Summary of Ongoing Reflections and Learning - Personal Statement Example

Summary of Ongoing Reflections and Learning Student’s name Institutional affiliation Introduction Based on continuous assessment of the SWOT analysis, one of my key strengths was communication skills. These skills were more pronounced in a way I was adapting to the environment, easiness of making friends and participation in group works. Indeed, communication skills were much reflected in a sociable and assertive manner. In addition, my strong interpersonal skills were rated at 2 on QAA rating scale of 1 to 2. Furthermore, 1 had identified yet another key strength of personal distinctiveness which shown I possessed strong work ethic and eagerness to exert moral standards, as well as self-discipline. Apart from those skills, my SWOT analysis depicted high technological skills where I have excellent abilities to solve problems using new technology. These skills were further reinforced by ability to critically analyze data and possession of research, as well as investigative skills. The SWOT analysis also portrayed possible threats to my personal development, learning and career objectives. Management skills were most affected in this case. However, I had a series of changes such as low self-confidence, poor management sills, and poor decision making. Due to these challenges I was compelled to develop PDP (personal development plan). Setting SMART target I was in a position to improve on these skills. The SWOT analysis and PDP helped me to identify my weak and strong spots which need to be improved. During my first and second semester, I learned to manage time through developing of time schedules and stick on those schedules. I also improved my decision-making skills which were evident in informed decisions I made at the end of the second semester. During this period, my confidence level increased considerably. I was able to comfortably interact with my tutors without any difficulty. I was able to improve on my three key areas of weakness as outlined above. I was able to take actions and come out with more plausible strategies that transformed my weaknesses into strengths. Therefore, the improved skills will be transformed into employability skills to help me advance in my future career or help in mapping out career path through exploitation of opportunities through advancing in new technological skills, communication skills and work experience. My first employability skill is the communication skills. As I reflect on my communication skills, there are quite notable improvements that have added some strength on it. At first, my communication skills were reflected in the way I interacted with my friends, proactively participated in group discussions, and the way I presented my reports. The only impediment to my communication skills was low confidence especially when communicating with my tutors. The low confidence level affected my interpersonal skills. This hindrance to effectively communicate would most possibly affect my career path as most of the jobs in the job market today require excellent communication skills. I was glad to have realized this problem in time. The use of my Personal Development Plan has helped me figure out the weak spots in my communication skills. Fortunately, my confidence level has considerably increased over time as I constantly interact with my tutors through consultation and seeking assistance. Reasonably speaking, this interaction has increased my personal communication skills. This is my key improvement as far as communication skills are concerned. In job setting, higher confidence is important especially when communicating with bosses on key matters. Therefore, I believe I am eligible for employment. I believe strongly in the ideas of adaptability, trust and acceptance. My style of communication seeks and respects the inputs of other people in order to firmly construct cooperation and consensus when implementing a certain strategy or practice, or when addressing or solving a problem. While I regard myself to possess effective communication skills, I am at least my own nastiest critic with a view that this is an area that I need to constantly improve. Frankly speaking, effective communication is an extremely tricky task that is seen more complex when a person takes into consideration the variation and volume of constituents making up an organization with such complexities of a large, all-inclusive school fraternity. The other employability skill that I believe to have is technological skill. As explored earlier in my SWOT analysis, I am highly technological savoir-faire who is ever willing to explore new computer technology to solve real problems. Throughout these semesters, one and two, I had to finish all the assigned tasks. Most of these assigned tasks involved broad technological topics that required set goals and plans in order to attain them. In overall, I felt like that was an appropriate approach because it allowed me to pursue things that I felt they were worth my time. Gratefully, most of the professionals would recommend for this kind of professional development. Meanwhile, I was in a position to create things that were tailored to my needs. In retrospection, there were some time when my technological skills ended up frustrating, especially working with databases. That was really frustrating, but coerced myself to appreciate all the other times when things worked so well to my interest. Though I use Ms Word every day, some of the features interruptedly vexed me until I sat down to work on them. As it was before, I merely avoided them whether I required them or not. This scenario was certainly true of getting tables and columns formatted the way I required them. Through time management