Personal Development

Jamie Trollope is a Market Research Manager within the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA). He began in the DVLA as an administrative assistant in the contact centre, answering telephone enquiries from the public and was promoted to his current position as an executive officer in 2008. The DVLA’s remit is to maintain accurate driver and vehicle registration records for the purposes of issuing driving licences, collecting vehicle excise duty and raising revenue for the Treasury through the sale of personalised number plates. Be able to assess and plan for personal professional development

Personal development is the process of “increasing your capacity and willingness to take control” (Pedlar, Burgoyne and Boydell 2007) through the “shaping and improving [of] an individual’s skills, knowledge and interests. ” (CMI, 2006) The responsibility of personal development is on the individual which is an important distinction. Although employers have a duty to ensure that an employee is competent and able to do the job for which they have been employed, how far that person wishes to develop is largely governed by their self motivation and drive.

There are of course, other factors that are applicable and these will be discussed in further detail later in this paper. David Kolb is an educational theorist who developed one of the most constructive models to aid understanding of the development process. Kolb (1984) defines experiential learning as “the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience. Knowledge results from the combination of grasping and transforming experience. ” Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory presents a cycle of four elements as detailed in Figure 1 below. Fig 1: Kolb’s Learning Cycle (Karin Kirk, www. sdl. org) The important point of Kolb’s work is that learning and development is a continuous cycle and although presented as a series of steps in this diagram, in reality the steps may occur in any order. Organisational objectives can then be met and exceeded through the application of this model as individuals perform a task, reflect on what went well and what needs to improve, understand how they can improve and then put in a plan of action to address the deficit. However, as valuable as concrete experience is for a leader, their emotional intelligence is often just as crucial.

Traditionally, a person’s intelligence was measured through their analytical and cognitive abilities (IQ). However, Daniel Goleman developed a framework of elements that define emotional intelligence as detailed below. Figure 2: Emotional Intelligence (www. mindtools. com) Self-Awareness| People with high emotional intelligence are usually very self-aware. They understand their emotions, and because of this, they don’t let their feelings rule them. They’re confident – because they trust their intuition and don’t let their emotions get out of control. | Self-Regulation| This is the ability to control emotions and impulses.

People who self-regulate typically don’t allow themselves to become too angry or jealous, and they don’t make impulsive, careless decisions. They think before they act. Characteristics of self-regulation are thoughtfulness, comfort with change, integrity, and the ability to say no. | Motivation| People with a high degree of emotional intelligence are usually motivated. They’re willing to defer immediate results for long-term success. They’re highly productive, love a challenge, and are very effective in whatever they do. | Empathy| This is perhaps the second-most important element of emotional intelligence.

Empathy is the ability to identify with and understand the wants, needs, and viewpoints of those around you. People with empathy are good at recognizing the feelings of others, even when those feelings may not be obvious. As a result, empathetic people are usually excellent at managing relationships, listening, and relating to others. They avoid stereotyping and judging too quickly, and they live their lives in a very open, honest way. | Social Skills| It’s usually easy to talk to and like people with good social skills, another sign of high emotional intelligence. Those with strong social skills are typically team players.

Rather than focus on their own success first, they help others develop and shine. They can manage disputes, are excellent communicators, and are masters at building and maintaining relationships. | Emotional Intelligence is essential for a leader as it aids in the understanding of people’s motivations and managing them effectively. Both training (including experiential learning) and development are required within an organisation as training will give staff the essential skills to perform their given role to the best of their ability but development will give colleagues the opportunity to reach their potential and take the company forward.

