Personal and Professional Development

D

Task 1

1.1 Approaches implied for self-managed learning

In order to improve the abilities and skills of an individual one should adopt a continuous learning process. There are different learning ways i.e, formal and informal in the form of group, one-to-one or self-learning and three main learning approaches are discussed below, briefly:

Behaviorist Approach

According to this style, appropriate behavior is required to achieve individual goal and for that constant repetition of task combined with feedback is formulated. This approach proponent Gagne theory of instruction and social learning theory to guide a professional (Hunter, Laursen and Seymour, 2007).

Cognitive Approach

Unlike behaviorist theory, here more emphasis is led on active participation of the learner rather than his trainer or mentor. The trainee himself identifies his own pros and corns while the coach suggests alternatives and measures to work up on. The principle 'learning process is more than just doing task or activity' is its key focus.

Humanistic Approach

This is a modern world theory, where learning outcomes are established through explanations of individual experiences. An emphasis on active learning is core of this approach. Participate methods are build on the basis of experiences, span of attraction, self-awareness and experimental learning (Hayes and Robnolt, 2006). The professional needs to be ready to learn apart from being motivated by fear or compulsion.

1.2 Ways through which the learning process can be encouraged

VARK learning style is suited most when an individual requires improving his/her skills. It has four essential ways through which effective learning process can be applied. Here V stands for 'visual learning', A for 'auditory learning', R for 'reading and writing learning' and K for 'kinesthetic learning'(Pedler, Burgoyne and Boydell, 2013). This process can be understood below:

Visual

The learner uses visual and graphic displays like charts, diagrams, handouts and videos to grasp knowledge. It also makes use of such words and phrases that evoke visual images in the minds of people or group.

Aural

This mode focuses on hearing capacity of the individual, where the speakers are of slow pace and learners are natural listeners. Lectures, discussions and speeches are its tools to convey the skills and knowledge among the individual (Tudor O and Haff, 2009).

Read/Write

It is the traditional approach where reading and writing techniques are emphasized. Articles, mails, notices, research studies, blogs and magazines are the different modes to spread and communicate information essential for learning process.

Kinesthetic

Tactile learning takes place with the help of physical activities rather than listening, watching or reading facts and information. This way of learning is considered best as it engages all senses while learning. It includes trial and error method where a continuous process of experimenting and suggesting preventive measures take place in working (Cherry, 2015).

1.3 Evaluate the benefits of self-managed learning to an individual and organization

In recent years self-managed learning has provided energy and enthusiasm to individual development and its organization. Major benefits of this concept are as follows:

It promotes natural development of self-confidence and initiative among the professional which in turn provides sensible, healthy and productive environment to the company.

The self-directed process provides opportunities to follow wide range of interests options while performing assigned tasks. It builds behavior among the employees to innovate new ideas and themes in their working style. Encouragement is provided to perform tasks with creative mind that ultimately benefits the firm (Ward, 2011).

As the individual is responsible for training and development by his own they become mature and sensible enough to make decision and implement them accordingly.

This process provides greater choice of freedom to a person to adopt which way or path to sought problems. Rather than rigid structure, flexible and favorable environment ic created among the corporation.

TASK 2

2.1 The process and activities required to implement a development plan

When I evaluated my professional and personal skills I found myself on an average scale. There are many traits which demands for serious concern from my side. So, after identifying key professional skills and rating them now I will focus on coping with these loopholes. The major areas that needs to be covered are:

Firstly, when assessing my attributes I found that my problem solving techniques are not up to the mark. Although, I am able to solve the problem on the spot still it lacks expertise. The remedies and solutions made are temporary. This can be improved by indulging myself in different decision making processes of the company.

Secondly, working as an associate I posses basic professional knowledge. But for career development prospects and organizational needs I need to pour myself with extra professional skills. As a professional various important techniques needs to be adopted in motivating and boosting up the energy level of the members working with me.

Thirdly, according to scale measured my technological knowledge and skills needs to be polished. In today's technical world, the personals needs to be equipped with learning of application soft wares. I should focus on acquiring deep details and functions related to Microsoft Office.

Fourthly, the most important professional attribute is communication and listening skills. It helps in successfully dealing with the clients and customers. Also, we are able to understand the value of our subordinates suggestions and feedback. I have scaled myself 4 in it still I feel the need to improve my English language knowledge and increase the capacity to listen patiently.

