Personal and Professional Development Plan: A Report

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PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
1

Contents
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................3
LO1........................................................................................................................................... 4
1.1 APPROACHES TO SELF-MANAGED LEARNING................................................................4
1.2 WAYS TO ENCOURAGE LIFELONG LEARNING.................................................................5
1.3 BENEFITS OF SELF-MANAGED LEARNING TO INDIVIDUAL AND ORGANIZATIONS..........6
LO2........................................................................................................................................... 8
2.1 EVALUATE OWN CURRENT SKILLS AGAINST PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS AND
OBJECTIVES.......................................................................................................................... 8
2.2 IDENTIFY OWN DEVELOPMENT NEEDS AND THE ACTIVITIES NEEDED TO MEET THEM
........................................................................................................................................... 10
2.3 IDENTIFY OPPORTUNITIES FOR DEVELOPMENT FOR MEETING CURRENT AND FUTURE
NEEDS................................................................................................................................. 11
2.4 PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN BASED ON IDENTIFIES NEEDS. 12
LO3......................................................................................................................................... 15
3.1 PROCESS AND ACTIVITIES NEEDED TO IMPLEMENT THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN...........15
3.2 DOCUMENT THE DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES AS PER THE PLAN...................................16
3.3 REFLECT OWN LEARNING AGAINST THE OBJECTIVES SET IN THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN
........................................................................................................................................... 17
3.4 UPDATE THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN THROUGH FEEDBACK AND EVALUATION..............19
LO4......................................................................................................................................... 22
4.1 SELECT SOLUTIONS TO WORK-BASED PROBLEMS........................................................22
4.2 COMMUNICATE VARIETY OF STYLES AND MANNER AT DIFFERENT LEVELS.................23
4.3 APPLY EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES FOR TIME-MANAGEMENT............................................25
CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................................... 26
REFERENCES........................................................................................................................... 27
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INTRODUCTION
An individual’s development is focused on improving their personal and professional skills,
knowledge, learning, potential and abilities that enable them to grow their career and raise
their standards of living as well. The assignment focuses on the development of an
individual in a personal and professional manner by analysing approaches to self-managed
learning, encouraging lifelong learning, evaluating current skills and preparing a personal
and professional development plan, evaluating and updating the plan, finding solutions for
work-based problems and also applying time-management strategies in business. The
National Trust is a non-profit organization engaged in charitable activities such as providing
safety and security to forests, villages, islands, beaches, reserves, gardens, woods, mills,
farmlands, etc. and offering best services and great services by welcoming 20 million visitors
each year. The organization support its staff in their personal and professional development
that is beneficial for both individuals as well as the organization and helps in achieving the
desired objectives of the organization and resulting in the career growth of an individual.
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LO1
As a Membership and visitor welcome manager of The National Trust, the approaches to
enhance self-managed learning within the organization describing its benefits and also
encouraging lifelong learning in an individual are determined in a portfolio that would be
discussed in a meeting conducted with the motive of personal and professional
development of an individual in the National Trust.
1.1 APPROACHES TO SELF-MANAGED LEARNING
Self-managed learning can be explained as a process that is applied by an individual to
develop their skills and abilities on their own. It helps the individual in evaluating their
current skills and abilities and taking actions to improve their knowledge and learning and
thus, build their career (Bennett, 2017). There are different approaches that help an
individual in managing their learning on their own such as:
Mentoring: An individual can learn knowledge and skills under the guidance of an expert or
teacher who is specialized in a particular subject and can provide efficient mentoring to the
individual and also the leaner can ask questions at the same time and clear all the doubts
that result in efficient learning of the topic (Bennett, 2017).
Seminars and Conferences: It is an effective approach for learning about something. The
seminars or conferences are conducted by experts who have excess knowledge about the
topic and they share their knowledge with the crowd so that people can learn new things
and it is also helpful for the experts in improving their confidence and presentation skills
(Bennett, 2017).
