Assignment Highlighing Personal and Professional Development skills

This assignment will highlight personal development skills which will lead us toward professional development. During this assignment it will focus on personal and professional skills which are required for organisation success and in task 2 personal audit will be carried out to evaluate the strategic skills needed to meet the current leadership requirements and then in this assignment it will apply appropriate techniques to identify preferred learning style and the end it will cover personal develo7pment plan to achieve personal and work objectives.

1.1 evaluation method of Personal Skills

Personal skills are very important for an individual and they guide an individual toward professional success. Personal skills play very vital role for progress of individual and organisation. They play very important role in the success of the organisation. Personal development is continues program for individuals which leads them toward organizational development. For personal development there are few skills which are very important. These skills guide an individual toward success. Without these skills nobody can move forward in his or her life. It is important for an individual to develop skills of communications, personal and interpersonal skill, time management and problem solving.

1.1.1 Time Management:

Most important personal skill is the time management. In my point of view time management holds the key for personal success and also professional success. As now days it is a famous saying time is a money so without time management no one can progress in his or her life no matter how intelligent or knowledgeable he or she is. Time management skill is very essential for anyone who has the desire to be at the top of its field. As I am new in this country and I am already going through lots of task in my life. Presently being employed by British Petroleum and for three constructive days go to my class as student and at the same time working three days so it was really difficult for me to manage my time properly and I could not do certain things at time and with efficiency. But with the time management skill I learned quickly how to do things properly, more efficiently in less time. As job and my studies are most important part of my life at the moment so I made a personal rota for my whole week, in my personal rota I have written down each and every task which is needed to be done in a day and given more priority to my study and work. Through rota I have analysed which activities were taking my most time and which were less time taking because of rota my whole week is more systematic. Now most of targets are being achieved in less time and pressure and more efficiently. It gives me more satisfaction in work and studies. Better time management gives me better control not only my personal activities but also on my professional targets.

1.1.2 Effective Communication e.g. active listening, questioning

I have great communication skill in me which always help me to achieve my personal targets not only in my personal life but in my professional life. Communication skills give me more chance to learn fast, it provides me to achieve most of thing. As now days most of people are struggling to get jobs in UK especially foreign students, but through my communication skills I have not only got a job but maintain this job most effectively. Being currently working in Bp retail store, during the job I have to deal with lot customers which require good understand and listening skills, I have been able to deal with this quite well. Good communication skills give me better understand of my job and through my questioning skills I can get more knowledge about my job and customer dealing, at the same time when I gave my interview for job because of my communication skills I was able to impress HR department of the company. Not only in this country but throughout my life I have been able to achieve my goals through communication skill. It is the great asset to my personality which gives me more confidence to improve and achieve my life objectives.

1.1.3: Prioritizing work

Prioritizing work is one the most important personal skill, it gives you analytical awareness. As we are living in a very fast world most of people are now days dealing with more than work or task at the same time so it is very necessary for a person to have this skill, this will allow an individual to choose work on its value. This is a skill which will allow a person to have the wisdom to do work according to its importance, through this most of people can achieve their objective in personal life. As an individual I have this skill and this helps me to achieve my goals and target.

1.2: apply techniques to assess the professional skills to support the strategic direction of the organisation:

1.2.1: Coaching and development skills

Coaching and development skills are one the main qualities of any professional. Now a day’s world has become very competitive so it is very necessary for every professional to learn new skills and keep developing to sustain the success in life. Coaching skills are very essential for any professional. Especially for manager it is very important to coach and develop his team. As managers are mostly who has the knowledge and skills so it is up to their coaching skills that how they transform their skills to the team. As discussed earlier that communication skills are very crucial for personal development, at the same time if anyone wants to coach or develop someone good communication skills are necessary because without good communication skills it would be very difficult to coach anyone. Communication skills provide you good understanding, listening and speaking power which gives you better chance to coach and develop other people. So in this case good personal skills could be of great beneficial for professional development.

