Personal Development Plan | My Assignment Tutor

Personal Development PlanThis e-book is published by Mind Tools Ltd.Copyright © Mind Tools Ltd, 2007-2014. All rights reserved.Version 2.0.This e-book is protected by international copyright law.You may only use it if you have downloaded it directly fromMindTools.com, or if you have been provided with it undera corporate license.If you have received this from any other source pleasecontact copyright@mindtools.com.“Mind Tools” is a registered trademark (US 4,566,696, EU012473377) of Mind Tools Ltd.Cover image © iStockphoto/xxmmxx.Personal Development Plan | Mind Tools iii1. Why a Personal Development Plan? 12. Understanding Yourself 23. Defining Your Career Objectives 114. Creating Your Personal Development Plan 16Personal Development Plan Worksheet 21Action Plan 22ContentsPersonal Development Plan | Mind Tools ivPersonal Development Plan WorkbookIntroduced by Mind Tools CEO James ManktelowYou have probably come to Mind Tools because you care about your career and you’re prepared to work at building a happy, satisfying and successful life.Part of this involves thinking about what “satisfaction” means to you: afterall, each of us gets fulfillment and happiness from different things. That’s whyyou need to think about this for yourself, rather than following someone else’spre-prepared plan.Another part of this involves making sure that you have the skills needed to takeadvantage of opportunities when they arise (as they will, if you work hard andthink about what you’re doing).That’s why it’s important to take a systematic approach to developing your skills,so they’re ready when you need them. Creating a Personal Development Plan isthe starting point for this.This workbook guides you through the process of creating your own PersonalDevelopment Plan. Within it, you’ll find a step-by-step process, supported bytemplates and instructions, that you can use to plan how you’ll develop thePersonal Development Plan | Mind Tools vskills you need for a satisfying and successful career. Popular tools like SWOTand PEST Analysis, and techniques like setting SMART goals, are all part of it.When you use these to think about your own development, you will come awaywith a thoughtful and well-considered roadmap that you can use to reach yourcareer goals.There are seven basic steps that you should follow to prepare your PersonalDevelopment Plan. We’ve split these into three sections:1. Understanding Yourself.2. Defining Your Career Objectives.3. Creating Your Personal Development Plan.Each section builds on the previous one, so I encourage you to work through themin order.Enjoy using this workbook!James Manktelow, CEO, MindTools.comPersonal Development Plan | Mind Tools 11. Why a Personal Development Plan?Are you fully in control of your career? Do you have a clear and inspiring vision of what you want to achieve in the future? And, are you actively taking steps to pursue the career of your dreams?If your answer is “no,” then you risk being disappointed. If you put yourcareer into the hands of others – your organization, your boss, your partner, oreven your parents – you risk not going where you want to go, and not doing whatyou want to do. After all, if you are not working to realize your own dreams, you’remost likely working to achieve someone else’s.All too often, this abdication of responsibility for your career happens without youeven realizing it. For example:Jim had been in his current position for three years, and his job was comfortable.He knew what was expected of him, his boss was great, and his teammates were hisfriends. Life was good.Another six months passed and Jim started to watch the clock. The 5.30 p.m.countdown became a daily ritual, and, by Wednesday each week, Jim was in Fridaymode. He wanted more excitement and challenge: the status quo wasn’t cutting it anymore, and he needed something to change!Surely he’d been with the organization long enough to deserve a promotion of somekind? Maybe a job reassignment? Or a change of office, at least?Unfortunately, Jim hadn’t figured out that his boss and his company weren’tresponsible for his career satisfaction. No one had let him in on the secret that ifyou do the same thing today as you did yesterday, the results are likely to be nodifferent tomorrow.You have to be proactive, take charge and change the way you think about yourcareer. When you take control, you will realize that the only way you‘ll achievewhat you want, personally or professionally, is to think about where you want togo, put in place a plan to get there, and then start moving.Personal Development Planning is a structured way of doing just that.• First, you understand yourself and you set meaningful goals.• Next, you define these goals in terms of what you want to achieve and thesteps you need to take to get there.