Personal Development Plan - Reflections on Coaching Skill and Practice - Coursework Example

Lecturer Personal Development Plan: Reflections on Coaching skill and Practice Introduction Self-assessment is necessary for the development of any profession. It is the most absolute way to ascertain one’s strengths and identify the weak areas which need improvement. In this report, there is a critical overview of my self-assessments concerning my strengths and weaknesses (Tan 2011). This is also done based on the Four MBTI Dichotomies. The findings of the assessment are followed by the appropriate and recommended learning and development needs and the action plan necessary for improving my listening skills, interpersonal communication skills, research skills and employability upon a successful completion of my course based on the standard professional and societal moral and ethical values. Table of Contents Item Page Introduction………………………………..……………1 1.0 Initial Self-Assessment and Reflection………..……4 1.1 Listening………………………………….…………4 1.1.1 Strengths…………………………….…………….4 1.1.2 Weaknesses………………………… ……………4 1.2 Researching………………………….… ………..…5 1.2.1 Strengths…………………………..………………5 1.2.3 Weaknesses…………………….…………………6 1.3 Time Management…………….…..….…………….7 1.3.1 Strengths…………………………… ….…………7 1.3.2 Weaknesses……………………… ……………..9 2.0 Learning and Development Needs and Action Plan…………………………………….……………….10 2.1 Interpersonal Communication Skills………………..10 2.2 Research Skills……………………………………13 2.3 Time Management…………..………..………...…14 3.0 Employability……………………………….……..15 4.0 Conclusion…………………………………………17 5.0 Bibliography…………………………………….....18 1.0 Initial Self-Assessment and Reflection 1.1 Listening Listening is one of the most basic skills that everyone should possess. Critical listening does not only mean hearing, but attentive lending of ears in order to grab and understand the information being communicated. Based on my self-assessments, I would like to report that I have achieved a tremendous step in my listening skills. Unlike before, now I can call myself a critical listener. The evidence that I can give to prove my evaluation is that I do not just hear people talk. I dedicate my time to listen to them and concentrate on them as they talk to me. This enables me to understand whatever message they are trying to deliver to me. Besides, as a good listener, I have learnt to be a patient person who gives others enough time to express their ideas. Meaning, I do not interrupt anyone whenever they are talking to me. I do give them enough time to enable them complete their message without any interruption. This is actually a good sign of critical listening which should be promoted. Lastly, the other evidence I can give in support of my listening skills is that I respect other people’s opinion. As an intelligent person, I am strongly convinced that I should always respect others’ point of view. Regardless of their position, I ensure that I respect them without showing any sign of contempt and disapproval (Altman & Taylor 2005). This has of course improved my interpersonal relationships with most of my peers, juniors and seniors. On the other hand, I would like to report that I realized that I still have some weaknesses based on my listening skills. Although I qualify myself as a critical listener, I still have to improve on my persuasion skills. All along, I have known that persuasion is a significant component of interpersonal communication. Therefore, the evidence I can give for lack of this quality is that I lack the right personality to convince other people to consider my opinion and buy my ideas. This is an area which I need to improve on if I actually want to improve my listening skills which is so important for determining the effectiveness of my interpersonal relations. 1.2 Researching Research is an essential element of professional development. Without it, it might not be easier to acquire information which can be used to improve on any given area. Therefore, as far as Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is concerned, research is one of the areas which should be prioritized in order to improve the quality of learners. In this regard, based on the assessment that I carried out concerning myself, I realized that I have accomplished a lot as a researcher (Armstrong & Sperry 1994). This can be evidenced from the fact that I like reading and spend a lot of time in the library doing research. Since I can forgo other activities at the expense of reading, it is true that I am a good researcher. This has enabled me to learn a lot of things which I would otherwise be ignorant about. Secondly, I have been conducting extensive researches about the assignments and tasks given to me by my instructors. Whenever I get a feedback from my lecturers, I have to carry out a research to ensure that I identify my weak areas and make the necessary adjustments recommended by the instructor. This has enabled me to improve my performance. Moreover, as a researcher, I found out that I am a very curious and inquisitive student (Gorard 2013). Since I always want to know more, I try to ask a lot of questions from my friends, colleagues and instructors. This has enabled me to gather a lot of information which has enriched me as a professional. However, my weakness is that I do not look at things from a scholarly perspective. I am not always academic in my reason and argument. This is one area in which I need to improve on. At the same time, I realized that I am a book warmer who reads everything (Cohen & Arieli 2011). As a scholar, I am convinced that I should be selective in my readings. 