Personal Development Plans PDF

Let's take a look at personal development plans. Personal development plans specify courses of action to be taken to improve performance. Also, achieving the goals stated in development plans allows employees to stay informed of changes in their field or profession. Such plans highlight an employee'...

Let's take a look at personal development plans. Personal development plans specify courses of action to be taken to improve performance. Also, achieving the goals stated in development plans allows employees to stay informed of changes in their field or profession. Such plans highlight an employee's strengths and the areas in need of development, and they provide an action plan to improve in areas of weakness and further develop areas of strength. In a nutshell, personal development plans allow employees to answer the following questions. How can I continually learn and grow in the next year? How can I do better in the future? How can I avoid performance problems faced in the past? And where am I now and where would I like to be in terms of my career path? Development plans can be created for every job, ranging from entry-level to executive. No matter how high up in the position within the organization and how simple or complex the nature of the job description, there's always room for improvement. A development plan can be designed based on each performance dimension evaluated in the appraisal form. Development plans focus on the short-term and on specific roles and positions, but can also focus on knowledge and skills needed for more long-term career aspirations and career development. Specifically, good development plans also focus on developing career competencies, including the following sets. Reflective career competencies are reflection or motivation referring to reflecting on values, passions, and motivations with regards to one career. Networking refers to the awareness of the value of one's network and the ability to expand this network for career-related purposes. Work exploration refers to actively exploring and searching for work-related and career-related opportunities in and outside the organization. The inclusion of development plans and identification of strengths and weaknesses also helps employees to be more likely satisfied with the performance management system. A good development plan helps employees meet performance standards and includes suggested actions to address each performance dimension that are deficient. A good development plan provides tools so that employees can continue to meet and exceed expectations during their current position. A good development plan includes suggested actions so employees can take advantage of future opportunities and career advancement. Even if career opportunities within the organization are not readily available, a good plan provides employees with opportunities to learn new skills. The employee development plan is an important component of the performance management system, including this component sets the tone for the development process by helping managers understand its value. The plan's objectives should include not only the end product, such as the new skill to be learned, but also the completion date and what evidence will be gathered to know whether the new skill has indeed been acquired. An additional important feature of the development plan is that it should keep the needs of both the organization and the employee in mind. The choice of what specific skills will be improved is influenced by the needs of the organization, especially when the organization is investing substantial resources in the plan. The supervisor and the employee need to agree on what development or new skills will help enrich the employee's work experience. The direct supervisor has an important role in the creation and completion of the employee's development plan. Because the pivotal role the direct supervisor plays in the development process, it's a good idea for the supervisor to have her own development plan as well. This will help the supervisor understand the process from the employee's perspective, anticipate potential roadblocks and defensive attitudes, and create a plan in a collaborative fashion. In terms of the specific role of the supervisor, consider the following five functions. Explaining what's required, referring to appropriate activities, reviewing and making suggestions about objectives, checking on the employee's progress towards developmental objectives, and offering the opportunity for regular check-ins and reinforcing positive behavior. Let us discuss each of these functions. First, the supervisor needs to explain what would be required for the employee to achieve the desired performance level, including the steps that an employee must take to improve her performance. A good tool that supervisors can use to accomplish the goal is a free-forward interview or FFI. The goal of the FFI is to understand the types of behaviors and skills that individuals have that allow them to perform well and think about ways to use these same behaviors and skills in other contexts to make further improvements in the future. The FFI includes a meeting between the supervisor and employee and involves the following three steps. The supervisor sets the stage, preparing the employee to discuss a positive work experience at work to see how they can learn from those experiences about things that worked well. The second step involves understanding the factors that lead to the successful story. What were the conditions that made this success possible? The third step involves asking questions that will lead to an employee's ability to replicate the conditions that led to success in past into the future. As an outcome of the FFI, there may be resources that the employee might need to achieve his developmental goals. Thus, a second important function, the supervisor has a primary role in referring to appropriate developmental activities that can assist the employee in achieving her goals. Third, the supervisor reviews and makes suggestions about developmental objectives. Specifically, the supervisor helps assure the goals are achievable and specific. Fourth, the supervisor has the primary responsibility for checking on the employee's progress towards achieving developmental goals. Finally, in addition to regular