Unit 13 Personal and Professional Development Assignment Copy

Programme	Diploma in Business
Unit Number and Title	Unit 13 Personal and Professional Development
QFC Level	Level 5
Unit Code	T/601/0943

Executive Summary

Personal and professional development assignment is based on the self-managed learning and creating the personal development plan based on that. Self-managed learning gives opportunities to people for making their own strategy in learning process. personal and professional development assignment contains the details about the various approached to self-managed learning and later the action plan for achieving the personal development plan.

Task 1

A. Evaluate Approaches to Self-Managed Learning

Self-managed learning is a method for individuals to learn different things from their surroundings, society or work.  It is related to the goal setting for learning, identifying the purpose of learning and different ways to achieve those goals. Self-managed learning gives opportunities to people for making their own strategy in learning process (Williams, 2005). To cope up with the current professional and personal environment it is important to rely of self-managed learning approaches.

The different ways to self-managed learning (Source: Self-Study)

The different approaches to self-managed learning are:

• Conferences and seminars –individuals can gain various learning through the experience they gain from seminars and conferences as these provide the opportunity to present their won knowledge to others and also getting from others. It helps in gaining the confidence in public speaking and presentation skills.
• Social Network–this has become very common now days andpeople are spending hours on the social networkingsites. The get the information about various field through these sites and learn a lot through the bulletin boards
• –this is another source of vast knowledge now days. Individuals can access the different subjects and articles on internet and increase their knowledge. Then they can easily transfer the acquire knowledge to their work places.

Through these approaches of self-managed learning, individuals can easily gain the knowledge and increase their potential at work place as well as in their personal development. I strongly support the self-managed techniques as they would help me to attain the required knowledge for my personal and professional growth.

b. Propose ways in which lifelong learning in personal and professional contexts could be encouraged

Lifelong learning refers to the continuous learning that will help me in contributing to my professional and personal growth.  For this I should have my personal assessment which gives my strengths and weakness through SWOT analysis. As per my SWOT analysis my strengths and weakness are:

Strengths Quick Learner Ambitious Good Communication Skills Friendly	Weakness I tend to get stressed very early
Opportunities To continue with further education	Threats Money Recession

As per the SWOT analysis and its evaluationI can develop my personal learning plan using the tools like self-reflective learning and continuing professional development. This is also important for understanding my own weakness and taking the corrective steps to overcome that.
Self-reflective learning refers to review of judgment, opinions, actions and personal understanding that will link to my professional development (Humphrey, 2005). This will help me to learn new things at work place and develop my personal skills by getting the work and responsibility assigned to me.
The continuing professional development refers to combining the approaches, techniques and ideas that are helpful in development of personal learning and professional growth. It will ensure my growth through appropriate evaluation and planning of my required learning plan (Koch, 2000).

c. Evaluate the benefits of self-managed learning to the individual and organization

In self-managed learning individuals take the initiatives in order to manage their learning. The self-managed learning has many positive impacts for individuals as well as organization (Brenden, 2000). We can easily apply our learning in the professional field and attain the further knowledge from the practical experience.

Benefits to Individuals:

• Team work: many universities promote the group work assignments and presentation. This helps them to apply the same group work in the organization and promote the team work.
• Presentation Skills: the professional courses have a big part as presentation skills. Knowledge and experience gained about presentation skills in universities can help the individuals to become confident while giving presentations in organizations and present the task to senior management in more effective way.
• Communication Skills:  Self learning helps the individuals to become strong in the communication skills. This is the perhaps the most important skill required in the current professional environment. By attaining this, the individuals can ensure good position and respect in the work place and gain more confidence in presenting their task.

Benefits to Organization:

• Better decision making: self-managed learning helps an individual in acquiring decision making skills through various learning experiences.
• : Self-managed learning helps the individual to become more ethical and give the moral judgments. This is very beneficial for an organization as the personnelworking with them are very professional in their approach.
• Problem solving approach:Self-managed learning enhances the problem solving approach in individuals that is significant for organizations overall growth and development.
• y: The flexible people are beneficial to organization as people with this trait are open for multi-tasking andare always ready to take up the new challenges. This flexibility can be easily acquired through self-managed learning.

e. Select solutions to work-based problems

As per the SWOT analysis the work based problem will relate to increased stress levels in certain situations and improper time management. These two problems can decline the growth anddevelopment rate. This will not only decline my performance but the overall performance of organization will also be declined. The best solutions for these two problems are:
Appropriate stress management – I should learn the stress management so that due to that the work is not affected and through appropriate self-managed learning. Also withcounselling this problem can be easily resolved (Somaz, 2003).
Appropriate time management – Time is the most valuable asset for an organization. For the success of an organization, time management is very important (Forster, 2006). For overcoming this problem, I must undertake the trainings for the appropriate time management. These trainings will help me to understand the techniques of time management and objectives can be achieved on time. 

f. Communicate in a variety of styles and appropriate manner at various levels

Communication is the lifeline of any organization. The main styles of communication are – written and verbal. Communication means exchange of ideas, messages, and information by the way of giving speech, written message or signs. Communication is a two way process.

