A PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
Employee’s performance and potential represents one of the greatest assets of any organization. However, it can only be considered an asset if it is regularly and consistently developed.
A Personal Development Plan (PDP) for each employee should be a key element of a Professional Development Program for any organization. A Personal Development Plan ensures that employees continuously look for ways to develop their skills and competencies to enhance performance while achieving company’s goals and objectives.
Each organization should have a comprehensive program that addresses employee development. The purpose of the program should be to enhance employee competencies and improve performance while effectively linking the employee goals with the organizations goals.
About Professional Development Programs
The program should be designed to assist each employee in enhancing his/her performance skills so that he/she will be able to perform his/her job functions more proficiently. A Personal Development Plan is intended to address each employee’s individual needs. Identifying the gaps between an employee’s current skills and job requirements provides a road map for employee development.
Both the supervisor/manager and the employee actively participate in the process of determining the skills and competencies that should be addressed and the best course of action to obtain or hone these performance elements.
Creating a Program
The employee will create an individualized development plan that states his/her performance goals and objectives and outlines the course of action he/she will take to accomplish the objectives as well as the way in which success will be measured. The employee’s goals and objectives should be linked to the organization’s objectives. This will provide a clear road map for improved performance, employee development, and increased organizational productivity.
A successful professional development program will also incorporate a strategic follow-up component to ensure that the knowledge acquired and skills learned from training courses are implemented into the employee’s daily job functions. The employee will periodically identify ways in which they are implementing the knowledge and skills learned to his/her job activities.
