Management Level 3Manage Personal and Professional Development

This focuses on planning, measuring and assessing the progress you make in work as you develop your skills. Through this you will develop your understanding of the skills you need for your job role and reflect on your own knowledge and skills. You will identify objectives through development reviews with your manager and will monitor your progress towards achieving these objectives.

Planning your development within your work role is important as it helps you make sure that you are working towards your organisations performance requirements.

Through appropriate discussion at your workplace, you will agree personal objectives with your line manager that will improve your performance and help you to keep your skills and knowledge up to date. You can measure the progress you make to see whether you are meeting your objectives.

You will produce your own development plan, which will identify the activities and processes needed to advance your career prospects within your organisation and to enhance your performance within your work role.

What you will learn

Be able to identify and agree performance requirements of own work role Be able to measure and progress against objectives Be able to identify gaps in skills and knowledge in own performance Be able to carry out and assess activities within own development plan

Be able to identify and agree performance requirements of own work role

How to identify and agree performance requirements of your own work role

In your workplace, your individual performance is very important to help manageyour team to achieve its targets. Further, your individual performance and the performance of your team will help your organisation to meet its overall goals and objectives.

Through discussion with your line manager, you will have the opportunity to identify and agree your work role performance requirements. Your line manager or human resource department will provide you with documents that will give you an accurate overview of what is expected of you and what tasks you are expected to undertake in your work.

Your job description

Your day-to-day tasks will be listed in your job description and its contents will tell you what your employer expects of you at work. This information can help to identify your performance requirements.

Your line manager may use your job description to agree what is expected from you in terms of your performance. This is likely to happen in one-to-one meetings between you and your line manager, at supervision meetings, or perhaps more commonly at staff appraisals. These appraisals are sometimes known as performance development reviews (PDRs).

You should also reflect on the terms and conditions contained within your contract of employment to identify requirements of your job role. These terms and conditions can have an impact on the way you carry out your role and will include details of your holiday entitlement, what to do if you are unable to attend work due to illness and the number of hours you are expected to work each week, under normal circumstances.

Key Terms

Goals – Things that you are trying to achieve

Job description – detailed statement of the tasks involved with a particular work role

Objectives – tasks you have set to help you to achieve your goal

Performance development review (PDR) - identifies objectives and targets and areas for improvement. Performance development reviews are also referred to as staff appraisals

Person specification - a document to identify the essential and desirable skills and knowledge to complete the job role

Procedure - step-by-step set of instructions to ensure a standardised approach to workplace activities

Person specification

Being aware of the skills and knowledge you currently possess and those you need to successfully fulfil the requirements of your job role, can enable you to identify any knowledge gaps that you may have.

You may be in possession of a person specification, perhaps issued to you by your human resources manager when you initially applied for your current position. This document will list the essential or desirable skills, attributes and knowledge necessary to successfully fulfil your job role and will help you to identify any knowledge gaps.

The format of your person specification may look similar to the table below.

PERSON SPECIFICATIONJob title: Team ManagerDepartment: FinanceLocation: Southport branchRequirements Essential DesirablePersonal attributes Good communication skills

Well organisedGood timekeepingMeeting deadline

Work as part of a teamWork on own initiativeSpeak Welsh

Knowledge/ qualification GCSE English Grade C or aboveGCSE Maths Grade C or aboveRSA Word and text processingKnowledge of:-employment law-SAGE accounts

Team Leading Level 2 NVQConflict Resolution training

Experience Controlling payrollMaintaining financial documentation, e.g. ledgers, profit and loss

Some team leading experience is desirable

Once employed by your organisation, you may have realised that you do not fulfil all of the criteria featured in the desirable section. There may be gaps in your development you have identified. You can use this as a basis for discussing training needs with your managers.

ChecklistIn order to carry out trough assessment of your current work role performance remember to:

Refer to your job description and person specification

Access and keep up-to-date with workplace policies

Keep up to date with amendments to procedures that you have a direct impact upon your job

Activity – 10 minutesIdentify the positive aspects of each skill listed below:

Personal and interpersonal skills

Numerical skills Communication skills Technical skills Information processing skills Information technology skills Leadership skills

RememberAchieving your personal objective helps the organisation to achieve its objectives.