Communication process
It is important for communicating the information regarding the various decisions in an appropriate manner at various levels - strategic, tactical and operational.

Written method: This method of communication gives the message to the target audiences in written form.  This is used for advertising in newspapers, journals or through website. This is very detailed form of communicating as the entire content can be included (Robbins, 2011).

Verbal method – This method of communication includes the verbal form of giving messages to others. This is effective as it gives more impact than written communication. The person might skip some information in written communication but he takes all the information with this form. This method also encourages the instant query resolutions and feedback.

At the various levels of organization it is important to have the proper blend of both the styles of communication.

g. Evaluate and use effective time management strategies

Time management is a comprehensive task (Dodd, 2005). It is very important for the successful achievement of the objectives. The various time management strategies are (Morgenstern, 2004):

• Know how to spend the time
• Setting the priorities
• Using a planning tool
• Getting more organized
• Scheduling the time properly
• Delegation of work
• Stop procrastinating
• Avoiding the multi-tasking

These time management strategies are important as well as easy to implement. For effective time management I will follow these and ensure that the work is done as per the strategies framed.

Task 2

a. Evaluate own current skills and competencies against professional standards and organizational objectives

Organizations ensure that their objectives are successfully achieved. In the current business environment the objectives should be SMART (Richard et al, 2009):
S – Specific
M – Measurable
A – Achievable
R – Realistic
T – Time bound
The objectives can be achieved by evaluating the expectations and qualities they want from the people they have hired (Upadhayay, 2014). The people they have hired must have certain potential skills like time management, team player, communication skills, leadership skills etc. These skills are directly linked to the objectives of an organization.
I am currently working with National Health Services. The objectives of NHS are:

• To provide the comprehensive services to people
• To shape the services as per the individual needs and preferences of patients, carers and their families
• Responding to the distinctive needs of patients
• Continuous improvement in quality of services provided
• Valuing and supporting the staff

My Personal skills and competencies against the NHS objectives

I possess good oral as well as written communication skills, researching skills and listening skills. Along with these I am friendly. My skills are helpful in promoting the effective team work and infusing the innovative ideas in organization. I also have the caring skills that are vital for NHS as deal with the patients and serve them.
However I would require developing the business skills so that I can apply them professionally to the NHS as my main objective is to get into the business department of NHS and providemy services at strategic level.

b. Identify own development needs and the activities required to meet them

The organizations requires that individuals working with them time management skills, IT skills and leadership skills. Unfortunately these are my weakness and I am planning out to work in this area and have decided to engage myself in these training at my work place. I also require the leadership trainings and effective time management classes to develop these. I can overcome my weakness by various training provided my organization.

Personal Strategy

I will develop the skills of proper strategic planning through reading the Harvard business review and learn about other organizations and their actions taken to improve the performance in those organizations. I would concentrate on my personal development by learning through researching on the internet and by evaluating the business environment politically, economically, socially, and technologically (PEST). These activities will help to meet my developmental needs and I will develop the required skills for my professional and personal growth.

c. Identify development opportunities to meet current and future defined needs

My current and future needs are mentioned as follows:
Current needs:  I am still pursuing my qualification diploma in business. My target is to complete all the assignment within the given time frame so that my results and transcript could be used by the Universityfor enrolling me in the final year top up degree in BSc in business.
Future needs: My future needs are to develop the professional skills and attain the level of better understanding of my profession and required skills for my work place. For this I have to continue with higher education and gain the specialization in strategic management. After attaining the degree I have to attend the various trainings that are required for my professional growth. These trainings and my degree will help me to formulate the effective strategic plans for my future organization.

d. Devise a personal and professional development plan based on identified needs

Personal development is a source which enables the individuals to draw the plan for their future personal and professional development. Professionals encourage their teams to update their plans for continuous professional development with the aim of maintaining the organization’s future growth and development.
My professional and personal development plan requires having an appropriate planning for my future development. The plan must be flexible to adjust the changing aspirations and job requirements. Changes are the vital part of life and to keep in pace with the changes it is important to have the flexible personal development plan. My personal development is as follows:

The first stage involves the development of curriculum vitae. This will give the clear picture of my educational skills and development needs

Identification of short term objective – my short term objective is to have complete focus on the further educational requirements

Long term objective – This will contain the detailed plan with dates in next five years

SWOT analysis – I  will keep the continuous monitoring on my strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats

Defining the time frame –this will have professional development time frame from the time I started my career till the time I am planning to reach