1.3 Time Management Time is a very scarce, but valuable resource for a student. Later, upon a successful completion of my programme, I will have to know how to properly manage my time without any challenge. Based on my self-assessment regarding time management, I found out that I am doing the right thing because I have a well designed time table to follow while doing my activities. Meaning, I only have to do the activities which appear in my time table. Having such a daily schedule has enabled me to work without many challenges. The other evidence about time management is that I have created enough time for recreational activities. Despite my tight schedule as a student, I have allocated adequate time to go to the gym to exercise my body. As a matter of fact, physical exercise is necessary for a healthy growth both in the mind and the body. Moreover, found out that I am always punctual and timely in my activities. This is clear evidence that I properly manage my time. Whenever, I have an activity to undertake, I ensure that I do it without any delay. This has been witnessed during my class attendance and assignment submissions (Watzlawick et al 2007). On the other hand, I realised, through my self-assessment that I have several weaknesses regarding the manner in which I manage my time. The first evidence is that I am not principled in my decisions. Once I have committed myself to an activity, I do not fully obey my position. Instead, I can change my mind and do other things which I unfortunately did not plan to do. For instance, my friends can easily coax me to abandon what I am doing to join them in their own activities. Lastly, I realized that I am not flexible in my schedules (Trope 2006). Despite having a well drawn daily time table, I have forgotten to create room for emergency. Therefore, in case of any urgency, I cannot get time to fit into it. This has really given me lots of problems in my academic and extra-curricular activities (Brown 2000). 2.0 Learning and Development Needs and Action Plan I would like to begin by asserting that having any weakness does not mean that a person is not useful. Naturally, everyone is weak in one way or another. The most important thing to do is to evaluate oneself and identify the possible areas to adjust. After all, the main reason for carrying out a self-assessment is to evaluate oneself and ascertain the possible areas to improve in order to be a more useful and valuable person than one was before. Based on my self-assessment, I would boldly report that I am in the right path of improving my future employability. However, while appreciating myself for the strengths, I need to carry out a SWOT analysis to look for the possible ways of improving my weaknesses. This will help me identify and apply the right and most appropriate plan of action to improve my listening, research and time management skills as I prepare to clinch a job upon the completion of my programme. 2.1 Interpersonal Communication Skills Basically, the major reason for carrying out a self-assessment is to identify my weaknesses so as to enable me to come up with viable strategies to improve on them. Based on my assessments on interpersonal communication, I would like to point out that I still have a lot to do in order to improve on the identified areas. First, I would like to recommend that I should be persuasive in my talks. As a coach, I need to have persuasive skills which can enable me to convince other people whenever we are discussing with them. Once I cannot be able to lure others to listen to me, it might be so difficult for me to convince them to consider my opinion or point of view. The action plan I will have concerning this issue is to strategise the best way to learn this skill is to know about the personality traits of the people with whom I communicate. Once I know them well, it will be easier to identify the right approach to use while persuading them to consider my opinion and work upon it. In addition, I need to learn about how to relate with other people. As a matter of fact, effective interpersonal communication is necessary for a healthy interpersonal relationship. Once I can learn to establish a good rapport with my peers, I will definitely be in a position of enjoying my experience as a coach. Therefore, as already highlighted, the success of my relationships will be determined in the manner in which I refine my interpersonal communication. In this regard, I should not hold any informed opinion about others. Instead, I should be ready to listen to them and respect whatever they have to tell me irrespective of my view about it. It is only through listening to others that I can also be listened to. Otherwise, I will not manage to communicate to anyone at