A Personal Development Plan and Personal Analysis

Background to SHL Group Limited

SHL provides psychometric testing and assessments to organisations to help them find the right candidates, for the right jobs, to make those candidates profitable for the company. Also the products and services offered by SHL enable organisations to manage its employee resources and meet its business goals.

We are the global leader in talent assessment solutions in the workplace. SHL supports organisations with the selection, performance management and development of people at all levels, across all sectors, helping them to improve organisational performance by improving people performance. (SHL Home Page, SHL.com)

Company Values

“Everything we do at SHL is driven by putting the customer first, and by all of us – the people we work with, our customers and our partners – succeeding together through quick and agile decision making that is solution focused, is bold and shows how passionate we are about what we do.” (SHL, SharePoint, widely available to staff)

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Position in the Market

SHL is positioned as the global leader in assessment and is the innovator of the industry. The competitors are not too much of a threat to the organisation as SHL’s validation studies, research team and database of information can only be achieved by many years of being in the industry and SHL is the longest running company.

Marketing Function Layout

• Commercial Operations Director
• Central Marketing Manager
• Head of Field Marketing
• Director of Product Management
• PR
• CRM
• Global Territories in UK, Nordics, Western Europe, APAC, US, ANZ
• Product Team
• E-marketing Manager
• E-marketing Executive
• Creative

Job Profile

I am working for SHL as Product Executive and active partner of the SHL project team. To successfully deliver and achieve the launch objectives SHL has a project team and each member managed different aspects of the product launch, i.e. product development, market research, training and communications. Each team member then communicated with their own departments. This style of working was encouraged because of the company’s matrix structure.

I am reporting to the Central Marketing Manager. The Central Marketing manager worked with E-Marketing and the Field Marketing teams to launch new products. The E-marketing team worked on online activities. The Central Marketing manager designed the look and messaging of the main material with an external design agency and managed the PR activities. The Field Marketing teams delivered the remaining of the marketing activities in their local territories. The UK Field Marketing team worked closely with the internal design team and external suppliers on certain activities.

Team Performance at SHL

If there were two strong characters like managers within the team without any mediators, a lot of conflicts would arise due to clash of ideas and points of views. This would cause activities to be delayed and not delivered on time. Belbin’s team roles as mentioned above ensures this type of situations are minimised.

Looking at Belbin’s team roles the UK Marketing Manager falls under Coordinator. She clarifies goals, promotes decision making effectively and is a good delegator. She always manages to pull the team together to work towards goals and objectives, showing calmness when under pressure.

The Marketing Executive is more of a completer/finisher. She is able to take tasks off the Marketing Manager and carry them out until they are finished.

The Head of Field Marketing falls under monitor/evaluator, as she manages the team globally, plus collates information from all teams, monitors, evaluates and then presents to board and senior managers or raises points with the teams when necessary. The Head of Field Marketing is not a leader, as she managed the teams to some extent, but did not lead the teams through problems and did not provide guidance. (Kotter 2001)

The Central Marketing Manager is a specialist. He is good at delivering, has expert knowledge on marketing and is always willing to help to solve problems. The only issue which reflected on this particular activity was that he concentrated on the project so much he forgot other teams and areas.

Overall, the UK Marketing team worked well, but issues arose when they had to work with the Central Marketing team.

The UK Marketing team were set Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and they were measured against these to ensure all activities were successful. The individual KPIs were very similar to the team KPIs to ensure they will be met.

Key Performance Indicators

The KPI’s set were as follows:

• Create the launch plan, set budget and manage activities within it
• Carry out activities to launch the product
• Manage customer communication email – OPQ32r news, invitations to seminars and confirmation emails
• Liaise with external data agency to send out email to prospects
• Liaise with venues to arrange seminars and manage them
• Send out direct marketing to clients who did not have email addresses
• Provide collateral to sales teams
• Create adverts both online and offline
• Banner advertising on relevant websites
• Brief Sales teams
• Monitor activities to measure outcomes.

The Marketing Manager ensured activities ran on time, dealt with issues, and also managed campaigns herself.

Objectives

Professional Achievements

Maximum contribution to uplift the company and excellent performance

2010 – Be a permanent SHL cadre as an Executive

2010 – Overcome language problem & improve presentation skills.