My learning plans

Regular review of personal and professional development plan

PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT CHART

Action	Resource	When
Further Studies	Finding the universities that can help me in enhancing my career	From September 2014 till June 2015
IT Training	Short course from an institute to develop the IT skills	To be completed in three months from now
Decisional skills, leadership skills and time management skills	various training and a workshop that will develop my leadership and decisional skills and manage time	To be completed in six months from now
Masters in strategic management	Finding the institute for acquiring the knowledge	To be completed in one year
Joining the NHS	Finding the opportunity for joining NHS in their strategic department	After completing the masters in strategic management
Registration with professional body	Finding the professional body of strategic management to associate with them	During the course of employment with NHS

e. Discuss the processes and activities required to implement the development plan

It is important to make a proper procedure for achieving the personal development plan. My procedure for achieving the personal development plan includes:

1. Making the target time frame – It is important to develop the time frame and implement the strategy within the pre decided time lines.
2. Self-assessment – I must assess my skills, knowledge and abilities as this will help me in measuring my abilities, expertise and knowledge and the best way to apply that in achieving the personal development plan.
3. Learning Strategy – I should refer to self-managed learning and adopt its techniques for enhancing my skills
4. Learning Resources–I should make use of available resources for implementing the development strategies
5. Getting the feedback – feedbacks are vital for self-assessment and future development plans. It is helpful in becoming more effective in implementation of the plan.

f. Undertake and document development activities as planned

 The development activities as planned are based on the following actions:

1. Appropriate trainings – it is important to get the appropriate training with in the decided timeframe to attain the required skills in the professional front. It will helpful in adapting the organizations policies effectively.
2. Completion of education – to achieve the goal of entering the strategic department of NHS it is important to take the professional education in strategic management. It should be completed in the given time frame so that the goals can be achieved efficiently and effectively

g. Reflect critically on own learning against original aims and objectives set in the development plan

As per the personal development plan, I am supposed to complete the various skills training in six months which include the trainings like time management, decisional skills and leadership skills. However on assessing the fact, this all cannot be completed simultaneously in six months as these skills require the practical training on case studies as well. Within this particular time frame I have also planned the It trainings. So after proper evaluation, it’s observed that the Personal development plan has this drawback as the time frame is not properly drafted. This also shows my weakness as not able to manage the time properly.  All these points require the re-evaluation of the personal development plan.

h. Update the development plan based on feedback and evaluation

Based on the above feedback and evaluation the revise personal development will look like this:

Action	Resource	When
Further Studies	Finding the universities that can help me in enhancing my career	From September 2014 till June 2015
IT Training	Short course from an institute to develop the IT skills	To be completed in three months from now
Decisional skills, leadership skills and time management skills	various training and a workshop that will develop my leadership and decisional skills and manage time	To be completed in eight months after the completion of IT training along with the practical case studies solutions.
Masters in strategic management	Finding the institute for acquiring the knowledge	To be completed in one year after completing the above trainings
Joining the NHS	Finding the opportunity for joining NHS in their strategic department	After completing the masters in strategic management
Registration with professional body	Finding the professional body of strategic management to associate with them	During the course of employment with NHS

Conclusion

To conclude, self-managed learning is a method for individuals to learn different things from their surroundings, society or work.  It is related to the goal setting for learning, identifying the purpose of learning and different ways to achieve those goals. Self-managed learning gives opportunities to people for making their own strategy in learning process. In self-managed learning individuals take the initiatives in order to manage their learning. The self-managed learning has many positive impacts for individuals as well as organization. Personal development is a source which enables the individuals to draw the plan for their future personal and professional development. Professionals encourage their teams to update their plans for continuous professional development with the aim of maintaining the organization’s future growth and development.

References

Brendan Kitts, Leif Edvinsson and Tord Beding (2000) Crystallizing knowledge of historical company performance into interactive, query-able 3D Landscapeshttp://de.scientificcommons.org/534302
Dodd, P., & Sundheim, D. (2005). The 25 Best Time Management Tools and Techniques: How to Get More Done Without Driving Yourself Crazy. Ann Arbor, MI: Peak Performance Press, Inc.
Forster, MarkISBN0-340-90912-9
Humphrey, Albert"SWOT Analysis for Management Consulting"SRI International
Koch, Adam (2000)."SWOT does not need to be recalled: It needs to be enhanced".Swinburne University of Technology.
Morgenstern, J. (2004). Time Management from the Inside Out. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
Richard et al. (2009): Measuring Organizational Performance: Towards Methodological Best Practice. Journal of Management.
Somaz, Wenk Heidi & Tulgan, Bruce (2003). Performance under Pressure: Managing Stress in the Workplace.Canada. HRD Press Inc.pp. 7-8.ISBN 0-87425-741-7
Upadhaya, B., Munir, R., & Blount, Y. (2014). Association between Performance Measurement Systems and Organisational Effectiveness. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 34(7), 2-2.
Williams, H.A. (2005).Self-taught: African American Education in slavery and freedom. University of North Carolina Press.