Essay: Social Education And Personal Development: An Overview.

The Importance of Personal Values in a Good Leader

Discuss About The Social Education And Personal Development.

Personal development is the process of assessing the skills and qualities that are possessed by a person and developing or enhancing it so that they can use these skills to fulfill their aim in life and achieve their goals by maximizing their potential. There are many personal values that are needed to be incorporated in a good leader. The personal values which should be present are wisdom & knowledge, humanity, temperance, transcendence, justice and courage. These personal values are very important to be present in a leader so that they may be able to act in the right manner and help his team members to do the right thing. Moreover, there are certain attributes in a leader that would be helpful for the society. A leader has to be very advanced and this is where the main purpose of personal development comes in. Personal development does not only mean developing the characteristics, it also means that the leader should change himself according to the changes in technology.  The cycle or planning process of personal development begins with establishing the purpose or direction of our development, identifying our needs, then identifying the opportunities of learning, formulating the plan of action, undertaking the development, recording the outcomes and finally evaluating and reviewing the results of the outcome (Appendix 6.1). In this essay, I will write a reflection about my personal development planning as a leader in the coming 5 years. I will determine this plan with the help of a model of personal development which is the GROW model. This models will help me get a better understanding of my personal development and also support in the formulation my plan. A plan have been formulated by me which have been aligned with the GROW model and the aims, resources have been set by me depending on the goal that I want to achieve after a time period of 5 years. The plan that have been drawn is a supporting and helping guide for me which will make reaching my target easier with the help and support of a proper guide who can lead the way to my goal.           

Creating a personal development plan is an important step in personal development as a leader. I want to become a good leader in the coming 5 years and want to see myself employed in an established organization, leading a group of people well into completing a major task. To achieve this goal I would have to make various changes in my life and character so that I am able to instil in myself the desired knowledge and skill set that a leader would need. The 5 years’ time period has been selected by me because I want to see the results of my changes and how far I am from achieving my goal within the given time period. If I find that I have not yet achieved the goal, then I would have to change the process in which I am progressing and adopt any other steps to that change so that I am able to finally achieve my goal to become a leader. To create a well-determined personal development plan, I would first have to get a clear understanding of myself. This can be done by noting and realizing my own characteristics. A personal SWOT analysis should be done by me to determine this. The strengths will hold the qualities that I have within myself, which will help me to stand out from the crowd and which makes me different from others. The weaknesses will contain those characteristics of mine which I am not so good at and the areas which need change and improvement for me to become a better person. By determining the list of weaknesses that I possess, I can reduce them or help to improve upon them. After getting a clear understanding of my strengths and weaknesses, we need to understand the opportunities that are on hold for me. The advantage that my strength has or the ways in which I can minimize my weaknesses are established in this section (Cottrell, 2015). Finally, I would have to focus on those aspects which can move me from my original target and that is to become a good person and a good leader. It is mandatory to determine the threat as it cannot be controlled, but proper measures can be taken to manage them into getting out of control and not become an obstacle in my target achievement (Appendix 6.2). The next step to making the personal development plan is to conduct a personal PEST analysis. The PEST analysis determines the Political, Economic, Socio-Cultural and Environmental environments around us. The policies or the government decisions which affect us are the political factors. Any new laws or regulations which create an impact upon us, whether directly or indirectly come under this section. The economic aspects of my country can create a huge impact on my development process, hence it is important to understand those factors and determine the changes that will possibly occur in the next five years so that I am able to make the development plan accordingly. Next, the societal trends that are into existence at the moment are important for me to determine so that I may be able to grab any opportunity which might help me to achieve my goal faster and better. The demographic trends, lifestyle trends, family trends are a few of the recent trends that could be determined by my plan. Lastly, technological factors play a major role in determining the course of my plan and action. Technology changes very quickly with time and these changes are very important in the formulation of any kind of plan as this can make my work harder or easier. Technology can influence the kind of work that I do and help me in the fulfilment of my plan faster (Appendix 6.3). After establishing the SWOT and the PEST analysis about myself, I would need to determine my mission statement for my career and development. This mission statement will contain the purpose and the direction of my career. There are various questions that need to be considered to form a good mission statement. It is important to understand what I exactly need to accomplish in my career, in the next five years, and what importance it held for me. The values that are at the basis of this decision should also be determined. I would also need to question myself, if my career mission benefits other people or how it will help other individuals in their life and why others would want to perceive us. After answering these questions to myself, I would be able to comprehend my mission statement. A career mission statement can be direct or indirect depending from person to person (Pedler, Burgoyne & Boydell, 2013). My career mission statement would hold that I want to become a good leader in the next five years in a well-established organization. Some good amount of time should be spent while forming the mission statement as this is an important part of the personal development plan. After identifying the career mission statement, there are certain career goals that would need be to be established as well. My educational qualifications are an important factor in fulfilling my goal. I would have to get good results in my education so that I am able to prove to the organizations that I apply in that I am good at both theoretical and practical aspects. This will make the management trust me in providing both theoretical and practical knowledge to my colleagues and that I would be able to pose as a good leader. After following these steps I can formulate a good development plan. I will print out the worksheet for the plan so that I am able to keep a track on it and make any changes if needed (Appendix 6.4). To reach the final plan, I would have to set small and short-term goals which should be completed within the given time that would be set by me. As I would keep completing these goals, I would understand how near or far I am from reaching my final position or target. These short-term goals will also help me to determine if I have diverted from my track or am staying on the right track (Appendix 6.5).