Quality standards

Workplace procedures can help to ensure that everyone works to the same standards of quality. Procedures can be described as a set of step-by-step instructions for everyone to follow. This means that everyone should be working towards the same standards when they carry out the same tasks.

Here are some examples of working towards high quality standards:

Exercising effective leadership – as a manger, you should monitor processes and examine ways to improve them. It is important to communicate the need for continuous improvement and offer praise to team members when appropriate.

Communicating objectives effectively – your SMART objectives should always be developed with quality in mind. It is very important to communicate your organisations objectives and your departmental or teams objectives to everyone on a regular basis. Objectives previously devised may have to be reviewed and perhaps rewritten, as internal and external influences affect the way things get done.

Encouraging a holistic approach – it is important that you are enthusiastic about developing yourself – perhaps through training activities – in order to work to the standards expected of you. Similarly, your team members may benefit from training to meet quality standards. Aim to develop your own communicative skills and encourage regular feedback from your team members. It is also important to involve your team in the decision-making process and the introduction of new procedures, so that they feel that their opinions are valued. This will enhance morale and motivation, in turn helping to achieve the expected standards of quality.

Resources allocation – to ensure quality standards are met and objectives are realised, it is important that resources are monitored and controlled. Usually resources can be identified as:

o Timeo Money (finances)o Equipment/materialso People (i.e. human resources)

Processes – quality of output depends on you and your team having knowledge of your job content, work systems and process. Knowledge of your organisations policies and the procedures you work with can help you to minimise the risk of mistakes being made by you and your team.

It is important that the whereabouts of your policies and procedures is communicated effectively to the team, to minimise the risk of errors. Just telling your team members where to find these is not enough.

The content needs to be shared, discussed and periodically reviewed to ensure quality standards are met. Similarly, performance to date should be discussed and reviewed regularly.

You should evaluate your approach to dealing with these aspects of your work to identify whether you would benefit from further development of some of your skills.

Your development needs should ideally consider an approach to ensuring that your customers or service users receive a high standard of quality at all times. It is important, therefore if your customers’ expectations are to be satisfied and sustained, that you make yourself aware of the quality standards your organisation works towards.

If you are to develop yourself to become an effective manager, it is important to identify and understand the policies and procedures that have an impact on your job role.

Activity – 10 minutes.1. Make a list of what quality standards are used in your workplace, such as those below.2. How do you ensure these quality standards are met? Tick whichever of the following you consider to be important in achieving quality in your job role. Then discuss this with your manager and/or assessor how each action could be implemented.

What do you do? √I let the team know the standards of quality expected by me and the organisation.I demonstrate that I am as concerned about quality as I am about meeting other team goals, or controlling costs.I take complete responsibility for the quality of my team’s workI take steps to ensure that training and other resources are provided, so that my team members are able to perform effectively.I encourage my team to raise standards.I check the team’s work while it is in progress.I check the quality of the completed work (perhaps by sampling a percentage of the output)I check just about everything that every team member does.

Be able to measure and progress against objectives.

Your organisation will help set itself objectives and goals that it wants to achieve in order to be successful. To help the organisation achieve these objectives, teams and departments will have their own objectives to work towards. Because of this, each individual in the team plays their part in ensuring that the team is successful.

Ways that measure progress against work objectivesExamine the following techniques that can help to identify and measure progress.

Performance development reviews (PDRs)Also known as a staff appraisal, this process involves a discussion between you and your manager, which should take place every six or twelve months. Your current and previous performance is reviewed and future training and development needs are identified and agreed between you and your manager. These development needs can be translated into personal objectives to enhance your performance and, ultimately, that of your organisation.

The PDR enables you and your manager to reflect on your recent performance and to identify a pathway for future development. It is a two-way process that will give you the opportunity to request future training activities that you think will develop yourself further.

