Developing a Personal Development Plan - Assignment Example

? SELF DEVELOPMENT PLAN Introduction 3 Personal Development Plan 3 What is My Current 4 MBTI 4 Learning Style 5 Leadership Style5 Motivators 7 Work Values 7 What is my Desired State? 7 How do I get there? What is needed? 8 Timeline 9 Conclusion 9 References 11 Introduction Development and self growth is a progressive process in one’s life. Growth is not only important for success but in today’s fast changing world it is necessary to keep yourself abreast with the changing requirements. Stagnation in career and personal development can very quickly make someone obsolete in this globalized world. Self development plan not only provides the self reflection but it also sets the path straight in terms of career Personal development program is very important. It provides the framework to the individual to conduct personal self assessment and identify his strengths and weaknesses. It helps in charting out the guideline to optimize and capitalize on the existing capabilities and determine the future path. It helps in identifying the areas of development and ways to enhance capabilities and knowledge and helps in deciding and developing a clear picture of the future in terms of career. Personal development plan is geared towards progress of both personality and self. A clear analysis of existing capabilities and desired ones helps in boosting self esteem and a clear picture of the future enable to add appropriate qualifications especially when you are vying for higher position (Attwood, 2005). This paper aims at creating my own personal development plan in the light of the different theories of personality, learning and leadership. Personal Development Plan A personal development plan consists of the following major steps. 1. What is my current state 2. What is my desired state 3. How do I get there? What is needed 4. Time line What is My Current State? In this stage one should identify one’s strengths and weakness and should concentrate on the common feedback one get from people. This stage also requires concentrating on the performance indicators for correct self assessment and should identify areas that need to be focused on priority basis and is essential for near future. Personal development plan is both for personality and career. So it is beneficial to identify the personality type first using the Myers Brigg Type Indicator (MBTI). MBTI It is one of the best known and most widely used for identifying personality and learning style. MBTI identifies the psychological type on four different scales namely Extraversion Vs Introversion (E-I), Sensing Vs Intuition (S-I), Thinking vs. Feelings (T-F) and Judging vs. perceiving (Gardner, 2009). The E-I indicator shows whether the energy and attention primarily comes from inside or from outside events. S-I indicators shows how the individual perceive the world and take the information whether directly from the five senses i.e. sensing or indirectly by using intuition. T-I indicator shows preferences in decision making either logical and rational or subjective values like based on like and dislike. The last indicator is J-P that shows individual’s choice whether to use judging or perceptive attitude for dealing with the environment (Knights et al 2007). I took MBTI online test to identify my personality. The test identified my personality type as ESFP. It shows I am an extrovert and I have the following characteristics sociable, outgoing, talkative, gregarious, active, optimist and impulsive. In my perceptions I rely on my five senses. Both of them are my strengths. However in my judgments I am not rational and logical and mostly make judgments based on my likes and dislike. That is a weakness. My attitude in dealing with the environment is based on perception rather than judging, it can also be considered a weakness (Ewing, 2006) Learning Style There are six types of learning styles namely reading, writing, listening, speaking, visualizing and manipulating. No one style is better than the other. Generally people use the learning style they are strong in and avoid using the learning style that is their weaker area. The best thing to do is to utilize the learning style that is their strong area but it is also important to strengthen the weaker area of learning (Sonbuchner, 2008). My strong style of learning is reading, writing and visual and I need to improve in manipulating. Leadership Style Savvy and successful leaders build their own framework based on their skills and capabilities, reflecting self learning and experience and a healthy respect for challenges, opportunities (Gallos, 2008). I as a leader also have to build my own frame work for my organization and myself depending on the situation, requirement and culture of the society and structure of the organization. It is a widely accepted fact that leaders play a pivotal role in organization’s success. It is a critical factor in enabling organizations to adapt to its environment readily, surviving and thriving by successfully implementing organizational strategy. Based on vast research three themes about human behavior have been identified in which leaders behavior is vital and can act as driving force in successfully formulating and implementing organizational strategy. These three themes are intentions, influence and information (Barker, 2006) There are five core leadership styles based upon the level of empowerment given to the followers. They are namely deciding style, consult individually style, consult team style, facilitate style, and delegate style. In deciding style the leader takes the decision alone and announces it. In consult individually style the leader discusses the problem and issues with individuals and then takes decision. Consult team style involves team in discussing the issue. In facilitate style leader plays the role of facilitator by identifying and presenting the problem and defining the broad boundaries for decision making. While delegate style gives maximum empowerment and the leader allows the team to make decision within the defined boundaries (Hellriegel, 2007) I follow consult individually leadership style. Whatever your leadership style is not important. The important thing is that one should be flexible in modifying the dominant leadership style according to the situation. How you practice leadership is very important (Rowitz, 2009). Some are born with the potential of leadership but that potential needs training and polishing to further enhance skills. I also believe that leadership skills can be taught through training and development. Motivators Motivation is an important ingredient for success. It is very important to keep yourself motivated and identify what motivates you. There is different kind of motivators. The two broad categories are monetary and non monetary. Non