Developing A Personal Development Plan (PDP) For Developing Professional Skills

Activity: The Long-Term Vision

Five/ten years from now, I see myself…

Aspect

Write your own vision of this aspect below

On a scale of 1-10 how important is it to you?

Considering the most important things in my life to be…

I want to become a successful professional. This is according to me is the most important thing in my career.

9

Living in which part of the world and in what kind of place?

I do not have any personal choices for a country or more. The decision that whether I would go to abroad countries or will consider staying in my home country will all depend on the opportunities. If I have opportunities in my home country I would rather stay here.

8

Working for myself? Working for a large company? Working for a small company?

I would initially start with a small company. Once I grow with the experience I will definitely switch over to bigger firms to explore much wider opportunities for me.

7

Doing what kind of work? Varied? Routine? Challenging?

In an office? In the field? 

To me managing a team or more is the biggest challenge in any sector especially in the Oil & Gas sector

8

With what kind of work/life balance (consider hours of work/stress levels)?

The flexibility of work according to me is the biggest  thing which company should work upon.

9

Taking a lead? Taking responsibility? Working individually? Part of a team?

I would love to lead a team or more.

8

Working with colleagues who are… artistic? intellectual? practical? caring? competitive?

I do  not have any hesitation in working with skilled and competitive professionals as they will motivate me for my potential work.

8

Spending my time outside of work doing…

Outside of work, I would like to do extra thing such as thinking about my company and making plans to improve its business.

7

E.g. Role 1: Retail Manager

Skill Area

Evidence of current skills

How I’m doing

Effective Leadership Skills

I have never held a management position but in my current job as a retail assistant, I have helped to look after the store and train staff in the absence of my manager. I have also helped to manage other students when doing group work at the university.

I need to gain more experience in leading a team to build my confidence.

Role 1: Sales Manager

Skill Area

Evidence of Skill

How I’m Doing

Coaching

It is very important that managers are well equipped with skills that are needed to coach the diverse teams. The objective of instructing is to help everybody to enhance their execution and achieve their actual potential. It’s tied in with building up the “A” salesmen to end up “A+” and building up the “B” sales representatives to end up “A’s”.

A business director with awesome instructing abilities won’t just observe the execution of the enhanced deal, yet will have better deals commitment, diminished turnover and enhanced employment fulfilment (Whitworth and Chiu 2015).

In my work with numerous business administrators, one of the hardest abilities to ace is training.

We get chances to work in teams or leading a team in projects done at the university level. I take good interest in such tasks to allow me a good amount of understanding of leading a team.

Business thinking

It is indeed very important to me that I become a good thinker of strategies and solutions. The business condition demands that the sales managers have solid business abilities. Sales managers should have the capacity to comprehend complex business issues and help their sales people see their business deliberately. Managers need to instruct their business people how to settle on more astute choices, design better, and adequately distribute their assets in view of customer needs and potential for development.

I take projects seriously and also try to learn not just from my mistakes but also from others doing things effectively.

Recruiting skills

Managers are seldom associated with jobs to recruit people. However, in some instances, their involvement will also be highly valued. Therefore, it is important to create incredible enlisting abilities. Nonetheless, enlisting the correct sales representative has a major effect. Hiring mistakes cost a lost and requires a fair amount of time to resettle  (Simon et al. 2018).

Sales managers who can methodically distinguish and select the best sales people will convey enhanced group execution and sales results.

I ask the executives who get recruited regarding the whole interview they had faced. This is just to identify what points are considered or what not.

Managing the performances

This is very challenging and stills an integral part of managerial roles. I see performance management as directing quarterly business surveys, overseeing non-performing salespeople and dealing with the supervisor.

On the off chance that execution issues go unchecked, sales people and group can be adversely influenced. The sales manager should persistently increase present expectations on execution (Rottmann, Sacks, and Reeve 2015).

Those few projects that I get I try to accomplish those all with perfection. I take it as a learning opportunity.

Role 2: HR Manager

Skill Area

Evidence of Skill

How I’m Doing

Communication

As an HR professional, I am needed to be very effective in communication with top managers and the lower-level employees. In addition to other things, solid, composed and are critical parts of an HR proficient, as it is their duty to clearly transfer data to workers of the business.

I try to learn the identified area by focussing on how my supervisors manage the teams.

Organization

This is another very important skills which the HR professionals should have. HR managers must guarantee that the data is well organized. And that meetings are planned with the uncommon idea given to the work duties and responsibilities of staffs or different managers.

I follow the supervisors and implement those all when I am assigned with the same responsibility

Conflict management

The modern-day workplace is usually comprised of the diverse workforce in respect to culture and demographics. Therefore, conflict is very certain to workplaces. Hence, an HR manager ought to have the right stuff of negotiation, patience, and meditation and have the capacity to utilize them to help other people.

I take up projects as opportunities to learn about how to manage the conflict.

