Critical Evaluation of Skills and Action Plan - Personal Statement Example

Chapter Introduction After engaging in a very fruitful sessions in the I've learned many skills that are beneficial in my academic and future professional life. In the entire course, I've realised that to be successful, a person needs to take account his knowledge, skills and talents in any endeavour he undertakes. Just like successful companies that invest millions in finding solutions from consultation firms, any individual person should do the same on his own personal life This is the reason why taking up personal improvement course is essential for me. It gives person me direction and guidelines on how to achieve success not only in my career but also to my personal life. Chapter 2. Personal Development Planning In today's rapidly changing business environment where competition is very fierce I realise that in order to succeed I need to discover and capitalize on his personal competencies in order to excel in his chosen field of career. I should improve my knowledge, talents and skills to stay in the competition or else I will be lagged behind. Once left behind, I will likely face termination not only from my present job, but also from my future career. Especially on my case that I am foreigner I should improve my not only in academic aspects but also my communication and interpersonal skills. My unique knowledge, skills, and talents are tools that I can use to improve not only to myself but also to humanity as a whole. Having these he should create a plan on what these are, how and when to use them. These are the critical issues that I discovered and worked on during the first parts of the course. I mapped up my personal development plan. As what Elliott said1, personal development planning provides us with access to bridge our dreams towards its realisation. 2.1. Reflection In the first workshop, I found out the how important reflection is not just in personal development but also in learning in general. Kolb's four-stage experiential process learning2 includes reflection as one of the vital parts in the learning process. Reflection is stepping back from a confusing experience that will enable us to think and "generate a more comprehensive plan of activity3. Kolb's four-stage experiential learning enables opened me to a possibility of a lifetime of learning that is not entirely dependent on traditional teaching methods. Before I had a notion that in order to learn something I just had to rely on the spoon-fed teachings and learning methods. Because of this learning theory, by way of concrete experience, observation and reflection, forming abstract concept, and testing in new situations; Kolb emphasised to us that learning is on immersing oneself in a real case scenario rather than simulating reality in a classroom4. With these realisations, I felt empowered by the first workshop. I also felt responsible for my personal development. I became confident that I would solve my problems in life particularly in my weaknesses that, I personally believe, will hamper my personal development. I realise that I should become proactive in my quest to improve myself, just as what Covey5 said in his Habit 1 "Be Proactive". The nature of personal development as I see it after finishing the course is to be proactive and to develop ourselves continually that will enable us to be competitive today and in the future. During the filling up of the personal learning style questionnaire conceptualised by Mumford6, I found out that I am activist learner. That reflected that I could learn better when I am exposed in concrete experience. This justified my interest in joining in hands-on activities that require teamwork. I also found out in Guirdham's conflict solving style questionnaire7 that my personality is inclined towards avoiding and competing. I found this interesting since it accurately reflected my own personality. According to Guirdham's questionnaire, my personality is not inclined to solve conflict. I have the tendency to compete with others instead of finding a solution to the problems. With regards to Belbin's questionnaire on teamwork8, I realised that my strengths lie on listening others, promoting harmony, responsible to do the teamwork, and reduce the team workers' conflicts. I also found out my weakness such as my indecisiveness and avoidance to deal with the difficult issue. During the first workshop, I discovered certain perspectives of my personality that I was unaware of. It gave me a clear picture on how to improve myself and provided me with a working outline on which aspects of my personality should be enhanced. 2.2. Auditing skills and attitudes After finding out the strengths and flaws of my personality based from the three personality questionnaires above, I further found out my untapped skills and attitudes. Being a person with a cultural background different from the British, I immediately point out that communication problem would be one on the most critical issues that I will face. Aside from directly delivering the message, communication with one another greatly involves the prediction and anticipation of each other's responses, according to Gudykunst and Kim9. The authors further emphasised that communicative prediction is based mostly on the difference in cultural background of both persons involved. With the quality of strangeness that both parties of different cultures present, anxiety and uncertainty develops. This is what I feel being a person coming from a different country. As most foreign students, I know that I need to develop my English communication skills to improve my interaction with my teammates and classmates and also with my academic activities. I was aware that I would do numerous academic works such as reading literary books, giving critical comments that would be horrifying for a non-native speaker of English to do. To search and read the English website and books are really difficult for me. I should encourage myself to learn a foreign language. To do so, I need to learn how to avoid to consciously translating Chinese words into English. Because of cultural difference, I also need to learn and develop social skills that will improve my interaction with British people. Knowing that I have a different genetic race, ethnical and even religious background, this largely affects the interaction between persons of different cultures. Culture has a wide array of elements that I had not known before. In the past once cultural difference was mentioned to me, I immediately thought about the language, religious, and the physical differences that distinguishes one race or tribe from another. As the lecture about cultural diversity went on, I realised that there are still seemingly small yet profound differences that should be considered aside from the once I mentioned. I noticed that even medical treatment being used in different countries has a huge effect in cross-cultural interactions. These critical differences have attracted my attention to study cultural differences even further. 