Personal and Professional development Plan

Sample Essay

Activities Done

Personal Development involves holistic advancement of various attributes of an individual. There are several components involved in this that ensure the holistic developments. This helps in the achievement of social, emotional and mental maturity (DeCenzo & Silhanek, 2002, p. 144). In order to enhance the holistic development of a person, there are certain activities that can be undertaken towards the promotion of efficient development. These activities should be done continuously to ensure progressive growth of the individual. On the other hand, a lot of expertise should also be involved in order to develop the desirable characteristics that will result into object and autonomous life decisions. Several organizations have adopted training programs in an attempt to enhance individuals’ performance. These programs are believed to enhance mental development. However, they also involve various components that enhance the holistic development of the people undergoing training (DeCenzo & Silhanek, 2002, p. 149).

At the places of work, training programs have been widely used because they are designed to enhance professional development professional advancement in various fields. If certain skills are lacking, the program will be tailored to cover the gap that is experienced. As a result of this, effectiveness and efficiency can be achieved in the organization. The training programs will help in the achievement of various short term goals. Initially, the achievement of certain professional expertise is the desire of most professionals. This will be attained through the training programs in the required areas. In the same way, organizations always have the desire for increasing the quality of the production and also competitively positioned in the

market. Since the training programs enhance expertise, the output of the production processes will be considerable increased. Besides, the quality will also be enhanced, thus, the achievement of the objectives and goals of the organization.

The training activities will ensure the achievement of independent actions. Critical thinking of the employees will be developed through effective and holistic training programs. Personal development will impact objective reasoning individuals. People should objectively give judgments to different occurrences and eliminate biasness. Consequently, the autonomy of the mind should be of critical consideration in the development. Individuals should be able to reach logical decisions without manipulation. This can only be attained through training activities that promote autonomous development. A wide range of challenges will therefore be avoided because of the autonomous development and objective thinking. At first, wrong deductions that can impact adverse consequences will be avoided since every action and experience is firstly objectively analyzed before arriving at conclusions. Through the interactions with different people, there will be easy sharing of ideas that promote social appreciation.

Knowledge and skills learnt from these activities

To ensure that certain personality traits are developed, some aspects of personal temperaments should be looked into in the process of preparing a log sheet. One of those aspects is communication. When handling issues that are related to communication, it is important to understand that this aspect requires great effort since this area of development is quite wide. For one to be able to communicate well with others, he or she should first possess interpersonal intelligence (DeCenzo & Silhanek, 2002, p. 152). This is an implication that before projecting a message to the outside world or someone else, the issue of importance requires one to understand them internally and know the level to which their communication skills vary from the others and

analyze the effects of this on the people they associate with. This is closely supported by the interpersonal intelligence element of communication. Awareness of oneself will play a critical role in the process of ensuring that an individual is aware of the emotional, intellectual as well as the strengths and weaknesses of a person. The development of interpersonal skills as a way of enhancing improved communication will not only improve the way an individual handles the issues presented to him or her but also increase the efficiency of the projection of ideas and decisions that have to be delivered at one time or another.

At a personal level, problem solving ability and intuitiveness in handling various issues also form a key element in development. This means that someone in a position of leadership or a normal employee or even in the scenario of a family, on his or her daily activities and endeavors will have to go through a few things which are a bit abnormal or prove to be challenging in the process of accomplishing tasks as well as the assigned duties. Because of this, intuitiveness and swiftness in the process of creating solutions to problems is a skill that has proven to be critical in any kind of environment. For an individual to be able to tackle problems that he or she faces, there are a few skills and traits that should be harmoniously inculcated and cultivated towards the achievement of the common goal of managing to go through the hurdle. One of such traits is patience, which allows one to use time and observatory skills while viewing the problems from all perspectives. In case it is a problem of conflict in the place of work or at a personal level, it will be important for the individual to be patient while not only listening to issues of concern by the different parties, but also analyzing the seemingly small but important details of the situation at hand. Taking the role of a mediator is today the greatest way of leading a scenario of problem solving. Leadership comes in various ways regardless of the position in the workplace stratification in terms of the rank.

Adjustments needed for improved activities in future

Decision making is also an important aspect of development at personal and professional level. It requires a comprehensive research on the issue at hand (DeCenzo & Silhanek, 2002, p. 152). It also involves extensive consultation and enquiries from various stakeholders or people who may be affected by the decisions and its implications. Therefore, there is need for hiring all round creative and critical appraisals of the matter, situation and conflict. Good communication skills, interpersonal intelligence, problem solving techniques and keen observing eyes and other personal traits have proven to be effective in all the situations of personal and professional development.