In order to develop, it is important to understand the requirements of your role and the organizational objectives. A useful tool in this process is a Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat (SWOT) analysis. This can help an individual understand their strengths, minimize weaknesses, and take the greatest possible advantage of opportunities available to you. A personal SWOT analysis for my role is detailed in Figure 3. Fig 3: Personal SWOT analysis Strengths| * I communicate well with my clients and team. * I have a methodical, analytical approach. Very self-confident, particularly when conducting presentations. * Experience of presenting to hundreds of delegates at public sector events. * I focus on the details to complete the task to a high standard. * Very self motivated. * I have attained a degree in English and History as well as qualifications in psychology. * Built a series of contacts with influential senior managers throughout the business. * Strong numerical skills, able to understand and manipulate complex statistical data. * Extensive research experience. * Able to cope well with pressure and stress of tight deadlines. Weaknesses| * My tendency to focus on the details can mean I miss the ‘bigger picture. ’ * Although I am self-motivated I sometimes find it difficult to motivate others, expecting them to have the same drive as myself. * I lack professional research qualifications. * I have had little operational experience in the business, meaning I lack a full understanding of business processes. * I can be impatient when explaining something I find to be self-evident. | Opportunities| * The process of ‘business led change’ adopted in the Agency will ensure that a large programme of high profile work will be undertaken by my team. I am undertaking a structured development programme which will give me further leadership experience. * My line manager is only temporarily promoted into her post. This gives rise to the potential of promotion when that period ends. * Budget has been secured for me to undertake professional research qualifications. | Threats| * There is potential that other areas within the business could take over our remit or that the work is outsourced. * The increase in work will increase pressure and stress, possibly leading to a drop in quality of work. There is the constant threat of redundancies in the public sector. Many agencies have laid off staff members, and DVLA has been challenged to make ? 100m year on year. * If the Agency changes its position on business led change, the research team could be rendered obsolete. | A SWOT analysis has to be put into context of the organisation to be of any significant benefit. Conditions and factors that affect an organisation’s structure and performance will determine the extent to which strengths and opportunities can be further developed and weaknesses and threats can be mitigated.

To help make decisions and to plan for future events, organisations need to understand the wider ‘meso-economic’ and ‘macro-economic’ environments in which they operate. (The meso-economic environment is the one in which we operate and have limited influence or impact, the macro-environment includes all factors that influence an organisation but are out of its direct control). (cipd. co. uk) A PESTLE analysis is a useful tool for understanding the ‘big picture’ of the environment in which an organization is operating. PESTLE stands for:

P – Political E – Economic S – Social T – Technological L – Legal E – Environmental There are many variations of a PESTLE analysis but the analysis tool I will be concentrating on however is STEEPLE (which also includes Ethical factors. ) Fig 4: STEEPLE analysis | Requirement| Impact on leadership| Social| * DVLA’s income ;amp; compliance rates are largely dependent on public spending power. For example, DVLA are now involved in Continuous Insurance Enforcement where all vehicles, unless declared off the road, have to be insured.

There are current social concerns that as premiums are so high and the financial penalty for not insuring is relatively low, the enforcement is not a driver for compliance. * There has been an increase in public service industrial action over the past 12 months over issues such as the Government pay and promotion freeze and the amendments to civil service pensions. * There is also a Government recruitment freeze. * The increasingly aging population means that there will be a higher proportion of elderly drivers on the roads than ever before giving rise to safety concerns. Public services, particularly the civil service which has a reputation for needless bureaucracy and waste, are under more Government and public scrutiny than ever. The Government has also taken the decision to privatise certain assets such as Shared Services which conducts all HR and payroll responsibilities for the Department for Transport. This has all given rise to a general lack of job security, the traditional reason many employees choose public service over the private sector.

Therefore, because of this and general public opinion, there can be a tendency for leaders to take the safe option when it comes to making decisions rather than being innovative. | Technological| * Continuous search for efficiency gains means that more and more transactions are going online. For example around 50% of all vehicle licensing (tax) and 40% of Driving Licence transactions (change of address, name etc) are now completed online. * As part of government pressure for DVLA to save ? 100m year on year, 4 change Initiatives have been introduced. One of these is to renegotiate the hugely expensive ICT contract. Links to other Agencies are becoming more common such as the Passport Agency and DWP and the use of technologies such as Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras to speed up links between DVLA and Police. | The spending review has inhibited innovation in technological terms. For example, DVLA currently employs Windows Vista on its machines, an operating system generally regarded as becoming obsolete by the private sector. The end goal is to switch all systems to a bespoke version of Windows 7 but this may not be for some time and even then Microsoft have lready demonstrated the Beta version of its new Windows 8 platform. The point is that a lack of innovation to push the boundaries of what is possible means that managers increasingly put pressure on staff to achieve transaction targets to maintain efficiency despite sometimes inefficient technology. I believe this is a significant threat to the progress of the Agency and the motivation of those who wish to develop. | Environmental| * The Chancellor of the Exchequer sets vehicle tax rates based on their CO2 emissions.

This is part of the government’s push for more environmentally friendly vehicles on the roads. * External auditing on environmental responsibility * Wider Government commitments on environment such as the Green Agenda, CO2 emissions, global warming, Kyoto Agreement etc| The environmental impact on leadership would be mostly keenly felt at an executive level as it is the Board members who have to directly report back to government on initiatives such as the Green Agenda. Given the drive for efficiency and accuracy I don’t believe this would have a great influence on lower line managers.

