Introduction

This BTEC HND Professional and Personal Development assignment would be discussing on the personal and professional development of an individual in any kind of an environment where that individual works. There are total 4 tasks in the entire assignment. Task 1 would be a report comprising of 100 words discussing on various sub tasks like various approaches to self –managed learning, ways in which the professional learning could be enhanced for life long and the benefits of the self-managed learning for an individual as well as the organization. Task 2 would be an evaluation on the current skills that we have with respect to the ones that are required in the professional world. The various developmental needs that will help us in meeting the opportunities and the developmental plan of action for the identified needs would also be planned. Task 3 would also be a report for 1000 words that will discuss on the various activities and the processes that will help us making the self-developmental plan a great success. Task 4 would be a presentation with the objective of further discussing on the personal and professional developmental plan for an individual and their importance. This assignment would also give example of a developmental chart that will discuss on the activities and the objectives that are to be achieved in all respects.

TASK 1

In this report a study would be carried out on the self-learning and its benefits to an individual and the organization. We will also study on the various approaches and the ways in which self-learning and skill inheritance could be encouraged.

1.1 Evaluate approaches to self-managed learning

This also refers to the proper planning in terms of setting the objectives and their learning outcomes and the target dates of the completion of the learning process. This greatly helps in keeping a close look and the monitoring process for the kind of self-learning that has been obtained. There are various approaches to the self-managed learning:

• Learning through Research – This is the way in which everything that an individual sees, observes and learns is done through the thorough research on that subject. This helps us in keeping a track and gaining maximum knowledge out of it. Research even explores the unidentified areas that the individual could easily learn and apply in the future. There have been so many researches. In case an individual would try to explore more and more on a specific subject, he would get to know a lot of things. These things would not have been explored in the past. When knowledge exists and learning is done then the confidence level increases more.
• Learning from others and environment – When an individual communicates, interacts and survives in his personal and professional environment, he leans a lot from his environment. This takes place in the form of coaching, mentoring, conferences, interviews, seminars, social networking sites, new groups and the usage of the internet. Sometimes we think that we know everything but when actual implementation is done the fact is revealed. Others may know better than us.

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

The ways in which the learning process will continue to grow and develop with respect to the personal and professional contexts of an individual are:

• Keeping consistency in education – The person may not stop studying the subjects and continues to gain knowledge by reading books, magazines and the news related so that he develops his learning in all respects. It is always essential that he learns on consistent level.
• He should always remain engaged in learning, mentoring and coaching of the other individuals through that process, sharing of ideas, beliefs, suggestions would be done. This way the knowledge and learning of each individual would take place.
• An individual needs to assess the skills of him and accordingly plan, organize and evaluate his skills benchmarking them from others as well as his environment.

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

Self-Managed learning is very important in the life of an individual. He is able to enhance his learning, knowledge and information on a specific and certain subject. There are a lot of benefits that are achieved when an individual encourages self-managed learning. The benefits at the individual levels are:

• Enhancement of personal and professional skills – When we will interact, communicate, read, study and research certain subjects and the topics then we surely end up increasing our knowledge on them. When we increase our knowledge then get the confidence in exhibiting them in front of the public as well.
• Mapping of present and required skills in order to gain an edge in competition – We are able to map up our skills that we currently have and accordingly set a target for the required skills to excel in our careers.
• Overcoming the threats and barriers in the progression of the careers – When we will gain more information, learning and the knowledge on certain subjects then surely we overcome the barriers. These barriers in case would not be removed through self-learning would result in failure in terms of our careers.
• Building of an effective portfolio for the individual – When the individual gains the knowledge and learning on the subjects then his portfolio automatically gets enhanced.
• Maintaining and nurturing the personal and professional public relations – Due to our learning, information and knowledge sometimes, we are able to make a position in the world (Lieberman, 1995).

