Application of Professional Development Skills to help organisations realize their strategic directions

Task 1

Be able to assess personal and professional skills required to achieve strategic goals

LO 1.1.   Use appropriate methods to evaluate personal skills required to achieve strategic goals

LO 1.2. Apply techniques to assess the professional skills required to support the strategic direction of the organization

Task 2

Be able to conduct a skills audit to identify learning style

LO 2.1.  Carry out a skills audit to evaluate the strategic skills needed to meet current and future leadership requirements

LO 2.2.   Apply appropriate techniques to identify preferred learning style

Task 3

Be able to implement a personal development plan

LO 3.1   Construct a personal development plan that meets leadership development requirements identified in the skills audit

LO 3.2   Use suitable methods to assess the outcomes of a personal development plan against personal work objectives

LO 3.3   Evaluate the impact of own learning against the achievement of strategic goals

Grading

To gain a PASS grade, a student must satisfactorily cover the following topics according to the Learning Outcomes mentioned above:

LO 1.1 / 1.2: Be able to assess personal and professional skills required to achieve strategic goals

Personal skills: time management eg using time effectively, analysing time spent to improve productivity, setting SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-based) objectives, prioritising work tasks, dealing with time wasters, effective delegation; stress management; problem solving; decision making; effective communication eg active listening, questioning, handling conflict

Professional skills: counselling and mentoring to support staff with their own learning and development requirements; coaching skills; leadership skills; multi-tasking; using occupational standards to identify competencies; continuing self-development to meet requirements for professional bodies eg learning new skills and knowledge, developing in current and future job roles; leading and chairing meetings; delivering effective presentations

Achieving strategic goals: importance eg to ensure that staff can perform their job effectively, to provide opportunities to meet individual learning needs, to improve flexibility and adaptability when responding to change, to ensure business success, to create a learning culture; methods eg using conceptual tools to identify own strengths and limitations, developing personal networks, management development and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programmes

LO 2.1 / 2.2: Be able to conduct a skills audit to identify learning style

Skills audit: to assess skills and competencies against organisational and personal objectives; personal profile using appropriate self-assessment tools, psychometric testing, personal SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis – listing strengths, weaknesses, identifying opportunities for improvement or career progression, identifying threats to progress; assessment against relevant National Occupational Standards (NOS) and NVQ competence standards; importance of feedback from others eg peers, line manager, customers; methods of feedback eg appraisal, supervision, performance review, mentoring; defining the gap, identifying learning and development needs to meet strategic objectives

Identify preferred learning style: methods such as learning style inventories and questionnaires, psychometric testing eg Kolb (converger, diverger, assimilator, accommodator), Honey and Mumford (activist, reflector, theorist, pragmatist), Fleming’s VAK/VARK model (visual, auditory, reading/writing, kinesthetic), Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI); criticisms of learning style theories

LO 3.1 / 3.2 / 3.3:   Be able to implement a personal development plan

Personal development plan: importance of having a plan – to provide a systematic or structured approach to decisions about what is needed to learn and how to plan to learn it; setting objectives for life and career planning, identifying resources and support needed and available to meet objectives, identifying obstacles to achieving objectives and how to overcome them, reviewing and monitoring plan; the importance of self-review, providing a reflective record of management experience; gaining support from others to achieve goals and work objectives

Monitoring and evaluation: importance of keeping a working document; to help manage learning; to evaluate progress of achievement towards goals; to become a critical, self-directed learner; to develop a clear understanding of strengths and areas for development of leadership skills; review on regular basis; compare achievements against original objectives, reflect on learning, record results, agree whether objectives were achieved or not, set date for next review; set new objectives when others have been achieved

Guidelines for the Assignment:

ò  Use standard Arial font size 11.

ò  Use 1.5-line spacing.

ò  Have a 2.5-centimeter margin on the left hand side of the page and a 2-centimeter margin on the right hand side.

ò  Include page number on the all the pages of the assignment.

ò  Headings: use 16-point Arial Bold for first level headings, and 14-point Arial Bold for second level headings. If a third level heading is required, use 12-point Arial Bold.

ò  Attach a completed Statement and Confirmation of Own Work to the front of the paper copy of your assignment.

ò  The first page of your assignment should be a title page, which should also state your Name, Edexcel BTEC ID number and the Name of the Centre where you are studying.

ò  The first page should also contain footer with page number, candidate’s name, unit number, and submission date.

ò  Include a table of contents.

ò  Start each task on a new page and include the question at the top of the page.

ò  Ensure any diagrams, screen shots, PowerPoint slides, etc. fit correctly on the page and are referenced, for example, Fig. 1, Fig. 2, etc.

ò  Check spelling, grammar and punctuation.

ò   You should also ensure that you proofread your document, because the above checks do not always pick up every mistake.

ò  Use accurate Harvard referencing and include a bibliography.

ò  Ensure you are aware of the word limit for the assignment (2500-3500 word limit) and any regulations that apply if you exceed the word limit.

ò  Include the total word count at the end of the assignment.

ò  Mandatory submit to ‘Turnitin’ and in case the similarity percentage is more than 20% to revise till within the range of 20%.

Note:

All work must be submitted to LMS via soft copy; all assignments should be properly referenced.

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Essential resources

There are no essential resources required for this unit.

Indicative resource materials Textbooks

Allen M and Adair J – The Concise Time Management and Personal Development (Thorogood, 2003) ISBN 1854182234

Gold J, Thorpe R and Mumford A – Leadership and Management Development (CIPD, 2010) ISBN 1843982447

Megginson D and Whitaker V – Continuing Professional Development (CIPD, 2007) ISBN 1843981661

Owen J – How to Lead, 2nd Edition (Prentice Hall, 2009) ISBN 027372150X

Pedler M, Burgoyne J and Boydell T – A Manager’s Guide to Self Development(McGraw-Hill Professional, 2006) ISBN 0077114701

Journals

Management Today (Haymarket Business Media)

People Management (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development)

Professional Manager (Chartered Management Institute)

Training Journal (www.trainingjournal.com)

Websites

www.businesslink.gov.uk

www.cipd.co.uk

www.managementhelp.org

www.management-standards.org.uk

www.mindtools.com