Academic Skills and PDP: Personal Development Planning Report

This report discusses the concept of personal and professional development, emphasizing their interconnectedness and importance in today's competitive environment. It explores the value of short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals, providing examples for each and highlighting their role in achieving overall success. The report also examines the significance of a personal development plan (PDP) in identifying strengths and weaknesses, improving performance, and enhancing employability. It concludes that personal and professional development are crucial for career advancement, requiring continuous skill development and strategic planning, with the PDP serving as a roadmap for individual growth and organizational benefit.

Report on personal
development

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Concept of personal and professional development....................................................................3
Value of short term goals with examples....................................................................................4
Value of medium term goals with examples...............................................................................4
Value of long-term goals with examples.....................................................................................5
Value of personal development plan...........................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8
Books and Journals:.....................................................................................................................8
Appendix..........................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Today's environment is becoming very competitive and complex for the students. This is
the reason that all individuals are now focusing on their personal and professional development.
It will help them to achieve their desired goals and objectives (Maharaja, 2018). Personal and
professional development in today’s business world is becoming important as it makes an
individual confident and competitive. It ensures knowledge and understanding of area of
expertise for career. Personal and professional development is acquisition of skills and
knowledge for the advancement in career. This report will be discussing the concept of personal
and professional development. Along with this, it will also cover the value of short term, medium
term and long term goals and objectives in the life of an individual. This report will also cover
importance of personal development plan.
MAIN BODY
Concept of personal and professional development
Personal and professional developments are both incomplete with each other. That means
it is necessary for a person to work on both ends at the same time. The reason behind this is
effort one end can draw energy from another end (Monderna and Voinarovska, 2019). Personal
and professional development is becoming the necessity of individual life because it maintains
the work life balance of an individual. Professional development is considering the development
in a role which is needed for understanding the job which people do. It includes enhancing of
essential skills in order to carry out a job role as effectively as possible. It can be include formal
types of vocational training or education which leads to a career. Professional development can
also include informal development and training programs that helps a person to perform their
best in organisation. For example, IT training, accountancy, budgeting, legal knowledge, health
and safety, etc. It is found that there are many different methods for delivering professional
development such as classroom based learning, mentoring, e learning, consultation, coaching and
many more.
On the other hand, personal development is an important part of human need to grow. It
is defined as an ongoing process that begins from young children and it will continuous long into

old age. In personal development, people can set goals and for the accomplishment of desired
goals they need to learn new skills and develop qualities. It helps individual to become happier,
more fulfilled and higher quality lives (Kotsi and Pike, 2021). According to Maslow’s hierarchy
needs, it comes under self actualization needs. In order to fulfil this need a person should satisfy
their safety and security, esteem and love and belongingness needs.
Value of short term goals with examples
Short term goals are defined as the small targets and objectives that formulated by every
individual. It is something that people want to do in near future. Near future include today, a
week, a month, or a year (BROZMAnOVÁ GReGOROVÁ, Kubealaková and Heinzová, 2017).
Short term goals and objectives are generally taken timing less than a year. It is found that in
students life, short term goals plays a very important role as it makes them discipline and
responsible which assists in achieving of goals and objective. It is also identified that not only
students but also every individual makes short term goal in day to day life as it leads to big
accomplishment in career and life. There are many task perform by an individual on a daily
basis, so for that purpose they need to set short term goals which assist them in their career
planning and completing their daily targets. Some of the important examples of short term goals
are mentioned below:
 I want to learn speak English and other languages frequently.
 I want to go college on a daily basis.
 I want to get a good score in my final exams.
These are some short term goals examples which can be accomplished within a year. It is
important for an individual to set daily goals and objectives so that a person cannot forget their
daily targets (Santos, Carvalho and Gonçalves, 2018). This will help them to complete in timely
manner. In personal and professional life, setting short term goals are becoming necessity as it
not only helps to achieve short term goals and targets but also it leads to big accomplishments.
That means it is the ladder for accomplishing long term goals and objectives.
Value of medium term goals with examples
A medium term goal is considered as the goal which takes more time as compared to
short term goals but less time as compared to long term goals (Kutor, Raileanu and Simandan,