1.2.2: Multi Tasking Skills

When anyone enters in professional field that individual has to go throw lot of work task at the same time in his or her professional life. Multi tasking skill is very important for professional it gives them wisdom and vision to complete different task in limited time with great efficiency. Again good personal skills are very beneficial for an individual because they provide great help in professional life. To achieve multi tasking in professional field time management skill is of great value. Time management takes an individual toward achieving multi tasking in professional life. Good personal skills are always linked with professional skills.

1.2.3: Leadership skills

To achieve success in professional life leadership skills have the value of back bone. If an individual has leadership skills he or she will move forward in professional life. An individual with leadership skills will have the confidence and charisma to lead whether he or she is qualified or not. Leadership skills are the guarantee to success. But for leader they should have personal skills like communication skills and time management as they are essential for leadership skills” Leadership could be defined as the activity of influencing people to pursue a certain course; there must be some power of mind behind the leaders(John Adari,2010). So for professional skills an individual must have some personal skills. So according to my understanding personal skills always benefit in professional development.

1.3: Conclusion

Basic purpose of this task is to point out the value of the personal and professional skills development. Personal development skills and professional skills are interconnected. As discussed in this short report it is highlighted here that personal skills always lead an individual toward professional skills and professional growth. The core point of this report was to highlight the important of personal development skills leading toward professional success. Good personal skills are very handy for a person to lead successful professional life. In this report we learned the value of the personal skills and professional skills. Personal skills always lead any individual toward personal success but later on they are great benefit to the organisation success.

Task 2: Be able to conduct a skill audit to identify learning style:

2.1: Carry out a skills audit to evaluate the strategic skills need to meet current and future leadership requirement:

Personal assessment gives an individual knowledge about his or her weakness and it provides an individual a clear picture of his or her abilities. There are some qualities which are essential for leaders, without those qualities it will be difficult for an individual to meet future requirement. As this task requires personal audit of skills so I have made a evaluation form on some personal skills on which I have rated myself on bases of my past life experience.

2.1.1 Rating of leadership and management Skills

I have done survey in on my skills on which I have been rated by my class fellows in annexure 1, 2 , 3. Based on their opinion the following table has been formulated which shows the skills in which they rated me very good, average and poor.

No.

Skill

Very good

Average

Poor

1

Communication

4

Presentation

5

Motivation

6

Time Management

7

Leadership

8

Decision Making

9

Self Confidence

11

Delegating

12

Conflict Management

13

Analyzing

14

Influencing

15

Planning

16

Prioritizing work

17

Coaching

As I mentioned personal skills audit in above form I would like to discuss further about the qualities I have and where I need to improve to achieve my future organisational objectives.

2.1.2: Leadership Analyses

1. I influence other people through my communication and knowledge.

2. I can make other people listen to me because of my personality and communication skills point.

3. If someone does not agree with what I am saying then I convince that person through my knowledge.

4. For convincing others into my point of view I also listen to others point and then again convince other in to my point of view.

2.1.3Presentation Analyses:

1. I always wear proper dress in presentation in keeping with a business like image.

2. I always check before all the equipment used in the presentation should be neat clean and undamaged.

3. I always use of smile in presentation because smile is our greatest dress accessory.

4. I always use of proper body language in my presentation.

5. I always make a outline of the whole presentation.

6. I never use the useless words in my entire presentation.

7. I always use of examples in order to clear my point.

8. I always use of Audio-Visual Aids in order to make my presentation interesting.

9. I always try to work hard to improve areas of weakness.

10. Make a strong and useful conclusion of my entire presentation at the end.

2.1.4 Personal Analyses:

2.1.4.1 Strength:

Time Management

Communication Skills

Presentation Skills

Couching Skills

Prioritizing Work

Time management skills play vital role for leadership to achieve target in an organisation. I believe time management skill gives me better opportunity to achieve my work task in time with less pressure and with good efficiency. Communications skills are equally important because communication skills give an individual a better understanding of situation and these skills can prove beneficial for leadership and management. Couching skills are requirement for management, and leader should have the skills to train and develop his team to achieve targets and objective and in last prioritizing work skill is vital for better management it gives an individual better understanding of work value and importance, through better work prioritizing I achieve my work task easily and with great effectiveness.

