My Personal Development Plan
Introduction
To help ensure success for my own business, I need to have a broad range of skills relating to management and leadership. Based on my current role and situation, I have prioritised the most important areas that I need to concentrate on and will point me in the right direction for further advice and training. Before I discuss further I would like to share my personal experience so far from where I started my career and to where I am right now. When I look back so I see that wherever I have worked and wherever I have been I have learnt lots of different techniques and a lot of different methods of dealing with same sort of situation. I have worked in the public and private sector organisations and they have their different methods of addressing the issues. In the public sector organisation I learnt how to write a report and how to investigate and enquire as it was part of my job and my designation. In the private sector I learnt how efficient, positive, quick and witty I have to be. To this date I am still learning and learning and learning different and different things because life is all about experiences either good or bad. We tends to learn from our own or other people's experiences.
Below is the list of the areas that I think need development
Skills that need some development
- Planning
- Information Management
- Prioritising
- Risk Management
- Delegating
- Networking
- Learning
According to my view these skills need improvement in each of the following areas. This doesn't mean that I cannot do these tasks or haven't done them well in the past. It simply means that in order to be truly successful in these areas, I may need to brush up on some skills and get some advice on how to go about the following actions.
1. Ensure my business has an effective health and safety policy
Excellent performance in this area results in being able to:
- Identify my personal and business responsibilities under health and safety legislation
- Ensure that the business has a written health and safety policy statement that is clearly communicated
- Make certain that the health and safety policy is put into practice across the business and is subject to review and revision
- Ensure ongoing consultation with people or their representatives on health and safety issues
- Make sure that systems are in place for effective monitoring, measuring and reporting
- Ensure that sufficient resources are allocated across the business to deal with health and safety issues
- How to keep up to date with legislative and other developments relating to health and safety
- How to develop an effective written health and safety policy statement and what it should cover
- How and when to review and revise the written health and safety policy statement
- How and when to consult with people who work for the business or their representatives on health and safety issues
- Why and how health and safety should inform a business' overall strategy, planning and decision making
- How to establish systems for monitoring, measuring and reporting on a business' overall health and safety performance
In order to improve in this area, I may want to get some advice on:
2. Promote equality and diversity in my business
Excellent performance in this area results in being able to:
- dentify the business' and my personal responsibilities and liabilities under equality legislation
- Review the diversity and needs of the business' current and potential customers
- Review the diversity of the workforce in comparison to the local or national population
- Review the diversity of the workforce in comparison to the local or national population
- Ensure that the equality and diversity policy is supported by an action plan
- Make sure that systems are in place to monitor, review and report on progress
- The business case for ensuring equality of opportunity and promoting diversity
- How and where to identify the business' and my personal responsibilities and liabilities under equality legislation
- How to identify the diversity and needs of my workforce and my current and potential customers
- How to communicate a written equality and diversity policy to staff and stakeholders
- What should be covered in an action plan?
In order to improve in this area, I may want to get some advice on:
3. Manage my professional development
Excellent performance in this area results in being able to:
- Evaluate the current and future requirements of my role as well as my personal and career goals
- Discuss and agree my personal work objectives
- Identify the learning styles that work best for me
- Undertake the activities in my development plan and get regular feedback on my performance
- Make certain that my performance consistently meets or goes beyond agreed requirements
- How to set objectives which are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time based)
- How to address any gaps between the requirements of my role and my current knowledge and skills
- What an effective development plan should contain
- How to update work objectives in light of performance, feedback, and development activities undertaken
- How to monitor the quality of my work and my progress against requirements and plans.
In order to improve in this area, I may want to get some advice on:
4. Manage my own resources
Excellent performance in this area results will able me to:
- Agree the requirements of my work role with my manager
- Discuss and agree personal work objectives and how I will measure progress
- Discuss and agree a development plan to address any identified gaps in my current knowledge and skills
- Undertake the activities in my development plan and get regular feedback on my performance
- Make sure that my performance consistently meets or goes beyond agreed requirements
- How to set work objectives which are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time based)
- How to measure progress against work objectives
- How to identify my development needs
- What an effective personal development plan should contain and how to get feedback on my performance
In order to improve in this area, you may want to get some advice on:
5. Plan change
Good performance in this part will enable to:
- Assess the gap between the current and required future state of procedures, systems, structures and roles
- Assess the risks and benefits associated with strategies and plans and develop contingency arrangements
- Make sure my plans include short term "wins" as well as longer term deliverables
- Develop systems for monitoring and assessing progress
- Develop a communication strategy that allows people to give feedback
- Identify training and support needs and plan how to meet these
- The main models and methods for managing change effectively
- Effective planning techniques
- Theory and application of the change or performance curve
- Theory and understanding of teams, including an understanding of team building techniques and how to apply them
- How to assess the risks and benefits associated with strategies and plans
- Stakeholder expectations and how they influence the process
In order to improve in this area, I may want to get some advice on:
My strengths
I think the following are my strengths
- Communicating
- Monitoring
- Decision making
- Problem Solving
- Leadership
- Consulting
- Evaluating
- Thinking Strategically
- Presenting Information
1. Map my business environment
I have the ability to obtain crucial information to support planning and decision making e.g., information on my customers, competitors, market trends, new technologies and legislation.