• Finally, you identify gaps in your skills and experience, and you create anaction plan to fill them, so that you can move towards your end goal.Let’s start the process right now!Personal Development Plan | Mind Tools 22. Understanding Yourself:Discover Who You Are and What You WantPersonal Development Planning is all about creating a long-term goal for your career, and then thinking about how you’ll achieve it. However, before you can know what you want to do in the long term, youneed to reflect on your current situation. What are you good at? Where doyou need to improve? What opportunities are available? And, are there factorsbeyond your control that could have an impact on your goals?To answer these questions, we’ve adapted two classic business tools, SWOTAnalysis and PEST Analysis, so you can apply them to your personal situation. Byusing them, you can gain a solid understanding of where you are now, and you canthink about where you want to go.Personal SWOT AnalysisIn business, SWOT Analysis uncovers the Strengths and Weakness of anorganization, and identifies the Opportunities and Threats that it faces.Just as this is important for organizations, it’s also useful when you apply it to yourown situation. By knowing your strengths, you can focus your efforts on the thingsthat you’re good at. And, by understanding your weaknesses, you know what toavoid, what to improve, and where you need to get help.Taken together, your strengths and opportunities help you identify potentiallong-term career goals. Your weaknesses, and the threats you face, are the thingsthat need to be managed, mitigated or planned for, to ensure that your goalsremain achievable.To conduct a Personal SWOT Analysis, you ask yourself a series of questions aboutyour current situation, and you fill in a four-quadrant grid, like the one found onpage 5. We explain these quadrants below.StrengthsHere, your goal is to uncover what sets you apart from other people. What qualitiesdo you have that make you stand out?When thinking about your strengths, don’t limit yourself to your professional skills.Explore all of your experiences, and the opportunities that you’ve had to grow anddevelop. This includes your education, aptitudes, personality factors, and interests.Ask yourself the following questions:• What are you really good at?• What skills do others recognize in you, and what do you get rewarded for?Personal Development Plan | Mind Tools 3Action:Using the bullet points above, fill out the Strengths section of the grid on page 5.Action:Complete the Weaknesses section on page 5.• What do you do better than most people you work with?• What are you most proud of?• What experiences, resources or connections do you have access to thatothers don’t?Remember to ask your friends and colleagues to list your strengths as well. We cantend to be self-effacing, and we often downplay our own abilities, so this is a greatway to get more ideas. When you learn where others think you excel, it can be areal boost to your self-esteem!WeaknessesHere, you think about the things that you’re not so good at, or the areas where youcan improve your performance. When you list your weaknesses, you can reduce ormanage them, so that they don’t stop you achieving your goals.Don’t “beat yourself up” about your weaknesses: we all have them. The trick is torecognize them and manage them appropriately. Also, don’t be too self-critical. Ifyou’re fair and forgiving about other people’s weaknesses, make sure you forgiveyour own, too.To complete the Weaknesses section of your Personal SWOT Analysis, use thefollowing questions as a guide:• What skills do you struggle to master?• What do you do only because you have to, in order to satisfyjob requirements?• Are there one or two aspects of your personality that hold you back?• What do other people most often identify as your weakness?• Where are you vulnerable?• Where do you lack experience, resources or connections, where othershave them?Unlike the Strengths section, don’t feel compelled to list every weakness you canthink of. Limit yourself to the ones that can have an impact on your career.OpportunitiesNow that you’ve reflected on your strengths and weaknesses, you need to focuson understanding the opportunities that are open to you. Ask yourself:• In what ways can you take advantage of your strengths?• What opportunities are open to people who do these things well?Personal Development Plan | Mind Tools 4Tip:Here, we’re assuming that you’re already in the “right” career, and that you’rethinking about your development within it. If you’re still exploring differentoptions, consider visiting a local career counselor who specializes in yoursituation (a good starting point for this is to search for “career counselor”or ”career counsellor.”) Even then, use your SWOT Analysis to inform yourchoice, and use our next tool, PEST Analysis, to review it. You can then use therest of this document to plan your development.Action:Complete the Opportunities section of the grid on the next page.ThreatsFinally, reflect on the things that could derail your success. Although threats oftencan’t be directly controlled, they can be planned for. That’s why it’s so importantto identify as many of them as possible. The more you know about them, the lesslikely you are to be “blindsided” by something unexpected.You might feel that thinking about threats will cause you undue worry and stress.However, you will likely experience more anxiety if you don’t consider them,especially when they start becoming more significant.Remember, a threat loses much of its impact when it’s managed and prepared for.Ask yourself the following questions to uncover potential threats:• Are there any general threats that you need to think about?• If you don’t address your weaknesses, what problems could they cause?• What setbacks might you face?• What obstacles have other people overcome when they’re trying to get towhere you want to go?Action:Fill out the Threats section on the next page.• What would you love to do that you’re good at?• How can you minimize your weaknesses? If these no longer held you back,what could you do?