2019). It is generally takes timing less than 3 years. Every day the value of medium term goals is
increasing because long term goals take too much time and short term goals can be accomplished
within a year. So that's why it is very important for a person to set medium term goals for self
motivation. This will assists a person to take further steps for accomplishing their long-term
goals and objectives. The business environment is becoming so complex and that’s why every
organisation is focusing on those individuals who possess multitasking is skills and qualities. For
that purpose, a person needs to develop more and more skills. This will accomplish only by
making medium-term goals as they are not too much taking time compared to long term goals. It
motivates people to perform constantly with full dedication in order to achieve the desired targets
and goals (van Woerkom and Meyers, 2019). There are many goals in an individual which can
take less than or equal to 3 years. So these types of goals considered as medium term goals.
Some important examples of medium term goals are mentioned below:
 I want to finish a master degree with good grades.
 I want to appoint as a manager in reputed organisation.
 I want to buy a bike of brand.
These are the examples of medium term goals that it takes less than three years and
motivate people towards accomplishment of long-term goals.
Value of long-term goals with examples
Long term goals and objectives are defined as the vision of people that takes more than 3
years. It is found that long-term goals are very important for a successful career. It requires time
and planning in order to achieve long term goals and objectives. This is not about for a week or a
year as it takes several years (Mitina, 2017). It is also identified that long-term goals takes many
steps which are considered as short term goals. Every individual has a long term goal which they
want to accomplish in their life. It helps an individual to think about their education which they
want for their future. It is not easy for any individual to accomplish long-term goals as they are
time taking as well as difficult to achieve. For the accomplishment of desired goals and
objectives, it becomes necessary to make a plan so that they can attain long term goals. Personal
long term goals examples are mentioned below:
 I want to by my own luxury car.

 I want to build a house with my earnings.
 I want to gain experience and get promoted in a reputated organisation.
This example shows that it is not possible for a person to accomplish them within a year
or 3 years as it takes several years. In order to accomplish these objectives, a person should be
well educated and earn a good income.
Value of personal development plan
Personal development plan is an action plan that will be focusing on developing skills
and qualities in an individual. It is a form of self reflection and self evaluation which used in
both workplace and higher education (McComb and Eather, 2017). In personal life, it also plays
an important role. For example, people want to learn a new language so that they will go for
overseas trip. Personal development plan provides many benefits to an individual such as clear
goals, identification of strengths and weakness, improves performance, employability, increases
motivation, tracking of progress, and also enhancing mental well being and reduces stress. With
the help of personal development plan, a person can enjoy these benefits. It is also found that
personal development planning presented opportunities for career development. It acts like a
guideline or roadmap which assists an individual to achieve their objective. In today’s lifestyle,
every person wants to earn more income and that's why they need to developed important skills
and knowledge. For that purpose, the need to prepare a personal development plan which ensures
achievement of skills and objectives.
Personal development plan is found to be crucial for individual as they can able to grab
more employment opportunities. It also boosts employability skills which becomes beneficial in
workplaces (Jeppesen, 2019). It is found that there are many organisations which provide an
opportunity of personal development. Companies are using many methods for the development
of employees such as trainings, coaching, mentoring, etc. It can be clearly seen that personal
development is not only beneficial for an individual but also provide benefits to the organisation.
Companies get highly skilled employees who are contributing in increasing the revenues of
organisation. Organisations are found that if they are providing opportunities of personal
development then their employees will be able to perform better (Kunrath, Cash and
Kleinsmann, 2020). It increases their productivity which generates efficiency in work. This is

