Personal Development Plan (PDP)

Personal Development Plan (PDP)

Personal Development Plan (PDP) is also referred as an employee development plans or Individual development plans. This is a part of good performance management system under HR functions.
From the HR point of view any company’s development depending on its people’s development. When people stop developing they become a burden to the company (Buchholtz, 2014).

As McDowall and Fletcher formulate it (2004, p. 8): “It is in an organization’s best interest to focus on effective staff development strategies, since companies strong on training and development may be preferred (by employees) over those offering the greatest rewards. One technique for developing individuals is through the social and motivational aspects of appraisal or review processes.”
When comparing personal development plan against employee development the different comes with company goals and business plans. Which are linked with employee development plans whereas PDP is more focusing own SWOT.
Personal SWOT (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats) analysis is a must for any one whom wants to develop his or her personal life, career development as well as the standards of life. For a SWOT one can consider the professional skills, knowledge, experience, education, aptitude, personal factors and interests.
Another techniques is the personal PEST analysis which contained Political, Economics, Socio-Cultural and Technological which are possible factor can be influenced to one’s career or personal life, mostly the external but close enough to make an impact.

Setting up career objectives for a person along with career mission statement and SMART career goals will give a clear direction and motivation.
As per CFI.com (2019) SMART goals are:
Specific: Well defined, clear, and unambiguous
Measurable: With specific criteria that measure your progress towards the accomplishment of the goal
Achievable: Attainable and not impossible to achieve
Realistic: Within reach, realistic, and relevant to your life purpose
Timely: With a clearly defined timeline, including a starting date and a target date. The purpose is to create urgency.
Figure 1 Smart Goal Setting
Source: https://www.hydratemarketing.com/blog/the-importance-of-setting-smart-goals

There are many articles describing the steps to follow when making a personal plan. Below steps are widely used,
1. Define your goals
2. Prioritize
3. Set a deadline
4. Understand your strengths
5. Recognize opportunities and threats
6. Develop new skills
7. Take action
8. Get support
9. Measure progress

The Purpose of PDP

Personal development plans are helping individuals or teams similarly for companies to use as continues learning tool. Evans et al (2002) stated that PDP is a lifelong learning process which enables professionals to expand and fulfill their potential.
 PDP is often using for promotion and selection purposes. PDP as performance appraisals made  a distinction between using a performance appraisal to compare between and within individuals (Cleveland, Murphy, & Williams, 1989) or for developmental and evaluative purposes (Boswell & Boudreau, 2002). Beausaert et al., 2011 has identified following different purposes of PDP,
                                                         
   (1) Professional development;
                                                           
  (2) Reflective learning;
                                                       
(3) Being coached;
                                                             
(4) Stimulating confidence;
                                                           
 (5) Organizing.

References

Beausaert, S., Segers, M., & Gijselaers, W. (2011). The Use of Personal Development Plans (PDPs) in organizations and the role of its perceived goal. Presented at the EARLI 2011, Education for a global networked society, Exeter, United Kingdom, 28 August – 3 September 2011.
Boswell, W.R., & Boudreau, J.W. (2002). Separating the developmental and evaluative performance appraisal uses. Journal of Business and Psychology, 16, 391-412.
Bochholtz, K. (2014)Business and Society: Ethics, Sustainability, and Stakeholder Management,Cengage Learning, 2014
Cleveland, J.N., Murphy, K.R., Williams, R.E. (1989). Multiple uses of performance appraisal: Prevalence and correlates. Journal of Applied Psychology, 74, 130-135.
Evans, A., Ali, S., Singleton, C., Nolan, P., & Bahrami, J. (2002). The effectiveness of personal education plans in CPD: An evaluation. Medical Teacher, 24 (1), 79-84.
McDowall, A., & Fletcher, C. (2004). Employee development: an organizational justice perspective. Personnel Review, 33, 8–29.
CFI Education, (2019) : SMART Goal Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely[Online]
Available at; https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/other/smart-goal/
Accesses on: 28th November 2019