Developing skills for Business Leadership: Assignment Part 1: Continuing Professional Development Action Plan (50% of overall module mark). So here, give an introduction firstly.. something similar to the paragraph highlighted in red below.. Within this introduction, you will discuss how the pdp will help you, what tools you have used(such as SMART objectives) to make this an affective pdp. Also as the assignement brief states It is recommended, however, that your plan should, fall into ONE of three broad areas for development: PERSONAL SKILLS aimed at improving self-awareness, self-reliance and personal effectiveness; for example, managing time or stress, creativity, emotional intelligence, presentation skills, foreign language skills. PEOPLE SKILLS focused on building effective working relationships; for example, handling conflict, leadership, coaching, cross-cultural skills, team working, negotiation, feedback. CAREER MANAGEMENT SKILLS for maximising opportunities arising from the changing environment and job marketplace, taking responsibility for your career and managing the relationship with work and learning throughout your career; for example, CV development, interviews, networking, assessment centre preparation. So in this case we will be focusing on personal skills within our pdp and explain what personal skills we need improving and what we will do to improve them. The personal development plan I have formed is designed to improve my chances of making me a suitable candidate for the job role I dream to work in (Refer to appendix 4). I have used SMART objectives, that give me a step-by-step guide on how I could achieve my goal. This is because SMART objectives are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and within a certain timeframe (Boitnott, 2019). To improve on my confidence and presentation I will need the help of my friends and family to imitate interviews and allow me to also present in front of them; I believe doing this would give me the confidence I need when I go for a real interview. To improve on my analytical and programming skills, I need the support from my tutors to get some one-to-one teaching. I will also use the facilities I have access to such as YouTube and books, thatll teach me the best ways to program and analyze data. If Im able to do this, then my chances of being employed as a data analyst will immensely improve and I would have figured out the most convenient way for me to analyze the data to improve productivity and efficiency in the given organization. The last skill that Im lacing is time-management, and the way I would improve on this is to create a calendar listing all the things I have to do in a week and follow it thoroughly until it becomes a routine. After this introduction, we will make a table as shown below highlighted in red. This should include clear personal skills we struggle with and we want to improve, what is the purpose behind improving these skills, what are our expected outcomes from improving these skills. How will we measure progress, what goals can we set to measure progress, what are our outcome goals by improving these personal skills, what course of action we will take to improve these skills. Each skill discussed will need to be written in precise terms including a rigorous and systematic analysis. The points in the table can be used for ideas but CAN NOT be copied. Also, the table below needs to be adjusted in accordance to the points made in the paragraph above. The table only includes 4 skills/factors they want to build on. However, we need to discuss 8-10 factors. And you can include references in here as to why these skills are important and how they will be beneficial for me. What do I want/need to learn? What will I do to achieve this? What resources or support will I need? What will my success criteria be? Target dates for review and completion The first aspect I want to build on is improving my confidence when talking to strangers such as employers. I tend to stutter quite a bit when speaking in interviews, due to a lack of confidence. I start shaking a little and get nervous, which affects my ability to communicate efficiently. To improve on my confidence, I will try to interact with more people in the university and speak up more in the seminars. I will also have practice interviews with friends so the speech I will give is rehearsed for when I have to go for the real thing. This would help boost my confidence and the stuttering should be minimised. Firstly, I will need the support from my friends in order to practice speeches etc. Due to coronavirus social interactions are limited, so it will be beneficial if the lockdown rules are lifted. This will enable me to go out more and interact with more people. Avoid stuttering in important discussions and enable myself to speak more confidently to employers. Enabling myself to be more social with my seminar group, in order to improve my confidence; which in turn will ensure my confidence is boosted. The target dates for my completion would be around mid-October which will give me a month to communicate with seminar groups. Presentation skills could be improved as I have a lack of creativity when putting together a presentation. To improve on this, I will surf the internet to get more creative ideas on creating a presentation. I will also put more time and effort into the creativity behind the presentation. The resources required would be the internet so that I can get creative ideas. I may also need the support from friends and students in my seminar group who have a creative mindset when doing a presentation. To be able to make my presentations more creative with ease, and not having to spend too much time with the appearance. June the 1st ass I have an assignment due mid-June which is a presentation. Microsoft excel skills. The aftergraduate job I want to major in is a data analyst. The whole concept that revolves around this major is the use of excel. My