Internet/Social network: A vast amount of knowledge can be gained and skills such as
driving, dancing, cooking, English speaking, etc. can be learned using the internet by finding
things on Google, YouTube and social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.
internet provides excess information about every topic explained by various authors that
can help an individual in obtaining new knowledge (Gupta et al. 2017).
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Newsgroups: The news broadcasted on TV or the daily newspapers are a good medium of
gaining knowledge about different topics such as sports, current affairs, horoscope, etc. that
helps in increasing the knowledge of an individual (Gupta et al. 2017).
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1.2 WAYS TO ENCOURAGE LIFELONG LEARNING
Lifelong learning is a continuous and never-ending process of developing the knowledge and
abilities of an individual that enables their growth and development for a lifetime. As a
manager of the National Trust, certain ways can be suggested to encourage lifelong learning
among the staff of The National Trust that that helps in improving the services provided to
the visitors. The ways in which lifelong learning can be encouraged in an individual can be
explained as:
Self-directed learning: The managers of The National Trust motivate and encourage their
staff to enhance their skills and knowledge applying various styles of learning such as Kolb’s
learning model, Honey and Mumford model of learning, VARK model, etc. to improve and
develop their skills and abilities on a personal and professional level (Gupta et al. 2017).
Continuing professional development: The managers at The National Trust record and
monitor the performance of the staff on a regular basis and provide them feedback and
encourage them to improve their performance by undertaking necessary actions that help
in achieving desired results and developing their professional skills continuously (Osborne,
2018).
Apprenticeship learning: This is a type of an on-the-job training programme that helps the
employee of the National Trust in learning new skills and knowledge by working under the
supervision of professionals that helps in gaining knowledge skills and guidance from the
experts or mentors and thus, improving their learning effectively (Osborne, 2018).
Achievement and motivation: As a manager of The National Trust, I would suggest this
approach to encourage lifelong learning in every individual of the organization. The
managers must motivate the staff by providing them with the good working environment,
bonus and incentives, recognition and appreciation, etc. that enables the staff to be self-
motivated to improve their performance lifelong for best results (Osborne, 2018).
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1.3 BENEFITS OF SELF-MANAGED LEARNING TO INDIVIDUAL AND
ORGANIZATIONS
Self-managed learning is a very significant concept focusing on the development of an
individual and provides benefits to the individual and the organization and thus, improves
their productivity.
BENEFITS TO THE INDIVIDUAL:
 Self-managed learning helps an individual in self-evaluation through SWOT analysis
that helps in taking actions to grow their strengths using available opportunities for
development and thus, lessening their weaknesses which results in increasing their
level of job satisfaction (Cunningham, 2017).
 The staffs get self-aware and self-motivated to learn new skills and gain new
knowledge that helps in the development of their career personally and
professionally.
 The communication, interpersonal and problem-solving skills of an individual are
improved using approaches and styles of self-managed learning and this helps in
improving their performance at the workplace.
 At The National Trust, the self-managed learning of an individual result in improving
teamwork that results in accomplishing the tasks timely and effectively that
increases the loyalty and retention of the staff of the organization (Cunningham,
2017).
BENEFITS TO THE ORGANIZATION:
 The self-motivated and skilled employees of the organization help in improving the
reputation of The National Trust among the visitors.
 The skilled and talented workforce of The National Trust offers the best services and
provides a great experience to the visitors that enhance the satisfaction level of the
visitors (Cunningham, 2017).
 Self-Managed learning improves the performance and abilities of the employees
within The National Trust. Therefore, the staffs need less or no supervision while
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performing their activities which reduces the workload of the managers and they
engage their time and efforts in other significant tasks.
 There a large number of skilled employees working within The National Trust helps
in providing quick solutions to the problems as various innovative ideas and opinions
are generated that helps in improving the plans and providing better results in the
organization (Cunningham, 2017).
Thus, it can be said that the managers at The National Trust focus on encouraging their staff
to enhance their self-managed learning and develop lifelong learning as it provides benefits
to both the individual and the organization in obtaining the aims and objectives as desired.
