Self-Managed Learning and Development in Visitor Services

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Personal and Professional Development
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Task 1 (LO1)....................................................................................................................................5
An evaluation of the approaches to self-managed learning, highlighting approaches which would
be more suitable for your team in Visitor Services.........................................................................5
Ways in which lifelong learning in personal and professional contexts can be encouraged in
Visitor Services, within the National Trust. You should also say how you as a manager, can
encourage lifelong learning within your team.................................................................................6
An Evaluation of the benefits of self-managed learning to you as a Manager and the National
Trust.................................................................................................................................................7
Task 2 (LO2)....................................................................................................................................8
An evaluation of your own current skills and competencies against: professional standards for a
manager; those required in your job role and the organisational objectives of the National Trust. 8
An identification of your own development needs and the activities required to meet them; which
of your skills need to be improved? How are you going to improve or gain these skills?..............9
Identifying development opportunities to meet your current and future defined needs in the
Membership and Visitor Welcome Manager role.........................................................................10
Devise a personal and professional development plan based on the development needs you have
identified........................................................................................................................................11
Task 3 (LO3)..................................................................................................................................13
Discuss the processes and activities required to implement the development plan that you
prepared for yourself in the task above..........................................................................................13
Undertake and document development activities as planned........................................................14
Reflect critically on your own learning against original aims and objectives set in the
development plan...........................................................................................................................14
Update your development plan that you prepared for yourself (in Task 2) based on this critical
reflection, as well as the feedback from others..............................................................................15
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Task 4 (LO4)..................................................................................................................................16
Draft a poster for staff on workplace bullying and harassment, identifying what it is and how the
organisation will manage such instances and what staff can do if they feel they are being
harassed or bullied at work............................................................................................................18
Produce a leaflet for staff in which you evaluate a range of time-management strategies to help
staff in carrying out their work more effectively...........................................................................20
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................21
Reference List................................................................................................................................23
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Introduction
The travel and tourism sector is continuously growing, with increased market demands. The
changing trends in the marketing are also changing the requirements of the marketers as well as
the staffs regarding their competencies, in order to meet the demands and stay competitive in the
market. Thus, every organization in this industry is attempting to offer opportunities to the staffs
and managers for enhancing their skills and knowledge through continuous professional
development or lifelong learning (Rashidand Asghar, 2016). In this regards, it is noteworthy that
the organizational environment and leadership is playing crucial role in promoting self-directed
learning and continuous professional development of the employees, which shapes both their
personal and professional attributes, while being beneficial for the employer too. In this regards,
the following assignment has been developed for analyzing how personal and professional
development of staffs and managers are important in the travel and tourism sector. In this
regards, the personal and professional development, lifelong learning, problem solving and other
aspects related to the topic would be explored in the context of National Trust, UK.
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Task 1 (LO1)
An evaluation of the approaches to self-managed learning, highlighting approaches which
would be more suitable for your team in Visitor Services
The charitable trust of UK, the National Trust was established in 1895, with the purpose of
looking after all the heritage sites, natural assets and art collections in UK. The staffs at the
organization are continuously putting their best effort for creating a good experience of
approximately 20 million visitors, visiting to the registered properties protected by National
Trust, UK. However, the continuously changing market demands in the industry are indicating
that employees need to shape their skills and knowledge aligning with the changing demands in a
continuous manner. It can be done through self-managed learning. Yew and Goh (2016) defined
self-managed learning as the approaches, which helps staffs to learn and develop knowledge by
their own, based on the goals, objectives and learning outcomes set on the basis of their own
performance loopholes. The following section highlights the approaches to self managed
learning.
Research –The staffs can be engaged in research work, for inventing something new, which
could shape knowledge of the learner as well as the others working in the industry. It is
beneficial because, it helps to create in-depth knowledge on specific research area.
Social media – In the current market, social media platforms has become the key space for
communicating with wider community, from where individual can learn a lot from others. From
the popular social media, like Facebook, Twitter, the staffs in tourism sector can continuously
gain knowledge regarding the changing trends, preferences or dislikes of the consumers, based
on which they could shape their skills to satisfy their needs or shape their future career
(Longworth, 2019).
Internet search–It has become the most easily accessible medium for self-directed learning
nowadays. Learner can use search engines or online databases to find authentic resources, from
where knowledge could be acquired. It is beneficial, because learner needs no help from others,
while using this medium for knowledge acquisition, except digital tool and internet connectivity.