skills that I had improved earlier on, allocating time to work out the problem had proven beneficial already. In Ms Excel, I was in a position to refresh this computer skill I had not used since high school. As I sat down reflecting this technological skill I had reason why my Ms Excel skills were very rusty. I am not assured how I will use Excel someday, but I am prepared in whatever way if need arises. However, database had proven difficult for me simply because there was no database that interested me using while in the classroom. I did not consider how using a database could be much healthier than using a credible and regular webpage for research. Essentially, the primary use of database is to allow communication and sharing of ideas in an organization point of view. Once more, I need to appreciate the course for giving me the chance develop my technological skills that put me at a greater competitive position in the job market. Lastly, my personal reflection on third employability skill is about participation skills. Participation skills refer to the ability of a person to participate in team work through creation of good relationships with team members. Through team work, three outputs can b realized: shared learning, a strengthened relationship, and an advanced agenda. Through my experience in participating in group discussions and opens forums, I came to realize that forging relationship in the team is one of the most effective skills a leader may require to tactically move an organization frontward. As seen earlier, I am focused in creating relationships, developing a team and building trust within an organization where I would be in a leadership role. It dawned on me that trust and relationships are inherent issues for school leaders. Since I supposed that schools are intricate organizations where quality of relationships is vital to the success of any organization, I applied captivation process in my second semester as principle for developing quality relationships. Through captivation process, I met with numerous people such as teachers and other important members in society, to discuss my school’s strengths, weaknesses, challenges, and using short structured questions, I discussed those areas that I needed mostly to change. Therefore, the captivation process enabled me to develop diverse relationships with school community leaders. Therefore, participation skill enhances and creates a career path as this skill is highly recommended in a professional setting. As noted earlier on my SWOT analysis, I had a problem with time management. I realized that poor management skills made me postpone my assignments and I was always submitting them late. Poor time management frequently caused conflict between me and my tutors, and decreased performances. Fortunately, through semester one and two, I learned to make good time schedules and sticking to them. This aspect helped me to manage my time so well that there was virtually no conflict that emerged as a result of poor time management. Consequently, my performance in class increased considerably. Therefore, excellent time management skill is an employability skill in nature. With time management skills, I believe I am employable even in the future. Conclusion It is evident that perpetual improvement of the skills learnt in class can be used to develop person’s career path in the future. Most of the organizations are looking for specific skills while employing people. Some of these skills include communication, technological, time management, and participation skills. A person who concurrently possesses these skills has a better competitive advantage of being employed in today’s competitive job market. Also, people who possess these skills have greater opportunities in the job market and do not risk the new threats of the fresh graduates who virtually possess the same skills. Communication skill is an employability skill because most of the work, in most organization, is done through communication. Manager with effective communication skills is able to deliver the information in most efficient way in which employees can easily decipher. Also, delegation of powers to the lower level is done in the most plausible way. Therefore, communication is an integral part of an organization. Technical skill is also an employability skill that is ever present in an organization employment portfolio. Technical skills are used in the organization to produce goods and services. Goods and services are most important in an organization as they provide revenue and assist in realization of profit which is the main purpose of business to exist. Time management skill is paramount as time is money and time wasted is irrecoverable. Worth noting, an organization is composed of individuals who work together for a common purpose of attaining goals and missions of the organization. Therefore, participation skill is important in creating good relationships in an organization as people with the same goals need to work together with a high level of cooperation. Therefore, my Personal Development Plan has helped me recognize opportunities that I needed to appreciate in developing my future career through learning process. My weakness as portrayed in my SWOT analysis helped me polish key areas of importance. I used efforts and energy to improve my confidence level. High confidence level is indispensable for my future career, especially in maneuvering through future interviews and facing real problems in working environment. Additionally, Personal Development Plan has helped me in advancing my work experience and technical skills, as well as communication skills. References RUGHANI, A. (2001). The GP's guide to personal development plans. Abingdon, Radcliffe Medical Press. Read More