1. Handout 2: Professional development
PowerPoint presentation
Unit 345 (M&L 9): Manage personal and professional development
Handout 2: Professional development

2. Continuing professional development (CPD)
Many occupational areas demand that you maintain or add to your skills.
Keeping present skills up to date or learning new ones.
Vital for individual development as well as organisational improvement.
For example, within the financial services industry, exams must be passed in order to meet legislative requirements. It may be necessary to study for and pass exams on a regular basis.
Even if refreshing skills and knowledge is not necessary for legislative or regulatory reasons, we still need to keep up to date to meet the constant changes of business as well as for our own personal development.

3. Personal learning or development plan (PDP)
Appraisal often results in a personal learning/development action plan.
An appraisal offers you feedback on your performance, highlighting strengths and indicating areas for development.
These areas are likely to be agreed with you and recorded in a development plan.
Some areas may be personal to you, but some may be requirements of the job.

4. Learning activities On the job Off the job
Your organisation is likely to offer learning or development activities that are required to ensure you remain occupationally competent to do the job.
For example, in the financial sector you are likely to be offered the training required to sit and pass the relevant financial services examinations because without that certificate you would be unable to do your job.

5. Short courses run by outside organisations Evening classes
Off the job activities
Short courses run by outside organisations
Evening classes
Open learning
Short courses run by outside organisations eg first aid, specific computer courses, courses run by suppliers which are likely to be product specific
Evening classes eg at college to gain a recognised qualification
Open learning eg language course, open university courses, e-learning.

6. On the job activities
On the job activities
Learning by watching
Coaching
In-house training
Shadowing
Job rotation
Learning by watching – here you learn by watching someone who already knows the job and can show you how to carry out the task(s)
Coaching where someone will take you through the task and help you until they are satisfied you can do the task yourself
In-house training where you attend courses held internally to update you or teach you new skills
Shadowing where you work alongside someone to learn all aspects of the job
Job rotation - moving through departments where you can gain experience of how other departments operate and expand your knowledge of the organisation. This is often used by organisations to train new staff

7. Learning and development plan
This learning or development plan will be personal to you and considers the following:
the skills you need for the job
your personal learning style
the learning activities offered by the organisation.
Many organisations regularly review the progress of staff through an appraisal system, and this will often result in a personal learning/development action plan (often called a personal development plan or a PDP).
What skills do you need for the job – do you already have these skills and just need to update them or do you need to gain new skills to do your job or to move on within the organisation?
Do you prefer to learn by doing or do you like to carry out research, learning the theory first before putting it into practice? It is important to acknowledge your learning style and if given the chance learn by that method.
The learning activities offered by the organisation – not everything you would want to do will be available so you need to consider what is available and what is necessary to do your job.
PDPs are important for you and also for your organisation as it allows them to develop staff to meet present and future business needs.
It also demonstrates commitment by the employer to staff development. 7

8. Example learning/development plan8

9. Honey and Mumford’s model identifies four learning styles
It is important that you find out what type of learner you are to ensure that you select the method of development best suited to you.
An activist is the type of person who is likely to prefer to learn by doing. They dislike to learn theory or data preferring to consider how to do the work/activity/task in practice, or to learn through working with others. They are likely to consider an organisational procedure or process and then work out how it applies to the job. As the word activist suggests they like to carry out the activity - learn by doing.
A theorist is the type of person who likes structure in their learning. They are less likely to like the practice but like the theory. They enjoy reading and researching in depth about a topic, analysing and questioning before then starting something new.
A pragmatist is a practical type of person – a thinker and doer. A pragmatist is good at gathering all the information and then putting it into practice. They like learning that has practical outcomes - taking a theory and applying it to a real situation, making it work. This type of person usually prefers to study alone.
A reflector is likely to watch others, think about what they have seen and then try it out. As the word suggests they reflect – they sit back, watch, ponder on the situation, think it through and then carry it out. 9

10. SMART targets mean you ensure you set targets that are: Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Realistic
Time related.
When drawing up a personal development/learning plan it is necessary that you focus and set yourself goals.
The use of SMART targets is important to ensure you complete the personal development agreed.
If you don’t set timescales for review or final completion you are likely to be less focussed and aimless, possibly failing to achieve the proposed outcome
SMART targets are:
more likely to be achieved because they are structured and clear and not aimless
are realistic so you are motivated to achieve
agreed with you rather than just set without discussion.
Remember - targets are not achieved just because they are SMART – they still need to be worked on. 10

11. Review and update
Your personal development action plan should be reviewed and updated regularly.
Planned activities should be relevant to the job.
Ensure you don’t overload yourself.
But appreciate how important the learning activities are to your job.

12. Maintaining a continuing professional development record or log
May be a requirement of the job to prove competency.
You may be required to show proof of the development you have carried out.
You should maintain a record of the learning and development you carry out within your personal development plan.
This may be a requirement of the job, available to be shown to others to prove your competency, eg you may need to show records of your attendance at courses.

13. Your CPD record should show:
the learning or development undertaken
how it relates to your job role or occupational competency
when the learning was undertaken
what you gained from it.
Your CPD must be maintained on an ongoing basis to demonstrate your development and ability to do your job competently.