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It can offer wider knowledge about customers’ trends, competitor’s position or international
traits required for a successful tourism employee to satisfy visitors.
Seminar and conferences – The organization National Trust is arranging several seminars and
conferences for the staffs and managers, in order to shape their knowledge and skills, aligning
with the industry requirements or the visitor management. In addition, through this approach, the
self confidence and interpersonal skills of the staffs are improved through public speaking ability
(Hyland, 2019).
Analyzing the available approaches for self-managed learning, it has been revealed that at
National Trust, for the Visitor Service team, use of internet, along with seminars and conferences
are the most suitable approaches for the employees. It is because, internet search is easily
accessible for all employees; and in the digital era, everyone carries a smartphone. On the other
hand, the organization is arranging seminars and conferences regularly for employee
engagement, which would offer them significant opportunity for self-managed learning.
Ways in which lifelong learning in personal and professional contexts can be encouraged in
Visitor Services, within the National Trust. You should also say how you as a manager, can
encourage lifelong learning within your team
Lifelong learning is defined as the process of continuous learning, in order to increase capacity
of an individual personally, along with its contribution to the professional field. At National
Trust, lifelong learning can be encouraged through the following ways in the Visitor Service
team.
Self-evaluation and planning –One key way through which lifelong learning could be achieved
is continuous self-evaluation and development based on the evaluation. It can be encouraged in
the visitor team at National Trust by promoting the staffs to perform personal SWOT analysis.
This approach enables staffs to identify own strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats for
learning and development (Hildebrand, 2018).
Continuous Professional development –The continuous professional development is another
key approach, which enables the staffs at Visitor service team at National Trust to identify the
key areas they need to improve, for their professional development. In order to do that, formative
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assessment is done, where employees can undergo self-evaluation and take feedback from others,
based on which professional improvement plan is developed. It continues as a cycle for
continuously improving staff’s potential (Keoghand Byrne, 2015).
Apprenticeship and training –It is a kind of training, which includes on-job training, continued
with learning. It helps the staffs to learn and gain experience from it, which they can use further
for continuously shaping their knowledge base.
Being a manager at Visitor Service Team at National Trust, I have always empowered my
fellows for lifelong learning, by making them aware of its importance and benefits. I have helped
them to identify their own performance loopholes through self-evaluation, gave them feedbacks
and helped them to plan their development goals for lifelong learning. I have also provided
resources, when needed for learning.
An Evaluation of the benefits of self-managed learning to you as a Manager and the
National Trust
Self-managed learning has offered several benefits to me as a manager, as well as to the
organization National Trust. For instance, the ability of personal learning has improved
significantly, which encouraged me to continuously improve myself through self-evaluation, as
well as gaining feedback from others. Further, identifying my own strengths and weaknesses via
SWOT analysis, I became able to plan for my continuous development plan for improving my
overall managerial skill. As I have improved my overall managerial skill, it has not doubt that it
improved my contribution towards the organizational performance, which is also beneficial for
the organization (Rubens et al., 2018). In addition, as I have gained the opportunity to fulfil my
performance loopholes, like improved problem solving skill, time management skill and others,
it also reflected in my team management and the performance of my fellows, which ultimately
improved the overall organizational performance, offering benefits to the organization.
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Task 2 (LO2)
An evaluation of your own current skills and competencies against: professional standards
for a manager; those required in your job role and the organisational objectives of the
National Trust
In order to assess my own current skills and competencies, I have performed self-evaluation,
with the help of personal SWOT analysis tool.
Strengths Weaknesses
 I have identified that communication is one
of my key strengths, which is helping me to
meet the desired managerial trait at National
Trust
 I have effective leadership skill, which is
helping me to manage the visitor service
team, promote their performance excellence
and ensure that they are achieving desired
performance goal
 I am flexible and open-minded, which is
also encouraging my fellows to develop
trust on me
 I am good at controlling financial and sales
related aspects
 I have good management skills, which is
crucial for the manager at National Trust
 One of the key weakness that I possess is
poor problem solving skill, which often
makes my overall standard of performance
low, due to inefficiency decision making
 One of my key weakness is multi-tasking,
which I lack, especially due to poor
organizing skills
 It is also evaluated that my time
management skill is poor
 I am poor at technical skills too, which is
important for dealing with regular
documentation and other managerial tasks
Opportunities Threats
 I have the opportunity to improve my
decision making approach through
improving reasoning and problem solving
through different activities
 The increasing competition in the industry
is threatening the chance of offering
performance excellence at National Trust
 Inability to identify the actual loophole in
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 I can also undergo training for improving
my technical skills, via on-the-job or
external training procedure
 I have significant opportunity to
continuously shape my professional skills
through maintaining empathy with aim of
National Trust
practice or lack of resources could also
hinder my professional development
required
Based on the above analysis, I have further evaluated my current competencies against the
professional standard required for a manager at National Trust.
