How to Construct a Personal Development Plan That Meets Leadership Development Requirements - Essay Example

With reference to the writings by Bensoussan and Fleisher, it is d that in the business environment, various political, technological, socio-cultural, and environmental factors are at play and from time to time, they create the necessity for change or advancement within individual organizations. This change or advancement that is required in organizations equally calls for improvement or advancement in the skills and competency of workers within an organization (Reiss, 2012).

Therefore, it is highly crucial for workers within organizations to partake periodically in personal development plans in order to ensure that they remain relevant to the organization and hence support its changing/ advanced goals and mission. This study will primarily focus on three different areas of study underlying the concept of the personal development plan.

How to construct a personal development plan that meets leadership development requirements identified in the skills audit

To begin with, the personal development plan will focus on bridging the gap between the current skills of a leader and the leadership development requirements identified in the skills audit (Mackey and Livsey, 2006).

Therefore, constructing the personal development plan entails devising a methodology for empowering the leader with skills, knowledge or competencies that he/ she does not presently possess but have been identified as necessary in the skills audit. This can be achieved by undertaking various modes of learning but since it is a personal development plan, the most appropriate method of learning is self-learning whereby the leader will undertake self-training by either relying on written materials, watching tutorial videos or working under a mentor who will train him or her on a certain set of skills (Tobin, 2000).

Besides the self-learning method, the leader can as well undertake traditional training by attending classes at reputable learning institutions. According to Irby and Brown (2000), the personal development plan has to be specific in regards to the skills it intends to improve or instil in the leader. Secondly, the plan has to be measurable in the sense that one is able to gauge whether the objectives of the plan have been achieved or not. Thirdly, the plan has to receive consent from relevant stakeholders i.e. it should not create any controversy.

Fourthly, it should be realistic as well as time-bound. Method of assessing the outcomes of a personal development plan against personal work objectives As stated in the previous section, the personal development plan should be measurable and one practical method of assessing the outcome against personal work objectives is by assessing the speed and accuracy at which the leader achieves personal work objectives. For example, if the personal development plan was aimed at improving the negotiating skills of a leader then the outcome can be assessed by the level of success at each negotiation undertaken by the leader.

Summarily, the main method of assessing the outcomes of a personal development plan against personal work objectives is by assessing whether the leader is able to effectively deliver the work objectives, if he is not then it means the personal development plan was ineffective. Evaluating the impact of my own learning against the achievement of strategic goals, To begin with, strategic goals are achieved as part of collective or collaborative working relationship within an organisation and each person’s role has a direct contribution towards the achievement of strategic goals (Tracy, 2011).