Personal and professional development is very important. By definition, personal development is “the process of improving your skills and increasing the amount of experience that you have in your job” (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/personal-development). Professional development is the “process of improving and increasing capabilities of staff through access to education and training opportunities in the workplace, through outside organization, or through watching others perform the job.” (http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/professional-development.html)
There are many different types personal development such as developing your confidence, listening skills, ability to work as a team, improve body language, decrease procrastination levels, manage stress effectively, ignore limitations and have a growth mindset. All will help you in your day to day life, as well as your career.
In terms of professional development, there are techniques to use, but the topic will depend on your own career industry. The methods to professional development are attending courses, workshops, gaining certificates, accreditations, being involved in meetings, conferences, be a mentor, have a mentor, learn from fellow employees, online research, facing new challenges, skill-based training. In-house training, learning through doing and by interacting with others.
It is the benefits for someone personally and in their career which make the development opportunities necessary. With personal development, you are able to gain a sense of self-awareness by understanding who you are, including your beliefs, values and most importantly your purpose. This process allows you to base your life on who you truly are, allowing you to outline goals and objectives for you to achieve in order to self-improve. Whilst in this stage some good questions to ask yourself are:
• Do I like this situation? If not, how would I like it to be?
• What do I want?
• In the ideal situation, how would it be?
• What changes would I make?
• How would I behave if I had the skill needed?
Personal development will also mean you can improve your sense of direction which makes decision making a lot easier, therefore tasks will be completed a lot faster than before. This direction means focus and effectiveness will increase as the ability to prioritise progresses. You are able to play to your personal strengths, making the difference in your personal and professional capabilities.
Professional development means you will be able to sharpen your existing knowledge to ensure you stay at your top form, techniques such as refresher courses, seminars or online tutorials will allow you to become an expert again. By polishing existing knowledge your productivity levels will increase, a major benefit for the business. Not only can you develop current skills, but also have the opportunity to learn something new which will give you the competitive edge within your current role or for future job roles.
By providing development opportunities to employees will mean they will become more satisfied in their role as they see the employer wants to develop them specifically. This could be done through “cross-training, job shadowing and mentorships” (http://www.josephchris.com/10-benefits-of-professional-development) to make the individual more versatile and prominent within the business.
The industry niche is highly important as this is the reason as to why you were chosen for the role. Continue being a key part of the business as well as provide substance to your career, this niche means you will be able to excel and grow in your job role.
However, depending on the type of learner that you are which will mean which personal and professional techniques that you use. There are several types of learners, these include:
• “Visual (spatial): You prefer using pictures, images, and spatial understanding.
• Aural (auditory-musical): You prefer using sound and music.
• Verbal (linguistic): You prefer using words, both in speech and writing.
• Physical (kinesthetic): You prefer using your body, hands and sense of touch.” (https://www.learning-styles-online.com/overview/)
It is important to know the different learning styles and which one you are as it will guide the method of learning as everyone absorbs information differently, how individuals recall information and the likelihood of remembering the content- the main aims of anyone wishing to learn and develop themselves.
Although there have been established learning styles, there have been theorists which have determined learning theories which could make the difference in how teaching is constructed. The first is Cognitivism. This is the theory by which mental processes are what mediate learning, therefore to learn you must construct or reshape mental schemata. In other words, “cognitivism focuses on the inner mental activities – opening the “black box" of the human mind is valuable and necessary for understanding how people learn.”( https://www.learning-theories.com/cognitivism.html)
This theory can be seen split into two types- social cognitive theory & cognitive behavioural theory. Social cognitive theory means an individual learns from other people through observing, therefore an effective way to gain knowledge and alter behaviour. However, the cognitive behavioural theory is the side that people are not programmed animals that only respond to environmental stimuli. People are rational, therefore require active participation in order to learn and actions are only being of a consequence of thinking.
The types of learning available from cognitive theory are active learning, formative assessments, trial and error, experimentation and discussion. Although this brings many positives such as being highly effective for those with special needs, this process can provide a lack of structure and can be easily manipulated by learners. The process also means due to being personalised on what the student already knows; other students may fall behind as all will require different types of learning.
