Applying Soar Principles, Further Education and Training Opportunities - Essay Example

The Personal and Professional Development Report Contents Executive Summary 3 2. Introduction 3 3. Findings 4 4. Conclusion 9 Reference list 10 Executive Summary Self-evaluation is an important step in every stage of an individual’s life, whether it is career change, education opportunities, marriage or new investments. Self-evaluation helps in understanding current strengths and weaknesses, according to which individuals can identify the opportunities as well as potential threats. Various methods and self-assessment strategies are used by individuals and organisations for assessing limitations and growth prospects. In the current analysis, Soar and Map principles have been applied in my self-evaluation. Using the fundamentals, I evaluated that I have certain abilities such as, excellent oral and communication skills, basic management and team skills and decision making capabilities. However, in order to carve a successful career in the field of international business, I will have to enhance my present skills as well as acquire new set of soft skills and technical knowledge. Apart from the abovementioned requirements, I have also recognised the need for advanced programs in international business. The analysis also helped in identifying my current weaknesses such as, lack of patience and perseverance. Lastly, I was able to find out few of the potential roadblocks, which might come in the way of smooth career transactions. This information will enable me in better preparing for these roadblocks. 2. Introduction Individuals are always under pressure in order to perform their designated tasks. As individuals, we have various roles in our everyday lives such as, of friends, partners, employees and students. In addition, to survive and thrive in this competitive environment, it is essential to possess certain attributes such as, patience, positive attitude and deterministic will. These characters are very useful when our academic or experiential skills are not sufficient to perform particular tasks. Apart from that, the external business and social environment has undergone significant changes. For instance, technology has experienced rapid advancements and as a result, traditional problem solving approaches are facing grave challenges. The objective of the present self-reflection report is to use Soar and MAP guidelines for outlining my journey over the last year. The reflective report will include my strengths as well as future planning strategies for building my skills and competencies. The reflection will also allow me to address my weaknesses. I have evaluated my knowledge and competencies and used this knowledge to understand the qualities that I require to become a manager working in an international business environment. I have used MAP for recognizing my unique abilities and competencies and their alignment with my identified career trajectory. I have also added the training and educational requirements as well as opportunities that I need to grab in order to meet my objectives. 3. Findings Applying Soar Principles The first stage of the Soar principle is self-assessment of skills and capabilities. At this stage, I will evaluate my current qualities and competencies for a better self-understanding. I will also access the areas that need to be addressed and skills that require development. Overall, this stage will help me in setting a path towards the next stages in my career planning and development strategy. Since I am preparing to become a manager in internal business and development, there are few set of basic and advanced skills that I need to master and excel in. In terms of basic skills, my verbal and written communications are excellent; this will assist me in fluent interaction with my clients, business partners as well as international customers. Nonetheless, I will have to learn at least two different foreign languages in order to be able to interact with them without assistance of a translator. This will also enhance my credibility as well as importance as an international manager. My presentation skills are persuasive, which will enable me to effectively represent my thoughts and ideas (Cambra-Fierro, 2007). However, there are few areas where I lack. While interacting with few clients and professors over phone, I have felt that my tele-calling skills require improvement. For instance, I am not persuasive enough over phone and my voice is not clear to parties on the other side of the call. Being an international manager, I will be involved in various telephonic calls and video chats (Randhawa, 2007). While attending a workshop on international business, I realised that my knowledge regarding current internal business practices in insufficient. Also, while working as a summer trainee in an international firm, I realised the need to develop my IT skills. Finally, in a group discussion session with other students, I had received feedback regarding my tendency to not allow other students to put forward their points, which might hamper my role and position in teams (Martin, 2010). Organising skills Organising skills is a method, whereby I can access, process as well as filter the information that is relevant for my future goals and objectives. I will also implement this information in a manner that is most fruitful for my specific career. I have segmented my improvement plan into two categories. The first category will define my personal development and the second one is related to my career development. Personal: My personal development strategy will include enhancement of my skills and knowledge, which will boost overall development of my personality, attitude and confidence. I will have to