Personal development is something that everyone can aspire to regardless of whatever point they are at in their career.
What is personal development?
Personal development is often confused with professional development and although the two are linked in part, they are two distinct areas. The website, Skills You Need, defines personal development as follows, “Personal development is a lifelong process. It is a way for people to assess their skills and qualities, consider their aims in life and set goals in order to realise and maximise their potential”. These goals often straddle someone’s personal and professional life which is where personal development ends up in the working environment. When considering personal development people will look to gain a greater understanding of themselves and self-awareness is hugely important so that people have a realistic appreciation of their strengths and weaknesses.
Personal development methods
When someone decides to embark on a journey of personal development they may not know where to start. Again, that is where work can come in as often people will ask their colleagues or their manager to support them and possibly give them guidance and opportunities for personal development. Managers can play a crucial role here by encouraging their staff to focus on what they enjoy at work and if possible giving them as many opportunities as possible to play to their strengths and develop them. The book Strengthsfinder 2.0 by Tom Rath supports this idea and encourages managers to engage in a coaching role so that they can help their employees to explore particular areas of strength that they may want to develop. On occasions employees may not even be aware that they have a particular strength until they start to talk about it and then coaching can help them to bring that out. If someone wants to personally develop then they can also take matters into their own hands. Teaching yourself new skills has never been easier with a whole host of online resources available to learn a huge range of skills. This autonomous style of personal development also allows for lots of trial and error and for people to practice in a safe environment which can be an attractive idea. Personal development courses are also run by trained professionals for people who want to take a more structured route. These courses usually start by exploring someone’s level of self-awareness and often use assessments such at the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) so that people understand their personality preferences. All these methods of personal development are valuable and can dovetail with each other to give a rounded approach.
Practical examples of personal development
By the very nature of the subject, examples of personal development will differ from person to person depending on their aspirations and goals. Some may be very simple and short term, some may involve incremental development, whilst others will be long term. Below are some examples which have a work related angle and which may help employees and employers to open up conversations and explore ideas about person development further:
- Developing coping strategies and ways to manage stress more effectively and positively
- Developing communication skills to be a better team player or even just for meeting new people
- Improving resilience and mental wellbeing to manage busy and challenging periods at work and at home and maintain a sense of being in control
- Growing in self-confidence by learning to trust your abilities and judgement
- Resolving conflict rather than avoiding it by learning how to approach difficult conversations
- Developing leadership skills in order to gain a promotion, this is a big subject and can involve a whole subset of skills that people can develop themselves in over time
- Cultivating a growth mindset so that someone has an ongoing commitment to personal development and improvement and has a positive can do approach to achieving their goals
By encouraging employees to look at personal development employers are not only helping individuals to develop they are also doing something positive for their business. Staff who have a commitment to learning and developing themselves are highly likely to be happier and happy employees are gold dust. As the author Shawn Achor discovered in his book The Happiness Advantage, happiness fuels success, so if an employer supports staff with their personal development, whatever it looks like, they are helping to create happiness which then manifests itself in higher levels of engagement, creativity, motivation and productivity, it’s a no brainer really!
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Why not also check out our blog on a similar topic Training and Development – 3 Things You Should Know
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