The PDRs that you take part in with your line manager and the supervision meetings that you attend will help you identify and agree personal objectives. It is important that both you and your line manager agree personal performance objectives, which reflect the content of your job description, as these will enable the progress you make to be monitored and measured.

Ideally, you should feel that the process motivates you to continue with your cycle of continuous professional development (CPD)

Monthly supervision meetingsThese meetings will feature a discussion between you and your manager to examine personal objectives that have been set and agreed for you. The process will look at what progress you have made over the previous month and set targets for the following month (your overall personal objectives will be broken down into smaller step-by-step targets, to ensure that you are progressing well in your work role). This will also help identify whether any additional guidance is needed to ensure you meet those targets.

Continuous professional development (CPD)CPD is a vital part of any job role and enables employees to keep up to date with the latest ideas and changes taking place in their industry.

Key TermContinuous professional development (CPD) - training and fact-finding that helps you to keep up to date with changes taking place in your industry.

Devising SMART objectivesWhen your personal workplace objectives are agreed it is likely that your manager will refer to the acronym SMART. This is a series of steps that ensure objectives are realistic and achievable. If not, you could become demotivated. This is because a badly designed business objective may not measure the progress you are making. So, make sure you can measure the outcome of your objective, for example, you have reduced the number of accidents by 10 per cent in a given time period.

Objectives should be SMART, which means that they are:S SpecificM MeasurableA AchievableR RealisticT Time-bound

For example, ‘conduct four staff supervisions by March 31st 2012.’ This is a SMART objective because it relates to a specific target (conducting staff supervisions), it is measurable (there are four staff appraisals), it is both achievable and realistic and is time-bound as it needs to be completed by a specific date.

By devising SMART objectives, the activities agreed for your development will not only be realistic but achievable, but the progress you make towards achieving your personal objectives will also be measurable. This will enable you and your manager to establish how successful your progress along your development pathway is.

Be able to identify gaps in skills and knowledge in own performance

Your job description informs you of the tasks you are expected to undertake on a day-to-day basis. However, your organisation will focus on providing a quality product or service to ensure that it successfully meets its customers’ expectations. This means that your role, and the role of everyone else who works in your organisation, is equally important and needs to be continuously developed to meet the challenges of your industry. The mix of skills and knowledge that the employees possess in your organisation will, collectively, contribute to successful outcomes and the achievement of business objectives.

Knowledge and skills required for own work role

Key TermSMART – objectives should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound.

To enhance the quality of the product or service that your organisation provides, you and your team will need to identify any gaps in your knowledge and update your skills.

The role of the manager / team leaderImagine that you take part in a leadership survey. One of the questions asks you what personal skills and effective manager/ team leader should possess. How do you think you would respond?

By being aware of your own performance as you work towards your personal objectives, you may be able to identify gaps in the skills and knowledge you currently possess. You may find that some aspects of what you do would benefit from improvement.

You and your team may also work towards key performance indicators (KPIs), which establish targets that have to be achieved within a given time frame. It is important to be able to achieve these targets.

To be able to identify whether or not your skills and attributes would benefit from improvement, you may initially reflect upon what your workplace is likely to expect from a good team leader. For example, your workplace may expect you to:

Have good interpersonal skills (verbal skills and non-verbal skills – these skills may include use of tone when speaking, words used, eye contact and use of facial expressions)

Be an effective communicator, show respect, be polite and offer feedback Be a problem solver and monitor the work from your team Be effective when dealing with relationship difficulties (such as conflict situations) Be a good listener, act decisively and avoid favouritism within the team Manage time effectively (for example keep a diary) Set objectives, goals and targets and plan the work of the team Be comfortable using information technology (where appropriate) Be able to process information effectively and prioritise tasks accordingly Be a good decision maker and involve others in that process Have sufficient technical skills (such as using equipment) Monitor resources effectively (e.g. stock control and reducing waste) Have good knowledge of the product or service you provide Be aware of who your organisation’s stakeholders are Act within the limits of the authority given to you Identify the development needs of yourself and your team members Empathise with and support your team members Be able to lead your team effectively.