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LO2
2.1 EVALUATE OWN CURRENT SKILLS AGAINST PROFESSIONAL
STANDARDS AND OBJECTIVES
CURRENT SKILLS PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS BUSINESS OBJECTIVES OF
THE NATIONAL TRUST
LEADERSHIP SKILLS: I have
the ability to encourage the
team to perform their tasks
effectively. I also possess
qualities of a good leader
such as honesty, integrity,
team–management, etc.
An organization seeks for a
competent leader who acts
as a role model for the team
and motivates the team
members by providing
effective training; good
working conditions and
maintains friendly relations
with the team (Northouse,
2017).
The National Trust desires to
have a manager having
excellent skills and abilities
to be a great leader and
motivator working along
with the team in achieving
the organizational goals and
raising profitability and
growth.
DECISION-MAKING SKILLS: I
take time in understanding
and analysing the situation
clearly and effectively and
taking correct decision to
resolve a particular issue.
The individual must be fair
and quick at making
decisions after critically
analysing the situation
thinking out of resolving the
issues managing effective
decision-making.
The managers t The National
Trust must have excellent
decision-making skills so that
they solve the issues faced
by the staff or the visitors
quickly and accurately in
order to enhance the
satisfaction and loyalty of
the visitors and employees
(Bell, 2018).
ORAL COMMUNICATION
SKILLS: I have the abilities to
communicate with people
both verbally and non-
verbally and I think I possess
An individual must possess
excellent communication
skills and must be fluent with
the language they speak and
should listen to others
The National Trust aims at
having a manager with good
listening and communication
skills and must be fluent with
at least two languages and
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good communication skills. properly so as to make the
communication effective.
must have a clear and
thoughtful mind.
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2.2 IDENTIFY OWN DEVELOPMENT NEEDS AND THE ACTIVITIES NEEDED
TO MEET THEM
IMPROVEMENT NEEDED WAYS TO IMPROVE SKILLS
LEADERSHIP SKILLS To improve my leadership skills I must
possess effective abilities to motivate others
to work as per the plans and must act as an
inspiration for the team by performing with
the best of my capabilities that lead to the
success of the organization. Being a leader, I
must be efficient at boosting the morale of
the employees by providing them with a safe
and friendly environment to work
(Northouse, 2017).
COMMUNICATION SKILLS I can improve my communication skills by
interacting with people more and more to
gain confidence and fluency in my
communication, listening to the problems of
others, communicating my views and
opinions properly with the staff and taking
measures to improve my vocabulary which
would help me in enhancing my skills.
PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS Improvement in problem-solving skills can
be achieved with the help of experienced
and practising case studies that help in
enhancing critical thinking abilities and focus
on improving analysing and evaluation skills
that result in quick and efficient problem-
solving (Bell, 2018).
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2.3 IDENTIFY OPPORTUNITIES FOR DEVELOPMENT FOR MEETING
CURRENT AND FUTURE NEEDS
For meeting the current and future needs being the membership and visitor welcome
manager at The National Trust, it is very necessary to work for the development of skills and
abilities by grabbing opportunities both within and outside the organization to get better
results (Ansoff et al. 2018).
To meet my current and future development needs, I would undertake a SWOT analysis
through which I can take steps to increase my strengths by using the available opportunities
and reducing my weaknesses by overcoming the threats and performing effectively that
leads to positive results. Thus, I need to work on my problem-solving skills and taking care of
the visitors by providing them with excellent services that help them in gaining good
experience and making their trip memorable (Ansoff et al. 2018).
The National Trust provides various opportunities in the organization for training and
development of the skills and abilities of an individual for improving their performance. I
must use some methods of both on-the-job and off-the-job training such as advice and
consultation from the superiors, planned reading, case studies, group discussions, etc. that
help in improving my interpersonal skills and I would be able to perform with the best of my
abilities and give better results to the organization (Ansoff et al. 2018).
To develop my professional skills, I must plan for my higher education or some course or
training programmes available outside the organization that are significant in developing my
career by meeting my requirements and enhancing my productivity (Ansoff et al. 2018).
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