PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Instructions :
Format
This assessment item is designed to be used by you as an ongoing working document to assist you in identifying appropriate organisations that are matched with your career goals. If you will be completing an internship, you will also build on this document in subsequent internship assessment items. Your Professional Development Plan is designed to help you think through potential opportunities and pitfalls to better prepare you for such possibilities.
- Use the Assignments link on MySCU to submit your assessment as a Word document to Turnitin.
- Your plan should include an Executive Summary and a Table of Contents and start with a brief introduction and feature clear headings for easy reference.
- Writing in the first person is permitted, however you should remember that this is a university assessment and not a descriptive story. It is expected that you apply theory to a practical situation and demonstrate critical reflection and critical thinking.
- You are required to include a minimum of ten (10) well-integrated references in your report. The textbook only counts as one reference. You may use your Profiling for Success report and results from the SAL exercises as references.
Guidelines to your professional development plan
Succeeding in your first graduate role or in an internship involves a great deal of self-directed learning and initiative and involves a high degree of individual choice. To gain maximum benefit from these experiences, careful thought and planning is required. Your Professional Development Plan incorporates the initial formal stages of your career and/or internship planning process. It is a practical exercise with personal benefits – a real life self-management strategy to assist you in obtaining a suitable employment/internship position and developing your career.
The first three concepts of the SODI career planning model (see Reading 4.4) are the basis for this assessment. These include: Self awareness; Opportunity awareness; and Decision making and planning. (The final concept – Implementation consists of activities such as employment applications and interviews, which you have already completed in Assessment 1).
Your Professional Development Plan should include the following components:
Executive summary
Remember that an executive summary of a report is just that, a summary (and is not included in your total word count for this assessment). It contains:
- a statement of report purpose
- an overview of the actual and specific findings.
For this assessment, it should be no longer than one to two pages. The summary can only be written after you have completed your report. Write in ‘past’ tense (e.g. The purpose of this report was to … ). If an executive summary is well written the reader should be able to understand the main points, findings, and conclusions of the actual report without having to read the full report.
The Academic Skills Quick Guides will assist you to write a good Executive Summary http://scu.edu.au/teachinglearning/download.php?doc_id=12780&site_id=301&file_ext=.pdf
Table of contents
Ensure that each heading number, heading and page number is included and professionally laid out. The easiest and most professional way is to use the Word feature that automatically creates a table of contents for you.
- You can create a table of contents using the built-in heading styles and outline level formats in Microsoft Word. Use these consistently when typing your headings.
- Once you have finished typing your document, place your cursor at the beginning of your document, but after your title page then go to Insert, then Reference then Index and Tables, then Table of Contents.
- If you have formatted and numbered your headings and subheadings using these heading styles, you should instantly end up with a professional looking table of contents that can easily be updated as needed.
Section 1 – Introduction
Include a brief overview of what you are about to discuss and the order in which you will do this. Check the Academic Skills Quick Guides for tips http://scu.edu.au/teachinglearning/download.php?doc_id=12761&site_id=301&file_ext=.pdf
Section 2 – Self awareness
This section should demonstrate a solid self-awareness and discuss your career related strengths and weaknesses. Your discussion should focus on the following Organisational Behaviour (OB) factors (approximately 2 paragraphs for each):
2.1 Personality
What insights have you obtained about your personality, for example from personality models such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator or the Big Five personality model? (Topic 5)
2.2 Values and Motivators
What are your most important attitudes, values and motivators? (Topics 5 & 6)
2.3 Emotional intelligence
What are your emotional intelligence abilities? (Topic 7)
2.4 Leadership
What is your leadership aspiration and potential (or demonstrated ability)? (Topic 9)
2.5 Power and Politics
What are your approaches to power, politics and influence? (Topic 10)
Remember your self-awareness needs to be relevant to your career planning.
How will each of the above factors influence your career? Link this discussion to the results of your Profiling for Success Type at Work Indicator report as well as pertinent results from your textbook Self Assessment Library (SAL) activities. Additionally you may wish to include results of other relevant self-awareness tools, approaches or discoveries you have made about yourself during your reading for this unit.
Section 3 – Opportunity awareness
The second segment of the SODI career planning model (opportunity awareness) is concerned with knowledge of the world of work and training. Your discussion should focus on the concept of career and explore industry sectors and occupational positions that you are interested in.