Behaviourism is also a highly relevant theory. This is the idea that behaviour is established through conditioning. They say that any human can be trained to do something, as long as they have the right conditioning. The method of which this is done is through association. For example, rewarding well behaved children when they have completed a task by providing them with a toy. The toy is a motivation for the child to complete an outlined task, but once the behaviour is learnt it can be hard to remove the association therefore slowly removing it is necessary.
The types of learning from behaviourism are memorisation, passive learning, examinations, practice, repetition and reproduction. One of the main positives is that you can charge unwanted behaviours from people easily, but some scientists have said this method does not take into account thoughts, feelings and moods. Therefore, is not always effective
Humanism came as a result of scientists rebelling against behaviourism. They said the association aspect was de-humanising as it called upon the unconscious and irrational. Therefore, humanism focuses on free will and conscious behaviour. This theory says humans learn from experience and that people have a natural urge to learn. This can be particularly useful as it promotes individuality as they learn at their own pace through trial and error so can find their own methods that work for them. However, this process means it can be harder to see results as everyone will be reacting differently during the experiment.
The learning pyramid is the theory which has a “percentage of learner recall that is associated with various approaches” (http://thepeakperformancecenter.com/educational-learning/learning/principles-of-learning/learning-pyramid/) The top 4 options of the pyramid are active learning styles, whereas the bottom 3 are passive- this shows a clear correlation between the active learning style and how effective it is in terms of retention.
• Lecture= 5%
• Reading= 10%
• Audio visual= 20%
• Demonstration= 30%
• Group discussion= 50%
• Practice by doing= 75%
• Teaching others= 90%.
This is a great resource for teachers as it is a generalised tool on which methods work in a group setting. However, the specific percentages make the reliability questionable as there is no proof, every learner is different, every task is different, factors such as personal, environmental and behavioural factors have not been considered and finally, can anyone remember 90% of anything?
Different learning strategies will depend on the chosen learning style; all will have different effective methods, therefore, the strategy will change accordingly. This needs to be considered so that you can learn as much as possible.
For example, visual learners will be more receptive to graphics to reinforce learning- e.g. films, slides, illustrations and diagrams. They may prefer a colour coding system to organise documents and may prefer written instructions to follow. They may also use flowcharts and diagrams to see numbers and figures in physical form.
Auditory learners will prefer to listen to recordings of the class and notes and will learn through group discussions with other learners. In an exam environment, they may prefer to have tests and directions read out loud or on a tape.
Kinaesthetic learners use experimental and physical learning e.g. making models, lab word, role play. They require frequent breaks in order to stay motivated and focused. When learning to spell, they will often trace letters and words. They often memorise whilst moving and express through physical such as dance, drama, gymnastics etc.
Throughout your personal and professional development, you should be reflecting in order to highlight what went well, what didn’t, how to improve for next time. “Reflective practice will ensure that you are focusing on the things that really matter, both to you and to your employer or family.” (https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ps/reflective-practice.html) There are many benefits of reflection, this includes the ability to increase self-awareness, developing an understanding of others, encourages active engagement, become more proactive and provides more meaningful discussions about career development as you have the reflection to highlight genuine areas for improvement.
Nearly all the benefits of reflection can be seen in personal and professional development, therefore the process of reflecting is necessary in order to successfully develop yourself. There is a method called ‘The Reflective Learning Process’ which will enable anybody to successfully reflect on any aspect of themselves personally or in their career.
1. Describe the experience
What happened? When and where did the situation occur? Any other thoughts you have about the situation?
2. Reflection
How did you behave? What thoughts did you have? How did it make you feel? Were there other factors that influenced the situation? What have you learned from the experience?
3. Theorising
How did the experience match with your preconceived ideas, i.e. was the outcome expected or unexpected? How does it relate to any formal theories that you know? What behaviours do you think might have changed the outcome?
4. Experimentation
Is there anything you could do or say now to change the outcome? What action(s) can you take to change similar reactions in the future? What behaviours might you try out?
You must also ask yourself:
What went well?
How you played a part in the task?
Success or failure?
In order to ask these, you must:
Consider all aspects of the task
Consider own personal + professional skills that played a part (or not)
Decide what you can do differently next time- how to improve