all (Griffin 2012). Learning how to effectively manage interpersonal communication is not only necessary for my relationships with others. However, it can implant long term benefits on me (Anderson et al. 2004). For instance, it can help in increasing the chances of my employability in case I successfully finish my programme. Effective communication is necessary for the development of any profession. Thus, each and every organization sets up mechanisms to promote interpersonal communication amongst the employees, management, clients and all the other stakeholders (Foss & Littlejohn 2008). Meaning, knowing my strengths and weaknesses is the first step in my professional development. It will help me to cordially relate with everyone whom I come across in course of my duties. 2.2 Research Skills As a coach, I believe in research as the corner stone for the development of my career. When equipped with research skills, I can be in a position of acquiring all the necessary information which can help e in knowing much about life and my profession in particular. Therefore, based on my self-assessment, I still feel that I need t to learn a lot about research skills. Despite spending a lot of time in the library going through different versions, volumes and edition of book and non-book reading materials, I am convinced that I need to style up my reading culture. It is pointless reading everything that I meet in the library. Instead, I should learn to identify the right publications to concentrate on. Upon a thoughtful meditation, I have realized that some of the books which I read do not add any value to me. Hence, I have to learn to stop reading everything that I come across and instead be selective in my reading. This will help me to identify the right choice of materials to read in order to impart the right knowledge on me (Freshwater; Sherwood & Drury 2006). In doing this, I am convinced that I should liaise with my instructors to give me the right reading list to explore. Once I can learn to work closer to my seniors, I will definitely accomplish all my goals of becoming the most informed professional so far. It is wise idea to closely work with my instructors since they can be very useful to me. As experienced experts, they know exactly what is good for me as an upcoming researcher. The other thing I need to help me improve my research skills is the urge to know more. In order to learn a lot of information, I not only need to rely on my books and instructors. Instead, I should organise to attend workshops, seminars and conferences organised both within and out of my institution. While attending such events, I will have to ensure that I actively participate by giving presentations, listening and asking well thought and relevant questions to the concerned delegates. As an upcoming scholar, I believe that learning to attend and actively participate in such events can enable me to become a dedicated professional and flexible scholar who can freely survive in any environment however challenging it might be. It will groom me as a well informed researcher who is privy with all the necessary research skills and moral values as I seek to acquire more information about my career. 2.3 Time Management Without proper time management skills, I can never be a good coach or mentor in any part of the world. Therefore, based on my self-evaluation, it is obvious that I have lots of weaknesses which need to be improved. However, I have to begin by commending myself for drafting a reasonable time schedule for my daily activities. This has enabled me to plan my activities and concentrate on them as they appear in my time table. This is a good idea because it has helped me to achieve a lot. However, this does not mean that everything is perfectly done. In fact, I still have lots of weaknesses in this area which I definitely need to improve on. In the first place, I have to fault myself for being workaholic. Despite having a well organised time table, I must acknowledge that I lack the capacity to abide by it. Meaning, I should learn to be principled and learn to respect my own decision (Watzlawick, P. et al 2007). I need to be a very serious coach who makes decisions and strictly follow them without giving in to any undue pressure from external forces. Once I accept to be principled, I will have to make decisions and abide by them without ever looking back. As a coach, I need to learn such principles because they are necessary for my course and future development in my career. It is futile to draft a time table and deliberately fail to abide by it. This is the worst mistake which I should never do anymore. In fact, I should learn to be ready to condemn anyone who tries to sway me to avoid following my time table. Such people are not only bad, but are also against my progress as a dedicated coach. The other important skill that I need to help me manage my time is flexibility. Although I have been having a time table to guide my day to day operations, I need to acknowledge that my self-assessment revealed that it has been a very fixed one. Instead, it is recommended that a time table should be flexible so as to help in accommodating any emergency which might arise. In this regard, I report that I need to learn how to adjust my daily schedule to enable it to cope up with the dynamics of life. Meaning, it should not be rigid, but be in a position of creating some time for handling any urgency that might arise. This can be a good skill which can enable me to catch up with the tight college schedule and also prepare me for my future life as an organised professional. 