UNIT 2: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR STRATEGIC MANAGERS

Unit 2: Professional Development for

Strategic Managers

Unit code: F/602/2061

Level 7: BTEC Professional
Credit value: 5
Guided learning hours: 10

Unit aim
This unit provides the learner with the methods and techniques to assess the
development of their own skills to support the achievement of strategic direction.

Unit introduction
This unit is designed to enable learners to take responsibility for their learning and
development needs to gain the personal and professional skills needed to support
the strategic direction of an organisation. Learners can achieve this through
analysing their current skills and preparing and implementing a personal
development plan.
This unit highlights the importance of seeking feedback from others to improve
performance by continuously reviewing learning needs. The development of
appropriate personal and professional skills will allow learners to cope with
demanding responsibilities and career progression.
Learners will conduct a skills audit to evaluate the strategic skills they need to meet
current and future leadership requirements and then use it to identify their
preferred learning style. This will also inform the structure of a personal
development plan.
Evidence for this unit needs to be generated continuously throughout the
qualification, enabling learners to take ownership of their development needs.
Learners will need to demonstrate that they have a regularly updated and realistic
personal development plan that fits with their preferred learning style.
This unit will also enable learners to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of their
learning against the achievement of strategic goals and their chosen career path.
 UNIT 2: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR STRATEGIC MANAGERS

Learning outcomes and assessment criteria

In order to pass this unit, the evidence that the learner presents for assessment
needs to demonstrate that they can meet all the learning outcomes for the unit. The
assessment criteria determine the standard required to achieve the unit.
On completion of this unit a learner should:

Learning outcomes Assessment criteria

1 Be able to assess personal and 1.1 use appropriate methods to

professional skills required to evaluate personal skills required
achieve strategic goals to achieve strategic goals
1.2 apply techniques to assess the
professional skills required to
support the strategic direction of
the organisation
2 Be able to conduct a skills audit to 2.1 carry out a skills audit to evaluate
identify learning style the strategic skills needed to
meet current and future
leadership requirements
2.2 apply appropriate techniques to
identify preferred learning style
3 Be able to implement a personal 3.1 construct a personal development
development plan plan that meets leadership
development requirements
identified in the skills audit
3.2 use suitable methods to assess
the outcomes of a personal
development plan against
personal work objectives
3.3 evaluate the impact of own
learning against the achievement
of strategic goals
 UNIT 2: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR STRATEGIC MANAGERS

Unit content

1 Be able to assess personal and professional skills required to achieve

strategic goals

Personal skills: time management eg using time effectively, analysing time

spent to improve productivity, setting SMART (specific, measurable, achievable,
realistic, time-based) objectives, prioritising work tasks, dealing with time
wasters, effective delegation; stress management; problem solving; decision
making; effective communication eg active listening, questioning, handling
conflict
Professional skills: counselling and mentoring to support staff with their own
learning and development requirements; coaching skills; leadership skills;
multi-tasking; using occupational standards to identify competencies;
continuing self-development to meet requirements for professional bodies eg
learning new skills and knowledge, developing in current and future job roles;
leading and chairing meetings; delivering effective presentations
Achieving strategic goals: importance eg to ensure that staff can perform their
job effectively, to provide opportunities to meet individual learning needs, to
improve flexibility and adaptability when responding to change, to ensure
business success, to create a learning culture; methods eg using conceptual
tools to identify own strengths and limitations, developing personal networks,
management development and Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
programmes

2 Be able to conduct a skills audit to identify learning style

Skills audit: to assess skills and competencies against organisational and

personal objectives; personal profile using appropriate self-assessment tools,
psychometric testing, personal SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities,
threats) analysis – listing strengths, weaknesses, identifying opportunities for
improvement or career progression, identifying threats to progress; assessment
against relevant National Occupational Standards (NOS) and NVQ competence
standards; importance of feedback from others eg peers, line manager,
customers; methods of feedback eg appraisal, supervision, performance review,
mentoring; defining the gap, identifying learning and development needs to
meet strategic objectives
Identify preferred learning style: methods such as learning style inventories and
questionnaires, psychometric testing eg Kolb (converger, diverger, assimilator,
accommodator), Honey and Mumford (activist, reflector, theorist, pragmatist),
Fleming’s VAK/VARK model (visual, auditory, reading/writing, kinesthetic),
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI); criticisms of learning style theories
 UNIT 2: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR STRATEGIC MANAGERS