Whilst they would have a responsibility to act sensibly in terms of resource waste (use of paper etc) I don’t believe many operational practices would change as a result. | Economical| * Government challenge to save ? 100 Million year on year * Current spending freeze by Government, all spends, regardless of size require Director approval. * In-sourcing of traditionally outsource activities such as research and training. Stiffer competition for contracts that do go to tender. * Pension changes recommended by Lord Hutton’s report. * Current pay and promotion freeze by government. * Loss of Trading Fund status.

DVLA, despite raising significant revenue for the Treasury now have a budget allocated rather than being ‘self-sufficient. ’| The 4 change initiatives which have been set up to tackle the ? 100m spending challenge only account for a very small proportion of staff (all at manager grade) within the organisation. There are limited opportunities to be involved in this high level work. Additionally, there is the threat that these changes could be ‘inward focussed’ and deliver what the business needs but not necessarily what the customer needs. There is also the inevitability of job cuts to meet this target. Political| * The Civil Service is in place to serve the needs of government regardless of individual political views. Therefore all DVLA employees must be impartial to political parties * Red tape and spending challenges already discussed. In addition there is a review in place by government where in as many applicable instances as possible, any new piece of regulation must replace or supersede an old one rather than increase regulatory responsibilities on the public. * Financial transparency and accountability| As stated, employees must remain impartial despite their personal political beliefs.

Again, this is more applicable to executive leaders, who have to cascade government directives down the management chain. | Legal| * National and EU legislation DVLA must enforce e. g. Equalities Act, European Third Directive, Employment Law etc * Data protection and Freedom of Information requirements. | DVLA has mandatory responsibility to comply with legal regulations. Therefore, I don’t believe they have an influence on development within the Agency aside from ensuring individuals are able to access all opportunities fairly. Ethical| * Cleaner day to day production, recycling etc * Reasonable charges for transactions * Wider government ethical code| As above, DVLA’s ethical responsibilities are largely driven by higher leaders with information and directives filtering down. | It is worth noting that STEEPLE analysis will change depending on circumstances and the time at which it is conducted. For example, within the next 5 years the majority of DVLA’s transactions will be conducted on line, the ICT contract will be renegotiated and there is a possibility that the government-wide pay and recruitment freeze will end.

All of these events will further increase the opportunities for development. A number of other tools can be used to identify development opportunities such as one to one feedback with clients, colleagues or managers, 360 degree feedback and psychometric testing. All of these tools have their place and will aid in identifying where an individual can improve. 360 degree feedback can be particularly effective as it incorporates feedback from the worker, his/her peers, superiors, subordinates and customers, giving a very full and objective assessment.

Goals for self-development can then be set which will help develop the individual in their areas of weakness and ultimately benefit the organization. Another tool utilized within DVLA is the Personal Development Plan. Every team member should have a plan that has clear links with individual roles, team activities and corporate goals (businesslink. gov. uk). It is also important to record opportunities for team members to experience work outside their normal remit. This will enable them to reflect upon their own learning, performance and/or achievement and to plan for their personal and career development in a structured and time bound way.

As the diagram below demonstrates this should be a cyclical process where the team member and manager meet regularly to reflect on the development activities and plan future opportunities. Fig 5 (CMI, 2010): Fig 6: Personal Development Plan Activity| Month| By When| Personal Objectives| Business Objectives / Deliverables| DVLA Competency| Conducting the PDR training activity| 01/04/2011| 01/03/2012| To be able to conduct effective annual appraisals for my staff, set realistic and stretching objectives, gaining their buy-in for the year to come. To familiarise managers with the documentation required to conduct effective and development reviews. | Drive to Achieve Results Strives to improve performance through goal setting Implementing monitoring systems and over-coming resitance Planning and Organising Managing and Co-ordinating| Managing Conduct and Discipline| 01/04/2011| 01/03/2012| Effectively manage under performing team members and address unacceptable behaviour| To give participants the confidence to identify poor conduct and discipline and skills to know how and tackle them. | Drive to achieve results Judgement and Decision making

Analysis and problem solving Working collaboratively Influencing Others Self Awareness| Influencing Others| 01/04/2011| 01/03/2012| To adapt my communication style to the audience and enable them to see my point of view| Work towards positive outcomes by getting others to recognise and willingly accept your point of view. Use networking inside and outside of the Agency to build formal communication channels. Communicate effectively, taking into account other people’s beliefs, values and feelings. Use listening & probing skills to have a better understanding of the people you are trying to influence.