necessary for an individual to formulate a personal development plan in an effective manner.
This can be better understood with the help of an example (Appendix).
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the above discussion that personal and professional
development is necessary for an individual in order to their career development. Every day it is
found that the environment competitiveness and complexities are increasing. Due to this, an
individual needs to develop more skills and qualities so that they can stay competitive in the
market and able to satisfy their basic needs. Skills and qualities of an individual decide their
career development and because of it personal development plan is very important. It provides a
direction and guidance to an individual that how they can grow and develop skills and qualities.
This report discussed the importance of personal development plan and their application.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
BROZMAnOVÁ GReGOROVÁ, A., Kubealaková, M. and Heinzová, Z., 2017. SeRVICe-
LeARnInG AnD DeVeLOPMent OF SOCIAL AnD PeRSOnAL
ReSPOnSIBILItY. Actas de la IV Jornada de investigadores sobre aprendizaje-servicio.
Jeppesen, P.B., 2019. The long road to the development of effective therapies for the short gut
syndrome: a personal perspective. Digestive diseases and sciences, 64(10), pp.2717-2735.
Kotsi, F. and Pike, S., 2021. Destination brand positioning theme development based on
consumers’ personal values. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 45(3), pp.573-
587.
Kunrath, K., Cash, P. and Kleinsmann, M., 2020. Designers’ professional identity: personal
attributes and design skills. Journal of Engineering Design, 31(6), pp.297-330.
Kutor, S.K., Raileanu, A. and Simandan, D., 2019. International migration, cross-cultural
interaction, and the development of personal wisdom. Migration Studies.
Maharaja, G., 2018. The Impact of Study Abroad on College Students' Intercultural Competence
and Personal Development. International Research and Review, 7(2), pp.18-41.
McComb, V. and Eather, N., 2017. Exploring the Personal, Social and Occupational Elements of
Teacher Professional Development. Journal of education and Training Studies, 5(12),
pp.60-66.
Mitina, L.M., 2017. Psychological Patterns of Personal and Professional Evolution/Involution of
The Parties of Education. New Trends and Issues Proceedings on Humanities and Social
Sciences, 4(5), pp.94-97.
Monderna, E. and Voinarovska, N., 2019. Promoting personal motivation within professional
education. Journal of Educational and Social Research, 9(2), pp.1-1.
Santos, A.J., Carvalho, H.M. and Gonçalves, C.E., 2018. Personal and ecological factors in
school sport: a multilevel approach. South African Journal for Research in Sport,
Physical Education and Recreation, 40(1), pp.125-140.
van Woerkom, M. and Meyers, M.C., 2019. Strengthening personal growth: The effects of a
strengths intervention on personal growth initiative. Journal of Occupational and
Organizational Psychology, 92(1), pp.98-121.

Appendix
Skills Current
Proficiency
Targeted
Proficiency
How it can improve? Time frame
Communicatio
n skills
5 9 It is found that
communication skills
are very important for
every individual. I
found that it is not
only important for
personal but also
crucial for
professional life. So in
order to improve
Communication skills,
I decided to take
online courses and
give test time by time.
This will helps me to
improve my
communication skills.
I also decided to
practice on a daily
basis.
8-9 months
Team working
skills
6 10 Team working skills is
playing an important
role for people who
want to work with
other people. There is
a need of team
working skills in
7-8 months

every sector as
employees have to
work with many
people so they should
require building team
working skills. For
that purpose, I decided
to take more
participation in the
engagement activities
as it helps to
understand the nature
and behaviour of other
people. This will
assist in to improve
my team working
skills.
Multitasking
skills
4 8 Multi tasking skill is
becoming the
necessity and a
demand of
organisations. That's
why it is very
important for an
individual to work on
multitasking skills. It
is identified by me
that I can improve this
taking responsibility
and scheduling for
each activity in order
1-2 years

to complete task.
Digital skills 6 10 In today's digital
world, it is essential
for every individual to
possess digital skills
as it provides benefits
to their career
development and job
opportunities in
organisation. One
thing that should be
kept in mind of an
individual that
multitasking skills
need a patience and
meditation mind.
6-7 months
Management
skills
6 9 It is very important to
develop management
skills so that a person
can able to do their
work in a proper way.
So that's why I
decided to make a list
and write all the work
which I want to
complete by giving a
priority.
10-11 months