2.3. Critical Evaluation and Action Plan Knowing the personality that I have and the workshops that I was able to attend, I laid out a plan on how to improve myself to be competitive in the present. With the discoveries that I have discovered in myself I have plotted out the following action plan that I want to implement in to myself in the future. 2.3.1 Building Confidence The first thing that I think I should do is to build up my confidence. Building up self-confidence. Knowing that familiarization with the culture of the British people is a key in doing this, I plan to gain further knowledge in this aspect. Familiarization to the British culture and society is I think, the most effective way to ease up my anxiety and uncertainty. I want to expose myself to different cultural intricacies of the British and other society. 2.3.2. Investing on Training and Education I also plan to invest on education and training that will improve my skills and competence. I will engage myself in activities that will develop my confidence. This includes enhancing my competence in group discussion, presentation and decision-making. I want to enrol in courses that will hone these skills and talents. Aside from formal education, I will also make use of my free time to improve my command of the English language. This means that I will immerse myself in books, movies, and any other recreational activities. I also want to invest on buying CDs and other multi-media instructional tools to achieve the same purpose. Also considering that group presentation is difficult to me, I will also prepare thorough preparation to practice my oral language skills in front of own team members. This way I will be better in managing emotion during presentations. 2.3.3. Taking the Initiative In-group meetings, I seldom to give personal comments, because I am lacked confidence, I worried on making mistakes in giving wrong comments. I was also afraid to be embarrassed in that I might say the wrong English words. This caused me to shun myself away from giving my own decision in the group. I need more practice personally and with friends. This is the reason why I will improve the way I interact with others. Teamwork comes from a well-managed and organized group wherein members will share their skills freely and gladly to others. I will try to overcome my avoidant and shyness that will stop me from moving forward. After learning the skills that I have mentioned above, I think I should have increased my confidence and self-esteem. But still I have to improve on taking the initiative in what I am about to do, especially in carrying out personal decisions; and in trying something new or challenging that will boost my self-esteem. I also believe that in joining more activities in the course, in giving personal suggestions, and in taking responsibility in involving myself with the group and with members of other groups will further improve my self-esteem. I know could not take the role of a leader, but I would be a good member in every meeting, in painstakingly recording the contents, researching information and books, I also need the help of other members. Studying in a foreign country it is not an easy job, so I need to intensify my communication skills and to double my time in honing my skills to cope with the pressures of student life. I have to try to make some decisions myself and not waste the time of others. In today's business environment, companies need people who can take responsibilities, confidence, show your values and have the brave to face the uncertainty in challenges-these are all I need to learn and develop. Chapter 3. Conclusion The objectives of the personal development programme are to discover the theories on how to improve one's self and to apply the system to myself. To achieve these objectives, I have attended the theoretical side of the course and, more importantly, to apply these changes to myself. After studying the course, I discovered the necessity for implementing the plan that will improve myself. In this academic year, I will make a time schedule to concentrate on my studies. This endeavour should not just be a mere plan on the paper to be read and to be researched. I also have to discipline myself. We got six individual assignments but my results are not good enough and happy with. Yet I have to overcome the difficult barriers that exist in my studies, so for this reason, I have to persevere in continuing my journey to be a better student and a person. References 1 Elliott, R. 2007. "What is Personal Development Planning" Retrieved March 10, 2007, from http://www.uncommon-knowledge.co.uk/personal_development/what_is.html 2 Kolb, D. 1997. as cited by Dunn, L. 2000. "Theories of Learning" Retrieved March 10, 2007, from http://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsd/2_learntch/theories.html 3 Dewey, J. 1933 as cited by Hayward, L. 2000. Becoming a self-reflective teacher: A meaningful research process. Retrieved March 10, 2007, from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3969/is_200004/ai_n8888143/pg_2 4 Kolb and Fry. 1975 as cited by Smith, M.K. 1996. "david a. kolb on experiential learning" Retrieved March 10, 2007, from http://www.infed.org/biblio/b-explrn.htm 5 Covey, S. 1989 as summarised by Gray, M. 2007. Be Proactive, Personal Vision. Retrieved March 10, 2007, from http://www.profitadvisors.com/proact.shtml 6Honey, P. & Mumford, A. 1986. A Manual of Learning Styles, Peter Honey, Maidenhead. 7Guirdham, M (2002) Interactive behaviour at work (3rd ed.) Essex: Pearson Education Limited. 8Belbin. R.M. (2003) Team roles at work, Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann. 9 Gudykunst, W and Young Y. K. 1995. "Communicating With Strangers: An Approach to Intercultural Communication," in Bridges Not Walls, ed. John Stewart, 6th edition. New York: McGraw-Hill pp. 429-442. Read More