The GROW Model for Personal Development Planning

Personal Development Plans are important because they give us a vision or goal in our life. Without the presence of a vision or goal our attention and aim in life would go haywire. For most people, including me, the unused attention goes to unproductive things such as television shows or social media which occupies a major part of our brain. Even though these things are important for recreational purposes but a person without any aim or goal could become addicted to them and finally waste their life away. Hence, it is important for every one of us to set our own personal goal. Others who concentrate on more hard work might also get diverted from their actual goal as they might be more inclined towards overachieving at every task. All these factors divert our attention from the actual goal in our life and what we aspire to become. It might be too late when we realise that we have wasted almost a major part of our life without achieving anything. A proper plan which will help us to follow a correct track and reach the desired goal. A proper guidance is also needed along with this plan so that we are able to perfectly move forward in our path and reach our destination within the time that  have set for myself.                                       

The GROW model is said to be one of the most established models of coaching and development. The model was created by Sir John Whitmore along with his colleagues in the year 1980s. The model later became popular from his best-selling book which was Coaching for Performance. The GROW model is a powerful told which helps to highlight the inner ability and potential of individuals through different coaching steps which if followed can help in the personal development of a person. This model is precise for problem solving and goal setting and helps to maximize the personal productivity and achievements. The full form of GROW model is Goals, Reality, Options and Will. These four steps are the main key features of the GROW model (Gail Thomas & Hamnson, 2014). Going through these steps will help to determine the awareness and understanding of the individuals. The GROW model will help the person to come to terms with their own aspirations, situations and belief. The model will enable the individuals to achieve both their personal and professional goals, which will instil confidence and self-motivation among the people. The G stands for Goal which is the finishing point, where the individual wants to reach. The goal has to be set in such a way that is understandable and evident to the individual. The R stands for Reality which is the present situation of the individual, the present challenges and issues that are being faced by them and how far they are from achieving the set goal. The O stands for Obstacles or Options which are the obstacles that would be faced by the individuals which will stop them to achieve their set goals. The absence of obstacles will help the individuals to reach their goals faster. After identifying the obstacles, the individual needs to find different options to reach their goals. The W stands for Way Forward or Will which enables the options to be converted to action which will help them to go one step further in fulfilling their target or goal. The GROW model has a great impact on self-awareness and realizing the responsibility that they have to take on to develop themselves to reach their desired goals. This model was selected by me as the proper use of this model would enable to become a better leader in my coming years. To become a good leader I would have to follow certain steps that would make my journey more systematic and proper. Firstly, the goal that is set by me is to become a good leader in the future and to ensure that I am able to properly lead my followers and colleagues on the right track. Secondly, the reality that I am facing at this current time is that I am currently a student who has to work hard and acquire many different kinds of skill set to reach the goal that I have set for myself in the future. Thirdly, there could be many obstacles that will be faced by me in the coming times. I would have to find proper ways to overcome these obstacles which will help me to go one step further in achieving my goal. For this, I have to evaluate different options and finally choose the most appropriate and helpful option which will make my task easier. Finally, the selected options have to be properly implemented by me to ensure that I get the best possible results and also that I am able to eradicate the obstacles that have come my way. This is why the model was chosen by me, as this model is one of the most appropriate models which will help me in the fulfilment of my personal development plan and support me in my way to become a good leader in the near future.

Creating a Personal Development Plan

The development plan based on this model will help to reach my desired goal in the set time. The plan would require the support of a proper guide who can help me to achieve and understand the different steps that I would have to take in reaching my goal. The formulated plan is as follows:

Conclusion

Thus, it can be deduced from the above study that creating a personal development plan would need various steps over the time. The proper skill set is needed to become the good leader and to acquire this proper skills and knowledge it is important to formulate a plan and implement accordingly so that I would easily be able to understand the process of development that I would need to follow to reach my said goal. I had conducted a self-evaluation of my personal values for which the highest value is justice, followed by wisdom & knowledge and the final value being transcendence. To become a leader I have given myself a time period of five years, and this time frame has been given to me to understand if the oath I am following is correct or not in a moderate time. A model of personal development have been used by me in this study which will help me to get a deeper understanding of the development process. The model is the GROW Model. Along with the understanding of this model, I would also have to get a clear understanding of myself that is my strengths and weaknesses and other factors that would help me to make changes within myself which will enable a faster development process for my future. To understand and determine these changes I have done a SWOT and PEST analysis at a personal level which brings out the inner aspects of my characteristics and habits. Finally, with the help of the above mentioned models and analysis frameworks, I would be able to follow on a clear development plan which will push me to reach my goal by completing the short-term goals or actions plan that would be set by me to keep a track on the progress that I am making in my development. A development plan have been formulated by me which will help me to stay on the right path and track the progress of my work. The development plan have been set by aligning itself to the GROW models and the aims have been set according to the different steps of the model. Furthermore, the resources that would be used in each and every step have been set which will act as a support for the fulfilment of my aims. The time frame that have been set for the achievement and the success of the development plan is 5 years.              

References

Bouman, N. (2018). Personal Development Plan.

Cottrell, S. (2015). Skills for success: Personal development and employability. Macmillan International Higher Education.

Gail Thomas, B., & Hanson, J. (2014). Developing social integration to enhance student retention and success in higher education: the GROW@ BU initiative. Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning, 16(3), 58-70.

Pedler, M., Burgoyne, J., & Boydell, T. (2013). A Manager's Guide to Self-development. McGraw-Hill Education (UK).

Tattum, D., & Tattum, E. (2017). Social education and personal development. Routledge.