3.1 My career
Describe how you visualise your perfect internship/graduate position and broader career in 1–2 paragraphs.
Critically evaluate how your descriptions compare and contrast with the literature covered in this unit relating to definitions of careers, career management and career success (Topic 4). Do not use dictionary or Wikipedia definitions in this discussion. Instead, you should be evaluating the descriptions contained in academic writings such as your Readings. As part of your critical evaluation consider the different elements of critical thinking as outlined in Reading 1.1 (see Box 1.1, p. 7 in particular), to ensure:
- firstly, you understand your underlying assumptions
- secondly, you understand the contexts that have shaped your image
- thirdly, you are aware of potential alternatives
- finally that you ask lots of questions to assist you in evaluating all sources of information.
3.2 Industry sector and location
Give a detailed description of the industry sector that you want to be working in either for your internship or on graduation (2–3 paragraphs). Include information on the opportunities and challenges within this industry sector. Use information gained from discussion with industry insiders, from academic journals and from your observations and general research.
Section 4 – Decision making and planning
The third segment of the SODI model (decision making) addresses how to actually go about making decisions relevant to career planning or development. Refer to the literature on Problem Solving and Decision Making (Topic 8) and critically evaluate how an understanding of these theories can be of assistance to the decision-making and problem-solving processes you will be using when seeking your internship/graduate employment. You must compare and contrast at least two approaches/theories (approximately 3–4 paragraphs).
Your discussion should identify factors that will be important in your internship/graduate position decision such as the geographic location, paid/unpaid nature, opportunity for training and development, opportunity for ongoing employment, and so forth.
Section 5 – Goals
Setting goals (both short and long term) is important in career planning. Challenging, but realistic goals can have powerful positive influence on career success.
Identify your top five goals relating to your career success and rank them in order of preference. Use appropriate headings for each goal, numbered 5.1 – 5.5. Choose your goals from any of the following categories:
- career satisfaction
- status and respect
- personal relationships
- leisure
- learning and education
- spiritual growth and religion
- material rewards and possessions
- other.
For each goal, develop a SMART goal statement using the following guidelines:
- begin each with the word ‘To … ’
- be specific
- quantify the goal (i.e. ensure it is measurable)
- each goal should be attainable, realistic and time bound.
Referring back to approaches as outlined in Reading 1.1 (see Box 1.1, p. 7 in particular), critically reflect on how and why each goal is important to you. Each reflection should be approximately 1 paragraph in length.
Section 6 – Conclusion
Within this section restate the purpose of the report, then provide an overview of the main points covered in your analysis. Ensure that you do not include any new information, only that which has been discussed within the main body of the report.
Reference list
A minimum of ten (10) well-integrated reference sources is required. Students must use the Harvard referencing guidelines.
Solution.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN
The essence of the report below was to exhibit the most suitable professional development plan that provides the best strategy and opportunity for pursuing a career in event coordination – with a particular focus on sports management. The report started by introducing the rationale behind the establishment and implementation of an individual development plan, including an outline of why it is overly critical as a determiner of the success in one’s career. Regarding the pursuit of event coordination profession, the report includes the self-awareness section which outlines the outstanding character traits that portray an individual’s suitability to pursue the career development as an events coordinator.
More so, the report also included an opportunity awareness section. Ideally, the above section further analyzed the nature of the event coordination profession particularly in reference to sports management. It included the evaluation of all the possible alternatives of event coordination jobs in the above area. More so, it featured a clear stipulation of all the opportunities for career development as well as the most common challenges facing an event coordinator in the overly broad sports management field.
The report further discussed the basic
decision making and planning process required for promoting success in the
operations of an event coordinator. The steps in the decision making and
planning process were established in
accordance with the provisions of organization
behavior as advised by prominent experts
in the above discipline. Finally, the
report also enumerated a number of smart
goals with critical reflection portraying why each of the featured goals was
suitable for enhancing the career
development of an event coordinator.
Table of Contents
3.2 Industry Sector and Location. 9
4 Decision Making and Planning. 9
5.3 Personal Relationships. 11
5.4 Learning and Education. 12
5.5 Material Rewards and Possessions. 12
The essence of the following individual professional development plan is providing the best strategy through which to excel in my pursuit of becoming a professional event coordinator – with a specific focus on sports management. The development plan features the evaluation of personal characteristics that specific predispositions that play a huge role in promoting the above pursuit. In addition to analyzing the individual development needs, the plan also incorporates the analysis of other auxiliary opportunities that strengthen the outstanding personal factors promoting the quest to becoming a successful event coordinator. The plan also stipulates the most appropriate decision-making criteria necessary in such an endeavor. Specific goals and targets of are also part of the professional development plan illustrated below. Most importantly, the development plan below follows a structure intended to establish the best capacity for competitive event coordinating from the sports management perspective.
