I’ve had my personal development plan meeting this week. You may know it as an appraisal. Now I talk with my boss about performance and objectives all of the time but my PDP allows a once a year formal discussion about how well we are doing. It’s a two way street.
As with all processes in the public sector, there is a special form to be filled in. This one is 13 pages long and comes in five sections.
Part A was fine. It is a review of objectives from the last PDP and I could fill that in no problem. Part B, a review of competencies and values didn’t present a problem either.
Parts C and E, however were a different kettle of fish. These sections were a review of personal development and my plans in this area for the coming year. Last year I didn’t put anything in the boxes and for this year I’ve done the same – nothing.
Every year we have the same discussion along the lines of ‘Is there any training you need?’ to which I reply ‘If there is I’ll just go and do it.’ Perhaps my position is unique but I don’t see training and development as a classroom activity, it is something that you do every day. It is a breathe in and breathe out activity as long as you make the effort. Everything that you do presents a learning opportunity and so defining a list of the things that I am planning to get my head around and improve at next year would be a very very long list.
So once again we have, my boss and I, agreed that we’ll take the opportunities as they arise. Indeed I felt I had learnt a couple of things just in the course of our conversation that morning. So nothing on my form doesn’t mean that I will be doing nothing just that there is too much to define.
By the way part D is about next year’s objectives
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 