monetary rewards include appreciation, achievements, recognition, responsibility, influence and personal growth (Armstrong, 2008). It is important to identify what is the most effective motivator for personal life and career. The most important motivators for my personal life are achievements and recognition while for career the most important motivator is monetary benefits and personal growth. Work Values Research has proved that both employees and organizations benefit when the values of the employees are incongruence with his or her work situation. There are various dimensions of work life such as skill utilization, security and independence. Skill utilization is important in terms of qualification for the job. Security is important in terms of the time line. Independence is related to job empowerment. It is important to choose career choices that are in consistence with the individuals work values and preferences (Maynard, 2011). What is my Desired State? The next step is to identify the desired state and what and where I want to be. It should be based on the individual’s ability and knowledge level. At this stage of personal development one has to identify the focus area and desired proficiency level and capability. An individual must also answer why the desired level is wanted. My desired level is to gain maximum knowledge during my student life especially in HR. The focused area of HR in which I want to excel is employee training and development. I want to build my career as a trainer because my extrovert nature and sensing style really helps me in becoming a successful trainer. My learning style and leadership qualities will be an added advantage in building my career as a trainer. My ultimate desirable state is to establish my own Human Resource Consultancy firm with major focus on employee training and development. How do I get there? What is needed? The next step after identifying your desired state is to determine the ways and means to reach at the desired level. It is actually the action plan to reach at the desired level. What books, training, courses, mentoring, coaching and practical experiences are required to reach at the desired level. My desired level to become a trainer in the next couple of years can be fulfilled by obtaining the degree in HR with employee training and development as my elective course. I also need to gain some practical experience of training by doing internship in the training department of a renowned learning organization. Once I join an organization as an employee I need to work under some mentor who can provide the work related information and techniques he has learned over the years. For a mentor and mentee relationship to be successful, it is important that it is made with mutual consent and the element of trust is present. Choosing a mentor formally will help me better in learning the tricks of the trade. A good mentor develops and highlights and polishes the qualities and skills present in the mentee with his experience (Boyer, 2006). Becoming a mentee and gaining maximum knowledge from my mentor is in my action plan. Coaching is another method that I can utilize in my action plan to horn my skills. Coaching can be especially beneficial for me to become a successful trainer. In the initial stages I can assist my immediate manager and can work in his coaching to boost my confidence and enhance skills to work independently as a trainer. Successful coaching requires these three elements mutual trust, mutual respect and mutual freedom of expression (Flaherty, 2005). I need to develop my leadership skills, communication skills and presentation skills under the coaching. Timeline A time line need to be defined for achieving your short term, medium term and long term goals. To achieve those goals one has to dedicate some time and define intermediate goals and miles stones to make sure that one is on the right track. My long term target is to establish my own Human Resource Consultancy firm. The medium term goal is to gain experience of training by working in a good and reputable organization as a trainer. The short term goal is to obtain my degree in Human resource. To reach at my desired state I need to develop and enhance certain skills such as leadership skills, communication skills and presentation skills. I dedicate a few hours weekly to enhance these skills by participating in various activities that help in enhancing those skills. Conclusion Developing a personal development plan is necessary not only for the personal development but for career development as well. It helps in focusing and determining a clear picture of the future along with the path, guidelines and action plan to achieve the desired goal. The chances of success increase because all the energies are directed towards achieving the same goal the chances of success increases. I have developed my own personal development plan based on the strengths and weaknesses identified through various tools and techniques. It includes the personal qualities and the professional capabilities, competencies and potential of growth. Based on these results I have identified my desirable state i.e. where I want to achieve. My desirable state is that I want to establish my own HR consultancy firm. Personal development plan helps me in building and developing the required capabilities over the years to reach my desired state. References Attwood, M, Curtis, A., Pitts J., (2005) Professional Development: A guide for primary care, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Armstrong, M., 2008, How to be an effective manager, UK: Kogan Page Barker, T. (2006). Leadership for Results:REmoving barriers to success for people,projects and process. USA: ASQ Quality Press. Boyer, D. (2006) The Power of Mentorship: Developing the Leader Within, California: Real life Teaching Ewing, Diane M., (2006) Available at http://www.myersbriggsreports.com, Accessed at June 24, 2011. Flaherty, J., (2005) Coaching: evoking excellence in others, UK: Elsevier Butterworth Hienemann Gardner, John N., Jewler, Jerome A., Barefoot, Betsy O., 2009, Your College Experience: Strategies for Success, USA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning Hellriegel, D., Slocum, John W. (2007) Organizational behavior, UK: Thompson South Western Joan V. Gallos, (2008). Business Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey- Bass Knight, D., Willmott, H. (2007) Introducing Organizational Behavior and Management, UK: Thompson learning Maynard, Douglas C., Feldman, Daniel C. (2011) Underemployment: Psychological, Economic and Social Challenges, New York: Springer Rowitz, L. (2009) Public health leadership: putting principles into practice, UK: Jones & Barlett Learning Sonbuchner, Gail M, (2008) The Learning Styles Handbook for Teachers and Tutors, USA: Author house Read More