Process and activities required for the implementation of the development plan

In order for the development plan to be achieved, certain activities that constantly measure the periodical attainment against the original plans should be undertake. This can be accomplished by adopting certain strategies. The use of performance appraisal is essential in measuring the achieved development (Sangster, 2000, p. 134). The method involves the close comparison of the resulting performance against the training programs. The method will help me in gauging my performance results against the initial development plan. If the performance gives a replication of the original development plan, it signifies success in the adopted mechanisms. For example, in the case of original development plan that is aimed at the achievement of skills in customer care services, periodic appraisals will be conducted to help in measuring the level of customers’ satisfaction. This will make sure that the desired results are attained in certain durations of time.

Gap analysis will also be critical in the implementation of the development plan. This involves the measurement of the gap that exists between the required skills and the acquired skills with regards to

the development plan. Training programs and other mechanisms will be conducted based on the existing gap. In the event of poor decision making skills, the skills training programs that will be adopted will mainly focus on decision making skills. Those existing expertise will not be considered for the training procedures. In the case of communication or customer care, training and continuous appraisal will be done to ensure effectiveness. Some of these desired skills and traits are more or less intrinsic, and result from an internal willingness and effort to accomplish them. This implies that the decision making, problem solving and the ability to always ensure a proper time management routine require the use of personal plan in order to be achieved. Therefore, it is more appropriate if it is cultivated through consistent practice and training.

Methodology

Methods for implementing personal development plan

A wide range of methods were incorporated to ensure the attainment of the original development plan. In an attempt to ensure the achievement of professional skills in management, intern opportunities played a critical role apart from the training programs. Through the interns, I realized my areas of weakness and strengths that influenced my professional quest. The programs offered me the platform for enhancing my skills in various management positions. Besides, gap analysis is easily undertaken during the internship as the expectations of the market are efficiently determined by the programs undertaken during that period (Throop & Castelluci, 2009, p. 72).

Critical reflection on personal progress towards personal development plan goals

Certain models of operations have become instrumental in assessing the progress made in the achievement of the initial development plans.

The SWOT analysis played a crucial role. By analyzing the weaknesses and strengths, more efforts are made on the training programs to help in improving the areas of weakness. The available opportunities also significantly helped in the development of the possible mechanisms to effectively achieve the required development plans. Favorable opportunities provided platforms for improving personal and professional skills.

An updated version of personal development plan and changes made in the light of feedback and evaluation

Interaction with people from various cultural backgrounds and with different mental perspectives on issues offered a platform for learning and understanding how a number of these personal skills can be attained, and also how they can be used in the professional field. The ability to get ideas from people of various statuses in organizations and customers at different levels, the methodology of continuous practice and appraisal forums has played an important role in enhancing my chance of getting to learn more intricate matters on dealing with people. In the case of managers and leaders of organizations, it is important to understand that the process requires all round reasoning as well as practical and timely approach in handling the issues (Throop & Castelluci, 2009, p. 76). Organizations or working environment comprise of different people from various backgrounds, cultures and personal goals and traits. These people have to work together in harmony to make sure that the goals, missions and daily activities bestowed on the workforce or organizations is achieved. It is not only the role or personal initiative of the workforce on such scenarios, but also the mandate of the leadership and management to impact harmonious change towards attaining the goals and missions of the organization. It is apparent that all people in the working or interaction environment should see positive change at some point in course of their work.

This is based on the established Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. After obtaining the much needed basic needs in the professional area, it is always good to make sure that through the actions and achievement of such traits as decision making abilities, problem solving capabilities and communication based skills, to rise to the helm of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in an effort to achieve full satisfaction in the personal and professional field. Having learnt all these from the training and disciplined practice as well as through the appraisal forums, the development plan I have in place has made several strides towards assisting me in accomplishing my goal (Throop & Castellucci, 2009, p. 78). The goals of enhancing communication skills can be seen in the responses from the people that I constantly communicate with, either through the application of technology in email and social media; verbal or non-verbal communication techniques. The experiences gained from extensive research practice on problems and solving them have enhanced my ability to not only engage in positive handling of problems but also effective decision making through intuitiveness.

Conclusion

The process of ensuring personal and professional development is critical in the personal as well as professional levels of doing things and interactions. It is through such plans and their assessment of progress that one can come to a conclusion on whether there is actual progress or need for progress. In my personal development plan, they key objectives of choice were based on the aspects of time management, customer care and relations, decision making, communication as well as the problem solving and intuitive abilities. This is because, such aspects of personal and professional development have the ability to chart the way forward with regards to only relations with people, but also the attainment of personal satisfaction in the place of work or interaction. In my process of implementation, I have realized that the best ways of achieving such goals are engaging in interactions with

different people at different forums, conducting extensive research, learning from people and conducting continuous progressive practice. Thus, I have been able to achieve a great deal of my goals and look forward to developing more in my next level of study in preparation for the competitive professional arena.

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References

DeCenzo, D. A., & Silhanek, B. (2002). Human relations: Personal and professional development. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Sangster, C. (2000). Planning and organizing personal and professional development. Aldershot, Hampshire, England: Gower.

Throop, R. K., & Castellucci, Marion B. (2009). Reaching your potential: Personal and professional development. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

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