Personal and Professional Development Plan: A Report

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PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
1

Contents
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................4
LO1........................................................................................................................................... 5
1.1 EVALUATE APPROACHES TO SELF-MANAGED LEARNING...............................................5
1.2 PROPOSE WAYS TO ENCOURAGE LIFELONG LEARNING IN PERSONAL AND
PROFESSIONAL CONTEXT.....................................................................................................7
1.3 EVALUATE THE ADVANTAGES OF SELF-MANAGED LEARNING TO INDIVIDUALS AS WELL
AS ORGANIZATION...............................................................................................................8
LO2......................................................................................................................................... 10
2.1 EVALUATE OWN CURRENT SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES AGAINST PROFESSIONAL
STANDARDS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE ORGANIZATION.....................................................10
2.2 IDENTIFY OWN NEEDS FOR DEVELOPMENT AND ACTIVITIES REQUIRED TO FULFILL
THEM.................................................................................................................................. 12
2.3 IDENTIFY OPPORTUNITIES FOR DEVELOPMENT TO MEET CURRENT AND FUTURE
DEFINED NEEDS..................................................................................................................13
2.4 PREPARE A PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN based on IDENTIFIED
NEEDS................................................................................................................................. 14
LO3......................................................................................................................................... 16
3.1 DISCUSS THE ACTIVITIES AND PROCESSES NEEDED TO IMPLEMENT THE
DEVELOPMENT PLAN......................................................................................................... 16
3.2 UNDERTAKE AND DOCUMENT DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES AS PLANNED.....................17
3.3 CRITICALLY REFLECT OWN LEARNING AGAINST SET AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE
DEVELOPMENT PLAN......................................................................................................... 18
3.4 UPDATE THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN based on FEEDBACK AND EVALUATION................20
LO4......................................................................................................................................... 23
4.1 SELECT SOLUTIONS TO WORK-BASED PROBLEMS........................................................23
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4.2 COMMUNICATE A VARIETY OF STYLES AND APPROPRIATE MANNER AT VARIOUS
LEVEL.................................................................................................................................. 24
4.3 EVALUATE AND USE EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES OF TIME-MANAGEMENT........................25
CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................................... 26
REFERENCES........................................................................................................................... 27
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INTRODUCTION
The development of personal and professional skills is very necessary for an individual to
enhance their learning, potential and knowledge that results in their career growth and
improves their living standards. The aim of this report is analyse and manage the personal
and professional development as a Membership and Visitor Welcome Manager of The
National Trust by focusing on ways to self-managed learning, motivate individuals to
develop lifelong learning and also preparing a development plan while evaluating it and
updating it on the basis of skills improved and changes needed. The last part of the report
would help in finding solutions to problems faced at the workplace, formulating strategies
for managing time effectively and preparing a poster that guides the staff that no bullying
and harassment is tolerated at The National Trust.
The National Trust is an organization started in 1895 for providing charitable services to the
society. The organization works for the protection of farmland, island, beaches, wood,
forests, coastline, gardens, villages, nature, etc. by restoring them taking immense care of
the places and also welcoming 20 million visitors to these properties every year and provide
them with excellent services and unforgettable experience.
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LO1
Being appointed as the membership and visitor welcome at The National Trust, a summary
sheet is prepared to describe the importance of self-managed learning to the staff and its
benefits to the individuals as well as the organization. The team members would also be
encouraged for learning lifelong to develop their personal and professional skills and
increase their productivity (Bennett, 2017).
1.1 EVALUATE APPROACHES TO SELF-MANAGED LEARNING
Self-managed learning refers to the process undertaken by any individual to develop their
skills, knowledge and abilities on their own. The individual can evaluate current skills and
identify areas where improvement is needed and thus, can take actions to learn new skills
and knowledge that leads to the development of their career (Bennett, 2017). The various
approaches to self-managed learning can be explained as follows:
Learning through research: This approach of learning can be used by the staff of The
National Trust to increase their knowledge and skills by conducting primary and secondary
researches about the needs and interest of the visitors by referring to the data available
online or taking feedback from the visitors using in the form of surveys. This method helps
increase the knowledge and awareness of the staff and improving visitor services (Bennett,
2017).