• Where do you see the most potential growth for yourself: within yourcurrent company, in a different organization, in another industry, or in aseparate career entirely?• What trends are having an impact on your current career, or on the onethat you’re thinking about pursuing? Strengths:Weaknesses:Opportunities:Threats: Personal Development Plan | Mind Tools 5Personal SWOT Analysis WorksheetPrint off as many copies of this as you need for your personal use.Personal Development Plan | Mind Tools 6Action:Use the bullet points above to complete the Political Factors section of thePersonal PEST Analysis on page 8. Then identify the potential opportunitiesand threats that these present.Economic FactorsNext, you look at economic factors that may influence your decision to pursue aparticular goal. Think about the following:• What are the average compensation levels in the careers or industries thatyou’re interested in?• Are wages expected to rise, fall or stay the same?• Can you meet your economic needs based on the expected remuneration?• What is the current and forecast rate of employment or unemployment inthese sectors?• What is the long-term demand for people in these careers?• What opportunities and threats do these changes or circumstances present?Personal PEST AnalysisPersonal SWOT Analysis looks at the factors within you – and the ones close toyou – that can influence your success. By contrast, PEST Analysis digs deeperinto the “big picture” external factors that will either help or hinder your careersuccess. Using it makes the difference between choosing an exciting career that’saligned with the forces of change in the world, and struggling for survival in adying industry.PEST is an acronym for the Political, Economic, Socio-cultural, andTechnological environments in which you function. To complete a PersonalPEST Analysis, you first identify the external factors that can influence yourcareer. Then, you analyze each of these to identify the opportunities andthreats that they present.Political FactorsHere, you consider the influence that the government and its policies may have onthe opportunities you’re looking at. Consider these questions:• What new laws or regulations are likely to affect these?• Are you aware of any policies or schemes that will boost or support anyof these?• Will any of these policies affect your ability to work in a specific area, makea certain amount of money, or be reasonably secure?• Is there a change in government, or a change in policy, expected?• What opportunities and threats do these changes or events represent?Personal Development Plan | Mind Tools 7Socio-Cultural FactorsThese are the societal trends that influence how attractive a particular opportunitymay or may not be. Things to consider include:• What demographic trends will have an impact on these opportunities?• Are the educational requirements for them expected to change?• Are there lifestyle trends and changes that will have an impact on thedesirability of these careers?• Are there familial expectations you have to consider when making a careerdecision? How will these affect your ability to be successful?• What opportunities and threats do these situations represent?Action:Use the bullet points on the previous page to complete the Economic Factorssection of the Personal PEST Analysis on the next page. Then identify theopportunities and threats that these present.Action:Use the bullet points above to complete the Socio-Cultural Factors section ofthe Personal PEST Analysis on the next page. Then, identify the opportunitiesand threats that these present.Technological FactorsFinally, you need to look at the technological factors that affect your careerdecisions. Technology moves forward quickly, and you don’t want to get leftbehind because you failed to consider its potential impact. More than this, you canexpect great new opportunities if you can get good experience of a valuable newtechnology. Ask yourself these questions:• What technological trends affect the careers you’re considering?• Are there aspects of these jobs that are likely to be automated or digitizedin the next few years?• What technologies are emerging to do this, and how can you getexperience of using them?• How is technology influencing the type of work you do, or the way youcomplete your tasks?• What opportunities and threats do these situations present?Action:Use the bullet points above to complete the Technological Factors section ofthe Personal PEST Analysis on the next page. Then, identify the opportunitiesand threats that these present. Political Factors:Economic Factors:Opportunities:Threats:Opportunities:Threats:Socio-Cultural Factors:Technological Factors:Opportunities:Threats:Opportunities:Threats: Personal Development Plan | Mind Tools 8Personal PEST Analysis WorksheetPrint off as many copies of this as you need for your personal use.YOUPersonal Development Plan | Mind Tools 9Opportunity AnalysisIn your SWOT Analysis, you identified a range of opportunities. Now that you’vecompleted your PEST Analysis, you should see that some of these are particularlyexciting, and that some just aren’t worth pursuing.Next, you need to explore the best of these opportunities in more detail, andidentify the ones that you want to focus on.This can involve talking to people who already do these jobs to find out whatthey’re really like, reading reports on the leading industries and companies, andconfirming that your strengths really do suit these career paths.When you do this, you make sure that the way forward you choose