2.1.4.2: Weakness:

As mentioned above nobody is perfect in life but in order to become good leader or manager an individual should identify his or her weakness and should improve to progress to become good manager. As an individual I believe there is few weaknesses which makes my task difficult to achieve for me and I need to work hard to go across these hurdles.

Decision Making

Delegating

Self confidence

Conflict Management

Decision making is one the key point for the leaders and manager to take the business on top but I personally believe sometime I lack this skill and rely too much on other people to make decisions but to become better manager one should work hard to improve this skill but I personally think that due to lack of confidence I cannot make my decisions which again lead toward failure. Another aspect which is crucial for management is delegating work but due lack of decision making power I most of afraid to ask other to help me out in task, lastly what I think that conflict management skills are very vital for leadership they should have conflict management skill to become better manager.

2.1.4.3: Opportunities:

As an individual and professional I always need to look around what is happening outside so if any opportunity comes it will be taken to improve my skills. The best way for me to listen to other colleagues to achieve my task, as currently being employed in a global company it is great opportunity for me to grow as a professional and learn skills to become better manager for future. B.P is a global company and it can provide me to understand to work in competitive environment which will bring lots of good things to my career. This is great opportunity for me to learn from other people in my organisation, I need to interact more with my senior management to gain knowledge which will be beneficial for me in my future.

2.1.4.4: Threats:

To grow as a professional one must keep very close eye on external threats which can harm the progress of the person in an organisation. For me it is very important that I should learn as being employed in global company I must grow and should not feel over confidence about my abilities. Working in bigger environment can bring lot of complexities as well especially regarding co-workers so to grow I need to avoid problems with my colleagues and should keep healthy relationship with everyone. One more important thing which can be a threat for future that at this time world is changing very fast and as in professional I need to keep up the pace with it and for that I should keep learning new skills to keep myself to up to date with new technologies.

2.2: Apply appropriate techniques to identify preferred learning style:

Every person has different mindset and according to the mind they prefer different learning style from which they believe they can learn better. As an individual I have identified style which are more suitable for me learn. If someone has the knowledge that what style and techniques is best suitable for that person it can bring better outcome to his work and it can reduce the repetition of mistake as an individual and professional.

2.2.1: Activist:

As I believe in learning with passion and enthusiasm and I enjoy working and learning because I feel that if someone want to become expert in his or her field that person should enjoy working. I have the flexible personality which makes me more adaptable to different situations.

2.2.2: The Reflector

I have the this thing in my personality that I like to observe things and analyse them before coming to conclusion, I always believe in making decision on present past facts. So I have identified that this style suits best for me and it gives me more opportunity to get more information.

2.2.3: The Theorist

As it is in my habit that I am more punctual and active and so through this style I can get more discipline and I can make my life more systematic. I like to solve problems logically and with experience. This learning style makes me more understandable and it give me better chance to learn.

2.2.4: The Pragmatist

Base on my experience I have learned that pragmatist learning style is best suitable for me and it makes my learning more effective and efficient. I like to put my ideas and techniques into practise. I like to straight forward and point to point and I like to experiment and learn through practical work rather than books (www.mftrou.com/honey-mumford).

I learn better from proven good practice, using the examples and the expertise of others.

I like to handle the task and try to solve quickly with better ways.

I dislike situations where there is no clear, practical outcome.

I don’t like becoming the centre of attention.

Pragmatist situation quite helpful for me.

I work well on deadlines.

The short discussions or less detailed tasks make me unhappy. So I can’t get benefit easily.

I am expecting to make practical decisions.

I commonly act as logical analysis.

By presenting myself as practical person because i like to solve problems.

I am not an extrovert that’s why I have interest in theories to see if work in practice.

I enjoy experimenting to improve techniques.

I like frequently come up with the answer to a problem.

I have only interest in theories is to see if the work in practice.

2.3: Conclusion:

The main point which was discussed in task was personal skills and personal skill audit and development plan. In this short report personal strengths and weaknesses are discussed through analyse which were done an activity in the class by class fellows and in second part of this short report personal learning style is identified.

