3.4 Update the development plan based on feedback and evaluation........................11
Task 4: Be able to demonstrate acquired interpersonal and transferable skills..............12
4.1 Advice on the best solution and explain why you think it is the best solution. ......12
4.2 Variety of communication styles at various levels that may be used to address the
labour turnover problem .............................................................................................13
4.3 Evaluate their time management strategies and advise them on effective time
management strategies that they can use with their staff ..........................................14
Conclusion..................................................................................................................... 15
References..................................................................................................................... 16

Introduction
Personal and professional development is defined as continuous growth in personal attributes and
continuous improvement in skills and competencies required to grow in your career. To live in
the society respectfully and to have a well-known status in the locality personal development of
an individual is very important. And to be at par with the changing professional environment
professional development is very important. There is huge competition in the market. Individual
has to be well versed with the skills, competencies and latest technologies coming in the market.
Personal and professional development is very important to achieve your short term or long term
goals. With the increase in competition challenges has also increased. Employee should be ready
to face these challenges in their career. There are lots of opportunities also in the professional
sector. Jobs are not just limited to your own country. If you have skills you can go to any other
country with better opportunities. You can earn better compensation (Siegel, 1978). Self-
managed learning is the very important initiative to grow in this industry. Formal way used to set
your goals and objectives and then working towards them is called personal and professional
development plan. SWOT analysis is the first step in preparing development plan which helps in
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knowing the areas where we have to work on in our development plan. It also helps in knowing
the threats and opportunities available in the market according to our strengths. SMART is one
more technique which is used to develop the plan. Timelines should be set up for each and every
goal or objective. Continuous evaluation of development plan is also very important to make
required changes in the plan. Organizations are paying lots of attention in developing the skills
and competencies of their employees with the help of training programs. This report will also
focus on team building and leadership skills. Time management strategies are also very
important in implementing the development plan smoothly. Continues development is not just
limited to low level employees but it is applicable to all the employees in an organization.
Continuous development of employees will improve the future of both employee and the
employer better.
Task 1: Understand how self-managed learning can enhance lifelong development
1.1 Evaluate approaches to self-managed learning
Effort should come from employee side to learn something new and to develop his skills and
competencies. When an individual puts effort in improvement and develop his own plans that is
called self-managed learning. Self-motivation is very important to move towards self-managed
learning. Self-managed learning helps us in being confident and keeps us motivated towards
work. Employee will be able to see growth in his career. Self-managed learning is ongoing
process (Arlin, 1978). We learn at each and every stage of our life. It is not one time activity. It
makes people ready to face any challenges or difficult situations in life. There are various
approaches towards self-managed learning and some of them are as follows:
 Trainings and courses are one of the best available options to gain knowledge and to
improve your competencies and skills. Individuals should join courses on various new
technologies, interpersonal skills etc. It will provide a direction to individual. A well-
trained mentor can help you in learning new skill in a very short time. If an individual is
not good in communication skills he should join personality development courses in
some reputed organizations.
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 Listening to leaders and reading books written by famous leaders is also very helpful in
learning new things. Their experiences can save us from any bigger mistake in life.
Listening to TED talks is one of the options.
 Learning from the society is very effective. We can learn from our friends, parents,
colleagues etc. Being social is very important to be updated with the happenings in the
society. Social networking site like Facebook, Twitter etc. are also one of the very
important sources of knowledge.
 On the job trainings are also very important. Employee should not waste his time in the
job but in free time he should select a mentor in the organization and should learn
something new from his job, roles and responsibilities. Employee should try to take some
extra responsibilities in the organization.
 Other important approach towards self-managed learning is case study techniques. A
bunch of people can work on one case study and discuss the solution. It will help in
knowing the views of people from different backgrounds.
1.2 Propose ways in which lifelong learning in personal and professional contexts could be
encouraged
Personal and professional development is lifelong process. A person will have to develop himself
in his entire life depending upon the need to the hour. Learning starts from childhood and ends
with the death of an individual. Individual always learn from the society and people around him.
