Una vez que el Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones certifique que el plan aprobado ha sido ejecutado efectivamente, procederá a extinguir:

Three main pieces of documentation were developed, to support the GMP PDP system. These were: a Personal Development Action Plan (PDAP), a Progress Monitoring Form and an Annual Report. Accompanying this documentation were the supporting materials, in the form of: a

comprehensive set of interactive Guidance Notes, a Self-evaluation document and a Skills-assessment document – all of which were for optional use by the GMP PDP Group as needed.

An important consideration in designing the PDP documentation to support PDP for the GMP Group was to ensure that they were fit for purpose, as well as being simple and easy to use. To ensure this, and whilst still adhering to the principles of PDP, every effort was made to keep the documentation to support this GMP PDP system, to a minimum. Keeping the design of the document simple is something that Floodgate and Nixon (1994) advise in the development and implementation of PDPs (plans). In this case, this was done to try to mitigate some of the challenges faced with introducing a new concept, system, processes and a new way of working, via remote means; as well as taking into account the already significant workloads that these individuals had to cope with.

The GMP Personal Development Action Plan (PDAP)

The Personal Development Action Plan (PDAP) (as shown in Table 4.) was used by the individual to help guide their planning towards their desired career goal(s) over a five-year period.

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Table 4. The GMP Personal Development Action Plan (not to scale)

The six-column step-by-step approach helped the individual to identify their development needs and formulate these into personal development goals; which are then broken down into Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound (SMART) objectives. SMART objectives first appeared in the 1980s as a mnemonic to help with writing clear and concise objectives for project management; with its origin attributed to Doran (1981) – and its mnemonic referred to as Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound. For the purposes of helping the GMP PDP Group with their planning, and to focus their objectives on their specific needs and relate them to their goals, the “R” was changed from “Realistic” to “Relevant”.

My Five-Year Personal Development Plan Period of Plan: From: to: My long-term goal(s) My personal development goals My personal development objectives My schedule of activities and resources required Time Frame Evidence of achievement of objectives Date achieved

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For planning and developing the PDAP, the individual outlined a schedule of activities with identified resources and costs needed to achieve each of these SMART objectives; which were then placed within a time frame. The evidence of achievement and the date of each achievement served as a record and a repository of information from which the individual could draw when updating or building their CV.

Developing the Personal Development Action Plan

The structure of the PDAP was adapted from PDP and other planning models used outside of the PDP arena. This included logical frameworks – a planning tool developed in the USA in the late 1960s and with adapted versions now used widely in the field of International Development (Dey et al., 2008). The principles of the logical framework are to plan,

implement and evaluate improvement projects dynamically in order to achieve operational excellence (Dey et al., 2008). It was not only the application of the planning, implementing and evaluating elements of the logical framework that seemed appropriate for structuring the PDAP, but also the standardised format of what is to be achieved, the activities that will be carried out to achieve the goals and objectives, what resources would be required and how this achievement would be measured and verified (Dey and Hariharan, 2006). However, not all of the elements of the logical framework approach could be suitably applied to the

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complex relationships with organisations as well as partners (Dale, 2003) and its function as a management analytical tool to enable manager and stakeholder analysis, development of a hierarchy of objectives and

selection of preferred implementation strategy with sustained outcomes did not apply (Dey et al., 2008). Whilst there was stakeholder involvement in this PDP programme in the form of funding, and while the individual would be able to demonstrate evidence of using their funds for PDP purposes, there was no direct stakeholder involvement in the individual‟s PDP. So in dispensing with the elements that were not appropriate to fulfil the function of a personal action plan, and picking up on the ones that could, the PDAP followed an adapted logical framework approach, in that it provided a step-by-step structure to developing and recording the individual‟s plans.