linear programming and creation of spreadsheets is not the best and needs improving if I would like to become a data analyst. To improve on this in my own time I need to go over different methods of linear programming and creating spread sheets for businesses. I need to pay full attention in my 3 rd year of university as some of the modules revolve around excel. The resources I will need is access to a laptop or computer with excel and practice the methods I have learned from the internet. I will try get extra support from tutors, in order to maximise my potential when using excel. Take lots of notes down and figure out the most efficient methods for me. To master my skills in excel and program solutions with ease. To be able to look at loads of data and immediately know what needs to be done to improve productivity in the business. By the end of my 3rd year of university so my skills are at its best before applying for jobs. PART 2: Reflective Account (50% of overall module mark) To put it in perspective you have not graduated from MSC yet and are studying a data analytics course at the moment. (the work you did made it seem as you have already graduated and please dont use complex English keep it simple but effective). Within this part, you need to address how you are finding the experience of being a student of MSC business and data analytics, from this course how have you developed yourself (what skills have you learnt e.g. speaking/presenting in front of a large crowd, how has this been helpful? How will It benefit in the future?). We will then conduct a self assessment table as shown below highlighted in red. The self assessment should correlate to our table in part 1 (e.g. if we said we need to improve on a skill in part 1, in this part we should highlight that as a weak point of ours then as it yet needs improving). This part should demonstrate my ability to learn from experience through analysis and how it will be beneficial/useful in future. As you can see from my skills analysis (Refer to appendix 2), there are a variety of skills that need developing and many skills that have already been mastered. One of the weakest skills has to be the presentation skills, as I struggle with creativity and also presenting in front of others. I intend to improve on this skill by speaking up more in seminar groups to build up confidence. Another one of my weak points is using excel. As a data analytics student excel is a very important aspect to get those higher grades; so, this needs to be developed by practicing in my own-time. However, the skills that have already been developed to the best of my ability, are the use of internet, technology and emails. This is due to the fact that technology is growing in this generation and I use it on a daily basis. Another strength in the skills analysis is the fact that I can actively listen, and co-operate with my teams on group projects. Then they Time management skills are a problem for me. I am all over the place at times and sometimes fall behind with assignments. To improve this, I will need to create a good routine for myself, and include everything I usually do in a day. I will need a calendar or time sheet, so that I can write down everything that I will need to do in that day. Create it for a week or fortnight so that I can re-use it every time and make small changes where I need to. To be able to efficiently manage my time and leave no room for time wasting. September, when we start university again. are the other section of skills which is scored decent on such as: use of word, PowerPoint, good spelling and getting my point through clearly. These skills will need some development; however, I dont need to priorities these skills. Table 2, What employees are looking for. Looking at the results above, you can see that my weaknesses are motivation, organization, perseverance and enterprise. These are the skills that need to be developed, in order for me to reach my maximum potential and get the job I want. The other skills listen in the amber section display the skills that I feel okay with and doesnt need as much development. Then you can see the skills I have listed in the green section, which displays the skills I am confident in and doesnt need to be developed. To evaluate, all the skills must eventually end up in the green section, however, the red section are the skills that need to be prioritized, before I can work on the amber skills. Red Amber Green Organization Commercial awareness Communication Perseverance Negotiation Teamwork Motivation (of self) Persuasion Leadership Enterprise and entrepreneurial skills Problem solving Resilience Ability to work under pressure IT skills Managing ambiguity Analytical skills 1 Write here all the words that appear on your list and also on the list of your colleague: Caring Energetic Friendly Self-conscious Brave Positive Intense Dependable Dynamic Mature 2 Write here all the words that appear on your colleagues list but NOT on your own: Shy Relaxed Happy Quiet Kind Trusting 3 Write here all the words that appear on your list but NOT on the list of your colleague: Brave Energetic Dynamic Leave this box empty. Intense Table 3, Johari Window exercise. From the table above you can see that me and my colleague are similar in some aspects, but we also have a few differences. My colleague is quite a shy and quiet individual, where as Im an energetic and intense individual. I put a lot of this energy into sports and gym, I am also very competitive in the sports which is where I get intense. We are both similar in the fact that we are very positive and caring when it comes to completing tasks. We are very hardworking and focused on the task at hand whether its assignments or at work. As you can see from the radar diagram below, my academic, career planning and studying are very important to me right now; but, theyre not quite where I want them to be at the moment. In order to achieve the score, I want, I