Competition, innovation and globalization has encouraged people to develop themselves at any
point of their lives. Learning something never gets wasted. It will be beneficial in one or the
other time of life. There is a huge demand of skilled and competent employee in the market and
there are huge opportunities for an employable employee. For example, my strengths are good
communication skill, being friendly and being ambitious while my weaknesses is that bad
listening skills and when I am tired a get stressed. To overcome my weaknesses it used to do
meditation daily and also takes enough sleep which is helping me a lot. There are various ways
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to encourage lifelong learning in personal and professional context and some of them are as
follows:
 The most important factor is self-motivation. A voice should come from inner of the
individual to learn something new and develop him (Dishman, 1981). This inner voice is
called self-motivation. You need to be self-motivated to stay updated with the current
affairs in various fields like politics, economy, culture, society etc.
 Techniques like SWOT and SMART also encourages an employee to develop himself
personally and professionally as these techniques help in finding out the areas where
development plan should focus.
 Employee should be confident with the skills he has and he should have trust on his
capability to learn anything new. Being confident is the very important factor in
motivating employee to develop himself personally and profession in his entire life.
 Individual should not be depressed from failures. He should have strong will power. Will
power is also very important factor.
 The most important aspect is hard and smart work. Both these aspects go hand in hand.
Only hard work or only smart work cannot take you towards your dreams. We need to
plan our short term and long term goals and work continuously hard to get our goals.
1.3 Evaluate the benefits of self-managed learning to the individual and organization
A discussed above self-managed learning plays a very important role in personal and
professional development of an individual. It has all positive impacts and some of them are as
follows:
 Self-managed learning makes a person very confidant and independent in his field.
Individual gets lots of better opportunities to grow in the market. It helps in having heavy
resume as compared to the competitors which can get better jobs.
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 Individual will be aware of his strengths and weaknesses.
 Self-managed learning also helps in improving interpersonal skills of an employee.
Relationship building is very important in any sector these days and which can be
developed by having strong communication or interpersonal skills. It helps in making
strong relationships with the customers.
 Self-managed learning can also help in improving presentation and communication skills
of an individual.
 It provides a direction and motivates an individual towards his goals and objectives.
Employee can set higher targets for himself.
 It also helps in improving leadership qualities of an individual. Leader should lead from
the front and motivate his team towards the goals and objectives of the organization.
Leader makes his team members dedicated towards the benefits of both employee and the
employer.
 It also helps in improving the productivity of the employees which is very beneficial for
the organization.
 It also helps in solving many work based problems such as attrition rate etc. Employee
confidence and motivation will lead to lesser attrition rate and hence cost for the
organization decreases. Profit and revenue of the organization will increase.
 Employee will become ready for future challenges and responsibilities.
 It also improves the personal life of an individual. Work life balance will improve.
Employee will see improvement in his social and family life.
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Task 2: Be able to take responsibility for own personal and professional
development
2.1 Evaluate own current skills and competencies against professional standards and
organizational objectives
To prepare a personal and professional development plan individual should know his present
position in the current skills and competencies against professional standards and organizational
objectives. SWOT analysis helps a lot in knowing the strengths and weaknesses of an individual.
Individual will also be able to know the opportunities available in the market and threats to his
future career. Personal and professional development plan will focus more on the weaknesses
and it will also include the way he should use his strengths to capture the opportunities in the
market. I am a fresher without any corporate experience and it is my first organization where I
am working. Hence, there are lots of things to learn. There are lots of theoretical concepts which
I need to implement in my professional life. But as per the feedback from my teacher, students,
parents etc. and as per my results I think I have skills and competencies which make me better
leader and team player (Levin, 2005). These skills and competencies will help in my personal
improvement and it will also be beneficial for the organization I am working in. I have studied
management which is very hectic and busy course. It becomes difficult to manage time. But I
was very successful in managing time in my college and I passed the course with very good
marks. Hence I am very good in time management. My writing skills are also above average. I
have always been good in mathematics and analysis subjects. I am good in analytical skills
which will help in quick and accurate decision making in professional life. I am also good in
relationship building skills which are very important in corporate sector to build stronger
relationships with the customers.
