Self-Learning Approaches, Personal & Professional Development Report

This report delves into the crucial aspects of personal and professional development, emphasizing the significance of self-learning for career success. It examines various self-learning approaches like David Kolb's experiential learning and Peter Honey and Alan Mumford's learning styles. The report also explores methods for fostering lifelong learning, focusing on individual and organizational improvement, particularly in the context of a customer service manager role. It highlights the importance of self-managed learning and its advantages for both individuals and organizations. Furthermore, the report assesses current competencies and skills, proposes personal and professional development strategies, and outlines activities and processes for implementing a development plan. It also addresses work-based problems, communication styles, and effective time management strategies. The report concludes by synthesizing the key findings and offering actionable insights for continuous self-improvement.

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1 ...........................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Evaluation of various approaches in self learning,...............................................................3
1.2 Methods to empower long lasting learning with respect to individual and expert
improvement. .............................................................................................................................4
1.3 Significance of self-manage learning ...................................................................................5
Advantages for the person ..........................................................................................................5
TASK 2 ...........................................................................................................................................6
2.1 Current competencies and skills ...........................................................................................6
2.2 Personal and professional development................................................................................6
2.3 Development Opportunities to fulfil current and future needs.............................................7
2.4 Personal and Professional development strategy related to identified needs. ......................7
Task 3 ..............................................................................................................................................8
3.1 Activities and Processes required to apply a development plan...........................................8
3.2 Documenting and Undertaking development activities .......................................................9
3.3 Reflection of own learning with respect to the goal and objectives ....................................9
3.4 Updating the development plan on the basis of evaluation and feedback............................9
TASK 4 .........................................................................................................................................10
4.1 Work based problems and solutions .................................................................................10
4.2 Different styles of communication at various level of the organisation ............................10
4.3 Evaluate and use effective time management strategies....................................................10
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Personal and professional development is very essential for an individual to achieve
success in any career. This report describes the various aspects of personal and professional
development, different approaches and methods to achieve life-long learning in context of an
individual or an organisation. The study is in context to a customer service manager and the
methods of developing various skills required for the job role. The report includes evidence of
various worked based issue and their solutions, with addition to this different management
strategies have been described with their justification. Furthermore, a personal and professional
development plan is prepared to analyse the long and short term objectives of self learning.
TASK 1
1.1 Evaluation of various approaches in self learning,
Every individual begin the self learning with the own or self research they practice at the
university or college as well as within the career cycle. They learn different methods and
techniques with the help of data and information collected during the research. An individual can
use various approaches and styles for self-managed learning
DAVID KOLB Concrete Experience - A new experience or a
new meaning from a previous situation is
experienced. This acts as a stimulus.
Reflective reflection on the new
meaning/experience, especially on the
discrepancy and gap between learner’s
understanding and the experience.
Abstract Conceptualization new ideas or
modified existing abstract thoughts stem from
this reflection.
Active Experimentation learner applies this to
the outer world.
PETER HONEY and ALAN MUMFORD Activist – hands-on; respond to learning
through trial and error.
Theorist – convince me; respond to learning
through clarity of argument.
Pragmatist – show me; they like an expert to

demonstrate through application.
Reflector – tell me; like to be briefed before
they are willing to take action.
For me the learning style that defines me is
Theorist because my way of solving problems
is step by step and everything I do have to be
well argued
Anthony Gregorc's Abstract – Random (AR) learners prefer an
unstructured environment and learn
holistically.
Concrete – Random (CR) learners are risk-
takers who learn mostly by trial and error, like
to explore unstructured problems, make
intuitive leaps in solving them, and use creative
and original problem-solving skills..
Abstract – Sequential (AS) learners are
strongly analytic and logical and favor verbal
forms of instruction; but also tend to picture
concepts
Concrete – Sequential (CS) learners favor a
step-by-step, orderly approach to organize
sensory information.
1.2 Methods to empower long lasting learning with respect to individual and expert
improvement.
Consistent learning is associated to steady individual learning. An Individual may take in his
lifetime by recognizing his own particular qualities, openings, dangers and shortcoming.
Qualities inside an individual decides his desire towards work and keeping in mind that in push
he can discover courses for delight and different approaches to limit his pressure. Self-learning
alludes to survey convictions, individual comprehension, judgement and activity which an
individual needs to take in the correct way. This may help a man to maintain a strategic distance
from expert and individual issues he faces throughout everyday life. Self-learning can help a
person to create and play out his or her own aptitudes and thoughts through a specific work,
errand and obligations. He can develop his own particular capacities and abilities by assessing
and arranging his adequacy.
Learning and improvement techniques

