Personal Development Plan
When considering a personal development plan for my professional
future I took into consideration the four approaches used in by employers;
formal education, assessment, job experience, and interpersonal relationships
(Noe, 2010). I figure if successful companies all over the world are using
these four approaches, there is a good chance I could use them to work for me
as well.
Formal Education
When considering employee
development, formal education programs "include off-site and on-site
programs designed specifically for the company's employees, short courses
offered by consultants or universities, executive MBA programs, and university
programs in which participants actually live in the university while taking
classes" (Noe, 2010).
My personal development plan is scaled down
considerably from this definition. It involves continuing my education to
receive my Masters in Instructional Design and Technology. I will also be
taking courses in web design and development, and several business classes.
Because the majority of my professional experience is in education I feel these
classes will make me more valuable to a company. The web design will help if I
chose a career with a smaller company that cannot afford IDs and web
developers, while the business courses will give me a better understanding of
the inner workings of corporate America. "Leadership, entrepreneurship,
and e-business are the most important topics in executive education
programs" (Noe, 2010), so I think they are a great place for me to begin
my personal focus.
Assessment
Assessments are basically a
collection of information about my behavior, communication style, values, and
skills (Noe, 2010). Because I am a teacher the major assessments that I receive
are formal and informal observations. As I began to focus on changing my career
path I knew I would need an analysis of my strengths and weaknesses in order to
have an appropriate plan (Noe, 2010) for my personal professional development,
so I spoke with my administrators about offering me additional information
during my post observation meetings. Much like a professional appraisal system
I asked them to give me specific information about my performance problems and
ways to improve (Noe, 2010). This has helped me to get a better understanding
of my shortcomings. I have also spoken with a recruiter in one of my fields of
interest to find out what additional skills I needed to become more hirable.
Job Experiences
To be successful in any job it
is important for me to be able to learn new skills, apply the skills and
knowledge in a new way, and master my new experiences (Noe, 2010). Because I have been in the same
field for thirteen years, I have decided to gain new
experiences as I prepare for my career shift. I will be teaching fourth grade
next year in order to gain a more robust understanding of elementary math skill
development, which will be beneficial for a career in elementary curriculum
development. This "job rotation will allow me to be exposed to a
"series of job assignments in various functional areas of the
company" (Noe, 2010). I have also offered my services this summer to
develop a math pacing guide for all of the grade levels in my current school in
order to ensure that each grade level is aligned with the state and common core
standards. This is a way to enlarge my current job by adding challenges and new
responsibilities.
Interpersonal Relationships
"Employees can also
develop skills and increase their knowledge about the company and its customers
by interacting with a more experienced organizational member. Mentoring and
coaching are two types of interpersonal relationships used to develop
employees" (Noe, 2010). Because I am looking to move towards a career
field that is very different from my current field I have befriended a woman
who has a job I would one day hope to have enough experience to hold. She works
with me to help develop my skills, motivate me, and gives me feedback with a
lot of my plans and ideas for future employment in the curriculum development
field. By having this coaching relationship I feel more confident that I
am headed in the right direction for my future career goals. She also gives me
tons of resources to look over and learn from to stay current and introduces me
to other people in the field and has even helped me to begin applying for
several freelance opportunities.
Raymond Noe (2010) states that
"the development planning process involves identifying development needs,
choosing a development goal, identifying the actions that need to be taken by
the employee and the company to achieve the goal, determining how progress
toward goal attainment with me measures, investing time and energy to achieve
goal , and establishing a timetable for development". As I reflect on my
personal development plan I feel it definitely meets all of these expectations,
and allows me to feel confident in my future professional endeavors.
References
Noe, R. A. (2010). Employee training and development (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.