Personal Development and Employability - Assignment Example

Personal Development Plan Introduction Despite that I am now undertaking my programme, I know that a time will come when I will have to wind up my studies and then embark on job seeking. However, with the stiff competition in the job market, I will not be able to get any employment if I do not succeed in my studies. Moreover, this might not happen in case I do not possess some of the necessary skills such as communication, writing and time management. It is for this reason that I conducted a self-assessment to ascertain my weak areas before taking the necessary measures to address them. Table of Contents Table of Contents Page Introduction………………………………............…………1 1.0 Initial Self-Assessment and Reflection…........……......4 1.1 Interpersonal Communication........………..........….....4 1.2 Writing Skills…………………………..................…….6 1.3 Time Management…………….…..…............…………8 1.4 Ethics, Values, Beliefs and Professionalism................10 2.0 Learning and Development Needs and Action Plan…………………………………….…...….............…….13 2.1 Interpersonal Communication Skills…............……...13 2.2 Writing Skills…………………….........……….…14 2.3 Time Management…...........................................15 3.0 Conclusion……………………………....………….17 4.0 Bibliography…………………………....…….....…..18 1.0 Initial Self-Assessment and Reflection 1.1 Interpersonal Communication Interpersonal communication is the procedure of exchanging feelings, opinions or thoughts between people in the form of verbal and non-verbal message exchange (West & Turner, 2010). It has been evident that coaching and mentoring skills often develop interpersonal communication by way of forming, developing and preserving a better association within different members (Parsloe, 2009). With proper listening skills, I am assured that I stand a better chance of effectively interacting with other people and increasing the chances of my employability especially after my programme. Upon conducting a self-assessment, I realized that I have some strength as far as my listening skills are concerned. First, I would like to report that I am good at discussions. I realized that I always comply with the principles of interpersonal communication guiding discussion groups. A part from lending my ears to other people, I really respect their points of view. This has helped me to be a good listener who gives other people enough time to address me without disturbing them at all. For example, when I was assigned by my instructor to join a small group during my Law class, my participation was quite impressive (Myers, I.B., 2000). Besides, my self-assessment also revealed to me that I am a courageous student. Meaning, I can confidently present myself before a class and communicate to everyone without any indication of fear. I am a good public speaker. As I learnt from my self-assessment, unlike before, nowadays I am audible and have developed a moderate rate of delivery which is accepted in public communication. The evidence I can give for this is that whenever there is any presentation to be made in my class, I am always one of the most active presenters. Besides, all my colleagues and the instructor listen to me more than any other presenter. One day, my communications instructor called me into her office and told me that I am a good public speaker (Clutterbuck & Megginson, 2005; Dixon & O’Hara, n.d.). Meanwhile, my self-assessment revealed to me that I have several weaknesses regarding my interpersonal communication. As a potential employee, I have to make improvements in them in order to increase my chances of getting a good job. The first weakness I discovered is that I have a very low concentration level. As a student, one of my roles is to attend lectures. However, whenever I go to the lecture hall, I get bored so soon to the extent that I am unable to listen to the teacher. This was evidenced when I felt tired and started dozing off while the lecture was on-going. One day, my lecturer embarrassed me when he ordered me to leave the lecture room. The other weakness is that I get destructed so easily. Meaning, I do not focus on what I am being told by another person. This has been evidenced during my informal and formal interactions. For example, when conversing with my friends, I always play with my cell phone. Meaning, in the long run, I spend a lot of time texting or receiving phone calls. This is a very bad habit which has jeopardized my relationship with lots of my friends. Worse still, I carry the same gadget to the lecture room and use it in the course of lessons. In many occasions, I have been disrupting lectures when I receive calls even in the presence of my instructors. This too has not augured well in front of others. It has made them know me as a poor listener. Last, but by no means the least, I learnt that I have very poor listening skills. My self-assessment revealed to me that I have extremely poor listening skills which do not meet the expected threshold. This was ascertained when I opted to take an online listening test and produced dismal results (Whitmore 2010: 71). In fact, I failed the simple listening quizzes which were to prove to me if indeed I am a critical listener or not. From it, I learnt that I have a very big challenge which needs to be addressed. 