2011 -Manager position, vehicle allowance and 100% salary increase

2013 – Senior management position

2012 – Complete master level of professional qualification.

Having an effective and happy personal & family life with good health

Very especially I have to improve product development skills. So I would like to improve my product development skills and get career advancement in future

Personal Development Plan

I want to achieve my personal goals and objectives in proper way. Therefore it is necessary to write a personal development plan. All objectives should be achievable and specific. Also should be with a given time line.

Under a personal development plan should discuss my required targets, the way of achieving the target and specific time limit. The basic goals and objectives can summarise as follows;

• Major challenges in the existing role of my job.
• My current position / status and next level for 3 years
• Required status and next level for 5 years then for next 10 years
• Existing barriers for the target
• How should I overcome barriers

Specific areas should be developed (leadership skills, communication skills, language proficiency and etc).

Personal Analysis (Based on 7’S)

I have used the 7’S analysis to find my strengths and weaknesses

Staff Abilities

Strengths:

• Skilled, trained core development experience
• Strong IT resource and ability
• Speed, flexibility and agility of development due to my attitude
• Willingness to train/develop skills

Skills

Strengths:

• Good development resource capability
• Strong database marketing/analysis resource

Style

Strengths:

• Friendly outlook, to not intimidate older users
• Simplicity of products/language
• Speed to market
• Democratic, open leadership

Structure

Strengths:

• Small business, so flexible
• Lack of “red tape”
• Quick decisions

Systems

Strengths:

• Most in-house, adaptable, customisable
• Good customer support & CRM systems

Strategy

Strengths:

• Focused, commercially orientated
• Stable and proven
• Defined roles

Shared Values

Strengths:

• Speed and flexibility
• Small business culture, team bond
• No blame culture of larger businesses
• Good commercial focus, cost reduction

Skills to be developed

Personal Effectiveness

• Increase assertiveness, confidence and adaptability
• Improve self awareness and how to maximize your potential
• Increase motivation and encourage a positive attitude

Legal Issues affecting Healthcare Practitioners

• Increasing awareness of legal issues affecting preoperative practitioners
• Advice on managing complaints and legal proceedings, witness statement production and preparing for interview
• Improving record keeping and producing unfamiliar documents with confidence

Communications

• Improve overall communication – including verbal, written and body language
• Advice on skills and techniques of communicating in a clear and concise manner
• Improve negotiation skills to achieve effective outcomes

Managing Change

• Advice on how to gain ‘buy-in’ and manage a team effectively through change
• Increasing ability to respond positively to an ever-changing work environment

Selling Your Idea

• Improve your ability to influence others and achieve your desired outcomes
• Learn how to deliver your ideas in a clear, relevant and meaningful way to a range of different audiences
• Understand the tools for effectively managing a project from idea conception through to implementation

Leadership

• Increasing an individual’s ability to lead and develop a team
• Managing effective delegation
• Advising on successful working relations
• I will be able improve skills through the above personal; development plan. Finally I try to be a team member of the SHL’s general management.

Current Issues in Performance Levels

In order to conduct an effective personal audit, it is important to address a number of key issues. These include the clarity of team goals, team roles and responsibilities, the extent of employee empowerment and involvement in decision making, the organization’s reward and recognition systems, organizational impact on team motivation, and the allocation and delegation of workload. (allexperts, 2010)

Conflict between team members

The marketing staff audit highlights differing opinions on how workload is distributed between staff members. Although almost all employees say they feel suitably challenged, there is a strong sense that the workload is unevenly distributed among staff members, with the exception of the customer care personnel. This is likely to cause team conflict as the marketing function must work as a team to perform efficiently, and due to SHL’s non-hierarchical nature each employee should take on an equal share of the work. Uneven workloads can cause fractures within a team.

Clarity of team roles

The staff audit revealed a crossover of job responsibilities, especially between Executives working on similar tasks across the same magazines. This has led to a lack of clarity of team roles and friction between staff members as a result of not knowing who is responsible for which tasks. At times this has caused both task duplication and task neglecting due to division of responsibility.