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One of the elements from the logical framework that was omitted in the PDAP, and something that was picked up in the piloting of the PDAP and other documentation, was the column to take into account any obstacles that might prevent the individual from achieving their goals and objectives. Following discussion with the individuals piloting the documents and some reflection, it was decided that the column should be left out. The decision to do this was balanced by the conscious effort to keep the PDAP as simple as possible, as well as thinking about what the effect might be on the individual in considering barriers that they had no control over. This is not to say that the barriers should not be considered, just that effort might be better served in reflecting upon these barriers in their progress monitoring and looking at ways of how to work around them next time rather than facing the de-motivating aspect of having to consider and plan for them beforehand.

The Self-evaluation document

To help the individuals with starting their planning, and working through the processes of the GMP PDP cycle (as seen in figure 5, pg. 110), a self- evaluation document was developed, as shown in Table 5.

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Table 5. The GMP Self-evaluation document (not to scale)

What are my interests? Think about both your personal and

work-related interests.

What are my values?

Think about what it is that motivates you

This simple document allowed the individuals to think about their interests and values; what it is that interests them both personally and

professionally, and what it is that motivates them. This was to help them think about their future careers, by looking at, and answering the question of “where am I now?” Once the individual had begun the process of thinking about where they would like to see their careers (and themselves) in five years hence – that is, answering the question of “where do I want to be?” they could think about setting targets. These targets then became the basis of their personal development action planning, and were formulated and written into their personal development action plan as the personal development goals and objectives that they identified as needing to develop in order to help them achieve their career aim(s) – that is, their long-term goal.

117 The Skills-assessment document

A skills-assessment document was developed to help support the self- evaluation and setting targets stages of the GMP PDP cycle (see figure 5, pg. 110) is shown in Table 6.

Table 6. The GMP PDP Skills-assessment document (not to scale)

What skills am I good at? What skills do I need to work on?

The skills-assessment document was designed to get the individual thinking about the skills that they are good at and focusing on the skills that they felt they needed to improve, in relation to their personal

development action planning and career development. It aimed to help the individual to answer the question of “what do I need to do to help me get there?” Identifying skills for development and development needs is not always an easy thing to do, and may not necessarily be something that is known until the need arises.

In 2001, to support postgraduate research training in the UK, the Research Councils developed a Joint Skills Statement (Appendix 5), which set out seven areas of skills development which a research student is expected to

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develop as part of their postgraduate research programme (RCUK, 2001).

These 36 critical skills, ranging from research management to career

development, also includes the “soft skills” such as, personal effectiveness,

communication, networking and team working. Although this requirement for research skills training was initially applicable to Research Council funded postgraduate researchers, it has now been adopted as the gold standard and is used as the basis for research skills training programmes in most Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the UK. For the GMP PDP Group, a link to the Joint Skills Statement was included in the supporting materials (the Guidance Notes) as a means to help them with thinking about their skills development.

The Progress Monitoring and Annual Report forms

The PDP documentation also included a Progress Monitoring form

(Appendix 6) and an Annual Report form (Appendix 7). These documents were included in the appendices since the accompanying explanatory text attached to each of the documents made them too big to include in the body of the thesis text. The Progress Monitoring form used questions adapted from the reflective cycle developed by Gibbs (1988) and was designed to help the individual to reflect on the progress of their PDP. The other purposes for this document, and the Annual Report form (which was a simple template to briefly outline PDP activity and future PDP plans) were to help the individual keep on track with their PDP, provide a basis for future PDP planning, and act as a motivational means to encourage the

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individual to keep going with their PDP. The Annual Report form also provided the budgetary information required for the GMP annual reporting.

The Guidance Notes

The Guidance Notes (Appendix 8) were developed to help the group with completing their PDAPs. It was divided into ten sections and covered information ranging from an introduction to PDP, working through the PDP cycle, writing SMART objectives, identifying individual learning styles (to help with deciding on the type of learning activity to undertake to meet the objective), Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and

troubleshooting. The document was developed with each section

hyperlinked, so that the user could dip into it as needed. The intention was that it was for optional use as needed, and not a document to work through page by page.

Included in the Guidance Notes were links to career development websites, which aimed to help kick start the self-evaluation process, and help the individuals to reflect on where they are now in terms of their careers and where they might like to see themselves in five years time.