Enhancing Professional Skills and Competencies: A Development Plan

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Personal and Professional Development
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Main Body.......................................................................................................................................3
LO1..................................................................................................................................................3
Introduction..................................................................................................................................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 organisation.............5
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................6
LO2..................................................................................................................................................6
2.1 Evaluate own current skills and competencies against professional standards and
organisational objectives.............................................................................................................6
2.2 Identify own development needs and the activities required to meet them...........................8
2.3 Identify development opportunities to meet current and future defined needs.....................9
2.4 Devise a personal and professional development plan based on identified needs...............10
LO3................................................................................................................................................11
3.1 Discuss the processes and activities required to implement the development plan.............11
3.2 Undertake and document development activities as planned..............................................12
3.3 Reflect critically on own learning against original aims and objectives set in the
development plan.......................................................................................................................12
3.4 Update the development plan based on feedback and evaluation.......................................13
LO4 Be able to demonstrate acquired interpersonal and transferable skills.................................15
4.2 Communicate in a variety of styles and appropriate manner at various levels...................15
4.1 Select solutions to work-based problems............................................................................15
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4.3 Evaluate and use effective time-management strategies.....................................................16
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................16
References......................................................................................................................................17
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List of Tables
Table 1: Article................................................................................................................................5
Table 2: Skills Audit.........................................................................................................................8
Table 3: Activities to improve the skills.........................................................................................10
Table 4: PPD.................................................................................................................................12
Table 5: Updated PPD..................................................................................................................15
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Introduction
Individuals working in organizations are required to develop themselves for obtaining the skills
needed for working efficiently (Hildebrand, 2018). Personal and professional development of
candidates contributes to accomplishing valuable services for efficiently serving the customers. It
has been identified that the travel and leisure industry is required to have a proficient workforce
who can self-manage their work as per the skills and attributes they acquire. It is further known
that in order to enhance the skills and knowledge of employees or individuals, personal and
professional development techniques can be effective or useful in order to serve well to the
customers. A personal and development plan is considered as a great tool or way to develop
skills and knowledge.
The present writing is carried out the ways through which personal and professional
development can be enhanced to contribute to effectively serving the customers. Also, while
working as part of Travelodge's management, the report highlights certain techniques or tactics
in order to develop the skills and attributes to meet the set standards of the hotel for the post of
manager. The last section of the report is based on resolving employee turnover issue within the
company for which various methods have been devised in the below writing.
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LO1
Table 1: Article
Article
Understand how self-managed learning can enhance lifelong development
Date: 12th February 2019
Introduction
The article is based on evaluating the ways or approaches through which self-managed learning
can be enhanced in order to perform better within the organization. Furthermore, the article states
that there is a specific set of skills which assists in providing better services while working as an
assistant manager in the cited hotel that is Travelodge (Olsen, 2015).
1.1 Evaluate approaches to self-managed learning
There are a number of ways or methods identified through which self-managed learning can be
practiced by the employees of Travelodge. With the help of the self-managed learning
approaches, working as an assistant manager within the institution will become easier.
Opposing the statement said by the facilitator, self-learning can be explained as the learning
which is done especially through observation and personal experiences. It includes both operants
as well as conditional learning which helps in self-learning by measuring personal goals and
objectives.
Certain ways are listed below through which self-managed learning can be enhanced within my
staff and me in order to perform better within the company:
Figure 1: Self-Learning Tools
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(Source: Patel, 2014)
Social networks: Internet and social networks have helped in advancing the skills and
knowledge of the individuals. As an assistant manager in Travelodge, connecting to clients
and customers on social platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and others will
help me and my staff members to attract clients efficiently and to provide better services to
them as per their needs (Sangster, 2017).
Seminars and learning courses: It is one of the prominent approaches of self-managed
learning. With the help of this approach, my staff and I will be able to gain knowledge
about the field of work as well as the skills and attributes which we lack in. With the help
of the same, I will be able to develop the confidence to speak in public and able to
effectively contact the guests or clients.
By staying organized: It is a significant approach which will enable both staff members and
me to effectively develop the right way of doing things on time and maintain time of each
and every task aligned for the day.
1.2 Propose ways in which lifelong learning in personal and professional contexts could be
encouraged
Lifelong learning is the way of learning which is enhanced with the help of using professional
and daily life experiences. It helps in developing long-term learning and is further parted into
two separate features, the initial one is individual capacity, and another one is the exercise within
a professional outline.
Some of the ways through which lifelong learning can be described are:
With the help of the lifelong learning tools, my staff members and I will be able to foster long-
term learning approaches through which we will be able to generate new ideas to implement at
the workplace (Sangster, 2017).
Continuous learning method: This type of learning involves learning through the
experiences and life events that take place in both personal and professional life. With the
help of personal routine and digging out the mistakes form the same, as an assistant
manager I will be able to take corrective actions for my staff as well as the clients to serve
them better.