Task 3: Be able to implement a personal development plan:

This task mainly elaborate the points which are highlighted in task 2, as there are certain skills in which I need to work hard to become better professional and to meet the future requirement of the leadership. In this task personal development plan will be discussed to on the personal skills which are highlighted in personal audit table. Main feature of this task is to describe and put light on the on the skills which will be beneficial for organisational success.

3.1: Personal Development Plan

Learning and Development needs

How does this support the organisation’s goals

Learning actions to be taken including resources need to achieve

Presentation skill

Better presentation skills can be more beneficial for me and my organisation, as I am work in retail sector if I can improve my presentation skill then I can better present item which are being sold in my company and that will definitely bring better result on my performance and organisation objectives.

Attending external conferences, workshops and events.

I need to become more socialise to learn and get more knowledge about different events.

Reading more material to enhance my knowledge.

I have to improve my language more to present.

Obtaining feedback from friends and colleagues.

Decision making skills

Decision making is an important skill for leadership and management. Through better decision making skills I can become more beneficial for my organisation, as I work in retail sector and most of time deals with direct customers and so many time for different situation I have to ask my colleagues to make decision which creates delay in customer service so better decision making skill is essential for me to work in retail sector.

Conversation and discussions with others.

Attend company training programs to learn more about products.

Read more books to improve my knowledge and confidence.

Should make myself more active to understand the situation and make quick decisions.

Maintaining diary.

Preparing papers and presentations.

Delegating

Delegating is an important skills for managers and leaders, through this skill the make better environment and team to achieve organisation objectives.

I have start trusting other abilities and skills.

I should interact more with my colleagues.

Coaching by senior manager.

Analyse training needs.

Should be more tolerant.

Planning

By better planning of work task, Organisation can earn high profit and achieve its targets and objectives more quickly.

Customer surveys, service reports, appraisals by supervisors or managers, performance data.

By arranging meetings with senior, I can get better result for the betterment of business.

Attending conferences and seminars.

Project Work.

Attending external conferences, workshops and events.

3.2: Impact of own learning against the achievement of strategic goals

Learning plays very important role for individual personally and professionally, as some skills are discussed in personal development plan which are playing very vital role for me to achieve my personal goals and my organisational objectives. Presentation skills are the most important skill when someone is working in retail and sales sector and being employed in retails sector it was pivotal for me to learn and improve my presentation skills to get better control on my work objectives. As I have made a personal development plan to improve my presentation skill which proving very effective for me in my personal life and for my organisational achievement. Through feedback from my colleagues I am able to learn more and being able to work on my weak points which are proving very beneficial for me at my workplace already. I have become more socialised and being a professional go to more seminar and conferences to learn more about skills.

After working on my personal development plan I have become better in my decision making skill. I have worked on it through reading, improving my understanding about certain things and through better knowledge about my work I have been able to make better and quick decision when they are required to make as in past I was unable to make and had to go to my colleagues for help which made customer stand and it made them upset not dissatisfied, but now through personal development plan I have been able to satisfied customer more and it is helping organisation to achieve their goals and sustain the success.

Third skill on which I have worked after making personal development plan is delegating as it is one the most critical skills now days for leaders that they should learn how to delegate work and develop more effective team which can prove beneficial for organisational objectives. I have learned to trust more on my colleagues and now I interact more to my colleagues about work which reduce my work pressure on me and allow me to achieve me organisational goals and targets more effectively and efficiently.

Lastly through more effective planning I have been able to work much better than before, it is proving very beneficial for me now as I have been able to understand the requirement of my work through surveys, seminars and more effective communication with my senior management. So as my understanding of work is improved so because of this I been able to make better plan how to overcome the hurdles and achieve organisational goals.

3.3: Conclusion:

In this task personal development plan is discussed and certain goals are set which needed to be achieving through personal development plan. In this task a table for future development plan is made and in this table all the future targets and their importance is shown. Personal skills which needed to be improved are identified and certain actions are set to be taken to achieve this personal development plan.