Once you have planned your development, you can then go on to develop the skills that you have identified.

But even that is not the end of the process, because it is important to review and evaluate your development.

This reflective process has two main purposes:

• To check that you have actually followed your development plan; and
• To ensure that your planned development has helped you towards your goals.

You may also find that your goals are no longer valid, and you want to update them.

A regular review process can therefore lead to you revising both your goals, and your planned development activities, to ensure that they take you where you want to go.

Evaluating Your Personal Development

It is worth taking time to review your activities against your plans on a regular basis, probably every few months or so. Less often, and you may find that you are not placing a high enough priority on your development activities, and letting progress slip. More often, and you are likely to find that you have not made enough progress, or that you are tempted to put the review off, because the last one was so recent.

Regular review will ensure that you keep tabs on your activity, and are not tempted to make personal development a lower priority.

Reviewing Your Goals

Every year or so, it is also likely to be helpful to review your personal development goals. As with the review of your planned activity, it is important to set time aside for this process. Again, it is also helpful to document it, because this forces you to articulate your reasoning.

Ask yourself:

• Are these goals really what I want to achieve more than anything else?
• Do they inspire me to take action?

If the answer to either of those is ‘no’, then you probably have the wrong goals.