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The Difference Between Personal and Professional Development Plans: Considerations and Resources

Learn the difference between professional and personal development, and discover resources for improving employee growth, satisfaction, and retention.

As an HR or L&D leader, you are likely at least partly responsible for the professional development of your organization’s employees. But what about personal development? 

Should you strictly focus on professional development, or should you make a case for prioritizing personal development in the modern corporate setting? Read on to discover definitions, insights, and resources related to personal and professional development in the modern workplace.

Is there a difference between personal and professional development?

The difference between personal and professional development comes down to the objective. The goal of personal development is personal growth, whereas the goal of professional development is professional growth. To put it another way, personal development plans aim to improve one’s physical, emotional, or social well-being in some way. In contrast, professional development plans aim to improve one’s performance in a specific role or in their broader career path.

While there is a difference, the line between personal and professional development has always been blurry. Many personal development plans lend themselves to professional development and vice versa. Workplace trends like a heightened reliance on contractors, increased job-switching, and remote and hybrid work models have further blurred the line between personal and professional development.

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Personal and professional development trends

LinkedIn’s survey of more than 1,500 HR leaders with L&D responsibilities revealed that 83% of organizations want to build a more people-centric culture. What’s more, 81% of L&D departments are being asked to help drive the initiative. You can learn more about the survey and resulting recommendations in the 2023 Workplace Learning Report. 

The shift to a people-centric culture means that more companies are acknowledging the link between personal success and organizational success. As a result, more organizations are prioritizing personal development as a way to facilitate both the individual’s professional development and the organization’s overall talent development. 

This change in perspective has prompted organizations to redesign the employee experience from onboard to exit. Modern companies are still focused on professional needs and professional development. The main difference is that human needs are increasingly driving the employee experience, including development. 

“Forward-thinking organizations need to create environments that embrace and unlock the potential of the whole employee.”

Professional headshot of Linda Jingfang Cai

Linda Jingfang Cai
Global Head of Learning and Talent Development, LinkedIn

Macro trends creating opportunities for L&D

Talent disruption, skills shortages, and global tension have sent shockwaves through the talent world. While these trends have caused plenty of friction, they’ve also created opportunities for companies and HR leaders to employ L&D as a differentiator. 
 

  • Skill sets for jobs have changed by around 25% since 2015. And the rate of change is expected to double by 2027. 
     

  • 89% of L&D professionals agree that proactively building employee skills will help navigate the evolving future of work.

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Mapping learning to business goals has become the biggest priority

A top priority for learning leaders this year is making sure that their programs tie back to business goals. Overall, the top four focus areas of L&D for 2023 are:
 

  1. Aligning learning programs to business goals

  2. Upskilling employees

  3. Creating a culture of learning

  4. Improving employee retention

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Addressing the social skills gap

Increased social isolation has negatively affected professionals of all ages, but it’s been particularly rough on Gen Z. According to a survey by Gartner, 51% of Gen Z employees felt as though their education has not prepared them to enter the workforce.
 

The biggest gap between Gen Z and previous generations entering the workforce is in soft skills. Due to circumstances beyond their control, Gen Z professionals largely missed out on learning skills like networking, negotiating, and public speaking. Additionally, talent developers have found that some Gen Z professionals still need to develop the social stamina and attentiveness that a professional environment requires, according to Gartner.  
 

This current state of social skills is causing more business leaders to prioritize personal development early in the onboarding process, paving the way for more effective professional development down the road.

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Personal development priorities: Which skills do companies need most?

Modern L&D leaders must help ensure that their employees have the combined skills to compete in an evolving macro environment. But which skills should you be prioritizing, exactly?

Your in-demand skills may differ, but chances are you can identify with most of LinkedIn Learning’s list of 10 skills companies need right now:
 

  1. Management
  2. Communication
  3. Customer Service
  4. Leadership
  5. Sales
  6. Project Management
  7. Research
  8. Analytical Skills
  9. Marketing
  10. Teamwork
     

Again, many of these skills blur the line between personal and professional development, but you’ll also notice that many of the above skills are more or less human skills.

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Personal development resources on LinkedIn Learning

On LinkedIn Learning, you’ll find a variety of personal development resources that can suit your organization’s specific needs. First though, you may want to check out a few resources that can help lay the foundation for personal development at your company. Here are a few categories to check out:

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Upskilling and reskilling resources are designed to help your employees develop both the human skills and new job skills they’ll need to succeed in the modern work environment.

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Career development resources can help L&D leaders identify new systems and opportunities for installing a culture that values learning and personal development.

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Internal mobility resources can show you new ways to increase retention by providing more growth opportunities within your organization. 

Professional development priorities: Most in-demand skills by function

As mentioned, aligning learning programs to business goals is the biggest L&D priority right now. The following lists of skills, broken down by function, may provide a good starting point for identifying the skill sets that, if developed, can provide your organization with an advantage in terms of talent.

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Finance / Accounting
 

  1. Management
  2. Analytical skills
  3. Customer service
  4. Communication
  5. Leadership
  6. Financial analysis
  7. Sales
  8. Teamwork
  9. Research
  10. Financial reporting
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Engineering
 

  1. JavaScript
  2. Java
  3. SQL
  4. Python programming language
  5. Cascading style sheets (CSS)
  6. HTML
  7. Management
  8. Cloud computing
  9. Git
  10. C++
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Information Technology
 

  1. Management
  2. SQL
  3. Microsoft Office
  4. Project management
  5. Analytical skills
  6. Communication
  7. Customer service
  8. Leadership
  9. Cloud computing
  10. Python programming language
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Marketing
 

  1. Social media
  2. Management
  3. Digital marketing
  4. Communication
  5. Strategy
  6. Marketing strategy
  7. Leadership
  8. Project management
  9. Advertising
  10. Customer service
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Project & Program Management
 

  1. Management
  2. Leadership
  3. Communication
  4. Engineering
  5. Analytical skills
  6. Customer service
  7. Strategy
  8. Team leadership
  9. Marketing
  10. Research
Illustration representing sales

Sales
 

  1. Customer service
  2. Management
  3. Communication
  4. Marketing
  5. Leadership
  6. Account management
  7. Sales management
  8. Microsoft Office
  9. Business development
  10. Business

Professional development resources on LinkedIn Learning

Compared to personal development, professional development is more tailored to the individual and the role. Because of this, and due to the wide variety of professional development resources, the easiest way to find a professional development resource that meets your exact needs is to search for it. That said, there are a few resource categories that can guide HR and L&D leaders on how to increase the effectiveness of professional development programs:

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L&D success metrics can help ensure that your learning program is effective so you can keep your business competitive.

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Trends and insights can enable you to elevate employee training with performance and improvement insights across learning and eLearning platforms.

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Learning culture provides advice on creating a culture that rewards learning and encourages employees to keep improving not just themselves, but others as well.

Create a culture of lifelong learning

LinkedIn Learning is designed to empower your L&D professionals, managers, and individual learners alike with all the tools and resources they need to benefit from your employee training software. Help them achieve their own personal and professional goals and develop the skills they need to thrive now and in the future, all at once.

The best way to understand how employee training software will drive learning engagement in your organization is to see it in action. Get started with LinkedIn Learning today, and watch how your learners respond.

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