For example, I have to become a manager of Hilton Hotel than I must have effective
management skills, time management skills, good leadership skills, listening skills, etc. out of
which have time management skills as I used to manage my time very effectively in my college
time, I had also studied management in my college therefore I also have good management
skills. But, I need to improve my listening skills and leadership skills by attending different
training and development programs.
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2.2 Identify own development needs and the activities required to meet them
Above task were about strengths and this task will discuss the areas where I am not comfortable?
This task will help in knowing my weaknesses. Knowing your weaknesses is more important
than knowing your strengths and competencies. It will help in preparing base for development
plan. I need to plan activities to get rid of my weaknesses or to reduce them as much as possible.
My first weakness is my fear from public speaking. I fumble and I get nervous whenever I have
to speak in front of a gathering. But competency in public speaking is very important for a
person to be good leader and to encourage people working under him. I will join some public
speaking clubs to improve on this weakness. I also get irritated soon as I am short tempered. I
will attend some stress management sessions to work on my weak mental power. Another
weakness or important thing is managing more than two tasks together. Time management skills
still needed some improvement in my case as at higher I will have to handle lots of
responsibilities and tasks at one time. Hence mental stability and time management skills are
very important to be a good leader.
Underneath are the development activities and needs to meet them:
 Management of professional and personal ratings at present according to the objectives
and goals of the organization.
 Research process
 Learn from ourself as well as from others.
2.3 Identify development opportunities to meet current and future defined needs
Strengths and weaknesses have been already discussed in the above two tasks. Now this task will
discuss various opportunities available in the market. For a talented person the world is never
short of opportunities. You just need to check which opportunity suits to your skills and
competencies. Employee needs to be self-motivated and ambitious to grab the opportunities in
the market (Verplankan, 2002). Talented people are always in demand. They can also survive in
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recession or in any negative time. Development opportunities to meet future and current defined
needs by the medium of forming group team's part or part of a project and by the training and
development. Each organization needs good managers to handle various departments.
Management students have lots of opportunities outside. I have specialized in two areas i.e.
marketing and human resource management. There is a great opportunity to join service industry
as a Human Resource manager or to join any product based organization as marketing manager.
Outside corporate world will give me an opportunity to implement my theoretical knowledge in
the practical world. I will also get an opportunity to work under experienced leaders. This will
provide me an opportunity to learn team building and leadership skills. I will get a chance to
work on my weaknesses and to improve my public speaking skills. More responsibilities will
also improve my time management skills.
2.4 Devise a personal and professional development plan based on identified needs
After doing a SWOT analysis i.e. after knowing the strengths, weaknesses, threats and
opportunities next step is planning. Planning includes the way we will use our strengths to cover
up the weaknesses and to deal with the threats in the market. It also includes the way we will use
our strengths to capture the opportunities available in the market. Planning also includes setting
the timelines to achieve your goals and objectives (Guskey, 2000). Planning is one of the most
important parts for personal and professional development of an individual. I need to work on
my public speaking skills. I will join a club where people gather and speak in front of everyone. I
will become member of various personality development course. Course will be done for first
three months and then I will go the club regularly every weekend or every alternate day. Due to
this, I will able to achieve good public speaking skills. To be competent enough in the market I
will also learn software packages like CRM, SCM etc. CRM helps in building stronger
relationship with the clients. To work on my time management skills I need to note down all the
tasks to be done on a piece of paper and then these tasks will be arranged on the basis of priority.
I will distribute different times to different tasks and then tries to complete within the given time.
By implementing these skills I will able to finish all the tasks before time. Attending yoga
sessions and meditation classes will also be a part of development plan.
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Task 3: Be able to implement and continually review own personal and professional
development plan
3.1 Discuss the processes and activities required to implement the development plan
After planning, next step is to implement the planned activities and goals. Implement the
development plan is a five step process which is as follows:
 As mentioned above the first and basic step is to do SWOT or SMART analysis to find
out the present skills, competencies and weaknesses and by doing so I have analyses that
I need to be self-motivated and ambitious.
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 This gives me an opportunity to implement my theoretical knowledge in the practical
world as well as to work under experienced leaders. Also, I get a chance to work on my
weaknesses and to improve my public speaking skills
 I have to focus on my public speaking skills an joins various training and development
programs. further, I became able to achieve good public speaking skills.