3.0 Employability Based on my self-assessment, I strongly believe that I am a competent coach who deserves a long term engagement with a reputable employer at the end of my programme (Sedikides 2007). A part from building a strong sense of interpersonal communication, research and time management skills, I am convinced that my E…N…T…P personality traits from the MBTI Dichotomy is an encouraging one. It actually confirms that I am not an introvert, feeling and judging person, but a strong student with excellent extroversion, intuition, thinking and perceiving traits necessary for my survival as an employee (Brown 2000). They can definitely boost my employability. Meaning, I am destined for great things. My strong interpersonal communication skills are suitable for this profession. As a coach, I need to know how communicate with others (Baxter & Braithwaite 2008). Since such jobs involve reacting with different categories of people, I need to know how to effectively relate with them. In such a scenario, I will be in a position of establishing a good working environment in which everyone is accommodated regardless of their diversities. Besides, my research skills can be of great help to my employer. I can use them to gather and disseminate adequate, reliable and credible information for the benefit of the entire organization. Lastly, my personality traits are quite impressive (Sedikides 2007). I am an extrovert and bold person who can freely and confidently engage other people without any fear. At the same time, I am a thoughtful individual. This can help me in complying with the ethical values and coming up with objective and creative ideas for the sake of accomplishing my employer’s short and long term goals. 4.0 Conclusion Self-assessment is necessary for the development of any person. It can help in identifying both the strengths and weak areas which need to be adjusted in order to make the necessary improvements (Trope 2006). According to report, the assessment carried out revealed that there is an appreciated stride made as far as communication, research and time management skills are concerned. However, all the loopholes identified need an immediate action plan to be immediately mended. This can not only help in improving my skills in line with the theories of learning and coaching, but also increase my chances of getting a job opportunity after completing my programme. 5.0 Bibliography Altman, I & Taylor, DA 2005, Social Penetration: The Development of Interpersonal Relationships. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. Anderson, R et al. 2004, Dialogue: Theorizing difference in communication studies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Armstrong, SJ & T Sperry 1994, "Business School Prestige: Research versus Teaching". Energy & Environment 18 (2): 13–43. Baxter, L & Braithwaite, D 2008, Engaging theories in interpersonal communication: Multiple perspectives. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Brown, JD 2000, ‘Evaluating one’s abilities: Shortcuts and stumbling blocks on the road to self-knowledge.’ Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 26, 149-167. Cohen, N & Arieli, T 2011, ‘Field research in conflict environments: Methodological challenges and snowball sampling.’ Journal of Peace Research 48 (4), pp. 423–436. Freshwater, D; Sherwood, G & Drury, V 2006, ‘International research collaboration. Issues, benefits and challenges of the global network.’ Journal of Research in Nursing, 11 (4), pp 9295–303. Foss, K & Littlejohn, S 2008, Theories of Human Communication, Ninth Edition. Belmont, CA. Gorard, S 2013, Research Design: Robust approaches for the social sciences. London: SAGE. Griffin, E 2012, A First Look at Communication Theory (9th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Imahori, T & Cupach, W 2004, ‘Identity management theory: communication competence in intercultural episodes and relationships.’ In Wiseman, R. L. & Koester, J., (Eds.), Intercultural Communication Competence (pp. 112 – 31). Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Sedikides, C 2007, ‘Assessment, enhancement, and verification determinants of the self-evaluation process.’ Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65(2), 317-338. Tan, HK 2011, Student Self-assessment: Assessment, Learning and Empowerment. London: Research Publishing Services. Trope, Y 2006, ‘Self-Enhancement and Self Assessment in Achievement Behaviour.’ In Sorrentino, R.M., & Higgins, E.T. (Ed.) Handbook of motivation and cognition: foundations of social behavior (pp. 350-378). Guidford Press, USA: New York. Watzlawick, P et al 2007, Pragmatics of Human Communication: A Study of Interactional Patterns, Pathologies, and Paradoxes. New York: Norton. Read More