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Learning & Development

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FDA Business and Human Resource Management

Learning and Development in Practice

Personal Development Plan

Marc Richardson
30084655

Contents

Introduction 3

Assessment of Self 3

Skills Audit 3

Swot Analysis 4

Areas of Skill Development 4

Long and Short Term Goals 5

Conclusion 5

Appendix 6

Introduction
This is my personal development report and within the content of this I will show how I have identified weaknesses that I need to work on and how I can monitor the progression of improvement within these chosen areas.
I will also look at how I can implement changes to my personal, academic & personal skills to help me develop them too.

Assessment of Self
At the start of my journey of personal development I undertook a simple ‘Assessment of Self’ task to briefly establish what and why I wanted to improve my skills. This was in the way of a few questions…..Goals, Barriers etc. (Appendix 1).
I then moved on to a more in depth way of assessment through a skills audit which helped me to identify my strengths and weaknesses and what I could improve on.

Skills Audit
The skills audit (Appendix 2) was a process of questions around different communication techniques, teamwork and IT Skills. The answers I gave, in my opinion, felt most appropriate to my current skill set. Upon finishing the audit I chose 2 weaknesses and strengths evidently shown in the results.
Weaknesses
* Academic Reading * Academic Writing
Strengths
* Teamwork * Numbers
With these results I then moved on to a SWOT analysis.

SWOT
Swot analysis is a tool that helps to analyse my Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
Strengths
Working with numbers and being organised. Both skills are used daily through my job.
Weaknesses
Academic writing and academic reading. Not something I have had any experience with until I started my degree.
Opportunities
To improve my weaknesses through completing my degree.
Threats
Unable to manage the schedule of work and my degree.

Areas of Skill Development

After looking at all the results and answers I decided to focus on the following two areas…..
Academic reading and writing. (Academic skill)
Communication with Clients. (Employability skill)
I chose these skills to improve on as they are a very important part of my short term and long term goals and for me to achieve these goals, these skills need to be improved.
Being in the construction industry I have very little need for academic reading or writing so my skill level of this is very low. Although I am a confident person and can easily pick things up I have little knowledge of how to write in an academic way or to read academic text. This is why I have focussed on these particular skills to develop. I also speak with a lot of clients during my work day so, for me, a good relationship with them will only help me in the future. Good communication is a way I can continue to build these relationships therefore is why I chose communication for area of personal development
I can keep track of my progress by referring to my PDP (Appendix 3) which will highlight when I have improved or achieved my target.

I can also refer to my learning contract (Appendix 4) which allows me to meet with my tutor on a quarterly year basis to check my progress and to measure the improvement to date.

Long and Short term Goals
I have chosen some goals to work towards with one being short term and the other being a longer term target.
The short term goal is for me to complete the first year of my degree with the best possible mark I can achieve.

The longer term goal is for me to take the next step up on my personal business ladder. This is for me to expand the business and to have a certain number of employees. I have put a timeframe of 2-3 years on this long term goal to be able to give me chance to complete the short term goal first.

Conclusion
The skills that have been highlighted through all the analysis and skills audit as a weakness are to be implemented on my PDP. The reason I have chosen these two weaknesses, one academic and one employability, is that it forms a very straight forward journey of milestones which will enable me to fulfil my goals.
Improving my academic reading and writing will allow me to get better marks on my degree assignments which will then enable me to pass my first year. Short term goal. This then gives me the opportunity to continue onto the second year of my degree gaining more experience of business and HRM which will help towards the long term goal.
The employability skill which for me is customer service (communication) will again allow me to reach my long term goal. If my customer service is improved and my communication with clients becomes clearer and I am more understanding then my business will grow as I will be able to keep existing work as well as securing new lines of work.
To be able to achieve my aims of improving my stated skills on the PDP I will have to incorporate one of my strengths (organised) along the way to alleviate the chance of the threat (not managing the workload) restricting my development. I also have the help as and when needed from my tutor through one to ones and forums on Moodle.

Appendix 4 - Learning Contract

Marc Richardson | Progress Dec | Progress Feb | Progress April | Action 1 - Identify skills gaps from skills auditAcademic reading and writingCustomer service (Communication) | | | | Action 2 - Resources neededUse of computer or laptopAccess to library resources – Books, e-BooksInternet research –academic websites, YouTube etc.Draft copies of work for feedback study groups to share ideasMake use of Moodle material | | | | Action 3 – dates for completion Dec 15 – Assignments to be handed in for BE & MarketingFeb 16 – Handover of building for PureGym (employability) | | | | Action 4 – evidence of success/accomplishmentsReceive higher pass level on my assignments.Receive feedback from clients and hand the building over on time. | | | | Action 5 – Barriers and solutionsWork and degree schedule gets on top of me and I am unable to cope.Organise my workload so I have clear times to study and complete work on time. | | | | Action 6 – ReflectionKeep a diary of my progress and future deadlines.Feedback from Tutor and clients. | | | |

.

Appendix 3 - Personal Development Plan

ObjectivesWhat do I want to be able to do better? | Success CriteriaHow will I recognise success?How will I measure my improvement? | Actions What methods will I use to achieve my objectives? | ImplementationHow will I practice and apply what I learn? | Improve my academic writing | My assignments will have a better structure and more depth which will see my grades improve | Research academic essay writing and look at the structure and also look at my previous work to look at feedback | Give myself more time to complete the essays and to receive feedback from draft copies from tutors and peers | Read more academic text and literature | I will have a better understanding of the subjects I am studying and I will be able to relate to the books when referencing in my assignments | Have short breaks from work to allow me to read more books.Give myself weekly targets of books to read | Make notes of books read and keep a list so I can reference them when needed.Have set times in the library to eliminate distractions | Better customer service and communication with clients | There will be fewer disagreements and I will be able to build new relationships through word of mouth | Use different types of communication methods. | Request customer feedback and have weekly contact to keep updated with any issues or problems | | | | |

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