How To Write A Personal Development Plan

We have shared Pentlands view on how you can effectively develop your team, but what about you?  Writing a personal development plan is not always easy and can sometimes be quite a daunting task – which is why it tends to always get put to the bottom of the list!. 

Here are some guidelines and tips on writing a personal development plan. Remember, your own personal development plan should never be set in stone.  By its very nature it should develop and grow as you do, and should ideally be revisited every 6-12 months to check your progress and review your future plans.

The process can be broken down into 5 distinct stages :-

1. Discovering strengths and weaknesses

For some people, they are absolutely clear on what they are good at and bad at. Others struggle to discover it. If you belong to the latter category, don’t despair. Just start by asking yourself a few questions :-

•  What area/activity do I generally have success in? What do I find difficult?
•  What do people normally compliment me for?
•  What do others view as my areas for development?
•  What are some of my good habits and bad habits?
•  What am I comfortable doing, and what do I feel uncomfortable about? (we

are usually weak in the things that we feel uncomfortable about)

Don’t be afraid to get feedback from others.  Honest insights into how you are perceived are invaluable and can often provide key pieces of information on where you need to concentrate your efforts.

Once you have made a comprehensive list, prioritise them based on your personal goals.  Try not to give yourself an exhaustive list - having 3 areas/skills to focus on is more than enough!

2. Add some detail

After identifying your focus area(s), think about what your ultimate objective for each of those focus areas would be. Make it detailed and specific. 

Having a strong reason behind every focus area will likely be what keeps you focused. Answering the following questions can help you here :-

•  Why do I want to achieve that?
•  How does it help me?
•  What can it give me?
•  What can it prevent/stop?
•  How does it impact my life and those around me?

3. Setting your Goals

Make sure you set specific goals for each of your identified focus areas.  Try and ensure these are SMART targets :-

•  Specific – There is nothing worse than a ‘wooly’ objective!  If your objective is to develop confidence – what does this mean specifically?  Is it to be able to do a 10 minute presentation to 10 of your colleagues?
•  Measurable – How will you know you have met the objective?  
•  Achievable – How are you going to go about meeting this objective?  Using the example above - Are you going to go on a Communication Skills course?  Do you need to learn how to use Powerpoint?
•  Realistic - Make sure your objectives are ambitious, yet remain realistic and within reach.
•  Timely – Commit to a date when you will have achieved this by.  Is this something you want to achieve in the next 6 months or is it a long term goal (3-5 years) that will help with future career progression?

4. Taking Action

 Now you know the areas you want to focus on, why you want to focus on them and how you are going to do it.  Next comes the action! 

There are two elements to this :-

1.  Commit your plan to paper – making sure it is concise and easily reviewable.
2.  Schedule in your development time – this could be weekly time set aside for personal development – or a 5 day course.

5. Review Your Progress

It’s advisable not to leave it too long before reviewing your progress.  Its wise to check your own progress every 3 months so that you can review if you are on target.  If your personal development plan is linked with your place of work, its likely this will get reviewed every 6 months or so.  Remember, this is an ever evolving document – it should always be reviewed as a work in progress and do not be afraid to make adjustments to it if you feel you have changed direction.

If you have identified any areas for development that Pentland can help you with, get in touch.