1.2 Writing Skills As a student, I know that writing is a very important skill which I can not do without. I need to use a pen as my weapon with which I conquer the academic and professional side of life. However, after successfully completing my self-assessment, I found out that I have a lot of stretches and weaknesses regarding my writing skills. My first strength is that I like reading. As a student, I deeply understand the role of reading in my life. Thus, I spend a lot of my time going through different versions and editions of books that I come across. Usually, I allocate two days every week when I go to the school library to borrow books and thoroughly read them. My assessment revealed that this is a brilliant idea because reading is a great investment to me. As a mentor, I need to be knowledgeable on a lot of issues (Whitmore 2010: 26). The best way to acquire such knowledge is to develop such a reading culture. Secondly, I found out from my self-assessment that I always do a lot of consultations when searching for information. In order to know about some technical and completed concepts, I always approach my bright colleagues and my instructors to explain them to me. Through this strategy, I have managed to know a lot of things which I would otherwise not have known. I think this is one of the reasons why I managed to score a ‘B’ grade in HRM 213 which was appearing to be one of the most difficult courses last semester. On the other hand, I found out that I do not have excellent English skills. As an English as Second Language (ESL) speaker, I acknowledged discovering that my weakness is that I have poor grammar. Meaning, I merely struggle to construct meaningful and spelling-free sentences whenever I have to do so. This has been a very embarrassing experience since, unlike my Native Speaking counterparts; I do not stand a better chance of properly using the highly valued English Language. Because of this, I often score poor grades in English courses. For instance, in the previous Law Essay, I only recorded a dismal 38% thus compelling my teacher to encourage me to improve my grammar. Besides, I learnt, from my self-assessment, that I have formed a tendency of not taking notes. As already highlighted, the most important thing to me during lectures is playing with my phone. Meaning, I do not concentrate a lot. However, this is quite bad because it has been hindering me from taking notes. Actually, note making and taking are two important skills which every learner needs to know. A part from helping to improve performance, they are essential in improving writing, research and reading skills. 1.3 Time Management For certain, another skill that would certainly enhance my future employability is time management. My priority to time management can be rationalised with reference to the fact that this particular skill supports in performing better in workplace and making deliberate efforts towards the attainment of predetermined organisational targets. It can further be affirmed in this similar concern that the time management skills will develop my future employability in terms of forming, developing along with preserving greater communication with every organisational team member, fostering teamwork, negotiating responsively and comprehending the requirements of staff members (Cotrell, S., 2010). After conducting a self-assessment, I realized that I still have a lot of weak areas which must just be improved for me to excel in my studies and improve my employability. In the first place, I now know that I am a very punctual student. When I commit myself to doing any activity, I always do it in time. Meaning, I do not delay at all. This was evidenced when I attended my lectures and group discussions in time. Punctuality is a great quality for any person. It can help me to succeed in my capacity as a student and employee. In addition, I learnt that I am sincere and honours appointment. Whenever I have any appointments with my colleagues or teachers, I have to ensure that I honour it and meet them as agreed. In fact, I always rush there before the actual time of our meeting. This has enabled me to be a good person in the eyes of many people. For example, when I was instructed by my Law teacher to go to his office in the morning, when she found my by the door of her office, she commended me for being such a good student and encouraged me to keep it up (Myers, I.B., 2000). However, the assessment sensitized me on my weak areas which include poor organization. As a student, it was quite embarrassing to learn that I have not been having a personal time table. This is a very unfortunate situation because I am supposed to have a clear outline of all the activities I should be conducting throughout the day (Pan, Z. & et. al., 2008). This can guide me on how to be organised and manage my time without any skipping any scheduled activity. Meanwhile, I learnt that I have not been regularly attending my lectures. According to our school policy, a student is supposed to attend lectures. However, upon the completion of my self-assessment, I found out that I have been skipping several lectures. Meaning, I do not join my colleagues in the lecture rooms. When individual records were released, I realized