ACCA BT Syllabus E. Personal Effectiveness and Communication in Business - Personal Development Plan - Notes ^{4 / 4}

A personal development plan is a ‘clear developmental action plan for an individual that incorporates a wide set of developmental opportunities including formal training’.

During their career, employees are increasingly encouraged to manage their own development.

In consultation with management, they might be asked to set up personal development plans whereby they set targets and propose actions/activities to achieve them.

Development is more general than training, is more forward looking and orientated towards the individual, and is concerned with enabling the individual to fulfil his or her potential.

The purpose of personal development is to ensure ‘growth’ during the person’s career.

The growth should be triggered by a job that provides challenging, stretching goals.

The clearer and more challenging the goals, the more effort will be exerted, and the more likely it is that good performance will result.

If the person does a good job and receives positive feedback, he or she will feel successful (psychological success).

These feelings will increase the feelings of confidence and self esteem and lead to involvement in the work, which in turn leads to the setting of future stretching goals.

• Stage 1

  Analysis of current position – requires the individual, with their manager, to carry out a personal SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis.  

  This can be as simple as assessing what an individual does by referring to the job description, evaluating which aspects of a job an individual likes and dislikes on the one hand, and those aspects that an individual does well and not so well in on the other.

• Stage 2

  Set Goals - following the above analysis, personal goals should be set for the individual.  

  The tasks the person does not do well are examined and reasons are established.  

  This can take the form of an alternative and more traditional type of SWOT analysis by examining the person’s strengths and weaknesses.  

  Particular weaknesses should be identified as being the cause of failure to carry out certain tasks well. 

  This should then inform a personal set of objectives in order to overcome these weaknesses.

  Goals should have the characteristic of SMART objectives:

  • Specific

  • Measurable

  • Attainable

  • Realistic

  • Time bounded

• Stage 3

  Draw up action plan – an action plan and training programme should be based on addressing the identified weaknesses and trying to move more of the tasks of the current role into the ‘do well’ side. 

  It is easier to improve the performance of individuals in tasks that they like performing than in those that they do not.