Travelodge Hotel: A Personal and Professional Development Plan

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students. This report details a personal and professional development plan for Travelodge hotel managers.

Personal and professional development
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction......................................................................................................................................6
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................6
Introduction..................................................................................................................................6
1.1 Evaluate approaches to self-managed learning. Which approach can be more suitable for
you or your staff at Travelodge Hotel?........................................................................................6
1.2 Propose ways in which lifelong learning in personal and professional contexts could be
encouraged at Travelodge. In this question, you should say how you as a manager can
encourage lifelong learning at Travelodge Hotel........................................................................8
1.3 Evaluate the benefits of self-managed learning to you as an assistant manager and the
Travel Lodge. Your judgement has to be supported by relevant evidence or examples.............9
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................10
Task 2.............................................................................................................................................10
2.1 Evaluate your own current skills and competencies against professional standards for a
hotel manager and against organisational objectives of Travelodge Hotel...............................10
2.2 Identify your own development needs and the activities required to meet them. Which of
your skills may need to be improved? How are you going to improve or gain these skills?....12
2.3 Identify development opportunities to meet your current and future defined needs...........14
Which opportunities are available for you inside or outside of the hotel to improve your skill
development needs?...................................................................................................................14
2.4 Devise a personal and professional development plan based on identified needs. In this
task, you need to prepare a ‘plan’ for personal and professional development. In this plan, you
need to mention three issues: ‘what’ are your needed skills; ‘how’ are you going to develop
the skills; and ‘when’ are you going to develop intended skills?..............................................14
Task 3.............................................................................................................................................16
3.1 Discuss the processes and activities required to implement the development plan that you
prepared for yourself in task 2.4................................................................................................16
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3.2 Undertake and document development activities as planned. In this task, you should
implement the development plan you prepared for yourself and then write down how you
implemented your plan..............................................................................................................16
3.3 Reflect critically on your own learning against original aims and objectives set in the
development plan. Did you really learn new skills at the level you aim for them?...................17
3.4. Update the development plan that you prepared for yourself (covered in 2.4) based on the
feedback and evaluation............................................................................................................18
Task 4.............................................................................................................................................19
4.1- Select solutions to work-based problems...........................................................................20
4.2- Communicate in a variety of styles and appropriate manner at various levels..................20
4.3- Evaluate and use effective time-management strategies....................................................21
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................21
References......................................................................................................................................22
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Self-managed learning.....................................................................................................4
Figure 2: Kolb learning style..........................................................................................................7
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Skill audit...........................................................................................................................8
Table 2: Development needs and activities...................................................................................10
Table 3: Personal and professional development plan..................................................................12
Table 4: Updated development plan..............................................................................................17
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Introduction
Self-managed learning and continuous learning is essential for personal as well as professional
development (Hildebrand, 2018). There are various approaches and techniques of self-managed
learning that helps in the attainment of individual goals and organizational objectives.
Encouraging lifelong learning in the organization is significant to attain quality work
performance and self-motivated workforce.
The present assignment is concerned about the drafting of a personal and professional
development plan that is required for working as a manager in Travelodge. Also, the report
emphasizes on the implementation of the development plan with the help of various activities
and process.
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Task 1
Introduction
This task is based on drafting an article that encourages the employees of Travelodge in self-
managed and continuous learning to enhance the personal as well as professional development.
Self-managed learning motivates an individual and also helps in increasing the commitment level
towards the organization.
1.1 Evaluate approaches to self-managed learning. Which approach can be more suitable
for you or your staff at Travelodge Hotel?
Self-managed learning is the process of self-initiation in which the learning activities are carried
out the individual himself. This is the discipline in which a person encourages himself to learn
various things in different fields. This improves the self-confidence and enthusiasm level of the
employees of the cited organization (Perry, 2017).
There are numerous benefits associated with self-managed learning that includes competency
development and self-awareness. The steps that can be implemented by an individual in the
process of self-managed learning includes:
 Establishing learning goals
 Locating and assessing resources
 Adoption and execution of learning activities
 Monitor and evaluate performance
 Reassess learning strategies
Such kind of learning is very beneficial for the employees of Travelodge in improving the
efficiency of work operations within organization. There are various approaches of self managed
learning such as attending seminars and conferences, internet, social networking sites etc.
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Figure 1: Self-managed learning
Conferences and seminars
This approach can be used in order to improve the communication and presentation skills of an
individual. This helps a person in enhancing confidence to become an active public speaker.
Thus, the enhancement of such skills empowers both individuals as well as the organization.
Internet
The most used tool to gain and share information nowadays. In the era of digitization, the
internet can be used as a tool to seek information from any field and area easily. Moreover, this
is the primary approach to self-managed learning as it is possible to generate any information
anytime from anywhere. Also, it is affordable as well as reliable (Derrick and Wighting, 2019).
Social networking sites
To connect with people has become possible with the increasing use of social media. This is the
tool where it is possible to get connected with hundreds of people and be able to gain their
knowledge and experience. Social networking sites have made it possible to becoming aware of
recent trends and general knowledge.
Considering the cited organization, the most suitable approach for the employees of Travelodge
for self-managed learning can be the use of the internet. This approach can be utilized effectively
by the staff members of the organization by using e-books etc., seeking knowledge,
communicating, etc.
Thus, self-managed learning must be encouraged in the organization by the use of the internet as
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Self-
motivation
self-
management
Self-
monitoring
Self-
modification

