Personal development is looking inward and focusing on ways to better yourself. Personal development increases your self-awareness, your self-esteem, increases your skills, and fulfils your aspirations.
WHY PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT IS IMPORTANT?
Any time you are consciously making an effort to improve yourself, you are participating in personal development. The importance of personal growth cannot be understated, as it allows individuals to become the best versions of themselves.
“Personal development” doesn’t refer to a specific timeline of adulthood; instead, it requires a lifetime of dedication and awareness to keep up with the natural ebbs and flows that life has to offer.
BENEFITS OF PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANS:
Personal development plans hold the following advantages for businesses and employees alike, as they help you or the organisation to:
INCREASE PROFITABILITY: Establishing an overall goal provides a clear sense of direction and purpose, which helps keep motivation and productivity levels high.
MINIMISE EMPLOYEE TURNOVER: Personal development plans help organisations reduce attrition rates. This is because PDPs help to identify disengaged individuals who might be in the wrong job or role, providing an opportunity to re-engage them in their existing position or move them to a new role.
PROMOTER CAREER DEVELOPMENT: PDPs demonstrate a commitment to enhancing an employees’ value and confidence in their work. Surveys indicate that a lack of learning and development opportunities are a leading cause of job resignations, highlighting the importance of investing in employees’ job satisfaction and fulfilment.
STEPS TO CREATE PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANS FOR BUSINESS:
Keep the following steps in mind when making personal development plans:
1. START WITH SELF-ASSESSMENT:
· Strengths and weaknesses are internal factors, such as your existing skills, available resources, bad habits, and areas for improvement.
· Opportunities and threats are external factors, such as events, projects, and activities that can help you attain your goal, as well as obstacles that could derail your success (e.g., lack of resources, skill deficiency, a large number of competitors seeking to achieve the same goal).
2. SET SMART GOALS:
· The goal should state precisely what you want to change or achieve.
· Making goals quantifiable enables you to monitor your progress and set milestones.
· Goals should be challenging but still achievable given your current timeframe and available resources.
· Each goal should contribute to the broader objective of the PDP, keeping you focused on activities that support your development and are aligned with the company’s overall goals.
· A PDP should include a deadline as well as incremental milestones to keep you motivated and working to reach your goals.
3. DEVELOP GOAL ATTAINMENT STRATEGY:
· 70% of learning should be experiential. Experiential learning is informal, and self-guided, and gives the individual control over what they are learning.
· 20% of learning should be interactive. Social learning is an effective way to receive guidance and mentoring from others, such as coworkers and managers.
· 10% of learning should be formal. Structured training such as enrolling in a certification course, participating in workshops, and other educational programs help individuals learn and practice new information or behaviours.
4. MONITOR PROGRESS AND ADAPT ACCORDINGLY:
· Meeting regularly with employees helps monitor their progress in obtaining their PDP goals. Ask for specific feedback regarding what is going well, where they need support, and if parts of the plan need to be adjusted or improved.
· As individuals work on their goals, they can document the changes made and steps taken to achieve their objectives. If they are struggling to complete tasks within the specified timeframe, find out what is going wrong and why.
HOW TO USE MIND MANAGER TO CREATE PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANS?
When creating a personal development plan, you can use a visual map to brainstorm potential goals:
VISUALISING PDP GOALS SUPPORTS THE CREATIVE BRAINSTORMING PROCESS.
Personal development plans for the business are detailed roadmaps that guide you along the journey to successfully achieving your goals while benefiting the organisation as a whole. Using mind maps for your PDP helps you expand your creative thinking to better connect your ideas to actionable insights. Ongoing learning and personal development are key to individual and business growth.
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