Coaching: The learning of an individual can be enhanced by providing support and guidance
from a teacher who is an expert in a particular area and can provide a proper understanding
of the subject to the learner. The staff of The National Trust can be mentored by the
managers that will provide fruitful knowledge about how the tasks should be managed and
visitors should be served, etc. (Bennett, 2017).
Seminars and conferences: Seminars are conducted by an expert having specialized
knowledge about the topic that is shared with the listeners to increase their learning and
conferences are referred to as meeting in which important points are discussed that
enhances the knowledge and skills of the people present. The managers of The National
Trust can conduct seminars and conferences for the staff to give them knowledge about the
ways to offer the best services to the visitors (Rana et al. 2016).
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Internet and social network: Internet provides a wide range of information to the public
about every topic that helps in gaining knowledge and skills and learning something new
such as dancing, building vocabulary, cooking, etc. The social networking sites like Facebook,
YouTube, Instagram, etc. are also useful in obtaining knowledge to an individual of the
organization (Rana et al. 2016).
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1.2 PROPOSE WAYS TO ENCOURAGE LIFELONG LEARNING IN PERSONAL
AND PROFESSIONAL CONTEXT
Lifelong learning can be explained as the process of developing skills and abilities of an
individual for the entire life by improving their learning continuously and thus, developing
their career. The employees of The National Trust are encouraged to follow lifelong learning
to enhance their learning, skills and knowledge that helps in providing best and improved
services to the visitors (Osborne, 2018). The approaches to encourage lifelong learning in
the team members are:
Self-directed learning: To motivate the employees of The National Trust to give their best
services to the visitors, they are encouraged to learn new skills and knowledge using various
concepts like Kolb’s learning cycle, VARK cycle, Honey and Mumford’s model of learning,
etc. to improve their skills and abilities by their own (Osborne, 2018).
Continuing professional development: The performance of the employees at The National
Trust is recorded, monitored and evaluated by the managers regularly and feedback is
provided to make them aware of the areas they are lagging behind and they are motivated
to improve their performance by focusing on the weak areas and taking corrective measures
to achieve better results and improve their learning (Longworth, 2019).
Apprenticeship: The employees of The National Trust are provided with the apprenticeship
training which is a method of on-the-job training that helps in increasing the knowledge and
skills of an individual by working under experts or professionals who provide them guidance
in the best possible manner by giving knowledge and insights about the topic (Longworth,
2019).
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1.3 EVALUATE THE ADVANTAGES OF SELF-MANAGED LEARNING TO
INDIVIDUALS AS WELL AS ORGANIZATION
The self-managed learning is beneficial not only to an individual but also to the organization
as it helps in improving the productivity and efficiency of the individual as well as the
organization.
BENEFITS TO AN INDIVIDUAL:
 With the help of self-managed learning, the staff at The National Trust can evaluate
own skills and abilities using SWOT analysis to identify and improve their strengths
by grabbing opportunities and overcoming threats to enhance their job satisfaction
(Rana et al. 2016).
 An individual is motivated by themselves to develop their personal and professional
career by learning new skills and obtaining new knowledge.
 With the help of learning styles and approaches being applied at The National Trust,
an individual can improve their interpersonal, managerial and decision-making skills
that help in boosting their productivity and also improves the performance of the
employee (Rana et al. 2016).
 Using self-managed learning is helpful for an individual in building team working
skills at The National Trust and improving their communication skills by effectively
coordinating with the other members and thus, accomplishing all the assigned tasks
timely and efficiently.
BENEFITS TO THE ORGANIZATION:
 When the employees are self-motivated to learn and give their best to the
organization and its customers, the goodwill of the organization is increased and also
enhances the satisfaction of the visitors (Cunningham, 2017).