Multi-tasking

An HR manager must be well equipped with multi-skills, so that, it adds values to the firm’s output. At the point when simultaneously managing advertisements, interviews, meetings, grievances and training programs, the ability to manage time effectively and multi-task is critical.

I take up multiple projects to enhance my skills.

Week

Goal

Action

Success criteria

Completed when by?

E.g.

To improve my ability to write formal emails

To use appropriate language when I email my lecturers.

To ask for feedback on emails I send at work/uni.

My emails are clear and professionally written I receive positive feedback responses.

January 2018

1

To be able to work with managers determining the staffing needs

I give myself a fair amount of chance to interact with my tutors. Whenever I have done something wrong related to the academics, I do not hesitate to go to my tutors to ask how I can overcome the situation.

Ability to interact with the tutors

August 2018

2

To improve my communication skills

I use to talk a lot in meetings, so that, hesitancy is removed.

My communication is fluent and matured

December 2018

3

To effectively engage with teams

I do a lot of projects just to avail me the opportunity to work in teams

Team handling must be very good

June 2019

4

To solve critical problems

The number of projects that I take part in will provide me opportunities to work with the variety of skilled people.

Conflict management must be very effective

December 2019

5

Performance management

Projects will help me get the opportunities.

Performance improvements of team members will be improved

December 2019

I am assuming the role of an HR Manager from Portfolio Task (B), hence, I am needed to build up a team of 4-6 members. Following factors will help in the purpose:

Belbin team roles: Belbin has suggested nine different roles which can be used to construct or build up a team. One of the team roles is Co-ordinators (Laud, Arevalo and Johnson 2016). I as an HR Manager will work on this and will also ensure that the team has potential staffs who are well fitted with the oil & gas industry. This can be done in the number of ways such as by identifying the appropriate skills which are currently in demands in the O&G sector. Those skills are soft-skills, the ability to adapt, transferable skills and the technical skills.

 I as an HR manager will also possess the role of a resource investigator. As an RI, I will be needed to find different resources, strategies, and solutions, so that, the best team of 4 talented professionals are formed. I will also need to work as a plant which means I will have the responsibility to reduce the barriers to find the talents and attract the talented graduates. Evaluation is an important part of the HR manager. There will be the number of participants; however, we only need to make a team of 4-6 people. Hence, I should be very good at evaluation, so that, appropriate candidates are only shortlisted. It is important for the oil & gas industry that I prepare a database consisting of skills, abilities and the qualification. I will use such data to conduct an objective evaluation of everyone to identify whether one is really good at what he or she is supposed to work on. The database should be a good tool for me to plan a training. Hence, in this way, I will be able to offer the skilled talents to the oil & gas industry.

I was an HR manager will also need to play the role of a shaper of Belbin team’s role. The shaper will shape a wider area of option into a much compact area of possibilities. Belbin role also teaches me to become and play the role of the implementer. It means I will be responsible to implement suitable strategies to get the best talents. I will also have the role to promote the teamwork spirit as conflicts between the diverse cultural staffs are the common thing. I as an HR manager should be able to resolve such conflicts. I according to Belbin’s role will also act as a complete finisher. It means I will resolve all issues and avail the opportunities. On top of all, I according to Belbin will behave as a specialist in team building.

Effective communication: As an HR manager, I am needed to have the effective communication skills, so that, I am able to develop a bridge of understanding passing by which staffs would be able to understand their employer and the operational objectives. Building better organizations are about durable, long haul beneficial connections and keeping the firm most profitable resource –staffs. It is about open channels of correspondence, where individuals draw on their own viability to enable the firm to develop and grow (DuBois et al. 2015).

Resolving conflicts: As an HR manager, conflict resolution will be one of my priorities. This is because conflict management is a helpful strategy in the long-term to strengthen the team bonding (Asumeng 2014). It is very important for me to identify the cause of conflicts and reach the best possible solution to resolve the conflict. 

Ethics: I as an HR manager needs to be ethical, so that, I am able to behave ethically without being biased to the firm or the employees. Ethicality would be maintained in decision-making, conflict management, data-privacy, bias-behavour and lot more. Firms with better ethical conducts in association with the brand image are more certain to get numeours job applications from applicants (Lizunkov, Marchuk and Podzorova 2015).

Leadership skills: Needleless to say that I must possess and display the relevant leadership skills while forming a team and also acting as the HR manager. I personally won’t stick with just one skill but would rather go with multi-tasking. I would at some point in time shape into a transformative leadership skill to ensure that management decisions are followed by all. At another point in time, I would improve my coordination with managers and the staffs and will act upon as a bridge between managers and staffs. Performance management is a challenging task; however, I am expected to face the challenge as this will provide me with an opportunity to learn how to manage the talent. Nevertheless, I will be able to establish myself as the HR manager. Notably, HR manager’s role will be very crucial in the O&G industry in future. There will be several problems including also the problems related to performance (Trivellas and Reklitis 2014). Hence, I need to be very patient and cautious too with whatever I pick up as a strategy. There should not be any negative impact on staffs, so that, they are effectively retained (Kimball 2015).