This is a long list, but it is useful to reflect on these points in order to identify what skills, if any, you think you may need to develop further.

Using a SWOT analysisKey TermKey performance indicators (KPIs)Targets for performance that can be measured, for example sales volume expected each month

The knowledge and skills you possess will also help you to plan work of your team members to meet the requirements of your organisation. The success of your planning process, and the way you communicate your plans to your team, largely depends upon the development of your skills and attributes.

A useful tool to examine the skills and knowledge you possess, as well as areas for development, is a SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for:

S StrengthsW WeaknessesO OpportunitiesT Threats

In order to complete a SWOT analysis, consider what your strengths and weaknesses are, what opportunities are available to you and the threats you need to be aware of. Your strengths and weaknesses may be training you have or have not received, your confidence and your skills.

Opportunities can be training that is available internally or externally and threats can also be internal or external. Have a look at the table below for some examples:

Strengths WeaknessesGood communication skillsKnowledge of job roleGood team playerConfident when dealing with customersUsing SAGE accounts

Managing conflictMeeting deadlinesUsing databases

Opportunities ThreatsConflict resolution training – externalTime management training – internalShadowing staff member to obtain training on databases

Lack of time to complete trainingNo support from manager

With your SWOT analysis completed, you can plan actions that will assist your continuous professional development (CPD). You may have already identified a gap between the skills you need to perform well and those you currently possess. This analysis will present opportunities to consider for future personal development.

Key TermSWOT – a technique for identifying areas for improvement. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

Once you have identified what your responses are, an action plan can be drawn up for you and your manager to plan your development activities. These can be discussed in your monthly supervision meetings and your responses can be built into your PDR for consideration.

Action planningAction planning is a process where you and your manager can identify actions needed to achieve the objectives that have been agreed. Initially, you may use a three step approach:1. Where am I now?2. Where do I want to be?3. How will I get there?

By drawing up an action plan, both you and your manager (or your human resource manager) can identify what actions should take place to ensure progress. This can be measured by introducing a ‘By when’ column into your plan so you know when your actions are completed.

A suggested action plan template is shown below:Title:Name:Date:Action/Task By whom By when Resources

neededCompleted/Date Review

DateManager signature

Attend time management training

Me End of July Time and materials

30th July

Self-appraisalsYour SWOT analysis will have enabled you to examine any threats that present themselves as obstacles and to identify opportunities for improvement. It is important to be aware of these obstacles and make efforts to minimise or eradicate them so that they don’t affect your progress. Having conducted SWOT analysis, an action plan should be produced with timelines for your improvement activity.

It is often useful to examine an area which you (or others) have identified as a weakness and develop a self-assessment process.

Examine the template below:

Key TermSelf-assessment – evaluating the success of your own performance

Leading a team meeting – self assessment.Date of meeting:Topic discussed:Self-assessment item

What went well?

What didn’t go well?

What needs improving?

What should I do to improve it?

By when?

Encouraging all to participateSpeaking clearlyTime management of my meetingHow I clarified the points made by others

Conducting a SWOT analysis for yourself is a useful self-appraisal but there are other things you can do, such as obtaining feedback about your performance and behaviour from others in your work place.

Consider obtaining feedback from: Your line manager (and/or other managers) Colleagues working at the same level as you Members of the team you manage Customers you want to deal with (if appropriate)

In terms of analysing your behaviour generally, you may also wish to obtain feedback from members of your family and friends whose opinions you value.

Think about how you will capture this feedback. Will you do it verbally and make notes, or will you do it more formally by using a feedback questionnaire? Your questionnaire would need to explain who you are, what you want the respondent to do and why you want them to do it. (For example, you want to improve your workplace performance).

You wouldn’t need to ask many questions, but for your identified areas of performance or behaviours you could ask:

What do I do well? What do I not do well? How could I improve what I do?

Always finish your questionnaire with a ‘Thank You’ and explain where the form should be returned to and by when.