 The productivity and efficiency of the operations of the organization increase due to
the talented and skilled employees that help in providing excellent services to the
visitors of The National Trust.
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 The highly skilled and self-motivated workers need less supervision from the
managers which reduces the stress of the managers and they can focus on other
important activities to be undertaken in the organization (Cunningham, 2017).
 The National Trust can improve its services constantly with the help of new and
innovated ideas and suggestions offered by the skilled workforce.
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LO2
2.1 EVALUATE OWN CURRENT SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES AGAINST
PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE ORGANIZATION
Being appointed as a manager at The National Trust, I have evaluated my current skills as
per the standards and the objectives of the National Trust in an appropriate manner as
follows:
SKILLS CURRENT SKILLS PROFESSIONAL
STANDARDS
GOALS OF THE
NATIONAL TRUST
CONFLICT
MANAGEMENT SKILLS
I lack professional
skills of managing
conflicts effectively
and quickly as I
require a lot of time
in analysing and
understanding the
whole situation and
thus, resolving the
conflicts efficiently.
An individual must
be able to handle
conflicts between
parties effectively
and fairly and thus,
resolve the dispute
quickly to gain
positive results
(Johansen et al.
2016).
At The National
Trust, the managers
are expected to deal
with conflicting
situations using
effective methods of
such as negotiation,
mediation,
arbitration,
conciliation, etc.
depending on the
demand of the
situation to provide
fair solutions to the
parties and thus,
increasing
efficiencies.
COMMUNICATION
SKILLS
I possess good
written
communication
skills but get a little
To meet the
professional
standards, an
individual must be
The managers of
The National Trust
must be confident
and fluent in
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hesitant in speaking
confidently and
fluently. I have good
listening skills which
are necessary to
make
communication
effective.
excellent with their
verbal and non-
verbal
communication
skills to be able to
convey the
information to the
public effectively.
communicating the
message to the
employees and the
visitors and should
also be good at
listening to others
to increase their
satisfaction and
build good relations.
LEADERSHIP SKILLS Being a manager at
The National Trust, I
feel I am good at
managing and
delegating the tasks
effectively to the
team, but I lack
skills of being a
good leader and an
inspiration for my
team and thus,
motivating them to
work effectively.
An effective leader
possesses great
skills of motivating,
encouraging,
supporting and
inspiring others to
work effectively and
also maintain good
communication and
relations with all the
team members to
enhance their
effectiveness.
To be a manager at
The National Trust,
it is important to be
a good leader and
an inspiration for
the team and
providing them with
a good working
environment to
boost motivation
and loyalty of the
workers and achieve
success within the
organization
(Lazaroiu, 2015).
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2.2 IDENTIFY OWN NEEDS FOR DEVELOPMENT AND ACTIVITIES REQUIRED
TO FULFILL THEM
SKILLS TO BE IMPROVED WAYS TO IMPROVE THEM
TIME-MANAGEMENT SKILLS For improving my time-management skills,
more and more practice is needed and I
must focus on prioritizing my work based on
their importance. Also, I must make a proper
schedule and plan to organize the activities
to be performed within a specific period to
accomplish my tasks on time with efficiency
(Grissom et al. 2015).
DECISION-MAKING SKILLS My decision-making skills can be improved
by accepting new challenges at the
workplace, engaging myself in analytical and
out of the box thinking, taking ideas and
suggestions from employees and seniors,
learning from the experiences of the others
that helps in improving my skills and abilities
of being a good manager at The National
Trust (Johansen et al. 2016).
LEADERSHIP SKILLS I need to improve my leadership skills by
referring books and journals written by
famous authors about good inspirational
leaders to understand their skills and way of
working as a leader. I must also learn more
about various motivational and leadership
theories and styles such as Adam’s Equity
theory, Maslow’s Hierarchy, Autocratic style,
etc. that helps me in motivating the
employees and thus, increasing their
satisfaction and performance (Lazaroiu,
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