3 Be able to implement a personal development plan

Personal development plan: importance of having a plan – to provide a

systematic or structured approach to decisions about what is needed to learn
and how to plan to learn it; setting objectives for life and career planning,
identifying resources and support needed and available to meet objectives,
identifying obstacles to achieving objectives and how to overcome them,
reviewing and monitoring plan; the importance of self-review, providing a
reflective record of management experience; gaining support from others to
achieve goals and work objectives
Monitoring and evaluation: importance of keeping a working document; to help
manage learning; to evaluate progress of achievement towards goals; to
become a critical, self-directed learner; to develop a clear understanding of
strengths and areas for development of leadership skills; review on regular
basis; compare achievements against original objectives, reflect on learning,
record results, agree whether objectives were achieved or not, set date for next
review; set new objectives when others have been achieved
 UNIT 2: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR STRATEGIC MANAGERS

Delivery
This unit gives learners the opportunity to develop the skills needed to take
ownership of improving their management or leadership performance to support the
achievement of strategic direction for an organisation. The integration of learning
with practice, and reflection on own strengths and weaknesses as strategic managers
forms an essential part of this unit. Delivery needs to be related to learners’ own
employment experience.
Where learners do not have relevant employment experience, they can use diverse
opportunities to explore their personal development. Activities such as work
experience, job shadowing or voluntary work can support the exploration of
personal development.
To be of value, the exploration of personal development can be systematic with
more than ad hoc and unstructured thoughts. So learners can prepare a personal
development plan and review and reflect on their management experience and
development. It is recommended that this unit is either delivered first in the
programme or integrated with other units on an ongoing basis.
Learners need to plan their learning and development and involve others in the
process. This can involve seeking feedback from line managers and colleagues
regarding performance and development needs. This will enable learners to review
and revise their performance and development needs to meet organisational and
personal objectives. This can be achieved through a series of skills-based
workshops or a residential training session where learners analyse their personal
development requirements.
For learning outcome 1, learners could assess a range of interpersonal skills which
are important for strategic managers/leaders to achieve strategic objectives and
develop good working relationships. Tutors can show video/DVD clips of ineffective
communications, followed by learners using role-play scenarios to practise skills
such as body language, active listening, negotiation and assertiveness in a non-
threatening environment. Learners can analyse how well they currently manage
their time through keeping a time log and reviewing it after a period of say, one
week, to identify where improvements could be made.
For learning outcome 2, learners can carry out a personal SWOT (strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis against the current and future
leadership requirements of their job role. When training and developing staff, it is
important to find out how they learn best. This can be achieved through
understanding learning style preferences. Kolb’s learning cycle is a useful tool to
understand how people learn. Learners can complete an inventory or questionnaire
to identify their own preferred learning style. There are many free examples that
can be downloaded from the internet. Tutors need to emphasise that learning styles
are used to suit the learning being undertaken and improve learning in ‘weaker’
styles. There are many learning style theoretical models that learners could
research and compare.
 UNIT 2: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR STRATEGIC MANAGERS

For learning outcome 3, and in order for learners to prepare a development plan,
tutors need to explain the importance of having a plan, for example setting SMART
(specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-based) objectives to meet personal
and professional goals and to monitor and assess progress against targets. Tutors
could provide a template for a personal development plan for learners to complete.
Tutors need to reinforce the importance of keeping the development plan and
reflective record up to date so that it can be monitored and reviewed throughout
the learning programme. Learners will prepare their plan using the results of the
skills audit.
Ongoing review and monitoring of learning against the achievement of strategic
goals is essential and learners will need to understand the importance of this in
improving performance in order to achieve strategic goals.

Outline learning plan

The outline learning plan has been included in this unit as guidance and can be
used in conjunction with the programme of suggested assignments.
The outline learning plan demonstrates one way in planning the delivery and
assessment of this unit.