Dealing with negative feedback

It is not always easy to accept criticism or negative feedback but everyone has to at sometime! What is important is how we accept it and deal with it. Remember, what appears to be negative feedback may encourage us to reflect on our current behaviours and perhaps change the way we do things. This could result in positive outcomes.

Here are some ways to handle feedback that appears to be negative. Ask yourself, what is the purpose of this feedback? Is it justified? When you respond to criticism be assertive but not aggressive. Stay as calm as you possibly can. Think positively because the feedback may be valid! Ensure you listen carefully to what is being said (if you are anxious, you may not

listen properly). Try to empathise (for example, ‘Yes, I can see how this will upset you’). If you are angry, ask to meet again later (sometimes a break away from your

conversation will calm you down).

Consider the model below:

Although simplistic, this model suggests that feedback is important and enables the sender to obtain clarification that the message has been received and understood by the recipient. It also enables the recipient to clarify any points that are uncertain with the sender.

Communication is about getting the right message, to the right person at the right time.

After conducting SWOT analysis and obtaining feedback from others, it may be useful to reflect deeper on the aspects of your job that you wish to develop. A self-assessment document such as the one below may help you to do this. (Please note: these are examples only – the areas you have identified for development may be different.)

General Self-Appraisal FormDate of self-assessment: ……………………….My views on my performance and behaviours to date:

1. The quality of my work2. My ability to lead my team effectively3. My ability to plan work with my team to meet targets4. My technical skills5. My ability to communicate effectively6. My ability to empathise with my team member

Activity – 20 minutes:Spend some time investigating the communication progress further, by researching the work of Wilbur Schramm (1955). A particular focus should be on exploring the areas of encoder and decoder.

Remember:When assessing your own listening skills, ask yourself whether you let the other person speak without interruption. You cannot listen properly if you’re talking!

SenderProcess

(methods used)

Recipient

Stress management

Sometimes you might find yourself in a stressful situation in your personal life, which can affect your mood. These feelings can be transferred into the workplace, sometimes creating tension and even leading to conflict with others. Similarly, stressful events at work may result in strained relationships with family or friends outside of work. Stress management therefore is very important and when examining the concept of personal development, it is useful to be aware of the effects of stress, for example:

Mood swings Unusual/out-of-character behaviours Eating and drinking disorders Smoking (perhaps more the usual) Being very emotional

Such behaviours can be counter-productive to what you are trying to achieve as a team leader. Prolonged exposure to stressful situations may even lead to serious illness such as heart disease. It is extremely beneficial to control stress levels wherever possible. Some of the effects of a stressful environment on your team may include:

Colleagues leaving their jobs Increased level of absenteeism (requiring ‘cover’ from others who in turn, may

become stressful also) A less efficient team not meeting its targets Lowered level of output, resulting in disappointed customers

The good news is that stress can be managed. This can be done through relaxation strategies (watching a film or pursuing a hobby), healthy diets, taking exercise (even brisk walking) and talking through problems with others. Planning time sensibly and setting realistic targets (refer back to SMART) will also help. In extreme cases, it is worth talking to your doctor, a manager, an occupational health therapist, or friends and family members.

Identify opportunities and resources available for personal development.

General Self-Appraisal FormDate of self-assessment: ……………………….My views on my performance and behaviours to date:

1. The quality of my work2. My ability to lead my team effectively3. My ability to plan work with my team to meet targets4. My technical skills5. My ability to communicate effectively6. My ability to empathise with my team member

For your organisation to meet its overall business objectives and safeguard everyone’s job, team objectives must be met. This in turn means that the personal objectives of every employee must be met and is why personal development activity is so important.

Development opportunities can be in the form of on-the-job training, off-the-job training and distance learning, which will now be discussed in detail.

On-the-job training1. Mentoring – you may be allocated a mentor who will be somebody who understands the procedures and needs of the organisation. This person will act as a buddy to guide you as you develop and grow into your job role. During regular face-to-face meetings, your mentor will give you regular feedback on the progress of your development.2. Coaching – A suitably qualified member of staff will help you to develop your skills and knowledge by showing you the best way to do things and sharing their knowledge and skills with you.3. Shadowing – You will be given the opportunity to work alongside an experienced member of staff to gain first-hand experience of how they carry out their tasks. This enables you to observe, question and learn from experience.4. In-house training – You may attend various training sessions in your workplace to increase your personal development.