 I will join a club where people gather and speak in front of everyone, this Course will be
done for first three months and then I will go the club regularly every weekend.
 I will evaluate myself on the basis of feedbacks taken by other members of the
organization.
3.2 To undertake and document development activities as planned
This task will explain the activities which will be performed and how will be performed to
complete the development plan with the best results or outcomes. Following are some activities
which will be performed to develop myself personally and professionally and to gain the
required skills and competencies mentioned above:
1) Technology is advancing and rising day by day. A good hand on practice on software
packages is required to complete the tasks quickly and to run organization’s function
smoothly. My target will be to learn CRM i.e. Customer Relationship Management
package in the next one year. It will help in building stronger relationship and loyalty
with the customers (Winer, 2001). I will join a technical institute to learn CRM package.
2) I will join a club where yoga and meditation classes are conducted. It will help me in
staying calm and relaxed in huge work pressure of corporate sector. Stress management
courses will also help in my future.
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3) Reading daily business newspaper will also be included in my daily activities to stay
updated with the current happenings in the world. Books written by famous readers will
also be read learn management skills.
After developing all of these skills, I will be able build better relationship with customers, my
management skills will also improve which will help in manage my work more effectively.
3.3 Reflect critically on own learning against original aims and objectives set in the
development plan
Let us suppose that I have been working on my development from last three months and now it is
time to critically analyse my improvement against original aims and objectives set in the
development plan. I think those three months a very less time to judge myself now. There is a
long way to go to get rid of my weaknesses. But I have seen some improvement as I have already
started working on the development plan. If I talk about public speaking skills I can say I have
learnt the basic stuff i.e. theoretical knowledge. Implementation is still left when I will start
speaking in front of a huge gathering. I need around 6 more months to gain confidence. I am
really happy with the time management strategy I am using i.e. to note down all the tasks and
then prioritize and allocate time to them. But it is start of my career so real outcome will be seen
with increase in responsibilities and pressure. I have not started working on software learning
objective. This will be started in next 3 months. According to the feedback, I am changed a lot
and my presentation and communication skills are improved and also my hidden potential comes
in front of everyone.
3.4 Update the development plan based on feedback and evaluation
After started working in the corporate sector I found that there are some other skills and
competencies which need to be added in my development plan. I got to know this from my on
the job mentor and by looking at my seniors. Development plan should be evaluated after regular
intervals of time and it also needs to be updated with the new skills and competencies. Following
are some of the other changes which will be added in my long term development plan. Team
work and leadership skills are the qualities which are very important to have to be successful in
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the corporate sector. Leadership skills include being motivator, disciplined, down to earth etc.
(Mumford, 2000). Leader should be fair towards each and every follower. I will attend some
courses and trainings in my organization to develop my team building skills. Leader should lead
from the front and he has to be amicable towards each and every team member. Writing skills are
very important in the organizations. At high level most of the communication happens on email. I
also need to work on my short temperedness. I will also include being fit physically in my
development plan as health is wealth. This feedback helps me in motivating myself for the
further modified action plan as well as it assist me to make changes which I should bring in
myself.
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Task 4: Be able to demonstrate acquired interpersonal and transferable skills
4.1 Advice on the best solution and explain why you think it is the best solution.
Attrition rate has become one of the major issues in Hilton London Heathrow Hotel. As a human
resource manager I need to find out the reason behind this issue and need to come up with some
solution to this problem. Senior managers on Hilton London hotel are very much worried about
attrition rate as it leads to increase in recruitment and training cost. It impacts the business in a
very vast way. Reason behind attrition rate will be employee dissatisfaction. Hence Hilton
London hotel should change some policies to gain employee satisfaction and loyalty. The best
solution to this problem will be monetary benefits. Employees should get regular salary hikes.