Lack of leadership

The overall management of the organization is rated moderate to good but a lack of leadership is indicated within the marketing department itself. While the structure of SHL’s marketing team requires all marketing staff to report directly to the Marketing Manager, when asked who they consider their boss to be all employees said the Financial Controller. The primary explanation for this is that it is the Financial Controller who carries out the marketing staff appraisals. However, appraisals are annual whereas day-to-day operations are the responsibility of the Marketing Manager.

Lack of long-term career prospects

The marketing staff reported little opportunity for career growth or promotion, which could de-motivate staff, resulting in lower job satisfaction and reduced productivity. While the level of responsibility perceived by employees may empower staff temporarily, if they do not feel that they are adequately rewarded for their efforts and there is no possibility for promotion, this will result in a higher staff turnover.

Reward and recognition systems

I feel my efforts were rewarded adequately and the extent to which they feel valued within the organization ranged from 2-3 (1 being not at all and 5 being extremely). Failing to make employees feel valued will decrease staff motivation. It will also affect team cohesion and overall efficiency. Staff must have incentives, financial or non-financial, in order to motivate them and maximize productivity. This will help dispel staff dissatisfaction which could otherwise disrupt organisational operations.

Job variation

Despite working within the marketing department, 4 out of 7 of SHL’s marketing staff do not consider themselves marketers for the organization. This is mainly due to the strong focus on cover-gift sales promotions handled by the Marketing Manager and Marketing Executives. Cover-gifts are a key source of competitive advantage for SHL and sampling, sourcing, costing and approving the gifts takes up a large percentage of their time.

Motivation

Team synergy relies on working together to achieve objectives and requires a high level of team cohesion. When asked to rate their level of involvement regarding team decision-making, the majority of marketing staff rated their level of involvement. Not feeling part of the team will affect productivity as staff won’t feel encouraged to contribute new ideas and innovative thinking.

Recommendations for Improving Personal & Staff Morale

Having identified the barriers to achieving a synergistic and harmonious marketing team, this section will recommend a range of approaches to improve efficiency and staff morale, delivering improved and maximized marketing performance. I could use a variety of methods to improve efficiency and morale. These include:

Productivity-based incentives

An efficient team will work together to achieve a group objective in a timely manner. In order to encourage and maximize productivity and performance, Panini could provide incentives in the form of rewards for reaching targets. This would also boost staff morale as employees would feel more adequately rewarded for their efforts. Rewards could be financial in terms of a bonus or non-financial, for example something like an extra half-day holiday.

Improved leadership and staff management

Improved leadership is required to clearly define job roles and responsibilities and to provide direction for the team as a whole. This will reduce conflict caused by job overlaps, increasing staff satisfaction and morale. Effective leadership will also seek to motivate staff acting as a driver towards the achievement of objectives. Due to the non-hierarchical structure of the organization, the Marketing Manager must overcome the reluctance to exert power but in a way which is acceptable to the rest of the marketing department.

Increased Job Variation

Due to there being little room for promotion as a result of Panini’s organizational structure, it is important that Panini continue to allow their employees to develop and try new things to avoid job monotony and dissatisfaction. This could be achieved through setting aside half a day each week for brainstorming and innovation ideas. For example, those who expressed a desire to explore online channels and other marketing communications methods could use that half a day for online training or web development.

Internal Marketing and Integration

SHL could develop an internal marketing plan to increase staff involvement. This will not only improve communication within the marketing department, but will also seek to increase integration across the organization as a whole. Staff input should be maximized and employees treated like internal customers, as the more effectively Panini meet employee needs the higher staff satisfaction, efficiency and overall productivity will be.

Long term benefits

Long term benefits can be used to increase staff loyalty, especially for senior employees who might otherwise seek promotion elsewhere. SHL currently has a pension scheme for its most senior employees, but middle management could benefit from things like subsidized travel or gym memberships. This would only apply for middle management and above due to cost, but would improve motivation and productivity, as well as reducing staff turnover and the cost of staff training and acquisition.

Improved working environment

Due to Panini’s organizational structure and focus away from hierarchy, staff morale could be improved through introducing more informal measures to the working environment. For example, SHL could introduce a dress-down Friday rule to fit with their informal management style. At present, Panini have a staff ‘chill-out’ area with sofas and magazines. This could also by introducing a television, games and radio system. As a media publishing company, this would also benefit editorial staff for work as at present all game and film reviews are conducted at home due to a lack of equipment in-house.