Off-the-job training1. College courses –At college you have the benefit of mixing with individuals from other organisations who bring their own workplace experience into your discussions and activities. It is an opportunity to learn from other students as well as from your tutors. 2. Private training providers – this provides many of the same benefits as attending training in a college, as you may mix with people from other organisations.

Distance learningThere are clear advantages and disadvantages to developing your knowledge and skills through distance learning. These are listed below:

Advantages DisadvantagesCan study at own paceDon’t need to travelCan choose when to studyCan chat online with other candidatesHave one-to-one chats with tutor online`

Cost of purchasing hardware and softwareLack of social interactionTechnical problems can disrupt your studyNo face-to-face interaction with peers and tutors, e.g. activitiesMay be time-consuming waiting for feedback on work

Key TermsExternal training – training available outside your organisation, E.g. college courses. Internal training – training available within your organisation

RememberIt’s always useful to be open to new ideas and observe the way that other people do things.Never stop learning from others.

As you continue to develop yourself, you should constantly review your personal objectives. Your career path can be planned by thinking about what you want to achieve within given timescales. Consider planning your goals as follows:

Within 1 year – aim to achieve your short-term goals Within 3 years – aim to achieve your medium-term goals Within 5 years – aim to achieve your long-term goals

Planning in this way may appear straightforward but it is important to find ways to remain committed to your plan and to motivate yourself. Think about how you can reward yourself when you achieve a milestone in your development journey.

The benefits of meeting your challenges are increased self-esteem through what has been achieved and increased levels of self-confidence as you go about your day-to-day tasks.

For advice on career development, you can speak to your local careers advice service, visit a library or examine newspapers, trade journals or the internet. Be aware that in terms of your personal development opportunities, it is often useful to speak to your human resources manager, and your line manager. Your staff appraisal, or PDR, is useful vehicle for this type of discussion.

How do you learn?

You may find is useful to examine how you learn so that you how best to improve your skills. Management theorists have carried out research into the steps you will take when learning. One of these theorists introduced a learning cycle.

Kolb’s experimental learning cycle.

David Kolb created a learning cycle in 1979 to identify the way people learn. He looked at four points.

Learning and what was felt during a period of learning. An example of this could be using a particular computer program for the first time, and assessing it.

Thinking about how useful the period of learning was. Looking at ideas and theories related to the learning experience. In terms of using a

new program, this stage would be to understand how it functions. Testing the learning. In our example, this would mean using the new program to try

out what has been learned

ActivitySpend some time researching David Kolb’s learning cycle. From your research, create your own diagram of the cycle. Discuss with your manager how you could put this cycle into practice.

It can be helpful to identify your own learning style as some people learn more by visual means whereas other people learn more from doing something (a hands-on approach).

Theorists Honey and Mumford described the following types of learners:1. Activists (do something) – People who actively enjoy the challenged that new learning experiences offer.2. Reflectors (think about it) – People who like to stand back and review a learning experience in a thoughtful way.3. Theorists (make sense of it) – People who like to think the learning experience through logical steps.4. Pragmatists (test it out) – People who like to try out new ideas and enjoy problem solving and decision making as part of a learning experience.

This unit has prepared you for taking part in your PDR (staff appraisal) with your manager. Through this process and by following the steps that have been discussed, you will have identified aspects of your work role that need developing.

Now ask yourself the following: What are my main responsibilities at work? What have I done well over the last 6 months? What knowledge and skills have I learnt over the last 6 months? How have my new skills and knowledge helped in my job? What have I not done well in the last 6-12 months? What further training and development would improve what I do?

Do something

Review it

Make sense of it

Plan next steps

Activity Spend some time researching into the work of Honey and Mumford (1986) and identify your own preferred learning style. Discuss your findings with your manager or tutor.