An individual can apply for a vocation on the off chance that he or she meet the insignificant
criteria with capability, degrees, authentications and different things he gained from encounters
previously. Past the degrees and endorsements, the conduct and self administration aptitudes can
recognize a person from the group and help him to become most importantly. There are different
learning and advancement techniques, for example, -
Innovativeness – Creativity is an extraordinary creative energy, thoughts and imagining
that acquires advancement and something positive an association(Mahon and
Cushner,2016).
Co-operation – It is a nature to collaborate with others in a working or business climate.
Train – It alludes to the capacity to perform a task in a definite way.
Inspirational state of mind – A great disposition, conduct or nature can give development
and improvement inside an employee's performance.
Watchfulness – Being cautious alludes to speculation before responding. It helps in
lessening mistakes and keeping consistent work process going.
Friendliness – An individual should be social at his working and workplace. Getting to be
noticeably mingled helps in diminishing the work weight and build up a positive situation
in an association.
1.3 Significance of self-manage learning
Advantages for the person
 The individual can accomplish his objectives and goals through self-guided learning. The
uplifting disposition, self-awareness and abilities that are produced independent from
anyone else oversaw learning can help a person to get a high assignment or place in an
association. The individual and certainty advancement or change helps individuals in
ending up more proficient and aides in bringing different chances to develop and make
progress. It has a worthy advantage in lessening the mistakes and enhancing the

development rate in their expert life. The Individual can get these advantages without
anyone else's input overseen learning.
Advantages to the association
The self-guided adapting additionally have many advantages to the association. The
association gets profoundly capable and viable workers which takes after self-guided
learning. Successful and capable representatives help an association to enhance the
efficiency and adequacy inside the business operations. The person who received the self-
guided learning create and develop their aptitudes or capacity inside an association which
result in enhanced execution for accomplishment of targets. Representatives having self-
guided learning might be overhauled by a firm and can turn into a motivation for
different workers.
TASK 2
2.1 Current competencies and skills
Necessary skills for the Event Manager role
 organisational skills and attention to detail; 7
 communication and interpersonal skills; 4
 negotiation skills when looking for the best price from venues, suppliers and contractors;
4
 time-management skills and the ability to work under pressure to ensure the efficient
running of an event; 6
 project management experience; 6
 problem-solving skills and diplomacy; 7
 sales an marketing skills to promote the event and attract sponsorship; 3
 the ability to manage budgets as you'll be responsible for event budgets; 3
 administrative and IT skills; 6
 self-motivation and enthusiasm.7
Strengths
Self-motivation and enthusiasm.
Organisational skills and attention to detail;
Problem-solving skills
IT skills
Weaknesses
Work experience
Negotiation skills when looking for the best
price
Sales an marketing skills to promote the event
and attract sponsorship
Communication

Opportunities
The possibility of employment in a job of
specialty
Compatibility between personal skills and
specifi domain owned;
Chance of completion of studies;
High intensity training programs
Threats
Competition from people with more
experience and higher skill
Very competitive industry
 Communication skills – It is an important and beneficial skill needed to effectively
perform the role of a customer service manager as the communication skills allow you to
inform, help and advise customers clearly and to liaise effectively with other
professionals(Hunter,Laursen and Seymour,2017).
 Motivational skills – The other skill as a customer service manager is the ability to
supervise and lead a team of customer service assistants. It's important for a manager to
motivate his or her subordinates so that can perform their duties well leading to the
achievement of goals and objectives.
 Problem-solving skills – Another current skills required by a customer service
professional is the ability to solve the problems and issues arises within an organisation.
There are many conflicts and issue develops within an organisation, the customer service
managers should have the ability to resolve them effectively.
 Creative thinking – This is also an important skill required by a customer service
manager, he or she must be able to come up with new ideas to improve customer service
standards(McNiff,2014).