learn to be more patient while dealing with difficult people, especially those who fail to comprehend issues or instructions easily. In order to develop my overall knowledge and confidence, I will be reading business newspapers and international business magazines on a daily basis. For improving my other skills such as, interpretation, team work and handling conflicts, I will participate in regular online and offline discussion forums. Career: Career development strategies will include development of those skills, knowledge and capabilities that will help me in my future job roles. I will also use the internet extensively so as to identify best coaching classes or online tutorials for foreign languages. I will also attend seminars and lecture sessions for learning soft skills such as, sales pitching, negotiation and persuasion skills, informal meetings as well as effective body language. I shall sit for classes on time management as an international manager will have to be punctual and disciplined (Aswathappa, 2007). Another specific skill to be focused on is decision making. In order to cultivate my decision making skills, I will attend workshops on international business affairs. Action Objective Tasks Resources Review and comments Target Date Developing international business skills Attending seminars and certified workshops for development of international business skills as well as acquire membership in international business forums and clubs. Information on best workshops as well as international business management classes in town. I shall check my improvement and progress at the end of every month. However, personal tests at the end of every 3 months and performance review at the end of 6 months will be done. 1 year from commencement of the training. Learn at least two foreign languages professionally. Participating in various workshops and seminars regarding foreign language as well as applying for a foreign language course (Wang, 2013) Gain information from external references and websites on foreign language courses. Monthly tests will ensure progression. Self-review will be done on a quarterly basis. Completing course in 6 months. Re-evaluation Re-evaluation is an important stage in the Soar process. This will help me in evaluating my achievements so far and the area that still require attention. After evaluation of my first objective outcome, I could find many inconsistencies. Although I was able to set goals and objectives, some of these were still abrupt and ambiguous. For instance, I did not select the two foreign languages that I needed to learn and also made no effort to understand present foreign language requirements. In addition, some of the seminars and workshops that I had attended at the initial stages were unfruitful as I overlooked aspects such as, credibility of professionals and lecturers and intricacies involved in seminars and workshops. As a result, I re-evaluated my action plan and after pinpointing areas demanding improvement, I worked upon them again by setting a time limit for both personal and professional development objectives (Martin, 2010). MAP MAP stands for motivation, personality and ability. These are the three attributes that can define my unique abilities and advantages in my prospective career. Motivation: After my one year program at the institution, I have gained substantial insights about my motivational skills. I have realized that though I am keen on learning and achieving results, I somehow lose my patience and perseverance in strenuous tasks. Hence, I have often pulled out of a project or task due to loss of interest before completing a process. Even so, I have undergone counselling on this issue and understood that the process of achieving results is as important as the result itself. So, in order to enhance my motivation skills, I tried to contribute more in my tasks and incorporate more of those activities, which retains interest (Ezer and Horin, 2013). Ability: My abilities include competencies and skills that are both current as well as potential. A proper assessment of abilities also implies that I will be able to develop by potential accordingly in order to survive and thrive in my future profession. My abilities include learning skills, excellent written and oral communication, ability to stay informed and active as well as IT skills that will help in my operations. My competencies cover strong will and ambition to achieve my goal, ability to recognize weak points and amend them (Covey, 1996). Personality: There can be multiple types of personality. For instance, individuals can have personalities as those of status-seeker, achiever, harmoniser, explorer and socialiser. From the attributes that I could identify earlier, I am able to infer that I possess most of the personality traits mentioned above. I like socialising and meeting new people. This can be extremely beneficial as an international manager; I will have to meet customers and clients from diverse backgrounds. I am also an explorer as I am always excited when a new topic is being introduced. I prefer to share any new information discovered or identified with colleagues, professors and friends. My unique USP USP or unique selling proposition summarizes the best skills, competencies and capabilities of a person. It is a 30 seconds to 2 minute pitch, where individuals talk about their greatest strengths, unique qualities and abilities differentiating them from others. From the above self-evaluation, I could recognize some of my unique abilities or USPs. They are; excellent communication and oral skills, ability to interact freely with unknown individuals from diverse backgrounds and strong negotiation skills. My other USPs is my thinking ability and creativity skills. I can