that I have poor attendance record because it was far below the expected. This has negatively impacted on my performance in most of the courses I undertake in this institution. Besides, it has groomed me as an irresponsible student. Eventually, I learnt that I do not bother about my physical fitness. Meaning, I never create any time for physical exercises. As a student, I always have a lot of things to do. However, it is recommended that such a busy mind should allocate some time and participate in exercises. Even if it means allocating ten minutes to go to the gym or pitch and participate in athletics, it is acceptable. However, I have never taken this seriously. Instead, ignore it without knowing that it can have long term negative impacts on me. 1.4 Ethics, Values, Beliefs and Professionalism Ethics is a universal concept applicable to every person and profession in the society. As a student, I need to know about and comply with the ethical standards guiding the conducts of people in my profession. In order to determine the ethics, values, beliefs and professionalism persisting within coaching along with mentoring skills, it can be apparently observed that the coaches and the mentors in the modern era usually deliver their respective services to the clients based upon their respective competence, training and professional education (Whitmore, 2010). My own personal values along with beliefs about learning, coaching and development lay in my improvement in terms of my interpersonal communication skills and accomplishing the other determined goals that will help me groom my coaching and mentorship abilities. These goals comprise developing listening, writing and time management skills among others. According to me, the major values as well as beliefs concerning learning, coaching and development, typically comprise understanding self, making commitments towards self-advancement, forming along with building associations and evaluating the necessary findings (EMCC, 2011). A summary statement of the ethical principles within which, I will work as a coach have been portrayed in the following. Abiding by a Code of Ethics Managing the coaching procedure and accordingly satisfying the requirements of every individual equally Demonstrating greater awareness about ethics, values, beliefs and professionalism in developing effective coaching programmes Skilfully building as well as preserving the association between the individuals Working with the clients more effectively towards generating more prominent learning and insight Cooperating in ethics proceedings and investigations process 2.0 Learning and Development Needs and Action Plan After identifying my weaknesses, it is upon me to embark on a well organized and focused plan of action on how I can improve on them. As a matter of fact, each of the identified areas needs to be addressed in order to enable me to improve my grades and be able to get a good job at the end of my programme. 2.1 Interpersonal Communication Skills In order to achieve my goals, I need to improve on the identified areas of weakness. As already explained, interpersonal communication skills are necessary in determining my success as a student and an employee. Therefore, the first thing I will have to do is to learn and be ready to concentrate during my lectures. Since I learnt that I never listen attentively to my tutors because I doze or use my cell phone, I will have to learn to change my tactics. The best thing to do is to stop going to the lecture room with my cell phone. The same should apply when I am interacting with my peers. The habit texting, receiving and making phone calls while talking with other people is not good. A part from damaging my reputation, it interferes with my interpersonal reactions. However, if I learn to stop it, I will become a real mentor (Selman & Fullerton, n.d.). The other thing I need to learn to do is to learn to be a critical listener. As was revealed by the online test, I have a duty to improve my listening skills. Therefore, the best action plan to undertake is to improve my listening skills. This will be done by avoiding any misconduct and weakness that can bar me from listening. Meaning, I will have to be attentive and spend more time to listen to a person whenever they speak to me. Since beginning this strategy, I have improved on my listening skills. This was evidenced when I scored a standing ‘A’ in my latest online listening test. 2.2 Writing Skills The other important goal to set is to ensure that I have excellent writing skills so far. Although the results of my self-assessment indicate that I have weaknesses, the truth is that I can still become the best student in my institution. This can be accomplished if I learn to improve on my weaknesses and refine my writing skills much better. In order to improve my grammatical skills, I will have to learn how to take and make notes during my lectures. Whether it is a formal or informal lecture, the most important thing to do is to learn from it. Therefore, if I learn to be a note maker or note taker, I will definitely learn a lot of skills in writing. A part from learning listening skills, I will be in a position of knowing how to take short notes and summaries which I can rely on during my studies (Johnson 1994: 113). It