MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP: PLANNING YOUR

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
Who is responsible for personal development?

KAREN GRAVE: So is personal development the responsibility of an organisation?

It's a fascinating question. And I think the answer is that personal development is the
responsibility of a range of individuals and functions in an organisation. So as an HR
and AD director, I would say it's absolutely the responsibility of the HR and AD
department to be working with an organisation's senior leadership, its employees, to
understand what personal development strategies and opportunities need to exist to
enable people to make the best of the roles that they're in in the organisation. That's
really important. So for me, that's setting a strategic direction about personal
development.

BASEL HAMMODA: Our organisation is more into empowering its own employees.
So it provides you with all the resources that you need or you can even imagine in
order to develop yourself, whether on the business side or on the technical side,
whether job specific or general about the whole industry. And you thousands of
resources in an internal portal. Of course, on site, the company uses itself of
Capgemini. It has an amazing academy. It can teach you anything.

However, you have to take the initiative. You have to be the leader of yourself, be
the leader of your own personal development, and put a very good personal
development plan.

JON WILKS: I feel it's a two-way process between the employer and the employee. I
think in my role, what we do is we have appraisals every 12 months that are
reviewed after six months. And it's important, I think, that both parties buy into them.
So although we might agree set goals and personal development targets, and we do
that very much with the employee in mind, we let them go out and actually find out
what the courses are and then really take ownership of them themselves.

KAREN GRAVE: Managers and organisations' senior leadership have a hugely

important role as well in setting an expectation that personal development is
important. And they need to really understand what their role is in providing those
opportunities.

And those opportunities come through a range of means. It's doing online
development courses like this. It's role-modeling an organisation's values and
behaviours.

And then the other really important thing is that every individual has a responsibility
for their own personal development. So even me, operating at HR Director level, at
vice-president of BPMA, it's absolutely critical that I take personal responsibility for
seeking regular feedback and looking to find development opportunities. Some of
those might be prompted through annual performance reviews. But I might have a
particular interest in another part of HR or in another job, actually, within the
organisation that I might think to do my job and HR and AD better, it might help if I
learn a little bit more about IT or customer service or whatever it is.

So at different levels, I think all parts of the organisation have a responsibility. And
it's very important that the organisation clarifies for itself and its people where their
responsibility lies in that.

SPEAKER 4: I think it's very important an organisation develops its staff. I think is
pivotal to getting the best out of your staff. You need to be able to identify with the
member of staff what their weaknesses are, what they need to develop. Therefore,
you can get the best out of them if you spend time doing personal development.

BASEL HAMMODA: I believe that, yes, in this age, everyone is responsible for their
own personal development. We're moving more and more into an age of an
empowered employee, who has to be responsible for his own destiny and his own
career. It's not like before where someone will be spoonfeeding you and telling you,
you have to take this course. You have to go training. It's all about you.

It's more about the free competition and hiring market and the job market that we're
seeing these days. So it's all about what you can develop and what you can add to
your staff. It's all about building your profile. Whether you're working in a big
company or working on a small company or even self-employed, it's all about you. It
starts and ends with you.