2.2 Personal and professional development.
The skills mentioned above are very important for an individual in order to achieve
personal and professional development. In order to develop these skills an individual can use the
following techniques
Skills Action to do Resources you need Dead line
Communication Reading 30 minutes
every day
Seminars
watching movies 40
minutes every day
Books
Money
Internet
30 June 2019
Negotiation skills Course
Reading 30 minutes
every day
Money
Books
30 June 2019
Sales an marketing
skills
Course
Reading 30 minutes
every day
watching movies 40
minutes every day
Money
Books
Internet
30 June 2019
Work experience Internship
applications
Time
Money
30 june 2019
 Listening skills – In order to interact or communicate with other employees in an
organisation an individual needs to have good listening skills so that he or she can
understand the views of others. As a customer service manager I need to have an
effective communication skills for that I need to develop impressive listening ability to
understand what others need to convey or communicate.
 Time management – Personal and professional development can be achieved by
effectively managing the time. Time management technique is essential to ensure the

proper utilisation of time. In order to be creative and innovative an individual needs to
focus on best utilisation of time in each and every area of the organisation or job role.
 Team work – A person can learn many things by working in a team. The members in a
team share various information and ideas while working in a team, this helps in getting
various creative and innovative ideas which further assist in effective performance.
2.3 Development Opportunities to fulfil current and future needs.
The development opportunities to fulfil future and current needs depends upon specific
abilities, the various skills within an individual helps him or her to analyse and determine the
effective methods of performing the business operations. Customer service manager needs
various important skills to help and advise customers effectively. These skills can be developed
by continuous interaction with the customers. A customer service manager can develop the skills
such as communication skills, problem solving etc by interacting with different customers in
order to provide effective services to them. Interaction or communication helps in developing
listening skills and understanding the customers this also helps in creating new ideas and
techniques for handling customers politely as well as with satisfaction.
2.4 Personal and Professional development strategy related to identified needs.
There are numerous exercises which are should have been performed to accomplish a particular
objective or achievement in both professional and personal life. The Personal and professional
improvement evaluate the assumption of the requirements of the advancement needed to be
made by every last person. The different exercises which may accomplish the individual and
expert improvement are as per the following -
 Defining your goals and objectives – The main component in making an improvement
design is to characterize your targets and objective. For the expert improvement a
customer service manager need to accomplish different abilities and learning which is
vital in the individual and expert advancement and development. The objective and goals
which are should have been accomplished ought to be characterized effectively.
 Organize – When your objectives are been characterized, the subsequent stage is to set
the need of the objectives to achieve as indicated by their significance and hugeness. The
need of the objectives are acquires the adequacy getting the objectives(Chirino,Noguez
and Aguilar,2017).

 Set a due date – The due date alludes to the era in which the objectives ought to be
acquired. The individual and improvement design must incorporate the due dates of
accomplishing certain objectives and targets so that an individual can create proficiency
at individual and additionally proficient level. Accordingly, setting the due dates is
essential for successful outcomes and results in individual and expert existence of a
person.
 Understanding the quality – Each and every individual ought to know about his or her
quality. Understanding the claim quality causes a person to accomplish the coveted
objectives and targets.
 Perceiving Threats and Opportunities – The professional and personal development
ought to incorporate the investigation of the different threats and chances to a person in
his or her own and expert life(Moon,2013).
 New aptitudes should have been developed – The individual and expert improvement
design is made with a target of growing new aptitudes and capacities which can help a
person to develop and make progress by meeting the present and future needs.
Task 3
3.1 Activities and Processes required to apply a development plan
In order to implement or execute a development plan an individual can use a wide range
of changeable and effective activities. The various process to achieve the professional and
personal development are as described below -
 Scope or content of professional and personal development plan – The employees
working within an organisation implement various personal development plans. Various
companies have their own policies, guidelines and methods for professional and personal
development of the employees. These policies and development program are created to
improve the skills and performance of the employees(Bunderson and Boumgarden,2014).
 Support and implementation – Sometimes an individual faces problems in deciding his or
her own judgement, they need support for taking decisions. The other issue in
implementing a plan is it requires a great communication effort which also requires
support of others.

