Career Development International

Personal development plans: unlocking the future

David Taylor, David Edge,
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 Personal development plans: unlocking the future
Reports on a change process
at Anglian Water using per-
sonal development plans
(PDPs). The plan encourages
staff to think of their whole
life and their hopes, ambi-
tions and expectations.
Explains the PDP process.
Downloaded by ABE, Miss Claire Siegel At 10:26 27 September 2017 (PT)
Dimensions of the PDP
include job skills, the wider
business, the home and
personal life and the wider
community.
Career Development
International
2/1 [1997] 21–23
MCB University Press
[ISSN 1362-0436]
David Taylor
Employee Development Manager, Anglian Water, Cambridge, UK
David Edge
Works Manager, Anglian Water, Cambridge, UK
Conventional thinking suggests that secure
people perform and insecure people do not.
However, it is in the nature of business today
that people perceive themselves as less secure
(and with some justification). We believe that
the personal development plan (PDP) can
help by moving ownership of a career from
the company to the individual, en route trans-
forming insecurity into opportunity or at
least flexibility.
There is nothing like living through a
major reorganization that has involved the
loss of 900 jobs to bring into sharp focus the
paradoxes inherent in the relationships
between individuals and organizations. On
the one hand there is the employee with his
or her aspirations and potential and on the
other there is the company with its vision,
objectives and finite resources. The challenge
we face is to identify the framework within
which the paradoxes can be worked through
and the common ground identified.
Over the past three years Anglian Water
has been engaged in the task of transforming
itself from an effective but bureaucratic com-
mand and control organization with a local
government background to a business that is
more efficient, customer-focused and less
risk-averse. Less risk-averse in this context
does not mean jeopardizing public health – it
means being prepared to seize the business
opportunities that arise in our rapidly chang-
ing world.
The authors of this article have both been
involved in this transformation process and
have lived with these dilemmas. In recent
months we have come together to work on a
vital element of the development framework –
the personal development plan. It is becom-
ing clear that the personal development plan
provides a useful starting point for establish-
ing a dialogue between individuals and the
organization.
It is important not to dismiss past achieve-
ments and it is essential to draw from the
lessons of the past. There are numerous
examples within the organization of people
whose progression has been aided by the
organization or enlightened individuals
within the organization. What has been seen
to be lacking is a process that facilitates on a
consistent basis the release of potential
locked in the organization.
It can be argued that the dogged determina-
tion of motivated individuals to better them-
selves is a vital ingredient in the development
process and therefore why should the organi-
zation become involved? The justification for
encouraging all employees to think about
personal development is the belief that it is
possible to widen the pool of talent available
by enabling people to think in different ways
of what they have to offer. It is in this way that
the personal development process can help
link individual and corporate interests.
We now recognize that the skills and experi-
ence many employees acquired beyond the
organization have equipped them with skills
that are valuable within the organization. For
example, during the 1994 business re-engi-
neering, it was recognized that the loss of 900
jobs would be highly traumatic for almost all
the workforce. Therefore the business
embarked on a programme of counselling
training to enable managers to help employ-
ees or to recognize when extra help was
needed. This process uncovered a large num-
ber of people who were practised counsellors
and who now make up a network at the heart
of the counselling provision within the busi-
ness.
The personal development plan
The PDP is a process through which the indi-
vidual prepares a training and development
plan, and for which the individual takes
responsibility. The development model used
to widen people’s thinking beyond mere job
skills is set out in Figure 1.
Section 1 of this model is structured and is
related to the qualifications, skills and experi-
ence necessary for any particular role within
the organization. While the modern career
path is much flatter and more likely to have
large horizontal components there will
always be a need to define the capabilities
required for a role in terms of academic
achievement. This is, however, a limited view
of the contribution that an individual can
make.
[ 21 ]
 David Taylor and David Edge Figure 1
Personal development plans: The personal development model
unlocking the future
Career Development 1. Job skills
International Manager
2/1 [1997] 21–23 2. Wider business
Clerk Director competences
Craftsman Company goals
Scientist/engineer Mentor
Conceptual thinking
Technician Networker
Developing others
Operator Expert Innovation
Counsellor Champion
Customer service
Team leader Flexibility
Guide Coach Initiative
Union rep. Change
agent Team working
Trainer Interpersonal
Facilitator understanding
Safety rep.
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Linguist
Painter/decorator
Parent
Traveller Gardener
Relation
Sportsman
Adventurer
Musician Jobbing builder