It is imperative for an event coordinator to exhibit inherent characteristics that demonstrate the suitability of the above career in him or her (Krow, 2016). In light of the above, the following aspects help to rationalize my suitability for the event coordination profession.
Personality traits stand out as the indicators of an individual’s emotion and behavior that create a better picture of how well one is suited towards undertaking a given activity (Robbins et al., 2010). Regarding sports management, an event coordinator requires personality traits that help in creating good rapports between many stakeholders at different levels at the same time. The cornerstone of a successful career as an event manager lies not only within the development of skills, interests, and values but also in personality traits. In light of the above, I believe in my outstanding attributes’ ability to see me through successfully as an event coordinator.
My attitude is both positive and optimistic. My enthusiasm incorporates keen and intense interest that always stands out as an inspiration to others. I have no problem working under the stipulated moral and ethical principles expected from sports management. I am goal-focused and always strives to meet the objectives that govern both my professional as well as my personal life. I am good in networking as well as self-confident – which are paramount personality traits required in an event coordinator working in a complex field such as events management.
The pride of an event coordinator is seeing a smoothly running event since it stands out as an exhibition of his or her true professionalism. Some of the most important values and motivators that facilitate the success of event management include the following. The first is an orientation to detail. I have the ability to assess all situations as soon as they take place which helps me to be in a position to provide what is needed at a particular time. The other value is organization. Ideally, organization features the provision of the best services and maintaining excellent records in the process. The field of sports management is organization intensive which stands out as an excellent personal motivator.
An engaging personality that includes the ability to smile reassuringly even when things are not working well is also very necessary in event coordination. I have priory worked and practiced workplace charm and diplomacy. Complex careers such as sports management are a suitable area to express my ability to employ such interpersonal skills exhaustively. More so, energy and enthusiasm towards challenging tasks always propel me towards experimenting challenging activities in events coordination – which I have in the past managed excellently.
Emotional intelligence plays an integral part in helping to accurately predict the ability of individuals to regulate themselves as they manage others in the best way to foster success (Khokhar and Kush, 2009). Unlike the case of IQ, a person not born with emotional intelligence can acquire it through thorough practice and gradual improvement (Robbins et al., 2010). Over the years, I have practiced on emotional intelligence, and I have sufficient qualities that I can put into action through pursuing a career as an event coordinator in the challenging sports management profession.
I have the ability to handle criticism, that is common in the job of an event coordinator, without unnecessary blame, anxiety, denial or excuses. I use criticism to find areas that need improvement or correction for better chances of success in the future. I am a good listener too. The practical application of the above aspect of emotional intelligence is that it opens up the mind of an event coordinator to help him or her to incorporate as many ideas as possible from various stakeholders which increase the chances of success as well as the professionalism of events especially in challenging fields such as sports management.
Although there are many qualities of a good leader, leadership from the perspective of event coordination focuses much efforts on a few qualities that stand out as the most applicable in the pursuit of undertaking extremely challenging careers. Although the field of sports management is overly demanding, my experience so far has facilitated the development of the following leadership qualities that will play a huge role in promoting my success as an event coordinator in the above professional field.
I am visionary which helps me generate exciting and bright ideas that are possible to accomplish. More so, I not only create ideas but also articulate and mobilize others towards its materialization. I am courageous as well. Ideally, courage is imperative in the process of coordination events that are crowded by myriads of uncertainties as is the case in sports. Last, but not least, I am a strategic planner. Events coordination is highly speculative and requires a lot of efforts regarding strategic planning (Goldblatt, 2005). The field of sports management is highly complex owing to the fact that it incorporates many independent stakeholders. For successful event coordination in the above field, the ability to make establish and implement strategic plans is vital.
Power and politics are a huge determiner of the success of most endeavors undertaken in any organization. Depending on the level of an employee in the general organization structure, certain degrees of politics and power are required to facilitate the success of the given employees in their operations. The more complicated the job description of an employee is, the more necessary aspects of politics and power become. The rationale for the above conclusion finds its basis in the fact that politics play an integral role in influencing power and determining the productivity of various operations (Lowes, 2004).