2. Manage a budget
I am able to prepare, submit and agree a budget for a set operating period and take necessary action.
3. Put the business plan into action
I can work out the agreed measures for success carefully monitoring the implementation of the plan and make adjustments along the way.
4. Develop a customer focussed business
I ensure that my business' vision, values, systems and products are driven by and satisfy customer needs.
5. Improve business performance
I am able to oversee the improvement of the performance of business and implement changes that will add value in the eyes of customers and stakeholders.
6. Lead from the front
Part of the team or I am working alone I always lead from the front and create example for others to follow as I don't like to be pointed out that I am asking my team members to do a particular task which I am not even doing or participating in.
7. Get the work done
I have a very good ability of getting the work done by the team members or if I am outsourcing services or products. Managing team of more than seven people can be really a difficult task and getting work done by some vendors is really a pain but in my previous jobs I have been able to do this remarkably.
My action plan
The action plan should always be flexible and change as your job requirement or your circumstances change. Action plan should also be realistic and achievable in approach. I have made my action plan for the next few years based on the above mentioned weaknesses and strengths and where I want to be in the near future.
At the age of 26, I should have completed my M.B.A and must be doing a good job in some multinational organisation. So first of all I want to complete my studies by doing my Masters in Business Administration and which hopefully I will be able to complete by the mid of 2010.
After completing my Masters in Business Administration I will try to look for better option job wise and there are handsome chances that companies tends to go for highly qualified staff members for the respectable vacancies.
Settling down in life is very important so by the end of next year I am also planning to settle down by getting married and hopefully by that time I would have achieved both the above mentioned tasks.
But at the end I want to do my own business and I have got some experience in some of the businesses here so I will try my luck in it as well but for that I need to have some finances which I will be able to manage in the days to come.
Most of the times things does not go according to what you have planned even in the big organisations and for the big projects Project Managers keeps the contingency planning intact and in their mind and schedule so for this particular reason I have also made one small contingency plan for myself that what if after doing my MBA I am not able to get a good job here so what am I going to do then? So I have spoken to one of my relatives, who is working in Accor group of Hotels in Dubai, U.A.E, for the possibility of me coming over there and arranging a job for me and he has promised me that he will try to get me a good job if things does not go according to my plans. I have got previous work experience of working in Banqueting and Food & Beverage department of Hotel so it will help me in this regard as well. In Dubai, U.A.E I have got some other family members and friends which are willing to help me if I have to go over there in the worst case scenario.
This could be only one side of it and the other worst case scenario could be what if I am not even able to complete my MBA so what I am going to do then? For this I have made my mind to go back to my country i.e., Pakistan and my previous employer is happily willing to re employ me due to my distinctive and quality of work during my employment period there. I would like to quote one remarkable change they made after my departure that for the position (F&B Coordinator) I used to work at, they have hired two persons instead of one as one guy was not able to do all the tasks which are the same tasks or even less than I was alone carrying out.
How to fulfil my action plan?
During my studies I will definitely get some training in regard to my weaknesses and will try to sort out ways how I can be more effective, confidant and competent enough to get good job.
Completing my MBA will help me great deal as then I will have a good UK based degree and here organisations prefers any UK based degree or education one may have.
For the successful completion of my course I am putting all my efforts and will keep on doing till it's all done and with the grace of God and help of my teachers, colleagues and family members I will be able to do it.
To get a good job I will be applying in all the big organisations and see how things goes.
I am also trying to have good references in the big firms so once my MBA is complete I can utilise these reference and ask them if there is any opportunity arise in their company so they can refer me, after all reference is the best tool to get a job anywhere in the world.
And at the end to start my own business I have to have handsome amount of money and resources. I am thinking of getting a loan from the bank but I will wait for the right time to come as due to the credit crunch all over the world banks are reluctant to issue loans. That's why I will wait for this credit crunch to be over and then go for this option and once it is done I will start my own business of grocery or garments shop or if any other option may arise by that time. People say that United Kingdom is the land of opportunities and I think it is definitely keeping one opportunity for me as well. Career or personal development is all about opportunity and it's all about getting the right job at the right time
In the end I would like to share my personal experience here that destiny/fate or luck, whatever you call it, plays a very important part in your success or failure and no matter what how good you plan or try to manage things and say that I will do this and I will do that if it is not destined to happen it is not going to happen. And this thing has happened to me and I think it must have happened to all of us and some people agree on this point of destiny or fate and some are hesitant or deny in agreeing to the existence of fate or destiny.