presents thebest opportunities, and has the smallest obstacles to overcome.Action:Pick your top opportunities, and list them in the first column of theOpportunity Analysis worksheet on the next page.Then, look over your strengths and weaknesses (as well as the trends thatyou identified in your PEST Analysis), and mark down the supporting andopposing factors for each opportunity. You should also include your personalinterests in here. After all, you want to pursue a development plan that you areexcited about!Then, narrow these options down until you have just one or two preferredopportunities that you can really commit to. (The more you pare things downat this stage, the more effort you can devote to your best choice.) Identified OpportunitySupporting Factors (Strengths,PEST Trends and Events,Personal Interests)Opposing Factors (Weaknesses,PEST Trends and Events) Personal Development Plan | Mind Tools 10Opportunity Analysis WorksheetPrint off as many copies of this as you need for your personal use.Personal Development Plan | Mind Tools 11Now that you’re clear about your own strengths and weaknesses, and about the opportunities that are available to you, you’re equipped to start thinking about where you want to go.You start the process by creating a Career Mission Statement that sets outyour long-term aspirations. You then break this down into a set of Major CareerGoals that will help you achieve those aspirations.Career Mission StatementJust as all effective organizations create a statement of their intended purpose,you must also define the basic direction of your career. This is a fundamentalstarting point for your Personal Development Plan.Take some time to decide what you want to do. Consider these questions:• What do you intend to accomplish?• Why is this important to you?• What values are at the core of your decision?• Does this make you feel that you’re making a significant contributionto other people?• What deep emotional value or meaning does this have for you?• How do you want others to perceive you?When you write your Career Mission Statement, remember that this is yourlong-term vision for yourself. Typically, this will give you a five- to 10-yearperspective (it’s hard to know what your life will look like further into the futurethan this).A Career Mission Statement is very personal, which means that there’s no formulafor writing one. For example, one person might choose a very specific missionsuch as, “To be a Finance Director by the time I’m 45.” Another could be lessspecific: “To make a real difference, and to improve the quality of care for the eldersin my town.”It’s important to spend some time drafting your Career Mission Statement until it’spunchy and motivating, and it states where you want to go.3. Defining Your Career ObjectivesPersonal Development Plan | Mind Tools 12Action:Draft your Career Mission Statement in the box below, and rewrite it untilyou’re completely happy. You’ll record it on your Personal DevelopmentPlan later.Major Career GoalsWith your Career Mission Statement as your guide, you now break your long-termobjective down into manageable pieces. To do this, you set Major Career Goals.These are important steps toward accomplishing your mission, and you’ll usethem to ensure that your Personal Development Plan is on track.For instance, your Career Mission Statement may indicate that you want to bea Finance Director by the time you’re 45. If that’s five years away, you must askyourself what major steps you need to take within this time to get to that position.For example, you may need to complete a management accounting qualifications,or gain experience in another division.Personal Development Plan | Mind Tools 13To identify your Major Career Goals, ask yourself whether you need to dothe following:• Upgrade your education or qualifications?• Gain a promotion from your current position?• Get experience in a particular department?• Move to a different organization or industry?• Master a particular skill, or set of skills?If appropriate, you may also want to include your current manager or a mentor inthe discussion.You will need assistance, information and possibly training along the way.So, enlist the help of a professional body in the area, or ask for advice fromexperienced individuals (for example, people who are already doing the jobyou want).A Note on Goal SettingUse the SMART mnemonic to set precise, motivating goals. SMART stands for:• Specific – make sure that your goal focuses on one particular outcome.• Measurable – there must be a definable end point, so you know exactlywhen the goal has been accomplished.• Achievable – you must be reasonably able to accomplish your goal,otherwise it will frustrate you and undermine your self-confidence.• Relevant – goals must relate to what you’re ultimately trying to achieve.