INTRODUCTION
The development of personal and professional skills is the key to achieving individual or organizational objectives. There are so many challenges on the way to achieving the goals, the learning about the factors that are helpful to clear those challenges, is also part of this development process. M&S is a retail company in the UK, the person who is working on the manager profile in this company has to manage their personal and professional skills that can help him to deliver a better service to the organization to achieve their desired objectives(Avalos, 2011). In this report, the benefits of self managed learning approaches and the life-long learning approaches are discussed. The evaluation of the skills and competencies are also outlined which are against the standard and objectives of the organization. Further the opportunities and plan for personal and professional development.
TASK 1
1.1 Approaches to self-managed learning
The self managed learning is defined as the process in which the person has to learn the thing on their own. There are some approaches that a manager in M&S can adopt:
- Seminars and conferences: From seminars and conferences a person can learn so many things, it allows the people to stand and speak about something and spread their knowledge among others who want to learn those things. The confidence factor is also developed in the conferences as they do speak in front of so many people to present something also the skills of presentation can be developed.
- Social networks: Social networking platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Tumbler and so many others, can be the medium to learn so many things. People spend time on such social networking sites, share their knowledge, and interact with the people through chatting all of which can be a better source to learn(Sutherland, Howard, and Markauskaite, 2010).
- Internet: The Internet is a medium that is used by every individual all over the world. People can search their desired data through Google which is the largest search engine in the world. The people can also access the internet to get the data which could be helpful to understand the workings of their workplace.
Some more approaches linked to self-managed learning are personal strategies, the current needs of the individual, and also future needs
1.2 Lifelong learning to be encouraged in the context of personal and professional
Lifelong learning is a great thing to develop the things in an individual that are used by him in his personal and professional life. The schedule that is adopted by an individual in her daily routine, has to be proper, which can help him to manage his time for personal and professional tasks and also gives the reason for their daily life. Participation in such activities that are introduced in a group, is also a good approach to lifelong learning.
Individuals have read and learned so many things from different sources, if he has shared those things with others, that can also give a better outcome. The courses that are so long but useful in the future can be adopted for lifelong learning (Thomas and Beauchamp, 2011). These courses are soft skills, English improvement, practical work, communication with customers, and so on. The individuals of the same profession can share and exchange their knowledge with each other. This conversation can develop their personal and professional skills.
1.3 Individual and organizational benefits of self-managed learning
To meet the objectives the M&S company has hired employees who have skills with so much potential as leadership skills, time management skills, and those skills that are required to achieve the organization's objectives. There are so many benefits an organization can have from self-managed learning and lifelong learning. The adaptability is increased in the individual which means the changes can be adapted by the one who is going through self-managed learning.
New technologies and trends usually come to the market so a person will be aware of such things. The issue which is related to money can come with the individual or the organization, will be also adapted. The topics that are compelling in their life, they can explore them, and it's an opportunity for lifelong learners(Ertmer and Ottenbreit-Leftwich, 2010). After this learning process the body and mental stress can be so low and the individual can enjoy the company of their family and the other events in their life.
TASK 2
2.1 Current Skills and competencies against the professional standards and organizational objectives
To get the objectives of an organization like M&S which is a retail company. The firm provides clothing, food products, and home products and has so many stores in the UK and internationally thus they want so much of employment for their store. The staff should be skilled and for the employees that already exist, the organization makes the effort to organize training and development programs. The SMART theory is preferred by the M&S in its system which is abbreviated as specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound. The writing and communication skills should be so good in the employees of the M&S, the organization's objectives can be possible if the employees have these skills.
Personal skills are also required in the employees of such organizations. The expectations of the organization can be met with some good writing from the employees, also they should have a better listening ability to better listen to the instructions of the management. The quality of listening is so important for an employee because he works as per the instructions of the company regarding their various operations(Dabbagh and Kitsantas, 2012). The employee should have the team spirit which allows it to work in a team and share their ideas and skills with other team members.
2.2 Own development needs and required activities
Employees who know how to manage their time, must needed in the Mark& Spencer. It is required with timer management skills to manage the time for different work within the working hours of the organization. It should have the leadership skills as if the employee is working in the manager post so he should have the ability to charge their team members thus they have to work as per the objectives of the company. Information technology is an important factor in the retail industry, so the employee should have better communication skills and he should know about the latest communication techniques that are being used in the system. These skills can be developed by attending the training and sessions for developing the aspects of personality.
Some strategies can be helpful to enhance the personal skills of an individual who is working in a retail company. Newspaper reading can be a good thing to increase the knowledge of an individual. It is also so helpful to skills development that are related to communication(Johnson and et.al., 2012). The PEST(political, economic, social, and technological) analysis is an external environmental audit that can be a medium for personal de
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