I read this book after producing my own resource How to Produce Personal Development Plans. As it turned out there was very little that the two have in common, except for the view that it is valuable to ask readers to check out their own position from time to time.
The book proceeds through a series of major headings such as “Setting your sights on the CPD goal”, “Charting progress”, “Character building”. It includes among other chapters one called “Selecting the proper equipment”, which is a confusing title for a chapter which usefully gives illustrations of the need to define the real problem to which a development answer is sought.
The good features of the book include that it covers a range of people, not just managers and professionals, and that throughout examples are provided of what the author is attempting to advise. The examples are usually clear, are generally helpful, although perhaps the fact that they solely are drawn from his own experience may be seen to provide some limitation. Early in the book Sangster attempts to describe the difference between personal and professional development, and seems to equate personal with holistic processes. These latter, he rather endearingly says, might be seen by some as conveying a “brown lentil image”. While I did not actually find that he made his case for a clear distinction between personal and professional development, the last chapter on personal development, which he calls Character Building, has some interesting, stimulating and usable ideas.
There are indeed other good ideas in the book, given his emphasis on courses and mentors. Largely in consequence of his emphasis the range of learning experiences he describes is essentially in the area of formal learning. The five categories he offers – self‐study, open and distance learning, training courses, coaching and mentoring omit any extended discussion of what managers should actually do in helping the development of others – he writes exclusively about persuading about the benefits of doing so. Nor is there any discussion of the role of colleagues in helping in development. This emphasis on the formal and structured might be thought understandable in relation to personal development plans, which of course at least start with the presumption that things can be defined and planned in advance. However, he does not seem to recognise that learning in and around the job, learning through and with colleagues, can certainly be identified and to some extent can be organised and planned in advance.
The book will be most helpful therefore to those readers who are looking for ways to improve their facilitation of the development of others through courses. Sangster’s approach throughout really indicates that he starts from courses – he talks about on‐the‐job development as a support for courses – whereas many of us would see it exactly the other way round. While the presence of examples has been commended earlier, and he does provide checklists from time to time which enable people to establish where they are, there is no complete illustration of a personal development plan. The case study he offers on pages 140‐143 responding to a need called “communication – verbal” perhaps illustrates why there is no complete plan. The amount of detail here for what might well be one of several needs established for an individual does make one wonder about the practicality of the approach he offers. Another issue about practicality is revealed in the three “objectives” which he defines for development – psychomotor, cognitive and affective (following Bloom’s taxonomy). These are not terms which I would expect modern development and training people to use – perhaps they are explained by his own origin as a teacher and educationalist.
Finally, while Sangster emphasises the need to recognise the different development needs and different kinds of solution on offer to meet different subjects and different needs, he goes no further than expressing the sentiment. No examples are given beyond the fact that CBT is attractive to some learners and not others. While such a statement might have been seen as an advance 20 years ago, a great deal more is known, even more than Honey and Mumford know, about how to identify and work on individually different needs.