3. Personal objectives/family

Club organizer Sports coach

Volunteer
Fundraiser
Magistrate
Counsellor Representative

Helper
4. Wider community contribution

Section 2 recognizes the wider competences
that are valuable to the organization and
exhibit themselves in a range of off-the-job
roles and responsibilities. The nine compe-
tences on the right of the block are those
identified by Anglian Water as being key for
the business of the future.
Sections 3 and 4 are included in recognition
that the roles played in the family and wider
community enable people to exhibit compe-
tences and abilities that can resonate within
the organization.
Thus in developing their PDP, individuals
are encouraged to think of their whole life
and their hopes, ambitions and expectations.
In that broader context they put together, and
own, a plan which will sustain them either
within or beyond the organization.
The process
The plan is developed through a series of
stages. The first being the identification of the
job roles and associated skills and compe-
tences within the work group. Following
that exercise, work groups are gathered
together for a half-day session during which
they are introduced to the plan and the
process.
This is followed, after two or three weeks,
by a session with their manager, during
which the manager’s expectations, and the
individual’s aspirations are discussed and set
into a realistic organizational context. After
about a month the individual has the oppor-
tunity to discuss development of wider busi-
ness competences with an in-house training
facilitator and talk to an external careers
guidance counsellor with whom career
opportunities and learning opportunities can
be explored. A draft plan is then prepared
which is discussed with the facilitator, man-
ager and with the budget-holding team and
the means of delivery determined.
The preparation of a plan with clear and
measurable objectives is then only the start of

[ 22 ]
 David Taylor and David Edge Figure 2
Personal development plans: The personal development plan process
unlocking the future
Career Development
International Define job
2/1 [1997] 21–23 skills and PDP workshop
competences

Meeting with
manager

Review
Meeting with facilitator
and/or external
counsellor
Execute plan
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Draft plan
Agree this year’s
plan with budget
holding group Determine with
manager, facilitator,
counsellor, optimum
delivery route

the process, As with all learning, the

processes of reflection and review are critical Delivery
and must be sustained by a commitment to It is key to the process that the delivery of
regular updating of the plan. The process is development does not only take place in the
illustrated in Figure 2. training course environment. There are
many ways to skin the development cat and
participants are encouraged in discussion
Figure 3 with manager and guide to find the appropri-
The dimensions of the personal development plan ate means of delivery. A model has been devel-
oped which shows the four dimensions of
development in a new arrangement (see
Knowledge Understanding Figure 3). This model shows the dimensions
of personal development and shaded in are
some of the delivery systems which are sup-
ported by Anglian Water.
Coaching and on- It is stressed that ownership of the plan is
the-job training with the individual and that Anglian Water
Job skills Wider business will support that training which results in
competences business benefit. The definition of business
benefit is broad as the encouragement of a
Skill training learning culture means that evening classes
courses
Development are supported in order to encourage the prac-
Practice training Organization tice of learning skills.

Individual Community
Evening classes Conclusion
We believe that the PDP transfers the owner-
ship of personal development back to the
individual for both the benefit of the individ-
Personal and Wider community ual and for the benefit of the organization.
family contribution The challenge for the individual is to lose that
dependence on an organization as a means of
defining a career or more properly a vocation.
The challenge to the organization is in utiliz-
ing the energy that we expect to be released
Family Home
by the PDP process.

[ 23 ]
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2. Robert A. Roe. Using Competences in Employee Development 303-335. [Crossref]
3. Sanne Nijs, Eva Gallardo-Gallardo, Nicky Dries, Luc Sels. 2014. A multidisciplinary review into the definition,
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4. Karen Becker, Nicholas Antuar, Cherie Everett. 2011. Implementing an employee performance management system in a
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6. Irini Rigopoulou, John Kehagias. 2008. Personal development planning under the scope of self‐brand orientation. International
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7. Nicholas Clarke. 2004. HRD and the challenges of assessing learning in the workplace. International Journal of Training and
Development 8:2, 140-156. [Crossref]
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