Topic and suggested assignments/activities and/assessment

Introduction to unit and programme of learning

Tutor input on interpersonal skills, showing DVDs of ineffective behaviours
Role-play activities to practise personal and interpersonal skills and behaviours,
followed by feedback and evaluation
Tutor-led discussion on time management, followed by learner activities on time
stealers and ways to manage them
Learner activities to analyse time management
Learner activities to assess personal and professional skills, contributing to
Assignment 1: Personal and Professional Skills Review
Tutor input on importance of conducting a skills audit
Tutor input on learning styles followed by learner activities to identify preferred
learning style
Learner activities to complete a skills audit, contributing to Assignment 2:
Personal Development Planning
Tutor input on resources needed to support leadership development activities
Learner research on suitable development activities to improve performance
Tutor input on methods for monitoring achievement of objectives of a personal
development plan and setting SMART objectives
Learners prepare and implement personal development plan, contributing to
Assignment 2: Personal Development Planning
Review of unit and programme of assignments
 UNIT 2: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR STRATEGIC MANAGERS

Assessment
Assessment for this unit needs to be evidenced through a personal development plan
that is monitored throughout the programme. It is important that learners evaluate
their current skills using a skills audit to identify and inform their preferred learning
style. The personal development plan needs to demonstrate learner ability to reflect
on their learning and development needs, identify target dates for review, and show
how their needs have been met.
For AC 1.1 and 1.2, learners need to use appropriate methods to evaluate personal
skills and assess the professional skills needed for effective leadership and
management. To meet the strategic goals and direction of the organisation,
learners need to link their evaluation to leadership requirements for a specific goal.
For AC2.1, learners will need to demonstrate they can conduct a skills audit, to
evaluate current and future leadership requirements. Learners need to benchmark
against suitable criteria such as National Occupational Standards for Management
and Leadership. This can help inform their preferred learning style for AC2.2.
For AC 3.1 and 3.2, learners will construct a personal development plan using the
information from their skills audit. They can use a standard template or construct
their own plan, but it must include SMART objectives and an identification of the
resources needed to achieve the objectives, as well as assessing the outcomes
against personal work objectives. To be of value, the plan needs to be implemented
for at least six months in order for learners to evaluate the impact of their learning
against the achievement of strategic goals for AC3.3.

Programme of suggested assignments

The table below shows a programme of suggested assignments that cover the
criteria in the assessment grid. This is for guidance only and it is recommended that
centres either write their own assignments or adapt Pearson assignments to meet
local needs and resources.

Assessment criteria Assignment title Scenario Assessment method

covered

AC 1.1, 1.2 Personal and Learners to review Skills review

Professional Skills skills needed to
Review achieve strategic
goals.
AC 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, Personal Learners to Skills audit and
3.2, 3.3 Development prepare and Personal
Planning implement a Development Plan
personal showing
development plan monitoring and
through carrying review for at least
out a skills audit. 6 months
 UNIT 1: DEVELOPING STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP SKILLS

Essential resources
There are no essential resources required for this unit.

Indicative resource materials

Textbooks
Allen M and Adair J – The Concise Time Management and Personal Development
(Thorogood, 2003) ISBN 1854182234
Gold J, Thorpe R and Mumford A – Leadership and Management Development
(CIPD, 2010) ISBN 1843982447
Megginson D and Whitaker V – Continuing Professional Development (CIPD,
2007) ISBN 1843981661
Owen J – How to Lead, 2nd Edition (Prentice Hall, 2009) ISBN
027372150X Pedler M, Burgoyne J and Boydell T – A Manager’s Guide to
Self Development
(McGraw-Hill Professional, 2006) ISBN 0077114701
Journals
Management Today (Haymarket Business Media)
People Management (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development)
Professional Manager (Chartered Management Institute)
Training Journal (www.trainingjournal.com)

Websites
www.businesslink.gov.uk Interactive tools for creating a personal
development plan through assessment
of management and leadership skills
www.cipd.co.uk Chartered Institute of Personnel and
Development
www.managementhelp.org Articles on leadership development
planning and self-assessments for
personal and professional development
www.management-standards.org.uk Chartered Management Institute
www.mindtools.com Time-management tools and activity
logs