Lastly, as there are many things to mange and coordinate I require good level of leadership qualities. It will help me to convey the desired outputs from the surrounding people. Teamwork and dedication towards work will not only uplift my career but also my personal life.
All the above professional skills are required to be improvised and set them according to the need of time.

2.2 Undertaking document development activities as planned

After evaluating own current skills and competencies against the professional standards the individual should work for applying remedies to it. In the above task, I performed my personal SWOT Analysis in order to know my strengths and weaknesses. The analysis also helped in identifying the upcoming opportunities and threats can be faced in the future (Attwell, 2007). Through this method I am able to formulate my professional skills and traits to acquire the current and future needs. Now, different measures will be taken in order to implement the personal and professional development plan, some of them are as follows:

Coaching

It is the most popular and commonly used process to improve the personal and professional skills. There is pre-arranged agreement between an experienced manger and his employee to demonstrate guidance and make me practice new skills.

Networking

Here, the members discuss current issues happening around the world in order to exchange their opinions and ideas. This informal communication helps the individual to think and develop his/her own philosophy for a subject.

Mentoring

Under this measure, the experienced and senior member provides guidance and advice to its junior. It is somewhat similar to coaching concept.

Courses, Seminars, Workshops

Through this type of classroom training I am able to facilitate the knowledge and techniques in better manner. As the subject matter experts provide basic and professional learning opportunities to the individual (Ward, 2011).

Professional Associations

There are many professional associations existing in the society representing specific profession. Active participation in these associations will make me aware about current trends and motivate me to divert my ways for present and upcoming events.

Self-Study

One of the best activity that will help me to utilize and improve my employ ability skills is self assessment of my own. Here, I can make use of e-learning courses and volunteer work to prepare a strong foundation for myself.

2.3 Critically reflect own learning against aims and objectives set in the development plan

Individually, I feel more satisfied by the development planning process that take place to wider the personal aspirations. Through the above measures and activities I am able to reform my skills and traits in comparison with pastime. Now, critically evaluating my leanings against my set aims and objectives will an important process of development plan. Core communication and listening skills, leadership skills and problem solving techniques are areas i mainly focused on. In order to improve these skills I have attended motivational seminars and workshops. These activities benefited me with the ability to patiently think, analyze and communicate with the public and customers. Active participation in professional associations empowered my awareness towards the respective profession. This ultimately enhanced my leadership qualities within a time frame of one year. Another arena, the ability to solve problems during critical conditions needs to developed. Earlier, I used to make temporary remedies to such situations but consultation from my mentors and experts helped in great manner. Development activities like coaching and mentoring provides proper guidance to deal with queries. Also, 360-degree performance feedback from supervisors, peers, staff, clients and customers gave signals about my drawbacks in captious situation.

Apart, from these skills a professional always needs to enhance his/her technical and vocational knowledge. As these are ongoing process which needs to be studied and learned at regular interval. I joined institute availing certificate and courses in computer and IT department. It improved my knowledge on the upgraded version of Microsoft Office. Every year some modifications are made in different managerial and professional techniques. For this purpose I made use of e-learning platform. Professional development sites, blogs, articles, journals and newsletters on internet provided access to vast trends and techniques used in modern world management. I also attended business conferences and seminars organized my company to discuss my views towards different subject matter. Through these development activities I can conclude that my professional skills have developed in right direction though there is scope to built in more efforts for personal and professional development.

TASK 3

3.1 Select solutions to work-based problems

In an organization there are various activities performed simultaneously that often give rise to problematic situation. As a highly motivated person I am working in London Underground the rapid public railway organization of Greater London. I provide key support to track maintenance, administration and Protection Master Engineering Hours services which requires excellent communication skills, initiative and enthusiasm. The main responsibility possessed in the mentioned post is to provide protection to the group members during working hours. This is done through the help of track Access Controller (Eisele and et.al., 2013).

Every single day London Underground transports huge amount of passengers to their destination points. It acts as a baseline for many individuals to reach their desired places. During this process there are possibilities of technical issues during transportation process. Often situations arises related to health and safety measures. Casualties and accidents occurs among the public and employees enrolled in the transportation process of metros. This may be due to some technical faults and external factors like critical weather conditions. At that time there is acute situation of emergency among the organization. The team undergoes stress and pain, unable to decide what preventive measures can be taken to minimize the risk. In such a chaotic situation, the whole mechanism is effected negatively. Effective and immediate decisions needs to be taken to clear out the whole mess (Draganidis and Mentzas, 2006).