need to spend a lot more time studying and working on my academic skills. Due to covid-19 I was left jobless and have since been looking for a part-time job to get me by, whilst studying. Figure 1, Radar Diagram Studying Relationship s Happiness Job Looking at the time log I have created (Refer to appendix 3), you can see that I am reasonably organized, however I need to focus a lot more time on my university tasks and assignments. One way I can do this is instead of waking up at 10:30 I could wake up at 8 and go gym earlier; doing this will allow me to have two extra hours of studying and on my rest days I have 4 hours extra of studying. I could also limit the days where I see my friends or see them for a shorter amount of time. If I put this together effectively, I would see a good result in the development of my academic skills and studying. Figure 2, Stress test (Et al, n.d.). This stress test shows I am only slightly stressed; however, it needs to be managed in order for me to thrive in my job and increase my performance in the workplace. Section IMP CO SH PL RI ME TW CF 1. g 2 d f c a h 1 b 3 e 2. a b 3 e g c d f h 3 3. h 3 a c 5 d 2 f g e b 4. d h b e g c a 4 f 3 5. b 7 f d 3 h e 4 a c g 6. f 3 c 2 g a 3 h e b d 2 7. e g a f d b h c 6 Total 15 5 8 5 4 1 7 14 Table 4, Belbin Self-perception From Belbins theory, you can see that I scored the highest in implementor and specialist which means I work well in a team and I am hard-working. I scored lowest in monitor evaluator as I find it difficult to analyze problems and evaluate ideas to make balanced decisions. Activist Reflector Theorist Pragmatist Very strong preference 13-20 18-20 16-20 17-20 Strong preference 11-12 15-17 14-15 14-16 As you can see from the learning styles to the left, I have a strong preference to all the different learning styles. Moderate preference 7-10 12-14 11-13 12-13 Low preference 4-6 9-11 8-10 9-11 Very low preference 0-3 0-8 0-7 0-8 Table 5, Learning styles (Honey, 2000) Table 6, SWOT analysis (Teoli, Sanvictores and An, 2020). Gap analysis Strengths Weaknesses Ideal candidate GAP Working in a team. Using technology Presentation Spreadsheets IT skills Mathematical skills Presentation Spreadsheets Strengths Working in a team. Using technology IT skills Leading a group Getting the team to focus on the task Actively listening Spelling Weaknesses Presentation Spreadsheets Excel Organisation Enterprise Reflection Opportunities Extra curriculars Volunteering Placements Internships Studying abroad Threats Covid-19 Friends wanting me to go out IT skills Leading a group Getting the team to focus on the task Excel Organisation Mathematical Programming Statistical skills Programming skills Microsoft excel/spreadsheets Problem-solving Accuracy Excel Organisation Mathematical Programming Table 7, GAP analysis The weaknesses identified above are the most important skills that need to be developed, in order for me to be a successful candidate. Mathematical, problem-solving and programming skills are very important for the industry I want to work in, I need to be able to show my interviewer that I could appropriately use these skills to support the productivity of their organization. Confidence and presentation skills are equally as vital in the interview process, because if Im asked to do a presentation, I need to be very confident for it to run smoothly and to draw the interviewers attention. Appendix 2 - Skills Analysis Skill 1 Low 2 3 4 5 6 7 High Verbal and non-verbal Speaking clearly Active listening Clarifying Questioning Using reflective skills Understanding non-verbal communication Writing skills Writing concisely Grammatically correct Good spelling Getting the message across with clarity Using logic and creativity as necessary Presentation skills Able to structure presentation Attention to needs of large/small audience Presenting ideas Awareness of audience feedback Learning skills Able to learn new information quickly Transfer of learning from one context to another Using knowledge to deal with novel situations Using feedback to increase the effectiveness Understanding and use of preferred learning style Skill 1 Low 2 3 4 5 6 7 High Learning skills contd Reflects on learning Able to learn from mistakes by self and others commitment to independent learning Action planning Sets own goals and priorities Action planning Able to identify, create, recognize and seize opportunities Meet deadlines Time management and stress management skills Self-reliance skills Able to manage career and personal development Building self-confidence and able to promote and sell own strengths Developing self-awareness Maintaining a personal sense of self worth Able to process and manipulate information and numbers with accuracy and conviction Confidence with financial data Able to administer personal budget Able to use research skills to identify potential sources of information, help and support Library skills PowerPoint Word Databases eg Access Spreadsheets eg Excel E mail Using the internet Android and Smart phones Other associated technology Skill 1 Low 2 3 4 5 6 7 High Working with others Able to work effectively as a team member Leading or following as necessary Delegating effectively Motivating self and others Setting goals and priorities Helping others Encouraging and guiding Counselling Demonstrating or explaining ideas and skills Dealing with conflict Accepting responsibility for own role in conflict situations Able to confront and negotiate with others Working cooperatively and collaboratively Problem solving Ability to use analytical skills to compare, evaluate and examine increasingly complex problems PLEASE REMEMBER ALL WORK HIGHLIGHTED IN RED NEEDS TO BE CHANGED OR WILL BE FLAGGED UP FOR PLAGIARISM BUT THIS IS A GUIDE AND TEMPLATE ON HOW TO CONDUCT THE WORK. PAY MORE ATTENTION TO WHAT I HAVE SAID IN BLACK RATHER THAN JUST COPYIN THE LAYOUT I HAVE PROVIDED. THANKYOU!

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