 Impact – The personal and professional plan has a great impact on each and every
individual, it brings a great difference within the skills, knowledge and personality of a
person.
3.2 Documenting and Undertaking development activities
To document and undertake the development process an individual can perform various
activities as mentioned below -
 Collecting inner thoughts and ideas
 Decisions and noted must be included within the document
 The document should be compared with another one in order to identify the errors.
Documentation plays very significant role in finding the development areas of the
individual. Fir the person need to analyse himself which can be done with the help of SWOT
analysis. Further individual need to link it with his own objectives and if any gap is founded
then different strategies should be implemented to solve fill the gap.
3.3 Reflection of own learning with respect to the goal and objectives
 Knowledge and experience – The experiences and information gained with the past
development plans simplify the processes and improve the confidence level.
 Preparation of meeting – For balancing the demands of the team members meeting
preparation is very essential at every department of an organisation.
 Motivation and Anticipation – Anticipation level needs to be analysed for achieving the
professional and personal development. It assists to identify the skills needed and the
development goals for future.
3.4 Updating the development plan on the basis of evaluation and feedback.
 Planning – Specifying or defining the plan and objectives carefully is very much
essential. It helps an individual to understand the outcome and the impact of the results.
The skills must be analysed and plan must include the effective ways to develop those
skills(Broadbent,2013).
Reviewing – The execution and planning of a development plan can be reviewed in order to
evaluate and measure the personal and professional development plan. It helps to identifying the
strength and weakness of the plan executed. It is one of the significant aspect because when the
individual is going to review about himself, he or she can find the areas where he can maintain
his strength and areas where development is required.

Updated plan
Personal Objectives Action Plan Required
Convincing Skills  Motivational thoughts
 Understanding point of view of others
Analytical Capabilities Reading and understanding more books
Solving more puzzles
Enrolling in courses that teach mathematics
TASK 4
4.1 Work based problems and solutions
Employees faces various issues and problems at the work place, It is very important to
resolve these work-based problems in order to maintain the operational flow within the
organisation. There are various work-based problems faced by the employees as mentioned
below -
 Salary issues
 Conflicts among employees
 Work pressure etc.
These problems can be resolved by various techniques such as investigation of the problem or
issue, such as what is the cause of the issue, the people involved, impact of the issue etc. This
investigation helps in identifying the solution of the issues, for example – listening to the
employees, analysing the situation and providing the best solution to resolve the conflict.
4.2 Different styles of communication at various level of the organisation
Communication is a very important element of each and every organisation which helps in
exchanging ideas, thoughts and information. The various styles of communication are as follows
-
 Controller style – They focus on communicating facts and are task oriented.
 Promoter style – The people using promoter style can talk various topics continuously.
 Supporter style – These individuals are good listeners, well behaved and patient.
 Analyser styles – The people using this style are straight forward and focus on detailed
facts and information(Avalos,2016).

4.3 Evaluate and use effective time management strategies
 Knowing how to spend time: Individual need to identify the different activities and then
distribute it accordingly. It will allow to have effective management of activities
according to priorities so that goals and objectives can be accomplished.
 Setting priorities : The work which have the nearest deadline will be set first and then
other. It allows to have effective allocation of funds and sources to the management as
per need of activity and its importance.
 Getting organised: All the activities and operations which individual need to be done
should be organised so that work can be done effectively and efficiently. It provides an
systematic process under which standards can be well maintained in order to have
sustainable development.
 Scheduling time effectively: As the activities are being organised, each activity should be
given proper time so that it can be completed on time.
CONCLUSION
It is important to develop personal and professional skills in order to achieve self
managed learning and development. This report includes a brief prescription of self learning as
well as personal and professional development. The various approaches of self learning are also
described in the study. Furthermore, the skills needed to be developed by a customer service
manages are identifies in the report such as communication skills, team-work etc.

REFERENCES
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Chirino, V., Noguez, J., and Aguilar, G., 2017. Students’ perception about the use of mobile
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