Other professional skills: Apart from these skills, I would also be required to make useful decisions at inappropriate times. The decision-making will be based upon the numerous tools, concepts, and techniques of decision-process. Few such styles are directive, conceptual, analytical and behavioural (Chouhan and Srivastava 2014). The increasingly evolving technologies like drones, robotics, and spectroscopy are asking for skillsets which were never needed before in the Oil & Gas industry. To adjust to the changing landscape, the HR manager in the O&G sector needs to work upon some strategies. As an HR manager, I can take a two-pronged approach to counter this challenge. The first task will develop the best HR practices in line with the overall business strategy. The development of internal talents and capitalization of the selective acquisitions from the renewable technologies market would be my primary priorities. Along with this, I will also be responsible for encouraging the sharing of information within the company. This will help me to recruit from within the internal talents. Hence, I will take the advantage of the existing resources and will contribute to the lowering of external costs. Pairing with international excellence in the training program is also booming nowadays in the oil & gas sector. I will definitely think in this regard and will approach one of those to improve our training standards.

Leading a new team is full of challenges; however, I have no second option than to commence. I have already discussed my strengths and management style in the aforesaid sections; however, it is more important to execute them all. I am tasked to take care of a new team and my role & designation would be of an HR manager. Being an HR manager, I would not just be responsible to recruit but also to manage the talent, so that, the retention rate is increased. The new team is itself a challenge as they represent a diverse culture and distinguished working practices. In the initial few days, it is very difficult to integrate the entire team with just one mission and the set of objectives. This is a real test of my managerial skills; however, I am seeing more into the positive form of it. This is a real opportunity and I cannot have anything better than this to groom my career. HR manager is one of my dream role which I had wanted to pursue; however, this is never as easy as it is not just about recruiting the team but also managing them effectively. I will definitely take a lot of steps to successfully and effectively manage the teams and display the managerial skills in me. Following are the few ways which I will use not just to handle the team but also to manage and encourage them to perform well:

Mission & Objectives: My first role would be to design a mission and to set the objectives to attain the mission. My mission would be to recruit & retain the skilled staffs and objectives will be as follows:

·         To recruit the best talents  

·         To increase the retention rates

·         To have good plans to manage the conflicts and the talent  

·         To promote an effective communication at the organisational level   

·         To monitor the progress

·         To facilitate the performance management

Effective communication: I will be working as an HR manager; hence, it is very important that I am effective as a communicator. I will basically be serving the role of a mediator who forms a common path between the staffs and the management. Prospects are booming for the HR managers in the oil & gas industry. Hence, I will have loads of responsibilities to take care. At times, staffs will come up with issues and I am being the HR manager will be needed to be completely biased while making up the decision. If the decision deserves to be in favour of the firm, I would try to avoid any sort of conflicts between staffs. I would rather effectively communicate and would make them understand the rationale behind the decision. Communication will be also required at times when there will be conflicts between the team members. My first role in such situation will be to identify the root causes of the conflict and then effectively communicating the ways out of it. I would also ensure that the solution is implemented and effectively followed by the concerned staff or a group of staffs.

Teamwork: This will be a bigger challenge for me. I will have to maintain a balanced relationship with my colleagues in the HR department. I will be required to maintain the team of HRs and the staffs. It means I will have to take care of my department as well as the staffs. I will be responsible to promote the teamwork at the entire organisational level. Innovation is now a resource to competency in the O&G sector. Hence, it is important that the O&G industry has staffs with diverse and creative skills. Creative staffs will produce the innovative ideas based on the brainstorming sessions.   

Decision-making: Maintaining a team is never an easy job to commence. As an HR manager, I do not just have one work but rather have a multiple of jobs to do. I will be taking care of my team of HRs. I will also be dealing with staffs in the oil & gas industry. There is an ample number of issues for which staffs come up to the HR manager. Hence, I need to be well equipped with skills to help me make the effective decisions. I have different options like conceptual, analytical and behavioural. I would rather follow the behavioural style of decision-making in most instances. This is because it does also take care of the team members’ appeals and demands while not spoiling the company’s policies. Supports and assistance would be to a feasible limit only.

Ethical leadership: I need to be ethical also in decision-making. Employees will judge the company from decisions which I being the HR manager make. Hence, as an ethical leader, I am supposed to take care of the data. There is an ample number of tasks which as an HR manager I will be responsible for. In the time of uncertainty, I will be tasked to effectively organise the resources. I need to be ethical all along such times. During stressed times, I will also have the responsibility to maximize the contractor value. I will ensure a competency in terms of maintaining the skilled professionals. However, at the same time, I will be tasked to ensure the mechanism which can reduce the cost of training. HR managers have a very vital role to play in the oil & gas industry. Their sustenance and the competency depend a lot on how they behave in diverse circumstances. On top of all, HR managers in the O&G sector will be needed to behave ethically to form a balanced relationship with staffs.