The benefits of self-learning to the organization are:

• It gets skilled, talented and competent individuals – When the employees will learn and acquire new skills then surely, they are able to get more competencies than others and hence forth gain talent and skills.
• The company need not spend huge amounts of capital on the training and developmental needs of the organization – In order to be successful in the market, the company keeps training its employees so that they learn and acquire new skills. When these individuals will get aligned and progressive towards the self-managed learning then they will reduce the training overheads for the company in all the ways.

Hence self-managed learning process helps an individual to gain new skills that give him an edge in his own personal and professional growth and even helps the company in getting progressive on the path of success through these learned and talented people.

TASK 2

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

Professional Skills	Current Level 5=strong 1 = weak	Best Current Example	Ways to Improve
Communication Skills	3		1. By speaking often in English. 2. Reading vocabulary and English speaking books.
Listening Skills	3		1. By letting other people speak and then you speak.
Leadership Skills	4		1. By encouraging people to speak, participate and perform. 2. Encouraging and motivating people.
Planning and Organising	4		1. By taking more participation in various activities.
Presentation Skills	4		1. Making and giving presentations before the people.
Problem Solving	4		Handling the problems and finding ways in resolving them.
Professional knowledge	4		1. By the process of self-managed learning.
Self- Management	3		1. By reading, speaking and studying and researching on various subjects.
Team work	4		1. By working more in groups.
Technology Skills	4		1. By studying and implementation.
Time Management	4		1. By prioritizing and noting the time for each activity.

This above mentioned table shows that I have set a developmental plan for myself wherein I have noting down the various aims that I need to achieve and they are my objectives as well. The last section shows the kind of activities that I need to do so that I may easily realize my dreams with respect to the aims and objectives that I have set for myself.

2.2 Identify own development needs and activities required meeting them.

The various developmental needs and activities that are required to meet them are:

• Research Process.
• Learning from others and self (Noe, 1988).
• Managing our personal and professional rating at present with respect to the organizational goals and objectives.

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

The developmental opportunities that come for meeting the current and future defined needs are through medium of:

• Training and Development.
• Forming a part of the Project and group team.

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

	LEARNING OBJECTIVE/GOAL	CURRENT PROFICIENCY	TARGET PROFICIENCY	DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES	CRITERIA FOR JUDGING SUCCESS	TIME SCALE	EVIDENCE
1	Learning the latest technology pertaining to human resource management	3	5	1. Reading Books, attending training sessions, working and resolving queries from a software company.	Level at which I am able to use the technological tools.	3 months	Objectives Vis Skills acquired through implementation.
2	Excellent Communication Skills	4	5	1. Reading Vocabulary books, novels and high English magazines. 2. Practicing by speaking all time in English.	Level at which I observe change in my public speaking	1Month	Objectives Vis Skills acquired through implementation.
3	Team Work	3	5	1. Working in Groups. 2. Understanding and supporting each other.	Level at which people prefer to work with me in group.	3 Months	Objectives Vis Skills acquired through implementation.
4	Self-Management	4	5	1. By taking my own works and not delegating them to others.	Level at which I am able to do all my tasks myself.	6 Months	Objectives Vis Skills acquired through implementation
5	Time Management	3	5	1. By prioritizing the tasks.	Level at which I am able to do all my tasks as per or before deadlines	6 Months	Objectives Vis Skills acquired through implementation
6	Presentation Skills	4	5	1. By making and giving presentations to the public often on all subjects	Level at which my presentation is admired by all	3 Months	Objectives Vis Skills acquired through implementation

TASK 3

In this task we will write a report on the processes and activities that are required for the implementation of a successful developmental plan. We will give an example of the various development activities that are planned. We ill critically reflect the learning that we get against the original aims and objectives that we set for the developmental plan. Finally we would analyse how a developmental plan progresses and works through the feedback and evaluation process.