will save me the unnecessary stress of relying on the hand outs provided by the lecturer. At the same time, I can use my notes and collaborate with other students to help me in improving my grammar. In other words, after writing my summaries, I can give my colleagues to evaluate them and identify any mistake. This will help me to improve a lot. Rather than note taking and note making skills, I will have to improve my writing skills by reading a lot. As an upcoming scholar, I know very well that I should be a reader. Hence, in order to pass my examinations and increase the chances of getting hired after my programme, I will have to learn to read a lot. It is only through such extensive readings that I will manage to be more knowledgeable than I could otherwise be. If I read a lot of books, I will get to learn a lot of lessons which can help me as a student and employee. 2.3 Time Management Time management is also an equally important skill which should be groomed at all times. Since it is a common knowledge that time is a very scarce, but valuable resource, it should be properly managed. Unfortunately, my self-assessment reports revealed that I have very poor time management skills which need a lot of improvements (Cotrell, S., 2010). In the first place, I will have to learn to attend my lectures. Since my major aim is to lean, I will have to take all the necessary measures to ensure that I attend all the lectures. Besides, I will have to learn to have a daily journal recording all the activities which I need to do everyday. It is very unfortunate that a college student like me does not have such an important document. Therefore, if I really need to pass my programme and get a job thereafter, I will have to start learning how to organize my work. Meanwhile, I will go beyond having this schedule to ensure that I become disciplined and stick to my decision to comply with it at all times (Clutterbuck & Megginson, 2005; Dixon & O’Hara, n.d.). Finally, I will allocate enough time, as part of my daily schedule, to actively engage in physical exercises. At least, now I am aware that body fitness is paramount for me since it can ensure that I am okay both in the mind and the body. For ample, if I participate in my favourite games like chess and volleyball, I will have to be healthier than I would otherwise be. This can help me to be a comfortable student and useful employee in future. 3.0 Conclusion As a focused learner, I need to have feasible goals to guide me in my day to day operations. I very well acknowledge that my life will not end in this institution. My major aim is to complete my programme then search for a job. However, for me to succeed in each of these areas, I have to be very serious. This is why the self-assessment that I conducted helped me to identify my weaknesses in the areas of interpersonal communication, writing, time management and ethics. However, with this done, I will now embark on my goals so as to make the necessary improvements before becoming the best personality in the eyes of my colleagues, instructors and potential employers. 4.0 Bibliography Clutter buck, D. & Megginson, D., 2005. Making Coaching Work: Creating a Coaching Culture. CIPD Publishing. Cotrell, S. (2010) Skills for Success: Personal Development and Employability (Palgrave Study Skills). (2nd Edition). London: Palgrave Macmillan Publishers. Dixon, T. & O’Hara, M., No Date. Introduction. Communication Skills, pp. 01-39. EMCC, 2011. Continuous Professional Development. Code of Conduct for Coaching and Mentoring, pp. 1-7. Grimley, B., 2012. Theory and Practice of NLP Coaching: A Psychological Approach. SAGE. Johnson, R., 1994. Improve Your Writing Skills. Clifton Press. Law, H., 2013. Coaching Psychology: A Practitioners Guide. John Wiley & Sons. Myers, I.B. (2000) Introduction to Type (6th Edition).Centre for Applications Publishers. NHS, No Date. The Reasons for the Increasing Popularity of Coaching. Literature Review: Coaching Effectiveness – A Summary, pp. 1-19. Nellen, A., 2000. Goals of Time Management. Manage Your Work, Dont Let It Manage You: Tips for Managing Your Time and Getting Ahead. [Online] Available at: http://www.cob.sjsu.edu/nellen_a/time_management.htm [Accessed March 12, 20141]. Parsloe, E., 2009. Coaching and Mentoring: Practical Conversations to Improve Learning. Kogan Page Publishers. Pan, Z. & et. al., 2008. Technologies for E-Learning and Digital Entertainment: Third International Conference, Edutainment 2008, Nanjing, China, June 25-27, 2008, Proceedings. Springer. Sims, R. & Sims, S., 1995. The Importance of Learning Styles: Understanding the Implications for Learning, Course Design, and Education. ABC-CLIO. Selman, J. & Fullerton, R., No Date. Coaching and Ethics. Home. [Online] Available at: http://www.paracomm.com/coaching-and-ethics/ [Accessed March 13, 2014]. University of Essex, 2008. Structuring an Essay. How to Improve Your Academic Writing, pp. 1-20. West, R. & Turner, L., 2010. Understanding Interpersonal Communication: Making Choices in Changing Times, Enhanced Edition. Cengage Learning. Whitmore, J., 2010. Coaching for Performance: Growing Human Potential and Purpose: The Principles and Practice of Coaching and Leadership. Nicholas Brealey Publishing. 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