PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Personal and Professional Development

[Name of the Institute]

Introduction

The most critical success factor in today's competitive landscape is development. To become a competent leader, personal development along with professional development has become critically important for an employee. Personal development is similar to personal grooming, where an individual develops his/her true talents and abilities to effectively help and guide others. On the other hand, professional development is much related to moving outside the comfort zone. This not only allows a person to improve the ability to innovate, but also helps in increasing the command over the chosen field. By considering the importance of development in today's competitive landscape, it is quite frequently suggested that personal development encompasses professional development within a person (i.e. thriving human life).

“Personal development + Professional Development = Effective and Capable Leader” - (SCG, 2012).

This certainly shows that competent leaders are developed through personal and professional lifelong development.

Discussion

Work Based Problem

With over 8 years of experience in the construction industry, many problems have been encountered. Some of the most frequent work-based problems encountered in the construction industry are as follows;

Shortage of Skilled Workers

Construction in United Kingdom has been at its peak for many years, but the shortage of skilled labour in the construction industry have jeopardise the overall construction standards. The construction industry has continually declined due to skills shortage. With an ageing population in United Kingdom, the construction industry has continually welcomed talent from across the globe (Metro, 2013). This is due to the fact that 360 million people are ageing and will not be able to participate in the construction sector (Adams, S. 2012).

Declining Productivity

Productivity is the principal factor that enhances competitive advantage of a construction company. This suggests that sustaining competitive advantage is highly dependent upon productivity. With over 90 to 95 million low-skilled workforce, the ability to efficiently sustain competitive advantage has significantly declined.

Multi-tasking

One of the most common construction based work problem is multi-tasking. With a variety of tasks and short-deadlines, employees tend to complete many tasks at the same time. This has significantly impacted the performance and productivity of the team. In addition, the ability to pay attention on a particular job has significantly reduced in the construction industry.

Discussion of Learning Styles

Learning could be defined as a dynamic process to influence an individual to cause significant change in his/her knowledge, attitude and belief towards an object (CIDDE, 2010). An individual can be influenced to learn through a variety of learning styles. Some of the pivotal learning styles proposed by NDTRC (2012) are as follows;

Sociological Learning

Sociological training style focuses on teaming individuals together to benefit greatly through group activities. By considering the nature of the work, it has become necessary for employees to be teamed together for performing a particular job. Sociological training can significantly help in motivating the employees to learn new skills and experience through cooperative learning style.

Tactile Learning

This style suggests learning by activities rather than through words or sound. By giving an opportunity to do something can really increase the ...