Professional Standard criteria for a Manager at
National Trust
Competency achieved
Sales, marketing and financial skills Achieved
Strong communication skills Achieved
Effective people management skills Achieved
Flexible customer focused approach Achieved
Problem solving and conflict management
(Nationaltrustjobs.org.uk, 2019)
Not achieved
Well organized Not Achieved
Delivering performance targets Not Achieved
An identification of your own development needs and the activities required to meet them;
which of your skills need to be improved? How are you going to improve or gain these
skills?
From the above analysis, I have identified the areas, where I need improvements, which are
discussed below, with the ways to improve those skills.
Problem solving and decision-making skill – I need to improve my reasoning skill, which I
could do by undergoing brain storming activities. For instance, I would undergo mind mapping
games and puzzles. In addition, I could also undergo managerial internship for improving my
decision making skills.
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Technical skill – In order to improve my technical skills, I would undergo on-the-job training on
specific technical programs Rubens(Tanet al., 2017). For specific purposes, I could also access
external training for improving my skill and experience.
Organizing and Time management skill –I would improve my time management skill through
utilizing Stephen Covey’s time management matrix. It would help me to schedule task according
to urgency and importance, which would help me to meet target. It is associated with
improvement of my organizing skill and multi-tasking ability. I would also keep to-do list, for
keeping track of my daily work.
Identifying development opportunities to meet your current and future defined needs in
the Membership and Visitor Welcome Manager role
Current needs – I have observed that I am a smart learner, which helped me to identify my
current needs. I have identified my current needs are developing organizing skill, developing
interpersonal association with others and being flexible enough for continuous learning.
Future needs – Considering the changing industrial trends and my performance evaluation, I
have identified my future needs, which are to improve knowledge and skills on advance
technologies and being more analytical, thereby strengthening technical skill.
Opportunities –Evaluating the role of Membership and Visitor Welcome Manager at National
Trust, I revealed that I have further opportunity to shape my leadership skill, besides the above-
discussed improvements. For this I could undergo long-term leadership development program.
For this, I have identified external opportunities, a 2years leadership course. It is the current
needs for an effective manager at National Trust as it would help me to meet the current market
demands, by leading the visitor service team in desired way. In this regards, several opportunities
have been identified. As I have identified that I have the need for improving my technical skills,
especially the advanced technological skills, the organization is offering on-the-job technological
training, while integrating some new technologies in the organizational practices. On the other
hand, several external organizations are also offering such training services, from which I could
meet the future demand (Lyons et al., 2016).On the other hand, the organization is also offering
significant opportunity for self-evaluation and development, which could be explored for
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continuous development to meet current and future needs in various identified aspects as a
manager at National Trust.
Devise a personal and professional development plan based on the development needs you
have identified
Aims Priority Activity Resource
needed
Duration Success
criteria
To improve
problem solving
and decision
making skill
High Undergoing
brainstorming
and mind-
mapping
activities and
games, Using
root cause
analysis tool,
solving
complex tasks
and collecting
feedback from
others on that,
undergoing
managerial
internship
Tutorials, online
resources,
guidance from
seniors, internet
search,
3 months Ability to
make
effective
decision and
resolve
organizational
or team
conflict
To develop
effective
technical skill
High Undergoing on-
the-job
technical skill
development
training;
participating in
external
training for
advanced
tourism specific
Referrals,
seminar and
conferences,
networks, online
resources,
guidance
materials
3 months Ability to
deal with
technological
tasks and
analytical
problem
solving
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technologies
for managers
To improve
organizing and
time
management
skill
High Using To-do
list, check list,
using Stephen
Covey’s time
management
matrix for
prioritizing and
organizing
tasks, setting
SMART goals
for multiple
tasks with
specific
deadlines
To-do list,
checklist,
Matrix,
computer
software
3 months Ability to
submit tasks
within
deadline; be
well-
organized and
multi-tasker
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