How the Use of Personal Development Plans Influence Individual Growth - Case Study Example

Running header: Personal development plans. Students name: Instructor’s name: Subject code: Date of submission: How the use of personal development plans influence individual growth through knowledge and skills acquisition Introduction Our company must create a culture and an environment that will encourage, support and invest in both the short term and long term development of our employees. As it is widely known, the individual employee professional development is an ongoing process that will ensure that the employees stay current if not steps ahead in their careers (field) and mission-critical competencies (Amar, 2001). However, the process of planning for employee’s continuous development ought to be in line with our company’s mission, objectives, goals and needs as well as being linked to the individual employees work and career goals. One of the tools that our company plans to use in employees professional development is the personal development plan. A personal development plan is a form where individual employees clearly state their career goals and therefore serves as a map that guides the employee in attaining his/her career goals by specifying his/her immediate and long run developmental needs. According to (Tamkin, and Barber) 2005, this is an employee driven action plan that will help the employee develop specific competencies i.e. knowledge and skills required for improvement of performance in their current positions while still preparing for new responsibilities. The plan will involve an agreement between the employee and the supervisor regarding the skills and knowledge acquisition based on fund availability to meet both the employees and organizational goals. Therefore, the personal development plan will serve as a toll for us to develop our employees to meet our future organizational needs. Generally, the personal development plan will help individual employees in identifying their career development goals and the relevant strategies required in achieving the goals. The plan will be completed on annual basis and will be intended to; -encourage individual employees take control (ownership of their career development -provide an administrative strategy necessary for identifying and tracking developmental needs and plans -assist in planning for the organization’s training and development requirements. How the use of personal development plans will influence individual growth through knowledge and skills acquisition Peter (2001) asserts that the Use of Personal development plans will influence individual growth through knowledge and skills acquisition through encouraging self reflection by individual employees. Just like in a business plan, personal development plans start by assessing an employee current standing in his/her career. In so doing, the employee reflects on his/her skills, experience, knowledge and his/her personal attributes. In so doing, the employee considers the responsibilities they accomplish well in their career vis-à-vis what they do not accomplish as per the required standards. The plan also helps the employee in reflecting what would make he/she perform more effectively. This kind of reflection is important as it helps the employee realize the skills and knowledge that he/she requires for effective performance and therefore take the necessary steps geared towards acquiring the knowledge and skills necessary for effective career performance. This results in personal awareness as well as career development. Furthermore, self reflection will help the employee in making decisions regarding the acquisition of knowledge and skills required in his career. This is because personal development plans enables the employees to be clear on their carreer priorities, the kind of experience that they need to acquire and the knowledge as well as skills and attributes which they need to acquire. The use of employee personal development plans will lead to the creation of a win-win situation both to the company and its workforce. The employees will gain from acquisition of knowledge and skills necessary for good performance while the company will benefit from having well managed, trained and motivated workforce. This is because the plan will help the employees in identifying their goals and ambitions while also permitting the company to guide the employees in realistically assessing their skills, knowledge, and understanding and overall career competence. This results in frank and open discussions regarding where an individual career path is headed to. The plan will enable individual employees identify their strengths as well as weaknesses, ambitions and aspirations. When this is achieved, the use of the personal development plan will facilitate in updating the employee skills necessary in meeting the needs of a changing corporate environment. This will in turn help the company to retain talented and flexible staff vital in the present world competitive environment. In other words, employees will benefit since implementation of the personal development plans will improve their knowledge, skills as well as experiences. The improvement on the other hand will facilitate them in achieving personal and career goals both inside and outside our organization (Michael, 2008) Introduction of personal development plans will enable the employees in taking control of their own career development process. As such, the employees will be able to set realizable career goals and channel their efforts towards achieving the goals. The achievement of these goals will require the acquisition of the relevant skills and knowledge. Therefore, the employee will be able to identify any skills deficit and communicate this to the relevant authority so that the authority can organize for the skills acquisition. At times, employees also seek alternative means of skills acquisition apart from the ones provided by the company such as attending seminars or enrolling for a course in a college. All these efforts are geared towards the attainment of skills and knowledge necessary for the achievement of individual employee’s career goals. Without a properly designed personal development plans, employees will most likely not realize any skills deficit and therefore they may not make any effort to acquire knowledge and skills. Personal development plans greatly assist the employees and their supervisor in clarifying things that are considered important to them and come up with a plan on how to achieve them. In the plans are found the employees career objectives, the knowledge requirements as well as the skills and abilities which are relevant in the achievement of personal career goals and objectives. Furthermore, these plans will also outline the activities which will provide