relate my above USPs with my future career trajectory. For instance, being an international business manager, I will require strong negotiation and communication skills, both of which I presently harbour. Also, international managers need to deal with clients and customers from diverse backgrounds on a daily basis. Therefore, my interaction and harmonious nature will be a perfect fit. Future direction With expansion of global business, there is a dire need for business managers to be well-versed with strategies, tactics as well as hard skills required for a successful career in the international business environment. In future, I hope to achieve those qualities and skills that will prove advantageous for a job related to my dream career (Ven, 2002). I also expect to put my carrier in fast track with specific courses on international business, which will enhance my concepts and knowledge about latest happenings in the international market. While working in an international business environment, I will have to work with latest technologies and advanced software for business evaluation. As a result, I also aspire to improve my technological skills before entering the corporate world. Further education and training opportunities In order to achieve my goals and objectives, I will require further training and development classes, besides the ones developed during action stages. Firstly, I will join a two year post-graduate diploma in international business. Since I plan to work after finishing my present studies, I desire to pursue my post-graduate program online. For this, I have selected few of the online courses such as, Wiley, Harvard and Cambridge University. Nonetheless, final selection of online course will be based on my work timings, course materials provided, course curriculum as well as budget. In addition, I aim to work in a reputed international business firm for at least two years, before making further career progression. As a result, I will involve myself in extensive study regarding job interviews and ways to excel in them. I also plan to take few personal classes from my professors who according to me will be able to guide through the interview process. Apart from educational courses, I will also engage myself in training and workshops, which will help in enhancing my soft skills such as, perseverance, team working and workforce management. My future experience with an international business firm will greatly help in enhancing my credibility and strengthen the potential of my resume. Potential Roadblocks In the course of my future career objectives, I have identified few potential roadblocks. The first roadblock can be locating a good company to work. I have most of the qualities needed to start as a business executive in an international firm. The overall economy is shifting towards global business, which breeds greater competition. Hence, I will have to outdo several competitors aiming for similar jobs. Also, my inexperience in work might make my job search all the more difficult, as majority of employers prefer experienced professionals. Since very few training classes or workshops provide certificates for participation and course fulfilment, my options for attending soft-skills workshops and seminars are quite limited. In order to minimise these roadblocks and project a successful career, I definitely require preparing myself from an early stage. 4. Conclusion The objective of the above self-reflection was to assess my current strengths and weakness with respect to my prospective career. The above analysis have revealed that I have all basic attributes and skills such as, oral and written communication skills, basic IT skills, basic management and team handling skills as well as competencies like, decision making ability, critical thinking and creativity skills. Even so, in order to secure a prospective position in a good company, I will have to add few extra skills such as, advanced knowledge of international business, IT skills and advanced software used by managers in decision making and statistical analysis. I have realized that only best individuals are selected in top companies and in order to function in an international business environment, I will have to work on my team management skills, knowledge of interpretation and enhance decision making abilities. However, my initial self-evaluation has boosted my confidence as I can state that my skills and competencies are over average and with right set of advanced skills, I can secure a successful career in international business. Reference list Aswathappa, K., 2007. Human resource and personnel management. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Cambra-Fierro, J., 2007. Students self-evaluation and reflection: An empirical study. Education + Training, 49(2), pp.103 – 111. Covey, S., 1996. The leader of the future: New visions, strategies and practices for the new era. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Ezer, H. and Horin, A., 2013. Quality enhancement: A case of internal evaluation at a teacher education college. Quality Assurance in Education, 21(3), pp.247 - 259 Martin, J., 2010. Self-concept as persons understanding and evaluation of their own actions and experiences: Looking backward and forward from where we are. Advances in Motivation and Achievement, 16, pp.167-198 Randhawa, G., 2007. Human resource management. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers & Dist. Ven, F., 2002. Fulfilling the promise of career development. Human Resource Management International Digest, 16(1), pp. 10. Wang, Y., 2013. Constructing career competency model of hospitality industry employees for career success. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 25, pp. 994 - 1016. Read More