When you reflect upon the opportunities you have identified, it will be necessary to plan your training needs so that you can update or improve your skills and knowledge accordingly. You and your manager may wish to develop a plan similar to the one shown below:

Identified opportunities for development

Skills/knowledge gap

SMART objective

Resources and/or support from others

Training opportunity

Reviewing the performance of your own team members

How to conduct a PDR

To complete PDR training by June 30th

StaffTimeTraining materialTraining budget

Internal one-day training course

A plan similar to the previous table is useful to clarify in your own mind, and that of your manager, what requirements have been discussed and agreed. However, your organisation may prefer to use a document similar to the one below:

Name of post holder: Name of manager:Date of today’s review:Date of last review:What skills/knowledge do I need/want to develop?

What actions must I take to achieve this?

What resources and/or support will I need?

Target date for completion

Target date for review with manager

Development objective 1:Managing conflict in the workplace

Attend an in-house training session

Time to attend and training materials

30th July 30th August

Development objective 2:Development objective 3:Post holders signature: Managers signature:

Remember the aim of your development activity is to enhance, update or improve your current performance. Once you have successfully completed your training and development activities, you should revisit your SWOT analysis and the corresponding action plan. For example, you may want to examine whether the identified weaknesses have now been fully addressed and possibly become strengths. You may have also minimised the threats that presented themselves as obstacles to your development, and you may even have realised some the opportunities that you identified.

Be able to carry out and assess activities within own development plan

ActivityExamine the contents of the Personal Development Plan document above and devise a similar document of your own. Spend some time completing your document to establish what skills you wish to develop. Once you have completed this task, make sure you discuss your findings with your line manager.

Plan activities in own development plan that address identified needs

To help you plan your development activities, it may be useful for you to prioritise each stage along the following lines:

Costing – the cost of the training programme, travelling and materials Timescale – the length of training programme and your availability to fir the training

schedule alongside your workplace and family commitments Availability of training and development – taking steps to identify which colleges

provide suitable training to meet your budget and what opportunities are available in-house for mentoring, coaching and shadowing.

Assessment – how much work is involved with the revision and preparation required for assignments and examinations? Can you realistically meet the targets and workload for these requirements?

Support – will you get the support you need from your managers, family members and friends to make sure you complete your studies on time?

Suitability – it is always a good idea to discuss with your line manager the suitability and identification of the people you will shadow, be coached or mentored by.

This process should be followed for each of your other identified priorities. (For example, time management).

Managing your timeAs with many aspects of work life, time is a very important resource. Your personal development will require strong time management skills. You will be expected to complete your training and development activities on time and within given deadlines.

Managing your time effectively can reduce levels of stress levels in work. Consider the suggestions below for effective time management.

Use timed agendas in your team meetings. Use planning aids (for example ‘To do’ lists) and priorities activities into urgent,

important and non-urgent categories. Fill in time-sheets to see how long tasks take to do and monitor this. Be prepared to delegate tasks to others in your team (as appropriate). Ensure tools, equipment and materials are always easily accessible to avoid wasting

time searching for things. Don’t encourage unnecessary interruptions from others (for example, drop-in

visitors). Everyone is tempted to have a chat in the corridor or staff room, so examine how you

can save time here! When using the telephone or emailing, aim to be concise. Use tools such as Gantt charts and action plans to assist you with your time

management.

A Gantt chart is a time management technique devised by Henry Gantt in 1917. The chart offers a visual representation of what has been scheduled to ensure tasks are carried out in a timely manner.

Managing your time effectively will help you achieve the goals you have for your personal development activities in a timely manner and assist you on a day-to-day basis in your workplace, as you and your team achieve your targets. This can result in enhanced job satisfaction for everyone.

Of course, managing your time effectively can also reduce the possibility of you (and your team) becoming stressed at work.

Think carefully about how you manage your own time. Do you still have enough time to do the following:1. Meet with and spend quality time with all your family members?2. Pursue your main hobbies and interests?3. Meet your home-life deadlines?4. Meet your college or studying deadlines?