our employees the opportunity and the chance to learn as well as apply the relevant skills and knowledge. In so doing, the personal development plans will greatly influence the acquisition of knowledge and skills within the organization. Use of personal development plans will also influence individual growth through knowledge and skills acquisition since it will describe the competencies which the employees will apply and enhance as well as how the development will occur. According to John (2007), the areas to be covered will include; a) Responsibility areas The personal development plans will describe the various responsibility areas that each employee is assigned as stated in his/her job description. This will also include the competencies necessary for the performance of the responsibility. As such, the employee will be aware of the skills and knowledge necessary for his/her job description and therefore seek to attain them. The organization will also seek to help the employee in bridging any gaps that exist between the knowledge and skills they presently posses and the skills and knowledge that is actually required for the efficient performance of their responsibilities. Thus, the personal development plans will serve as an important tool in skills and knowledge acquisition. b) Developmental activities No employee would want to remain stagnant in his /her career. Every employee usually has specific career goals that detail where he/she would want to be in his/her career after a certain period of working. Career development on the other hand must be accompanied by acquisition of the relevant skills and knowledge. Personal development plans contain two key aspects necessary in influencing skills and growth acquisition. First, they help individual employees in deciding what skills and activities as well as areas they should focus on in the short run. Secondly, personal development plans enables the individual employees in getting clarity on where they would want to take their career in the future. As such, Personal development plan will help the employees in identifying the development activities that will enable them achieve career growth. The plan will also identify the skills and knowledge necessary for ensuring continued career growth. Therefore, both the employee and the organization will strive to ensure that the employee acquire the skills and knowledge. c) Time line with milestones and date completed The personal development plans will also help in setting up realistic start dates, end dates and such other milestones for each activity that the employee is expected(expects ) to accomplish. As such, both the employee and the organization will strive to ensure that deadlines are met. This will be done by ensuring the acquisition of the necessary resources as well as skills and knowledge. As such the employee will be able to document proficiency with regard to the skills, knowledge and ability obtained by the time the deadline for the accomplishment of the activity is reached. A personal development plan will create an opportunity for acquiring information on where skills fit into the organization’s current needs and future needs. It will also help in obtaining a better understanding of the organizational career opportunities. Since the personal development plans also show the current skills, knowledge as well as abilities possessed by an employee, it is very easy for an organization to plan for both its current and future knowledge and skills needs (Robert and Rhonda, 2009). This will be done through the analysis of the skills possessed by the current workforce vis-à-vis the skills that are required by the company inline with its mission and vision. As such, the organization will be able to invest in acquiring workforce that possesses the skills that it requires in order for the achievement of organizational goals. The organization can do this by hiring new employees who posses the skills or by training the current workforce inoreder to equip them with the relevant skills and knowledge. In so doing, the personal development plan will influence individual growth through knowledge and skills acquisition. Furthermore, Personal development plans will benefit the organization through the alignment of employee training and development efforts with the organizational mission, objectives and goals. Since the process of preparing the personal development plan is a joint effort between the employee and the supervisor, the supervisors will develop a good understanding of the employee professional goals, strengths as well as developmental needs. This results in more realistic employee development planning. As such, the supervisor is able to organize for the employee’s training where necessary and hence enhance skills and knowledge acquisition by the employee. On the other hand, the employee is able to take individual responsibility and accountability for his/her career development and hence acquire or enhance the skills that he/she needs in order to remain relevant in the current job. As earlier stated, the role of preparing the personal development plan is a joint effort between the individual employee and the employee supervisor although the sole responsibility of taking initiative for personal career development wholly rests on the employee’s shoulders. As such, the process places some responsibility on both the employee and the supervisor. The employee should asses his/her level of competency as opposed to the competencies, knowledge and skills required in the performance of his/her job. The employee also identifies his own professional career goals and developmental needs and the training and development opportunities available to him which will help him achieve his goals and meet his/her career development needs. In addition, the employees will periodically asses his/her progress towards reaching his/her goals. As such, the personal development plan will influence the employee’s individual growth through knowledge and skills acquisition. This is because the employee puts in efforts to gain the knowledge and skills that he may be lacking despite their being necessary in his/her career development path(Edward, 2001). On the other hand, the supervisor is responsible for realistically assessing the employee’s strengths and development needs as opposed to the organizational needs. As such, the supervisor is able to advise the employee accordingly incase of any skills and knowledge deficit. The supervisor can also organize for the employee to be equipped with the relevant skills and knowledge by the organization. The supervisor also provides regular or periodic opportunities aimed at discussing and planning for the employee’s development. As such, the employee is able to asses the progress he/she has made in his career development path and hence decide