What are Personal Development Objectives

Customer Success Updated by Customer Success

Personal Development Objectives

Development Objectives are specific areas in which you need to develop in order to achieve your Performance Objective, career goals or to improve an aspect of your performance.

A set of Development Objectives is sometimes referred to as a "Personal Development Plan".

  • A Development Objective could be about developing a specific skill or behaviour, or increasing your knowledge in a particular area. The Objective may relate to something that you need to improve, or it might equally be about further developing an existing strength.

Like Performance Objectives, Development Objectives should be SMART:

  • Specific and Stretching - the Objective description should be clear, precise and unambiguous. The objec­tive should also be stretch­ing in some way (but still real­is­ti­cal­ly achievable).
  • Measurable - what will success look like and how will it be measured (e.g. in terms of quantity or quality)? One or more specific measures should be added to the "Measure of Success" box for each Objective.
  • Achievable and Agreed - the Objective should be realistically achievable (but not too easily), taking into account the available time frame, resources and support. It should also be agreed upon between the individual and manager or team.
  • Relevant - the Objective should support the achievement of the Organisational Goals and / or those of your team.
  • Time-bound - a specific date should be agreed for achieving the Objective. This should be entered into the "Target Completion" box.

Here is a video to help guide you.

How to prepare personal development objectives from Clear Review on Vimeo.

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Setting Personal Development Objectives

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