It is also important to distinguish between managers and leaders at this point, because although the two are taken as similar, this is not the case; leaders do not always hold a position of hierarchical authority, whereas the manager does. (Mullins, 1999) It is true, however, that a manager must be a leader, or at least have semblance of leadership, in order to be effective and have a positive influence and impact (Mullins, 1999). Thus, my focus will be upon how a manager can develop their leadership abilities in this essay, and I will formulate a personal development plan in line with this, as in order to learn and improve these skills, the initial emphasis must come from the individual, with the opportunities provided accordingly through organisations.
1. Be Able to Assess and Plan for Personal Professional Development
1.1. The Importance of Continual Self-Development in Achieving Organisational Objectives
Continuous self-development is the process of perpetual development, or at least the perpetual attempt of fostering development, through strengthening skills and one’s knowledge base in order to achieve that which one is capable of (Rothwell, 2010), this is borne by the belief from those being managed that leader must be able to personally perform what they are asking others to do (Rothwell, 2010). This creates an environment of belief and will inspire others to achieve and strive like the leader (Mullins, 1999) and thus allows the leader to see the necessity of self-development for effective leadership.
The process of self-development has strong ties, and indeed its roots, in continuous improvement; the corresponding strategy used by businesses that falls within the wider stratosphere of business self-improvement. Both approaches seek to identify the relationship between learning and performance (Martin, 2005). The two approaches hold a symbiotic relationship; as individuals develop and grow, so too do the business that they work for (Martin, 2005), providing that the organisation allows the individual the scope and breadth to implement the growth that they identify through self-improvement. To further develop this symbiotic relationship, as the success of the business corresponds directly with the performance of the employees (Martin, 2005), it is a vested interest of the employee to improve themselves, and thus this boosts the business, which then allows for perpetual growth and development.
1.2. Assessment of Current Skills and Competencies against Defined Role Requirements and Organisational Objectives
IESA has various leadership roles, I have assessed those roles below and highlighted some of the skills and competencies needed in line with the role of LIFT candidate (Leader In IESA fast-Track) and related company objectives skills and Competencies Requirements along with the specifications of a Department Manager/CRM.
Company Objectives Related to the roles above:
• Leadership skills; Leadership skills are required for the specified role since the department manager needs to lead a group of people in the department and the manager is responsible for them.
• Knowledge of health and safety requirements are important for the role as the manager will have to ensure safe and secure environment for others (if on-site)
• Provide a stable platform to be the future leaders of IESA, delivering a platform of knowledge and efficiency to the company.
1.3. Identifying Development Opportunities to Meet Current and Future Defined Needs
Here the development opportunities have been identified to meet the current and future needs of the role of a department manager at IESA:
The current skills that are required for a department manager are:
• Extensive leadership skills
• Customer/client knowledge
• operational knowledge
In order to achieve this vision, IESA need leaders with different skills and competencies, such as individuals with outstanding intellect, business acumen and ambition. The development opportunities that will be provided to meet the skills and competencies needs of a department manager under the leadership programme will be in two phases:
• First phase: The first phase will involve an introduction to various operational areas such as stores and logistics and then move to a CRE role, where the manager will be trained on a wider range of issues than those in a single department.
• The second phase: involves developing the management skills for the role of CRM, departmental manager or supply manager. Supply chain management skills, exceptional customer service and tact are all needed.
1.4. Constructing a Personal Development Plan
A personal development plan details the steps an individual will take to grow and develop (Armstrong, 2003), this is undertaken by the individual and the concurrent support required is provided by the organisation, in order to give a platform of independent and self-sustained learning for the leader (Armstrong, 2003). I have tailored the personal development plan through the criteria set out by Armstrong (Armstrong, 2003).
Here, a personal development plan as a departmental manager within IESA has been constructed below:
Current situation and development needs: a new graduate joined as a LIFT candidate; relative paucity of previous work experience.
Development needs: to obtain operational knowledge; develop leadership skills; focus on the client and their relationship with IESA and to target skills which will help grow IESA.
Set goals: goals are set to the areas of development needs and they are SMART.
Specific: the goals should not be vague.
Measurable: the goals needs to be recognised when achieved.
Achievable: setting realistic goals.
Relevant: have a connection with the development needs.
Time bound: there is a time period for achieving the goals.