In the pursuit of successfully venturing into sports management as an event coordinator, I would establish the professional behavior of delegation that gives everybody working under me the power to make and implement their decisions. I would follow that through with rewarding all the best performers and making them supervisors over others. Regarding politics, I have in the past exhibited my ability to establish a structure of clear chains of command and policies that enable everybody working under me to remain focused, work in collaboration with others, and in the process foster the highest degree of productivity – which is the core of successful event coordination.
There are some jobs that one can pursue as an events coordinator. However, my interest is specifically within the sports management field. More so, event coordination in the above area could take some forms. Sports management is overly extensive and includes many departments. In light of the above, event coordination in sports could be in the form of one of the following alternatives: fundraising events coordinator, special events coordinator, tournament coordinator, awarding coordinator, talent search events coordinator, corporate social responsibility events coordinator, among others (Barnes, 2014).
It does not matter what alternative of event coordination in the sports management field one gets. The essential factors facilitating success in all the above options is fully understanding the exact expectation from each (Robbins et al., 2010). A fundraising events coordinator must exhibit charisma, trustworthiness, and charm to attract many well-wishers. A special events coordinator must follow up with the general situations and expectations of all the stakeholders expected to attend the event. A tournament event coordinator must be conversant with all the categories of sports, their individual schedules, and calendars, as well as sufficient data regarding similar events held in the past.
3.2 Industry Sector and Location
The field of sports management is overly broad and encompasses various business aspects of recreation and sports. Other than events coordination, sports management offers interns and graduates the chance to try out opportunities in management, business administration, marketing, and accounting, among others. Each of the above career opportunities in sports management has their particular challenges (Nolan, 2012). Regarding events management, as is my career choice, the outstanding challenges include the following.
First, it is not easy to set one’s foot as an event coordinator in the above field. Getting internships depends on a lot on luck and getting a job offer mostly requires one to have spent a significant amount of time as an intern. Secondly, one must be a good in networking, that is, a people person. Notably, sports management finds its basis on social dynamics. As an events manager in the above field, one requires communicating with different people day-to-day. Another challenge surfaces regarding working hours, and the intensity of traveling one has to do. Sports management is one field that does not guarantee regular working hours. As an events coordinator, one has to be ready to work odd hours – such as weekends – and travel a lot in the pursuit of making the necessary networks that facilitate the success of event coordination in the above field.
4 Decision Making and Planning
Event coordination usually features a myriad of problems that require solutions. Consequently, decision-making and planning are always a part of the necessary skills to be taken by an event coordinator. Ideally, an event coordinator must be aware that it is not always easy to realize the nature or scope of the necessary decisions required from one kind of activity to another. Events are organized with the intention of benefiting many stakeholders. Therefore, an event coordinator must embrace the fact that decision making and planning is imperative in their career. The decision-making process is not complicated. It is best exhibited through a structure encompassing five basic steps: identifying the need for decision making, analyzing the possible reasons, selecting the most optimal solution, implementing the chosen decision, and monitoring the impact of the applied decision (Silvers, 2011).
While planning the stages of an event, it is important to spend ample time determining the parameters of specific decisions (Morselli, 2015). That is, reviewing the scope of the need to make a particular decision. Some of the common questions that surface in the identification of the need to make a decision are: Why is it necessary to make a decision? What do you want to achieve from making that decision? What are the important factors affecting the decision? Matters of opportunity, incident, as well as the environment, also surface in the above stage. The analysis of the available options features the generation of all possible alternatives through brainstorming, discussions, or consulting with various stakeholders. The evaluation of the generated options is regarding effectiveness, alignment with policy and standards, as well as its fitness to meet a given purpose.
Selecting the most suitable solution requires the knowledge of how the decision surfaced and who makes the decision (Jain and Nguyen, 2009). Is it the event coordinator, the event owner, or a committee panel? Nonetheless, there should be a clearly stipulated contingency plan put in place should the selected solution requires changes. Implementing the decision features important aspects of event coordination and management such as the identification of the necessary resources, the allocation of such resources, and the specification of the outstanding objectives. Establishing the necessary controls and protocols as well as delegating and empowering junior workers to implement the selected decision is also a key aspect of decision implementation (Flowers and Gregson, 2012). Finally, monitoring the impact of the applied decision features the use of reports and observations to record progress. Determining both the side effects as well as the effectiveness of the implemented decision are the fundamental methods of evaluating its real importance in the event coordination and management process.