• Time bound – there has to be a time requirement, otherwise you maynever push yourself to accomplish your goal.For more on goal setting, read our article on the subject.Action:Think about the Career Mission Statement you wrote earlier, and draft threeto six SMART goals that you’ll need to achieve to fulfill it. Aim to make thesecompelling and dynamic. Write them on the next page (you’ll record the finalversion of them in your Personal Development Plan in the next section). Leavethe Skills, Qualifications and Experience Needed sections blank for now – we’llcome back to this later. SMART Goal:Skills, Qualifications and Experience NeededSMART Goal:Skills, Qualifications and Experience NeededSMART Goal:Skills, Qualifications and Experience Needed Personal Development Plan | Mind Tools 14Major Career Goals SMART Goal:Skills, Qualifications and Experience NeededSMART Goal:Skills, Qualifications and Experience NeededSMART Goal:Skills, Qualifications and Experience Needed Personal Development Plan | Mind Tools 15Well done, you’re making great progress!You’ve now got everything in place to start drafting your PersonalDevelopment Plan.Personal Development Plan | Mind Tools 164. Creating Your Personal Development PlanAction:Look at your Major Career Goals on pages 14-15, and complete the Skills,Qualifications and Experience Needed sections.To do this, start by reviewing the weaknesses and threats that you identified inyour SWOT and PEST analyses. Do you need to develop or improve any skills tocounter or manage these?Next, think about the people who control access to the achievement ofyour goals. What will they be looking for in a good candidate? (You mighthope that people will “take a chance” on you without some of these skillsAction:Print off the Personal Development Plan worksheet on page 21, or typedirectly in the PDF. Write down your name, current position and today’sdate (the last two items will help you remember how far you’ve come as youprogress). Next, add the Career Mission Statement and the Major Career Goalsthat you defined earlier. (Remember to include target dates for your goals.)Conducting a Skills AuditSo far, you’ve defined where you want to go, and you’ve identified the majorsteps you need to take to get there. Now, you’ll take a critical look at your currentsituation, and you’ll pinpoint any skills and knowledge gaps that you need to fill.You can then set specific development goals to address these weaknesses and putyourself on course to achieve your long-term objectives.Your Personal Development Plan includes a Skills Audit section that you can useto assess the skills and strengths you currently possess, compared with those thatyou need.Y ou’re now ready to put everything into a measurable, actionable format that will keep you on track as you progress along your chosen career path. By the end of this section, you’ll have a Personal Development Plan that you’llbe able to refer to regularly to make solid progress towards your career goal.Personal Development Plan | Mind Tools 17Action:From the Skills, Qualifications and Experience Needed sections on pages14-15, identify the most important skills. Write these down in the Skills Auditsection of the Personal Development Plan on page 21. (You’ll find space for 16skills – try to list fewer than this!)Next, you need to identify gaps between the skills you have and those thatyou need. Rank your current ability using the following scale, and record thisin your Personal Development Plan: AI demonstrate high levels of competence in this skill.BI have this skill/competency, but some improvements could be made.CI need to improve this skill/competency.DI need to put in considerable work to develop this skill/competency.EI have almost no experience with this competency. Revisit these skill rankings every six months (make a diary entry to do thisnow). This will help you maintain focus and stay on target.Tip:When you’re evaluating the skills that you’ll need, remember toinclude important general career skills, such as team management andcommunication, as well as others that are directly related to your companyor profession. “Soft skills” are important, and they become increasinglyimportant the further you go in your career.Create an Action PlanYou’re finally ready to put together your Action Plan (page 22). This containsshort-term Development Goals and Action Steps that you can start working onright away to achieve your Major Career Goals; and it focuses on any skills gapsthat you identified in your Skills Audit.Action:Choose the planning period that best fits your circumstances, and add this to yourAction Plan. Typically, your planning period will be the next six to 12 months.or qualifications, but the reality is that they probably will not. After all, theconsequences of hiring the wrong person to a job can be huge.)If appropriate, ask these people what they want, or spend time researchingthe skills that you’ll need (look at the requirements listed in job descriptions oradvertisements, talk to your HR department, and search for relevant courses).Personal Development Plan | Mind Tools 18Action:For each Development Goal, think about the specific actions you will take toaccomplish it. For example, if you need to complete a course, you might haveto write a business case for your boss or HR department, to outline why theorganization should pay for it.Depending on the nature of the goal, there may be actions that depend onother people’s involvement, such as your manager or teammates. Factors toconsider include:• What training or education do you need?• What experience do you need?• How will you get that training and/or experience? (For example,job share, on-the-job training, courses, e-learning, or experiencethrough voluntary work.)• What kind of support do you need?