it does not need any mentor and coach.
1.2 Propose ways in which lifelong learning in personal and professional contexts could be
encouraged at Travelodge.
Life-long learning is taking the voluntary decision of continuous learning. It is essential in the
personal and professional development both. There can be various ways in order to encourage
lifelong learning within Travelodge:
Allowing employees to self-direct their learning
It can be done within the organization by taking advantage of the personal interests of the
employees (Cottrell, 2015). It will help them to know the learning needs as well as training
requirements. Thus, this can be considered as the best way to encourage life-long learning by
investing in the ongoing development of employee in financial terms.
Connecting employees with inspirational mentors
Organization of the formal sessions of mentorship programs and workshops is a great idea to
promote lifelong learning. The reason behind that is the workshops will helps the employees in
getting connected with experienced colleagues and industry experts.
Build a library of learning resources
It is easy to encourage the learning in the organization when the required resources are already
available. Thus, a professional development library can be created in the Travelodge to motivate
self-learning in the enterprise. The books in the library can be of self-improvement and skill
building etc.
As a manager of the Travelodge, some other ways that can be implemented within the cited
organization can be:
Making learning goals as important as performance goals
It is easy to encourage lifelong learning when learning goals are connected to work performance.
Considering learning as an achievement
In Travelodge, employees can be appreciated and rewarded in company gatherings to boost the
enthusiasm level.
1.3 Evaluate the benefits of self-managed learning to you as an assistant manager and the
Travel Lodge.
Self-managed learning is beneficial for individual development as well as the attainment of
organizational goals (Fontaine, 2018). Thus it should be properly promoted within the
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organization. It is important for the employees in individual development, adaptable to change
and to learn new skills.
For Travelodge and as an assistant manager of the organization, he various advantages of self-
managed learning includes gaining a skilled workforce, better efficiency and standard of work,
better business capacity, better client satisfaction, etc.
For instance, self-managed learning helps in enhancing various skill set and competencies of
employees, and thus, it increases the morale and motivational level. This helps in effective
communication with the clients of Travelodge that result in attaining a higher level of
satisfaction and customer loyalty (Lindsay and Floyd, 2017).
Also, encouraging self-managed learning within the organization allows employees in gaining
information about the market place and recent trends that is required to satisfy the wants and
demands of customers. Thus, the numerous advantages of self-managed learning within
Travelodge can be outlined as:
 Creation of better performance of work
 Increase in motivation
 Ability to take more responsibilities
 Better relationship at work place
 Problem solving abilities
 Better understanding of business
 Reduction in cost of arranging formal training program and learning sessions
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Figure 2: Kolb learning style
(Source: Simply psychology, 2019)
Conclusion
From the above task it can be concluded that, self-managed learning is advantageous within
Travelodge to employees as well as organization. There are numerous benefits of encouraging lie
long learning in the cited organization.
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Task 2
2.1 Evaluate your own current skills and competencies against professional standards for a
hotel manager and against organisational objectives of Travelodge Hotel.
Evaluation of own skills and competencies is necessary to implement effective work operations
within an organization (Middleton, 2018). For any job role, it is significant to have a skill set so
that the professional standard of the organization can be attained. Thus, to work as a hotel
manager of Travelodge, I am required to have various competencies against the professional
standards.
Table 1: Skill audit
My current skills Professional standard Travelodge and job profile
objective
Communication skills It is the most essential skill
required in any organization as
it helps in maintains
professionalism and dealing
with clients, establishing and
maintaining healthy
relationship etc. An effective
communicator is valued by all
employees.
As a manager of Travelodge,
it is the job role to effectively
communicate with clients and
other individuals in the
organization so that customer
loyalty can be attained and
positive work environment
can be created.
Leadership skills This skill is required to lead,
guide and motivate
employees.
The manager of the
Travelodge is required to have
leadership skills in order to
lead and motivate a team so
that tasks can be accomplished
in an effective manner.
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