Self-modification: It is considered as one of the most effective techniques to develop the
skills and knowledge. It has been further identified that while working in Travelodge there
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are certain areas where it is necessary to possess some of the required skill. For the same
reason, self-modification is the tool which helps to identify the skills which need to
developed.
Motivation: It can be obtained from both self and form others. Constant motivation
enables to identify the responsibilities as well as to perform better in the long-run. In order
to survive in the travel and hospitality industry, it is essential to perform actions at the
workplace to further deal with various situations.
1.3 Evaluate the benefits of self-managed learning to the individual and organisation
With respect to the above writing and the ways mentioned above, it can be said that self-
managed learning tools significantly contributes in developing the skills and knowledge required
to perform better in the field of hospitality and tourism (Vangrieken, et al. 2017). Furthermore, it
has been gathered that personal as well as professional development skills help to learn from the
daily life incidents as well as accompanies to handle the quick services needed by the clients or
guests.
Figure 2: Advantages of Self-managed Learning
(Source: Reffill, 2016)
The following points include skills which my staff and I have learnt from the approaches of self-
managed learning:
Team working skills – For handling the tasks and procedures within the travel and tourism
firm that is Travelodge, it is essential to perform altogether or in a team. Being an assistant
manager in the cited firm, it is required to possess team working skills, and with the help of
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seminars and other self-learning approaches, my staff and I were able to work together to
achieve better outcomes.
Leadership skills – Another needful skill which as an assistant manager is prerequisite to
have. By leading the team properly, I can efficiently improve the team performance and
help them by guiding better.
Communication and presentation skills – With the help of self-managed tools such as
online learning sources and social networking, I was able to communicate and engage
better with clients or guests better. Also, it helped me to improve my presentation skills
where I was able to present myself and my work in a formal manner (Patton, et al. 2015).
Conclusion
It has been identified from the above article that there are several benefits such as it helps in
developing leadership skills, communication skills and more. These can be achieved by using
continuous learning and self-evaluating tools.
LO2
2.1 Evaluate own current skills and competencies against professional standards and
organisational objectives
To evaluate current skills and competencies as per the set standards of Travelodge for being a
manager, there are certain skills which I have to develop to meet the required objectives of the
company. The standards of Travelodge state that the assistant manager should be a leading
example for the subordinates or fellow employees. It has been further identified that the assistant
manager must be an effective communicator as well as capable enough to meet the agreed targets
(Pennington and Richards, 2016).
Furthermore, to evaluate current skills and competencies, skills audit and SWOT analysis will be
helpful.
Table 2: Skills Audit
SKILLS OBSERVATION AND USE SCORE OUT OF 10
CAN ACHIEVE SHORT
DEADLINES
I am quite poor in achieving
short deadlines at the time of
workload or seasonal time of
the year. It is required to
develop these skills in order to
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make clients happy or satisfied
with quick services.
PROBLEM-SOLVING I am an efficient problem
solver who helps me to
resolve conflicts between the
team members and give
practical solutions to the
issues they are facing
(Moorley and Chinn, 2015).
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COMMUNICATION AND
ENGAGEMENT
I have observed that my
communication skills are not
up to the mark and at times I
fumble a lot while speaking to
clients or guests coming from
diverse places.
This is a necessary skill which
I am required to learn as it
helps to make good customer
relationship by engaging with
them.
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PLANNING AND
ORGANIZING
My planning and organizing
skills are average and need
improvement. With the help of
same, I will be able to plan
priority tasks and plan and
organize necessary
implementations as an
assistant manager in
Travelodge.
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The above skills audit shows my skills in which I am weak as well as strong. My communication
and engagement skills are my fundamental weakness which I have to develop effectively to
perform better. It has been further evaluated from the same that I can efficiently solve problems
or issues and is counted as my strength (Dorociak, et al. 2017).
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2.2 Identify own development needs and the activities required to meet them
In order to be potentially active and meet the set professional standards, it is required to apply
certain practices and activities. From the aforementioned skills audit, here is a clear
representation of subjects which I need to outline considerably to make myself proficient as per
the aims or purposes set by the mentioned hotel that is Travelodge.
It has been identified that there are some skills which I am poor or average, and those are
communications and engagement skills. Planning or organizing skills, as well as meeting short
deadlines. However, my problem solving skills are up to the mark (Edwards, 2016).
The below table shows the current skills which need development and the ways or activities
through which it can be improved:
Table 3: Activities to improve the skills
Identification of current skills Activities or methods to develop them
Ways to develop communication skills  In order to develop communication skills
and engagement skills, the primary way to
develop the same is soft skills training and
development. It will help in proactively
participating in the development of
maintaining these skills.
 Another way of working on the same is to
read novels and magazines through which I
will able to improve my fumbling issue
while speaking.
 Engaging in audience discussion or group
discussions (GD) is a significant method to
improve y communication skills (Komattil,
et al. 2016).
Methods to meet short deadlines  Keeping a list of projects or tasks aligned
for the day can help to keep a constant
check on the tasks done.
 Also setting up the priority objectives or
tasks which will help to determine further
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