• What will others do to help you? (Mentor, coach, evaluate.)Write down your Action Steps on page 22, and include the date by whichyou intend to accomplish them.Action:Use the Obstacles and Solutions column to list any difficulties that you foresee.Think about how you’ll overcome these, and, if necessary, add more goals.As you start working on your Development Goals, add the challenges that you’vehad to overcome, and write down your planned and actual solutions. You canuse this information as you plan and prepare future Development Goals.Action:Make a plan for evaluating your progress, and add it to your Action Plan.What criteria will you use to determine whether you have succeeded, andwhen and how will you measure this?Finally, commit yourself to your plan, and sign it off. By doing this, you havealready taken the first critical step toward making your vision a reality.Action:For each Major Career Goal, think about what you need to achieve withinyour planning period. Next, carefully evaluate each of the skill gaps youidentified in your Skills Audit, and consider how you intend to close it. Addthese Development Goals to your Action Plan.Personal Development Plan | Mind Tools 19Action:Add the Development Goals and Action Steps you have identified to yourTo-Do List or Action Program, and prioritize at least one of them.Review the threats section of your SWOT and PEST analyses, and see ifyou need to take any actions to mitigate any of these. Add these to yourTo-Do List.Schedule six-monthly reviews of your Personal Development Plan in yourdiary. As you make progress, you’ll discover new skills that you need to learn,and your perspectives will change. By updating your Personal DevelopmentPlan regularly, you’ll keep it relevant.Only you have the power to take your Personal Development Plan to the nextstage: execution. Planning your goals is the first, very important step. Now youhave to commit to working on your plan every day.• Keep your Career Mission Statement at the forefront of your mind,and perhaps at the top of your To-Do List. (Perhaps pin it to the wall byyour desk?)• Take an action that will move you towards your Development Goals eachworking day.• Let other people who you trust know what you are doing, and why. Usethem as your personal support network.• Don’t forget to reward yourself along the way. Sure, it’s nice when othersrecognize your accomplishments, but you can do this yourself, too.• Remember that your Personal Development Plan is as dynamic as you are.As circumstances change, you may need to adjust it. Make changes alongthe way, and keep it current and up-to-date.From Paper to PracticeWell done, you now have something that very few people have – awell-thought-through Personal Development Plan.Next, you need to take the self-organizational steps necessary to bringing thisplan to life.Personal Development Plan | Mind Tools 20Have You Found This E-book Useful?If so, here are a few ideas for your next steps…1) Visit MindTools.com to learn more than 100 career skills for free. Our Homeand Test Yourself pages are great places to start.2) Subscribe to our free email newsletter, and get new career development toolsdelivered straight to your inbox every week.3) Take a look at our exclusive members-only area, The Mind Tools Club. Insideyou’ll find more tools and resources designed to help you improve your skills,faster. Everything is written in easy-to-understand language – perfect for peoplewith busy lives.• Explore more than 1,000 personal excellence tools – offeringeasy-to-follow advice.• Choose from audio downloads, assessment tests, one-hour studyworkbooks, articles, and more.• Go at your own pace, in your own time – learning in the way that best suits you.• Connect with other passionate and driven professionals in our thrivingcommunity forum.• Get “on-tap” advice and support from experienced career mentors and coaches.Join today and, as a thank you, we’ll give you four bonus career-enhancingcourses for free.I hope you enjoy exploring Mind Tools – and I look forward to hearing aboutyour progress!Are You Responsible For Training For Your Team orYour Organization?Mind Tools online training is accessible, saves money, and helps you buildconfident, capable and effective managers. With it, you can:• Set up corporate access to our rich blended learning environment,the Mind Tools Club.• Populate your intranet or learning management system with MindTools resources.• License our material to support specific training interventions.To find out more (or to explore other options) contact our organizationdevelopment team on +1 617 418 1731 (US) or +44 20 8144 5768 (UK), emailcorporate.enquiries@mindtools.com, or click here.James Manktelow, CEO, MindTools.com Name:Current Position:Date Started:Career Mission Statement (What you intend to accomplish, and why)Major Career Goals (What you need to accomplish in the medium term to further your mission)Goal:TargetDate:Goal:Target Date:Goal:TargetDate:Goal:Target Date:Goal:TargetDate:Goal:Target Date:Skills AuditA: I have accomplished this skill/ I demonstrate high competenceB: I have this skill/competency but some improvements could be madeC: I need to improve this skill/competencyD: I need to put in considerable work to develop this skill/competencyE: I need to acquire this skill/ develop this competencySkill/CompetencyRankSkill/CompetencyRankNow6m1yr3yrNow6m1yr3yr Personal Development Plan | Mind Tools 21Personal Development Plan WorksheetPrint off as many copies of this as you need for your personal use. Action Plan for the next _________ months (6/9/12).Development GoalAction StepsComplete by(Date)Obstacles/SolutionsEvaluation SignatureDate Personal Development Plan | Mind Tools 22I am committing to these goals, and I will review this Personal Development Plan on a regular basis and update it as necessary.Action PlanPrint off as many copies of this as you need for your personal use.