Personal development planning (PDPs)
Where do I want to be? - Setting your goals
- Career planning is a must for everybody working in public health.
You are far more likely to stick to your plan and reach your goals if you have support.
- Goal-setting is important for thinking about your ideal future, and for motivating yourself to turn your vision into reality.
- Your goals should be clear, realistic, desirable and achievable.
- A first step is to look at yourself – your strengths, your preferences, your values, your preferred learning styles.
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What is a PDP?
- an individual plan to suit you
- a systematic way of identifying and addressing your educational and professional development needs
A PDP is a tool that can identify areas for further development and encourage lifelong learning. A PDP can identify goals for the forthcoming year and methods for achieving these goals. PDPs have been advocated by the royal colleges as a basis for continuing professional development.
What makes a good PDP?
- Time and thought
- It identifies a learning need
- It sets out the method of meeting that learning need
- It identifies the resources/support required
- It takes timing into account
- It is achievable
- It is a product of reflection
Tips for a useful PDP
- It has to be personal to you
The act of writing your goals down vastly increases your chance of success.
- It has to be a working document, something you continuously update
- It has to be flexible (used as a guide only)
- It has to be supported by evidence
- It has to be reviewed regularly
Good personal development planning will help you achieve your potential as it will help you to identify skills gaps and improvement areas/learning needs.
There are a number of tools and frameworks to help you self-assess your public health skills and knowledge.