Introduction
A good personal career reassures a person of moving up a well-defined career ladder in a given organization. However, this cannot be ascertained if the organization does not have a well-defined professional development plan for its employees who are willing to spend the rest of their working lives with the organization.
Professional Development Plan
A professional development plan refers to the process of identifying the learning and training activities of the employees that will support the staff in developing their careers, job responsibilities and at the same time, improving their effectiveness and efficiency in work delivery (Alsop, 2007).
The merits of carrying out professional development plans by the management are: it maintains continuous training of its employees, they are always up-to-date with the current affairs in their area of work, it motivates the employees and it incorporates all the employees in the organization regardless of their respective job class (While & Attwood, 2010). Professional development will always give the workers the competitive advantage that they require to remain relevant in their field of work. Professional development should be blended with the life goals of the employees and therefore, the management should come up with a good plan that will incorporate their short and long-term objectives. However, it should be noted that any development plan that is made by the organization for the employees is never in conflict with the objectives of the employees (Alsop, 2007).
A good professional development plan should identify the key areas that require the managements’ assent to develop. This will help employees to focus on what areas they need to improve. This knowledge will help the employees to strategize on the specific goals that will be achieved and the criteria that will be used to measure those objectives (Bubb & Earley, 2007). This can be represented using the following template that incorporates the process of goal setting, documentation of the objectives that have been developed and the duration that they used to achieve them, and lastly, tracking of the accomplishment of the employees in developing their careers.
The above development process includes several procedures that will be used to develop the employees. It incorporates the acquisition of skills through reading; it will incorporate one on one teaching of the employees whereby it will aim at developing the education levels of the employees, it will incorporate shadowing, attending training courses that are organized by professionals in each of the sectors for instance the information technology.
Conclusion
Therefore, it is prudent to conclude that a professional development plan in any organization is crucial in ascertaining that the organization fully utilizes the potential of its employees and more so those dedicated to that particular organization. This is because it has transformative effects on the employees and overall; the organization’s performance is expected to rise with the motivation displayed by the employees. All organizations should therefore incorporate it in their system.
References
Alsop, A. (2007). Continuing Professional Development: A Guide for Therapists. San Francisco: Wiley-Blackwell.
Bubb, S. & Earley, P. (2007). Leading & Managing Continuing Professional Development: Developing People, Developing Schools. California: Sage.
While, R. & Attwood, M. (2010).Professional development: a guide for general practice. San Francisco: Wiley-Blackwell.