Collecting feedback from colleagues on development activities

The value of feedbackIn the 1960’s Douglas McGregor, a management theorist, carried out some research into the characteristics of a successful team. It is worth examining this research to establish whether it has any resemblance to the way you work with your team members.

McGregor suggested it is important that team members listen to each other, respect each other’s views and that decisions made are reached by consensus. He further suggested there should be a workplace culture that allows team members to freely express their views. He was of the option that is should happen in an atmosphere that is comfortable and relaxed.

With regard to the concept of feedback from others, McGregor suggested that: Feedback, of a positive or negative nature, should be given or received regularly and

should be constructive. Then feedback should not create an atmosphere of discomfort or mistrust.

If there is disagreement, then this should be openly discussed between all parties concerned to minimise the risk of disruption to the teams’ work.

Wherever possible, the feedback you receive should be evaluated and analysed in a quiet and relaxed atmosphere. Do this by yourself: you can share your views with others later and approach the feedback you have received as a positive overview of areas in which you could improve. A good way of getting feedback is to use a questionnaire.

Assess the success of development plan activities

After attending training, it will be necessary to assess how successful your development activities have been.

Management Skills – Self-AssessmentUse the following scale to evaluate your team leading skills.Scale: 1.Excellent 2.Very Good 3.Good 4.Fair 5.Poor 6.Very PoorPlease circle the appropriate score.

Skills/Ability ScoreCommunication skills 1 2 3 4 5 6Decision-making skills 1 2 3 4 5 6Patient with others 1 2 3 4 5 6Supportive 1 2 3 4 5 6Able to work with colleagues 1 2 3 4 5 6Honest and trustworthy 1 2 3 4 5 6 Treating colleagues and staff fairly 1 2 3 4 5 6 Respecting others’ views 1 2 3 4 5 6 Assertiveness 1 2 3 4 5 6

Knowledge areaTechnical knowledge 1 2 3 4 5 6Staff members skills 1 2 3 4 5 6Policies and procedures 1 2 3 4 5 6 Commercial awareness

AtivityUse the template below to enable you to assess whether your management skills have improved.

ChecklistTo manage your personal development, you will need to work through the following stages:-Personal development plan-Training plan-Self assessment and feedback-Performance development review

Performance development review (PDR) In addition to reviewing your SWOT and action plans and obtaining feedback from colleagues, you and your manager can assess the success of your development activities by reviewing what has taken place together. This can happen by examining the personal development plan previously agreed and reviewing your achievements to date.

During your PDR interview, your line manager will review your past performance and development activity and is likely to use a document such as the one below, which you and your manager can complete together. This will evaluate your personal training and development activity to date and identify any further development that may be required.

Performance Development Review

Dates of training

What I did Reasons why What I have learnt

How I will use these new skills/knowledge

What further development is needed in this area?

Team talkCatrin’s story

My name is Catrin. I’m 32 years old and employed as a team leader in a national cleaning company. The company has a contract with local hospitals and with smaller construction firms. I currently lead the team I was a part of. I have been a team leader for two months now and I’m finding it hard to manage my team. As we were previously work colleagues, they will not take me seriously and ignore my orders. Also, I have a new starter who is not working to the quality standards of the organisation. I’m worried that my manager is going to pick up on this very soon. When I was appointed to the team leader role two months ago, I was given no training and I have no experience in dealing with under-performing staff.

Top tipsCatrin could speak to her colleagues and managers to find out what her strengths and weaknesses are. She should ask for training in managing a team.It may also be beneficial for Catrin to set out a plan of where she would like to be in five years’ time.

Ask the expert

Q I have a one-to-one meeting with my manager next week. What do I need to do before the meeting in order to raise my concerns with my manager?

A You will need to evaluate your own performance and identify the knowledge and skills gaps you think you have. This can be done by:

Completing a SWOT analysis to identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats

Conducting a self-appraisal Researching internal and external training and making a list of the

training you think will help you to be a more effective team leader.