on the steps to be taken in attaining the set career goals. Such steps could include training, job rotation and such other steps aimed at equipping the employee with the necessary skills and knowledge. The supervisor also ensures the alignment of the employee’s career goals and developmental needs to work/ organizational goals and objectives. As such, the employee is properly guided in acquiring the necessary skills and knowledge since any skills acquired have to be inline with the organization’s goals and objectives. The supervisor also helps the employee in identifying appropriate training and developmental activities aimed at imparting skills and knowledge. Furthermore, the supervisor also helps in evaluating the outcomes of the employee’s training and development efforts. All this implies that the use of personal development plans influence individual growth through knowledge and skills acquisition (John, 2006). The personal development plan As earlier stated, the personal development plan will be an organized approach to employee’s development activities and programs designed with the aim of improving individual employee’s professional knowledge and skills as well as the department’s productivity. The process will be a joint one both in its design and execution in that the supervisors will be more familiar with the future direction of the department while the individual employee will be more aware of his specific personal needs as well as aspirations (Fitts, 2004). The personal development plan process will involve the following steps a) The plans will be prepared at the end of each evaluation period b) The supervisor and the individual will be both involved in the designing of the personal development plan. This will be done as early as possible in the process when major developmental areas have just been identified. The individual employee will be responsible for proposing more specific strategies of accomplishing the plan. Alternatively, the employee will design the plan and later jointly review and refine its contents with his/her supervisor. c) The following perspectives will be used in determining the areas to be developed in the period to which the plan will refer. This will also serve as the purpose of the developmental activity i.e. -strengths which if properly enhanced could contribute to the betterment of the overall organizational mission as well as lead to increased productivity. -the new skills required during the period to which the plan refers to -performance areas/knowledge and skills that need improvement d) The individual will determine the appropriate learning strategies and resources that will be required. e) Both the employee and the supervisor will then define the measures and the criteria to be used in determining whether all the targeted learning has been achieved. f) The individual and the individual employee will then sign the personal development plan so as to document the agreement with the plan and their commitment to accomplishing the plan. g) The organization will put in place a reporting mechanism that will gauge the employee’s progress at any given time such that adjustments can always be made to the plan if need be. The following will be the format of the plan (Clarence, 2006). XYZ Certified Public Accountants, Personal Development Plan (PDP) form Name: Position: Date: Department: Supervisor: 1. What my current state is My strengths Strengths 1. 2. 3. (examples would include excellent communication skills and positive thinking) My weaknesses Weaknesses 1. 2. 3. (weaknesses can include lack of self confidence and being short tempered) The common feedbacks (both positive and negative) which I have received from others. Feed backs 1. 2. 3. (for example not assertive enough or lacks initiative) Other performance indicators which I can notice Performance indicators 1. 2. 3. (example; I get overwhelmed with big workload) conclusion Focus area priorities 1 2. 3. (this could include developing more self confidence, learning to be assertive and controlling my temper) 2. What my desired state is What I hope to improve or achieve Desired state 1. 2. 3. (this could be an explanation of the priority areas earlier stated in more details) Why I want to achieve this/ what it gives me Why I want to achieve this 1. 2. 3. ( this could be the need to be independent minded and the need to make personal and informed decisions aimed at improving performance) What my short term goals are Short term goals 1. 2. 3. (This could include acquiring and reading materials on self confidence, attending anger management seminar etc.) What my long term goals are Long term goals 1. 2. 3. (This could include finishing an accounting course, being able to command self confidence, promotion etc.) 3. What is needed to get there What I must improve/learn in order to achieve desired results What is needed 1. 2. 3. (one could state the techniques, training etc. necessary to achieve the desired results) The possible resources required in learning or improvement Resources required 1. 2. 3. (These could include books, training etc.) 4. Time lines When I want to achieve the desired results Focus area No. 1 Hours per week - Day time - Time lines and /or dates Focus area No. 1 Start date: Short term goal: Long term goal: My schedule to work on the focus areas Focus area No.2 Day time: Focus area No. 2 Start date: Short term date: Long term goal: Focus area No. 3 Day time Focus are No.3 Start date: Short term goal: Long term goal: 5. Notes/conclusion Any important notes and other items to be documented here. 1. 2. 3. (This could include documentation of the plan progress etc). Employee name ………………………….. Signature …………………………………….. Date ……………………. Supervisor’s name …………………………. Signature ……………………………………….. Date …………………… References: Amar, R 2001, A guide to personal development planning, Elsevier, Sydney. Tamkin, P & Barber, L 2005, Personal development plans: Case studies of practice, Institute for employment studies, Melbourne. Peter, H 2001, Personal development plans, Peter Honey Publications, Sydney. Michael, A 2008, How to be a better manager: A complete A-Z of proven techniques and essential skills, Kurgan publishers, Armidale. John, L 2007, Continuing Professional Development: A Practical Approach, IET, Albury. Robert, O & Rhonda, C 2009, Strategic employee development guide, manager’s guide, Jossey – Bass, Pfeiffer. John, W 2006, Employee development plans role in skills and knowledge acquisition, Australian Employment Journal, Vol. 4 no.5, pp.56-76. Fitts, C 2004, Turning your employees into star performers, Australian management journal, Vol. 2, no. 4 pp 78- 96. Clarence, J 2006, Borderless business: Managing the far flung enterprise, Green wood publishing Group, Newcastle. Edward, J 2001. The value added employees, Butterworth, Heinemann. Read More