How to get developed My Professional Success

Through the above details I could understand that I have to develop my abilities in operational areas as Communicating, Decision-making, Prioritizing, Valuing and Supporting Others, Motivating, Analyzing, Delegating and Reporting skills to achieve personal & professional goals. To achieve this should apply below strategies. To reach employees’ professional goal should perform well. They have to contribute their self to uplift the company’s current situation. (learn/_k/m/a/n/managers, 2010)

Innovative thinking

I can ensure that there is a well established innovation strategy that fits with the overall vision of me. Also I am motivating in working team members across the business to identify ideas for new products or services. Ensure that all resources, particularly time, are made available for valid & fruitful idea generation, development and testing of ideas. Evaluate the existing business cases and plans, approve those that appear viable and monitor their progress continuously.

To improve and develop these areas I have to find that how to develop a business strategy for innovation and communicate it across the SHL and methods for identifying and pursuing opportunities to work in partnership with external experts. Also I have to recognize and manage risk and encourage others to take acceptable risks and provide constructive feedback on ideas to teams and individuals. Additionally evaluate business cases and development plans and approve those that appear viable to establish systems for measuring and reporting to relevant parties.

Change Management & Planning Skills

I should assess the gap between the current and benefits required future state of procedures, systems, structures and roles. This also should assess the risks as well as advantages associated with inherent strategies and plans and develop contingency arrangements. Make sure my plans include short-term “wins” as well as longer-term deliverables and develop systems for both monitoring and assessing the progress. In addition to above can develop an effective communication strategy that allows people to give quick feedback and identify training for staff and support needs and plan how to meet these objectives and requirements.

This type of models and methods for managing change effectively and Effective planning techniques, Theory and application of the change or employee performance curve, Theory and better understanding of all teams, including an understanding of team-building techniques and how to implement, How to calculate the risks and benefits associated with strategies and plans and Stakeholder ambitions and how they influence the process are more crucial parts should be developed.

Leadership Skills

Through leadership skill Development I can communicate company vision of the future, the reasons for the change and the benefits to everyone involved for the change. Make sure the each and every person responsible for planning and implementing change understand their responsibilities correctly. Set and prioritize change objectives for the change program & identify relevant strategies for achieving the vision and communicate them clearly specified to everyone involved. Communicate overall progress to everyone involved and celebrate great achievement and identify and deal with barriers to change important.

I may want to get some advice on main models and methods for leading organizational change which practice and their strengths and weaknesses, basic principles and application of risk assessment and how to they should use different leadership styles and behaviors for different circumstances. Also should find the political, bureaucratic and resource barriers to change, and the methods for dealing with these, how to use different actions of communication in various circumstances and stakeholder expectations, goals and how they influence the change process.

Project Management Capabilities

Confirm that everyone involved is clear about how the program link to strategic targets and take account of all essential needs required and translate strategic targets into practical, efficient and effective actions. Get confirmed everyone involved understands the important aspects of the program and arrangements for dealing with contingencies and evaluate the program so that it achieves the stated objectives on time and settled own within budget. Make final recommendations, which focus good practice and areas for improvement and Tell all members involved about important issues and the results of putting the program into action

In order to improve in this stage company should get some advice on should be realistic on difference between project and program management and the role of a program manager, responsibilities, principles, processes, tools and techniques for managing the program, basic principles, methods and techniques of total quality management. Also should aware on how to manage, motivate, plan, monitor, and assess people, how to assess, control and manage risk and manage change within projects and program.

Evaluation & Analytical Skills

Develop a vision of where your area is going, together with supportive objectives and operational level plans and communicates effectively to make effective use of a range of different communication methods. To introduce a range of leadership styles and apply them to appropriate situations and people, also offer to people in the area support and advice when they need it especially during periods of setback and change. Encourage staff members to take a lead in their own areas of expertise and show willingness to follow this lead

To be realistic and firm on how to create a compelling vision for an area of responsibility, range of different leadership styles and communication methods should be applied. To get and make use of feedback from people on leadership performance, types of difficulties and challenges that may arise and ways of overcoming them and benefits of and how to create and maintain a culture that encourages creativity and innovation.