check-ins, the supervisor needs to provide reinforcements so the employee will be motivated to achieve developmental goals. Reinforcements can be extrinsic and include rewards, such as bonuses and additional benefits, but reinforcements can also include the assignment of more challenging and interesting work that takes advantage of the new skills learned. To be successful in performing all five aforementioned functions, supervisors themselves need to be accountable and rewarded for supporting their employees' completion of developmental objectives. Direct supervisors play a key role in the success of a development plan. They must be highly committed to the development of their employees and motivated to help their employees fulfill their career aspirations. Organizations and individuals can gain several advantages from implementing a multi-source feedback system. These include the following, decreased possibility of biases. Because these systems include information from more than one source, there's a decreased possibility of biases in the identification of employee weaknesses. Increased awareness of expectations. Employees become aware of others' expectations about their performance. This includes not only the supervisor's expectations, but also the expectations of other managers, peers, direct reports, and customers. Increased commitment to improve. By using multi-source feedback systems, information about performance is no longer a private matter. Increased self-perceptions of performance. Employees distorted views of their own performance are likely to change as a result of the feedback received from other sources. Improved performance. Receiving information about one's performance is an important step in deciding to improve. If paired with a good development plan, it's likely to lead to performance improvement. Reduced defensiveness. Multi-source feedback systems provide an excellent opportunity for workers, supervisors, and direct reports to give information about performance in an anonymous and non-threatening way. Employees enabled to take control of their own careers. By receiving detailed and constructive feedback on weaknesses and strengths, employees can gain a realistic assessment of where they should go with their careers. Consider an organization for which you've worked that's implemented a multi-source feedback system. If you can't think of one, talk to friends or family members and ask them about a system they've experienced. There are many advantages of multi-source feedback systems, but there are also some potential risks involved. For example, negative feedback can hurt an employee's feelings, particularly if giving this feedback does not offer comments in a constructive way. Second, the system is likely to lead to positive results only if individuals feel comfortable with the system and believe they're rated honestly and treated fairly. User acceptance is an important determinant in the system's success. Third, when very few raters are provided the information, say two or three, it might be easy for the employee being rated to identify who the raters are. When anonymity is compromised, raters are more likely to distort the information they provide. Fourth, raters may become overloaded with forms to fill out because they need to provide information on so many other individuals. Finally, implementing a multi-source feedback system should not be a one-time only event. The system should be in place and data collected over time on an ongoing basis. Multi-source feedback systems are not necessarily beneficial to all individuals and all organizations. Also, the effect of receiving feedback from multiple sources is most beneficial for individuals who perceive that there's a need to change their behavior, react positively to feedback, and set appropriate goals. On the other hand, individuals who score lower on self-efficacy pay more attention to the feedback received from their line managers. In other words, an employee's confidence in his or her performance influences which sources of feedback are most useful to her. In terms of organizational characteristics, multi-source feedback systems work best in organizations that have cultures that support open and honest feedback. Also, these systems work best in organizations that have a participatory as opposed to authoritarian leadership style in which giving and receiving feedback is the norm and is regarded as valuable. In short, the successful implementation of a multi-source feedback system is heavily dependent on the culture of the organization and the work context. Fortunately, there are several things that can be done to maximize the chance that a system will work properly. When systems have the following characteristics, they're most likely to be successful. In good systems, feedback is anonymous and confidential. When such is the case, raters are more likely to provide honest information regarding performance, particularly when direct reports are providing information about supervisors. Observation and employee performance. Only those with first-hand experience with the person being rated should participate in the process. Good systems allow for the person being rated to discuss the feedback received with those genuinely interested in the employee's development. The information gathered has little value if there's no follow-up action. Once feedback is received, it's essential that a development plan is created right away. The purpose of the system is developmental and developmental only. The system may be used for administrative purposes after it's been in place for some time, approximately two years or so. Rater fatigue can be avoided if individuals are not asked to rate too many people at the same time. Although systems can include feedback on both behaviors, competencies, and results focusing on behaviors that lead to the identification of concrete actions that a person being rated can take to improve performance. In addition to providing scores on the various dimensions, raters should provide written, descriptive feedback that gives detailed and constructive comments on how to improve performance. As is the case of providing the valuation for administrative purposes, raters should be trained. Mainly, this includes skills to discriminate good from poor performance and how to provide feedback in a constructive manner.