During such emergency, the Track Access Controller is responsible for the safe and secure mechanism. My work is to provide correct and clear instructions to the team members. Proper documentation and safety briefing plays a prominent role in functioning of the transportation system. Strong knowledge of London Underground and Network Rail Environment assist in such emergency. Regular monitoring and maintenance of equipment s and tools is primary function to be performed. Good amount of knowledge regarding Safety Scheme for work, risk assessment and staff correct certification is required. Also, at individual level traits like organized and reliable behavior, better communication skill, self-motivation and computing skills will help in coping up with the critical situation.

3.2 Various communication styles used at different levels

A very popular thought signifies that effective communication is a building block of successful corporation. It promotes and motivates the employees in performing their assigned tasks (Hall, 2006). They are clearly aware about their role, function and contribution in achieving organizational objectives. It provides source of information to the organizational members for decision making process and assist in controlling process. The below points reflects different communication styles adopted at various levels of management in the London Underground.

At a higher level of management

The top level of management is responsible to make organizational goals and objectives for the company. They are responsible to prepare a road map for the whole organization and work accordingly. Therefore, they adopt formal process of communication and assertive style of communication. It is the healthiest and effective way to convey the plans and policies to next level mangers (PERSONAL OR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANS,2012).

At the middle level of management

The managers and associates at middle level of management are responsible to execute the policies framed by the higher executives. They adopt horizontal, vertical and inter-cross communication process to convey messages among them. There is exchange of ideas and feed backs are obtained for better functioning of corporation. Thus, submissive style of communication is adopted so that every individual is free to suggest new methods and improve existing pattern of working.

At the lower level of management

While at lower level of management passive style of communication is established. The employees are less skilled and require instructions to perform the work. The middle level mangers and supervisors themselves determine their duties and assign them tasks. Informal communication is performed among the mangers and associates instead to publishing notices , memos, mails and conferences.

3.3 Evaluate and use of effective time management strategies

Time management refers to managing time effectively so that right time is allocated to right activities. It allows individuals to assign specific time slots to activities as per their importance. It helps to plan effectively for the set goals and objectives. The concept is featured by prioritizing activities as per their significance and delegation of responsibilities takes place. The supervisors and assistants follow different time management strategies to acquire desired goals:

• Prioritization is an essential strategy to make correct choice of performing important task earlier. It is known fact that an individual have many roles and responsibilities to perform in the organization. This strategy needs calmness and space to focus an individual's energy and attention on the tasks that really matters. Some prioritization tools are paired comparison analysis, the action priority matrix and decision matrix analysis.
• Another strategy is scheduling the business activities in a systematic manner. Scheduling helps the professionals of the organization to think about what you want to achieve in a day, week or month. One needs to identify available time for the assigned work and schedule the essential actions. The urgent and high-priority activities should be given space. The strategy also undertakes monitoring and analysis of activities performed.
• Use of SMART goal setting technique is another method of establishing time management strategies in the business entity. The goals framed should be specific, attainable, relevant, time bound and measurable. Goal achievement requires commitment to maximize the outlook to achieve it.

Conclusion

The above report about personal and professional development plan evaluate different self manged learning techniques. It comprises detail analysis of a professional skill and knowledge. There is critical reflection of own learning against original aims and objectives set in the development plan. It is concluded by demonstrating different communication styles and effective time management strategies adopted by an individual.

References

• Attwell, G., 2007. Personal Learning Environments-the future of eLearning?.Elearning papers.
• Draganidis, F. and Mentzas, G., 2006. Competency based management: a review of systems and approaches. Information Management & Computer Security.
• Eisele, L. and et.al., 2013. Employee motivation for personal development plan effectiveness. European Journal of Training and Development.
• Esmore, D. and et.al., 2007. VentrAssist™ left ventricular assist device: clinical trial results and Clinical Development Plan update. European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery.
• Hall, C.A., 2006. Integrating Concepts and Models from Development Econoimcs with Land use Change in the Tropics. Environment, Development and Sustainability.

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