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

A developmental plan is set with certain aims and objectives. Each individual who has to progress in life has to take care of the various objectives that he has set for himself. The processes and activities that are required to be implemented for the setting of a developmental plan are:

• Conducting of assessment for skills that are currently present – In case an individual has to develop then he has to first find out the skills and areas that he needs to develop in him. He should also get encouraged by measuring that in case these skills are developed then what all would be the advantages.
• Mapping these skills with the required ones as per the organizational objectives – Each individual has a position in terms of fitting within the organization. It is important that the current skills are being mapped with the required skills and competencies as per the organizational standards.
• Establishing the aims and objectives of the developmental plan – Based on the mapping, it is essential to lay down the objectives and aims of the developmental plan. These objectives are divided into various short and long terms targets and based on them various enforcements are to be planned.
• Identification of the activities for development and the strategies that could be implemented are being monitored – The aims and objectives are divided into various sub tasks, and based on the tasks and sub-tasks a following is being done. Each and every task is being tracked in terms of its progress.
• Preparation of PDP (Personal Development Plan) – This is a plan that is tabulated with the help of various objectives, aims and plan. This table would help in keeping a track on the level of performance (Noe & Wilk, 1993).
• Implementation of PDP – Personal and professional development plan would help in the implementation of the plan. The implementation would be in terms of a tracking of the sub-tasks with respect to the deadlines.
• Monitoring and Revision of Plan – Based on the achievement of the aims and objectives of the developmental plan it is essential to monitor the progress.

3.2 Undertake and document development activities as planned.

The document for the developmental activities that are planned can be explained with the help of the following table:

Developmental Activity	Strategy for monitoring and control
Creating daily To-Do List	Discussion on weekly basis for the jotting of the To-Do list.
Participating in Training Program	Monitoring the preparation that I do to attend the program
Development of Time management and strategy table	What has been done in this regard on weekly basis

These developmental activities are the aims and objectives that we have to achieve in the interval and timelines that we have set forth for ourselves. With respect to each developmental activity, a strategy is also given so that the monitoring and control track is being kept on it. This helps us in not only keeping a track on the aim and objective but also the respective strategy that will monitor its performance and then adopting other way to attain it. Hence developmental plan should comprise of a full table with activities, sub-activities, timelines, progress, measurement and strategy to monitor and feedback and evaluation should be part of it (Guskey, 2000).

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

When we set a plan for our development and progress then we tend to measure our performance with respect to each objective. I believe that the aims and objectives that I had set for myself with the kind of progress has been made in me. I have been quite successfully able to achieve the objectives. I even got the feedback that I have changed a lot with respect to my communication and presentation skills and able to tap a lot of hidden potential in me. This further motivated me and I followed my plan religiously and achieved it well (Moon, 1999).

3.4 Update the development plan based on feedback and evaluation.

A developmental plan is a success when we get a lot of feedback and evaluation on the objectives and aims that we have set for ourselves. These feedbacks and evaluation help us in following ways:

• They motivate us to further develop modified action plan and achieve the goals and objectives that we have set for ourselves. When we are getting good feedback and comments from the others that we have changed and in a good way then we further get motivated to achieve the rest aims as well.
• They give the right assessment of the position and level of significance or change that we should bring in ourselves. When we get the correct assessment how and where we need to move and head on then we will be able to further develop.

Conclusion

By developing a growth and developmental chart and a plan it is quite sure that an individual would be able to achieve its plan for the growth. When a person is able to develop himself he will surely be able to reach the position that he aims at. In the nutshell, PDP is format that acts as blueprint in the personal and professional development of an individual (Beijaard et al, 2000).

References

Beijaard, D., Verloop, N., & Vermunt, J. D. 2000. Teachers’ perceptions of professional identity: An exploratory study from a personal knowledge perspective. Teaching and teacher education, 16(7), 749-764. Cunningham, I. 1999. The wisdom of strategic learning: The self-managed learning solution. Gower Publishing, Ltd. Elmore, R. F., & Burney, D. 1997. Investing in Teacher Learning: Staff Development and Instructional Improvement in Community School District# 2, New York City. National Commission on Teaching & America's Future, Box 117, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027.

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