We are all responsible for our personal development. It is important as a leader to plan your learning journey. If you have read my article "Discover a child in you to become a better leader" you know already that continuous development in different areas is essential for ongoing success. Here, I will explore more in detail how a personal development plan can help you with that.
So, why do we need to keep developing? Partly because we need to challenge ourselves, and ensure we do not have skills that become stale. Partly, because we need to keep enthusiastic about our area of specialism and new challenges help us to do this. And partly because the world keeps changing and we need to keep up to date with the changes. A professional person never stops learning.
It is important to remember that "development" is a very broad term. Reading this research is part of your development. Also, reading a book about your chosen area, facing a challenging problem at work, or getting involved in something new - these are all parts of your development. Development also happens outside of the study or outside of the workplace. Hobbies and interests are part of our development, as they result in us learning new skills. Travel can be a huge opportunity for development. Facing a difficult personal challenge can also result in new things being learned.
What is a Personal Development Plan?
Personal Development Planning is creating opportunities to think through in a structured way, questions such as:
* What do I really want to achieve from life?
* What kind of person do I want to be?
* Am I clear about my personal goals and ambitions?
* Am I making the right decisions to get me where I really want to be?
* Am I in charge of my life and my development - or am I just hoping it will all work out somehow?
It has been long recognised that we need a structured opportunity to think about our life and future. The exact content really depends on you. How much of your time do you want to give now to plan your future?
So take a moment now to think about the above questions. Answer each of them. This is requiring you to think about your future.
Benefits of Personal Development Planning
Personal Development Planning has many benefits. Let's look at some of them. The list below is not exhaustive, but give you a good idea of why the Personal Development Plan for you might be a good idea.
* Gaining a clear focus on the areas you need to address,
* Helping to keep yourself motivated,
* Gaining a better understanding of how you learn and how to improve your performance,
* More enjoyment and less stress from your learning as you know where you are going,
* Reflective thinking skills,
* Clearer idea about the type of work and life you want,
* Greater confidence in the choices you make,
* Greater confidence in your skills, qualities and attributes,
* Being in a better position to compete for jobs,
* Being able to discuss your skills and competencies with employers,
* Better problem solving and planning skills,
* Developing positive attitude and approach towards your professional life,
* Better understanding of yourself,
* Being in a better position to make choices in order to meet your aspirations,
* Greater awareness of your needs and management of your resources to meet them,
* Greater awareness of the contributions you can make,
* Positive and forward-looking approach.
Personal Development Priorities
With such a wide array of Personal Development Planning benefits, it might be useful also to define what are your development priorities. You may use the 4 priority levels:
1) Urgent and Important areas of your development
2) Urgent and not important areas of development
3) Not urgent and important areas,
4) Not urgent and not important.
When developing your first draft of Personal Development Plan try to choose at least one objective from the personal, professional and academic area of your life. By listing your goals and rating them in this way you will be able to build a picture of development priorities.
Opportunities for Personal Development
Now when you have already identified some areas of personal development and prioritise them, you can look at different opportunities to achieve the goals. Some of them may others to help you and some only your own work and reflection.
Some examples of opportunities for personal development:
* Reading a book or article,
* Attending a conference or webinar,
* Addressing a difficult situation at work,
* Facing a challenging situation,
* Completing a personal hobby or target,
* Being involved in a project team,
* Taking part in formal study
We do need to be realistic, however. If we list too many opportunities it may become little overwhelming. And it is often the case that we do not complete anything because we are trying to do too much. Hence this is very important to consider your priorities.
The power of personal records
Next to having a Personal Development Plan with your goals and learning objectives, it is also very important to keep the record of all the development efforts you have already completed. There is a need to keep a record of development going back from the beginning of our whole career. When you apply for jobs you will typically be asked about issues such as your work experience, your qualifications and other relevant areas. It can take a long time to go through all of your records to gather this information. Therefore it is very useful to keep your own file of personal records. This file includes a record of all that you have done that is relevant to your personal development. As well as keeping written files its worth to keep certificates and other formal records in the file. Then, when you are asked to provide evidence of your personal development, you have it all gathered together. Not only it is a time-saver when you need to produce the evidence but it is also very impressive. A potential employer would be very impressed that you work in such an organised and efficient way.
It might well be that you are not thinking about applying for jobs at the moment. It is however very likely that you will want to apply for jobs in the future. The job might be in the current organisation or in another organisation. Too many people rush the process of applying for jobs, just sending applications without really taking the time to think about whether we actually want the job and what skills the employer is looking for.
Whilst you have been planning your personal development so far, you have been thinking about your skills, abilities and qualities that you require. Are you sure, however, that you are correct?
When people apply for jobs, they barely say that they do not have some skills, abilities or attributes. And they are more likely to exaggerate the achievements they have.
It is useful therefore to keep a record of evidence so you have thought through any skills related questions.
Set SMARTER Objectives
The mnemonic stands for:
* Specific
* Measurable
* Attainable
* Relevant
* Timely
* Evaluated
* Re-evaluated
It can be difficult to set objectives that consist of all the criteria. Let's define what each of the elements means.
Specific
What it is that the objective aims to achieve and why? What is the location and who would be involved in pursuing the objective? Other issues that should be considered for example barriers, constraints, specific requirements.
Measurable
How much? For example, giving a specific figure when referring to targets, percentage, income increase. Consider what is the measurable factor and how it will be clear when the objective has been successfully met? Points in time when you will be taking measurements.
Attainable
Can the objective be achieved and if so, how? Is the objective realistic bearing in mind other considerations?
Relevant
Achievement of the objective is worth the time, effort, resources and requirements predicted? The objective fits into time scales and relate to other aims within the same period? Does the objective fit into overall organisational or personal aims and related strategies?
Timely
When the individual aspects of the objectives will need to be achieved? When should the overall objective be achieved? How can planning ensure these timescales are met?
Evaluation and re-evaluation
As well as the monthly review it is recommended that you have a larger review, maybe on an annual basis.
If you are working, and you are required to take part in a company appraisal process, it might be worth taking this plan along to your appraisal meeting. This will help you to focus on the issues that you want to discuss with your manager, and will also demonstrate that you are thinking seriously about your personal development.
You should get into the habit of reviewing this plan each month. In your monthly review, you should consider whether you have made the progress that you wanted and whether there are any new items to add to the plan.
Personal development planning is not only helpful and a systematic way to take control of your future and development. It is also very exciting and motivating if set right and measured frequently. Remember, it's all about the small 1% improvements we make regularly. Good luck with your Planning!
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