What is a Safety P.D.P.?It is Like the Staircase in Life

Personal Development Planning

A structured way• Personal development planning or PDP means creating

opportunities to think through, in a structured way, questions such as:

• What do I really want to achieve from life? • What kind of person do I want to be? • Am I clear about my personal goals and ambitions? • Am I making the right decisions to get me where I really

want to be? • Am I in charge of my life and my studies - or am I just

hoping it all will work out somehow?

Us, You and Your Path of Success

• A Personal/Professional Development Plan is a plan of action, referring specifically to the person's reasonable aspirations regarding personal development. A plan that allows one to set own goals and a method of achieving them.

• In an organizational perspective there will be a considerable overlap between the organizational aspirations and the skill set development needed in order to achieve them.

Measurement in Stages Example

Personal Development Planning

Once you have assessed your current skills, knowledge, experience, attributes, strengths and weaknesses and identified the areas in which you would like to undertake some development (or need to in order to realize your career goal), you can plan your development activity using the Personal Development Plan

My Career needs to go full circle

It’s a written game plan thatReflect on your learning

Development Objectives are objectives that you have identified to enable you to meet the learning and development needs identified at the skills analysis stage

Priority identifies whether your development objective is:• critical to your current role• beneficial but non-critical to your current role• critical to your progressing in to future role• beneficial but non-critical to progressing in to future role Activities can constitute any learning or development activity that will enable you to achieve your development objectives e.g. formal training, on-the-job training, work-shadowing another colleague etc. Support/Resources describe what you need to help you achieve your development objectives. Typically this would involve support from your manager, department or colleague to enable you to undertake a learning or development activity such as allowing you time away from your role or funding from your department. Target and Actual dates state when you intend to achieve your development objectives followed by the date you actually achieve the

Development planningDevelopment planning can be a very personal process - or it can be a process required by your employer or tutor. • Think deeply and in structured ways about your life and

ambitions. What does success mean to you personally? • Have the right information to make good choices. • Have people you can trust to share your reflections. • Have opportunities to experiment and test yourself in new

areas so that you have a better understanding of your abilities and limits.

• Have opportunities to develop the knowledge and skills to achieve your ambitions.

A simple to complex plan

Simple Long Term (Growth)

Benefits of PDP to academic performance

Some advantages of taking a personal development approach to your studies are: • Gaining a clearer focus to your learning. • Helping to keep yourself motivated. • A better understanding of how you learn and how to improve your

performance. • More enjoyment and less stress from your learning as you become

consciously skilled. • More awareness of how to apply your learning to new problems

and contexts. • Reflective thinking skills that can strengthen academic

performance.

Benefits of PDP to professional life

• Clearer ideas about the kind of life and work you want. • Greater confidence in the choices you make. • Greater confidence in the skills, qualities and attributes you bring to the career

of your choice. • Being in a better position to compete for jobs. • Being better able to discuss your skills, personal qualities and competences with

employers. • Better problem-solving and planning skills. • Developing the positive attitudes and approaches associated with successful

professional life. • Many employers now expect employees to understand their own performance -

and to know how to adapt to meet times of increased workload, stressful situations or conditions of change. Employees are expected to respond well to change.

WIIFM ( What in it for me)

Benefits of PDP to personal life• A better understanding of yourself and how you ‘tick.’ • Being in a better position to make appropriate

choices to meet your aspirations. • Greater awareness of your needs and how to meet

these. • Greater awareness of the unique contribution you

can make. • Developing a positive, forward-looking approach.

Its for me and me aloneReflect on your learning: This provides you the opportunity to look back or take stock of your learning. You may use trigger questions to engage in reflection: • What have I learnt?• How well did I do?• How do I know that I have achieved the intended

learning outcomes/objectives?• How, where and in what context would I use what I have

learnt?• What is my new learning and development needs?

Your Coach your Mentor• Find a coach/mentor who will help you create the plan and will hold you accountable

(i.e. Give you feedback and will set you straight if you don’t live up to your plan.) Just the knowledge that someone will check in on you may motivate you to follow through.

• Write a clear description of where you are right now• Write clear descriptions of where you want to be• Describe yourself with the new skill or attitude. Give it some texture so you can know

what it looks like.• You could include indicators of performance.• Keep things time bound because everything without a deadline doesn’t get done• Ensure that what you’re learning fits with your personal goals and that you’re

motivated for it.• Keep in mind that our greatest learning in life comes from pushing outside of your

comfort zone so don't be afraid to take the plunge and really challenge yourself.• Using a personal development plan template can help you set & record down your

personal development plan in a clear and structured manner.

Lessons and Base Levels

In ideal circumstances if the individual takes ownership of their own development, sufficient guided by the appraiser/manager/mentor

this is bound to succeed.

How your plan should look and grow

It develops the Cycle of Success

As organizational development is closely tied to the development of its constituent individuals, such plans are vital to successful

outcomes. The positive outcomes for an organization can sometimes arrive at the expense of employee morale.