What is Self-Development?

Abstract

These are the views of two women who participated in the self-development processes described in this chapter, as part of a project sponsored by the Manpower Services Commission and managed by Tom Boydell and Mike Pedler. Self-development groups inevitably deal with very personal issues, and for this reason no single group or individual is identified here. The groups described existed, but some have been combined or changed in other ways to avoid identification. However, all quotations (unless otherwise indicated) are those of the women who participated in this project. (A report on the project, Self-developmentfor women managers, was published by the MSC during 1986.)

Self-development does not teach you specific things about the job, it teaches you about making decisions for yourself.

It is extraordinarily difficult to explain what you have been doing and why it feels useful in work, or to actually demonstrate the effect … I seem to be more open and broad-minded about things and also have a deeper insight into myself.