Personal Development Planning

Employers are increasingly aware of the importance of investing in their staff and often have structures and processes in place to provide opportunities for the training and development of their employees.

Nonetheless, managers also need to take personal responsibility for renewing and updating their skills and knowledge throughout their working lives. Personal development is a continuous lifelong process of nurturing, shaping and improving skills and knowledge to ensure maximum effectiveness and ongoing employability.

Personal development does not necessarily imply upward movement; rather, it is about enabling individuals to improve their performance and reach their full potential at each stage of their career.

Personal development planning is the process of:

• establishing aims and objectives (or goals) - what you want to achieve or where you want to go, in the short, medium or long-term in your career
• assessing current realities
• identifying needs for skills, knowledge or competence
• selecting appropriate development activities to meet those perceived needs.

Personal Development Cycle

Action checklist

1. Establish your purpose or direction
2. Identify development needs
3. Identify learning opportunities
4. Formulate an action plan
5. Undertake the development
6. Record the outcomes
7. Evaluate and review

View the checklist to find out more about each item:   Personal Development Planning Checklist

Personal Development Planning Template

CMI has designed a personal development template to help individuals structure their thinking and create a strategic plan for achieving their goals.

Download the example template:   Personal Development Planning Template

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