To be a member of the committee of event coordinators for the Ministry of Sports for the next twelve years. The essence of the above goal is to act as a constant reminder of my desired epitome of my career. Following the hierarchy of needs as stipulated by Abraham Maslow, working as an event coordinator in the Ministry of Sports would be a mark of self-actualization and thus is a priority goal.
To be one of the most reputable event coordinators in my state by the next eight years. It is possible to attain a certain career-oriented objective just as planned. However, attaining it is merely the most important thing. Having a significant perspective of status and respect attached to the attainment of career objectives is always far much better. It inspires one to gather more motivation for soaring higher in one’s career.
To establish an extensive network of the most significant sport management stakeholders in my state over the next five years. The profession of event coordination requires one to work with many people from many areas. More so, the need for establishing networks is more in sports management since it is a field that features too many stakeholders – both from the government and the private sectors. To successfully coordinate such a huge stakeholder platform, one must establish as many personal relationships with as many stakeholders as possible.
To finish formal education and gain experience in event coordination within the sports management through internships or temporary employment over the next five years. The essence of the above goal is establishing the necessary confidence required in the pursuit of following up with the event coordination career. A certain level of education and learning – both in class as well as experience-based – is necessary before venturing into real job atmosphere. Internships are a very suitable way to put the classroom education into practice in preparation for the actual career as an event coordinator.
5.5 Material Rewards and Possessions
To use the earnings from my job as an events coordinator to buy my dream home by the next 15 years. In the pursuit of appreciating one’s career, it is imperative that one has enough confidence that his or her career is lucrative enough to help in the attainment of personal life goals. Even for hobbyists, a good life is very critical in the lives of everybody. Therefore, establishing a way through which to use one’s career in improving one’s lifestyle is very important for fostering positive career development.
As established all over the above report, its core purpose is building my individual professional development
plan that provides the proper guidance for succeeding in the event coordination
career. The self-awareness section exhibits my personal traits that best suits
career development as an event coordinator in the sports management field. The
opportunity awareness section, on the other
hand, established how well I understand the factors affecting the development of a career in the sports
management field. The decision making and planning section highlights the essential steps applicable to an event
coordinator’s decision-making process.
Finally, the smart goals establish the basic
benchmark that provides possible
motivation towards following the best actions in the pursuit of building and appreciating the event
coordination profession.
Barnes, J. (2014). What Becomes of Our Graduates? New Employee Job Transition and Socialization in Sports Administration. Sport Management Education Journal, 8(1), pp.27-34.
Flowers, A. and Gregson, K. (2012). Decision-Making Factors in Selecting Virtual Worlds for Events: Advocacy, Computer Efficacy, Perceived Risks, and Collaborative Benefits. Event Management, 16(4), pp.319-334.
Goldblatt, J. (2005). Special events. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley.
Jain, L. and Nguyen, N. (2009). Knowledge processing and decision making in agent-based systems. Berlin: Springer.
Khokhar, D. and Kush, T. (2009). Emotional Intelligence and Work Performance among Executives. Europe’s Journal of Psychology, 5(1).
Krow, S. (2016). What Are the Duties of an Events Coordinator? [online] Chron. Available at: http://work.chron.com/duties-events-coordinator-12400.html [Accessed 1 Oct. 2016].
Lowes, M. (2004). Neoliberal Power Politics and the Controversial Siting of the Australian Grand Prix Motorsport Event in an Urban Park. Society and Leisure, 27(1), pp.69-88.
Morselli, A. (2015). The decision-making process between convention and cognition. ECONOMICS & SOCIOLOGY, 8(1), pp.205-221.
Nolan, T. (2012). 5 Career Challenges for Sports Management Professionals. [online] Sports Management Degree. Available at: http://sportsmanagementdegree.org/2012/5-career-challenges-for-sports-management-professionals/ [Accessed 1 Oct. 2016].
Robbins, S., Millett, B., Judge, T. and Jones, M. (2010). Organization Behavior: The Essentials. Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: Pearson Australia.
Silvers, J. (2011). Decision Making Systems. [online] Julia Silvers. Available at: http://www.juliasilvers.com/embok/decision_systems.htm [Accessed 1 Oct. 2016].
