Week 4: PD and strategies- Lisa

Liu Meng, Lisa

What PD happens in your workplace?

According to Fullan(1991), professional development is the sum total of activities and learning experiences to enhance professional career growth. As I mentioned in the former assignments, a mentor program of professional skills was implemented in my organization and proved to be a success. Besides the mentor program, there are quite a lot activities in different forms to enhance the self-development of employees. For example, HSBC has an advanced and well-designed e-learning system, which contains every aspect of HSBC and a numerous number of training courses.

Moreover, employees are strongly suggested to pursue education, especially part-time master (or even higher) degree. Quite a few colleagues have achieved their MBA degree by part-time education in the Zhongshan University.

As for an intern like me, the most helpful activity is inevitably the “study group”. The other interns and me are asked to form a study group, we learn together and are encouraged to change ideas and give comments during mentoring classes. Each Friday afternoon, we are asked to give a presentation about what we have learnt in the past week before some leaders. Such mechanism encourages me to learn more and faster, which is very helpful for my development.

What strategies does your organization have in place to encourage development, change and innovation?

1.     Reward mechanism

At the end of each year, the performance of an employee in the past year can be divided into four levels. People who are assessed as level 1 will get great annual bonus and the salary will increase at least 10% in the coming year. While those who get level 4 will enjoy little rewards and may probably face with some punishments.

2.     Chances

A lot of chances are created for those who are innovative or bring about good influence for the company by successfully implementing some changes. Such chances may include going a business trip aboard or even get promoted.