1. Handout 1: Identify personal and professional development requirements
PowerPoint presentation
Unit 345 (M&L 9): Manage personal and professional development
Handout 1: Identify personal and professional development requirements

2. Continuous development
Continuously trying to improve both your skills and the way you work
Undertaking activities that improve your knowledge about yourself
Developing your skills and realising your potential

3. Benefits of continuous development to you
Opportunity to improve weaknesses and gain new skills
Motivational effect
Increased ability to embrace changes/challenges
Possible financial reward/promotion
Increased employability 3

4. Benefits to your organisation
Improves employee skill base
Continually matches employees’ skills to those required for the job
Motivates staff and can therefore increase productivity
May improve staff retention if employees feel they are valued

5. Informal evaluation
To critically look at how you carried out a job
To identify and analyse any problems that came up
To analyse difficult or challenging tasks and identify factors that would have made them easier
To analyse tasks that went well and identify the factors that contributed to the success

6. Appraisal/performance review Carried out by the line manager
Formal evaluation
Appraisal/performance review
Carried out by the line manager
Skills and performance assessed against the standards required by the job
Feedback given to the individual
Plan of action created to assist in the individual’s development or in improving personal performance
An important aspect of this process, is that you realistically and honestly self-assess before the interview, ie you consider how you think you have performed in order to allow a balanced discussion to ensure your development needs and concerns are discussed.

7. What are your strengths and how can you prove this?
Self-assessment
What are you good at?
What are your strengths and how can you prove this?
What do you need to improve?
What areas do you need to develop?
Why do you feel they need to be improved?
How can you improve your performance in that area and
What assistance do you need?
What future development would you like to have?
What experience or skills do you feel you need to have to progress in the future? 7

8. Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats A SWOT analysis
SWOT is principally a business tool but this form of self-assessment is a simple method of gathering and analysing facts about yourself.
Strengths & Weaknesses:
Consider and list the areas you know you perform well in, while also looking at the areas that still need development.
You may even find that it is more important to further develop a strength than a particular area of weakness.
Opportunities:
possible promotion
possible internal move to gain more experience
new legislation that means you will require further training.
Threats:
possible changes within the company
new processes requiring certain specific skills. 8

9. Training needs analysis
Training and development must meet both individual needs as well as business needs.
A training needs analysis (TNA) aims to identify the gap between the knowledge, skills and actual performance of the workforce and the knowledge, skills and performance the organisation requires to be most effective.
Knowledge and skills Training gap Knowledge and skills
possessed  required
This gap needs to then be filled by identifying the appropriate training and development, taking into account the fact that people learn in different ways and that different methods should be employed.
A TNA can be carried out on corporate needs, group needs or individual needs.
Corporate needs can be identified by analysing the weaknesses or gaps in the knowledge and skills of eg the production staff; group needs by analysing weaknesses and gaps in the knowledge and skills of eg a specific job role.
Individual needs can be identified by analysing weaknesses and gaps in the knowledge and skills of an individual.
A TNA is therefore the process of identifying skills gaps resulting in the presentation of development priorities and plans. 9

10. Identify training needs, by eg: surveys/questionnaire
How to carry out TNA
Job analysis to identify the duties and the knowledge and skills required.
Identify training needs, by eg:
surveys/questionnaire
individual interviews with managers and staff.
In recognising the problems facing staff, assessing the skills they have and the training needed to meet the knowledge and skills the job requires, the organisation is then able to meet its business needs.

11. Information on professional development needs
Identify trends and developments in the profession
Evaluate current and future development needs relating to the role, the team and the organisation
Sources of information on development requirements:
HR department
employment agencies and job advertisements
trade associations and professional bodies
sector skills council
National Occupational Standards.
Identify trends and developments – both in terms of your own job role and the industry sector of your organisation. These influence the professional development needed.
Employment agencies and job adverts – a good source of information about the skills and qualifications required for the posts advertised.
Trade associations and professional bodies – related to your own role or the industry sector of your organisation.
Sector skills council – eg Skills CFA who set the standards relating to administrative qualification.
National Occupational Standards – which specify the standard of performance and the knowledge and understanding required to carry out different job roles.