Human resource department has to set up a strong appraisal system to encourage employees
(Lindner, 1998). After every six months employees should be evaluated and rating should be
given from the feedback from seniors and colleagues. Employees with the highest rating should
be rewarded and awarded in the organization. And employees with the lowest rating should be
motivated and trained to improve their performance. Employees should be given freedom to
speak their mind and to put forward their points. Instead of monetary benefits employees should
also be provided other benefits like games, fun activities, swimming pool etc. All the above
mention things will also keep employees motivated and satisfied and hence it will stop
employees from going to other organizations.
The best solution to reduce employees turnover is by improving the communication channel
between employees of lower level and higher authorities. If the lower workers of Hilton London
Heathrow Hotel directly share their view, problems, ideas, issues etc. with the higher authorities
than labour turnover can be controlled. This solution will directly impact on the employee's
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satisfaction and motivational level. As a result, the workers will feel motivated and more valued
in cited organization.
4.2 Variety of communication styles at various levels that may be used to address the labour
turnover problem
There is various communication styles followed in the organizations at various levels.
Communication channels can also be one of the major reasons behind employee turnover ratio.
Employees in Hilton London Hotel might not be able to get chance to speak to their seniors and
to put their issues and concerns forwards. Middle level managers might be stopping employees at
lower level from speaking directly to the top management. There are three major types of
communication channels:
Upward Communication
Upward communication is communication from lower level to higher level. It is difficult for
lower level employees to speak directly to the top management which can be one of the major
reasons behind employee turnover. Hence employees should be given email access in Hilton
London Hotel so that in case of any issue they can directly reach out to the top management.
Downward Communication
Downward communication is the communication from higher level to lower level. Seniors
should also get time to speak to their juniors and listen to their concerns and issues (Aoki, 1986).
Skip level meetings can be one option where top management have face to face meeting with
low level employees without any interference from middle level managers. Senior management
should also send motivational email and notices to their employees.
Horizontal communication
Horizontal communication is the communication between the employees at same level.
Employees working in a team need to interact with each other for information sharing and for
smooth running of the operations. Employee should be given video conferencing facility to speak
to team members sitting at various locations. Employees should be connected with internet and
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chatting facility should be given to speak to anyone at any time. Fun activities also help in
motivating employees and in reducing the attrition rate in Hilton London hotel.
In the selection of communication style, the structure and the size of the Hilton London
Heathrow Hotel effects a lot. The communication between board members and higher authorities
of the cited firm can be done by formal sessions and meetings. It is the proper way to
communicate as well as it maintains the professionalism. In cited organization, Seminars and
conferences can be used to inform the employees of middle level. Mailing and verbal are also
different ways to communicate with the employee's of middle level. The managers focus on the
seminars, big conferences, notice boards, etc. to communicated with the workers of lower level.
4.3 Evaluate their time management strategies and advise them on effective time
management strategies that they can use with their staff
Time management is very important in corporate sector as employees have to work on more than
one task at one time. Multi-tasking is very important. Hence employee should be able to manage
his tasks in a very efficient way (Winter, 1993). Following are some of the strategies which
Hilton London Hotel should follow to manage their time properly and effectively:
 Employees should note down the entire task and then prioritize them on the basis of
urgency. Then proper time should be allocated to the tasks and employees should try to
finish the tasks in the allocated time.
 Big tasks should be divided into smaller tasks and each sub task should have some
deadline to finish in given time. A buffer time should be kept for each and every sub task.
 Hilton London Hotel should restrict websites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. in
the organization which leads to waste of employees’ time.
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 Leaders should not put pressure on employees and encourage them to have some fun and
use their time effectively.
Conclusion
Personal and professional development is very important in today’s competitive world. Self-
managed learning helps a lot in encouraging employees towards self-managed learning. A
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development plan is based on strengths and weaknesses of an individual and on skills and
competencies required in the job. Development plan should be implemented effectively and it
should be evaluated and updated after regular intervals of time. Organization faces many
problems like higher attrition rate in case of Hilton London Hotel. Communication channels
should be set up properly and employees should be provided with monetary and other benefits to
make them satisfied and to reduce attrition rate.
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References
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psychology, 82(3), 434.
Winer, R. S. 2001. A framework for customer relationship management. California management
review, 43(4), 89-105.
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Winter, M., Puspitawati, H., Heck, R. K., & Stafford, K. 1993. Time-management strategies used
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