Here are the SMART and challenging goals for the development needs identified in step one: focus on the training tools available within the first month and gain technical knowledge of the business and processes required. To develop a greater knowledge of leadership traits through the use of available resources and current staff within IESA, and finally to engage with the Client Relationship team to learn more about engaging with clients.
Prepare action plans: the action plan for developing technical knowledge could be a conversation with colleagues and relevant departments on how this could be implemented for others and thus gain knowledge through trying to teach and inform others. This would then be followed up with a discussion with senior management concerning our findings and suggestions for improvement, fostering a positive relationship and environment.
2. Be Able to Plan for the Resources Required for Personal Development
2.1. Identifying the Resources Required to Support the Personal Development Plan
Whilst the plan has been developed in the previous section, here I will discuss the resources I think are required in order to fulfil the p
lan and corresponding objectives. In order to learn technical applications and usage, colleagues’ time will be required for training and shadowing, along with a training document that is stored on the intranet, which should hopefully allow rapid learning and in-depth understanding of the systems. There is, however, the risk that through shadowing, bad habits will be developed, or skills missed through poor teaching and knowledge from the tutor. This could be potentially avoided through standardisation of training, as well as training days or skills clinics run by the Continuous Improvement (CI) team, along with ICT and senior management. The traits required could be combined with learning about effective client stewardship through CRM shadowing, again, those who spearhead the department or perform consistently well could be hand-picked in order to work with the LIFT candidate, boosting their morale and allowing the LIFT candidate the chance to learn business-leading techniques and leadership.
2.2. Developing a Business Case to Secure the Resources to Support Personal Development
A business case is a justification of pursuing a course of action in an organisational context to meet stated organisational objectives or goals (Remenyi, 1999). The business case will look at how investment on resources required to support the personal development plan will help achieving various objectives of an organisation; investment on the resources as identified earlier will ensure that not only a departmental manager but also other employees will be benefitted to improve their skills. Skilled employees will make organisational operations efficient and effective and organisational objectives will be achieved such as minimising costs by improving the efficiency of the organisation.
IESA requires highly-skilled employees with good knowledge of customer services & technical ability. Investment on personal development resources will help the employees of IESA to improve these skills and knowledge, through self-initiatives and in a self-managed learning environment. Employees will improve their efficiency and will reduce the wastage level and minimise the costs, hence improve profitability.
3. Be Able to Implement and Evaluate the Personal Development Plan
3.1. Discussion of the Process Required to Implement the Personal Development Plan
Due to its significant importance in achieving organisational objectives, the implementation of personal development plan should be taken very strictly since it is not merely filling up a performance review form, or a guidance note of what employees should do to improve their importance. The introduction of personal development plan requires the employees to be informed; if the employees do not know about the PDP clearly, it will be impossible to implement such plans. Hence managers, team leaders and all individuals need to learn about personal development planning (Armstrong, 2009).
Employees should be involved in deciding how the planning process will work and what their roles will be (Armstrong, 2009). Developing a culture of self-learning responsibilities and allowing time and opportunities: It has to be recognised that everyone will need time and support to adjust to a culture in which they have to take much more responsibilities for their own learning (Armstrong, 2009). Guidance should be given to all concerned regarding how to identify learning needs, the means of satisfying the needs identified and how they should use the available facilities.
3.2. Evaluating the Impact of the Personal Development Plan on the Achievement of Defined Role Requirements and Organisational Objectives
We have already considered the role requirements and departmental objectives of IESA in previous sections, which are to lead IESA through learning and developing, gaining a better knowledge of the systems and processes in order to be a candidate for future leadership and growth of the company. If the LIFT candidate prepares a personal development plan such as to develop his/her leadership skills it will help him/her to fulfil role requirements and achieve the departmental objectives. For example, there will be responsibility for leading a group of people; leadership skills will help him/her in this regard to help motivate the working group under them, to work hard, and improve performance of the department, hence achieving the objectives.
3.3. Review and Update the Personal Development Plan
Personal development is a continuous process. Personal development plan is a systematic approach and follows sequential steps in a continuous way. The Scottish Qualifications Authority has identified seven steps process of PDP where the last step is the review and evaluation of the PDP. Review and evaluation of PDP assures that the concerned people have learned something from the PDP process and they can apply the process in the future personal development planning. In the case of IESA, the manager can review after frequent interval that the objectives relating to the needs from the PDP are met and take corrective actions and make new and revised plans.