Executive Summary

The reflective personal development plan encompasses four different skills that have been analysed to detail. These skills include focus and attention, time management, giving and receiving feedback, and team-working. Time management is an important skill to have since it enables one to balance the numerous things in life. I consider myself to be competent with this skill and the people around me share a similar sentiment. Team-working is also a vital skill as it helps organisations to achieve substantial results within a limited time due to the synergy created. I have always considered myself to be competent with this skill, but through the reflection, I have realised that it is not everyone around me that harbours this belief. Giving and receiving feedback is also a vital skill as the feedbacks keep people moving and bring about improvements in different areas of life. Focus and attention on its part helps people to be better in whatever they are indulged with hence making it an important skill.  My competence with this skill is wanting hence the need for improvement. The reflection journal has made it possible for me to identify some of the strengths and weaknesses that I have. The three areas of personal development that I have identified include self-awareness, embracing positivity and improving potential. These areas will help in achieving my development needs as identified in the reflections.

Time Management

Time management includes effective planning, setting deadlines, setting goals and objectives, prioritisation of important activities, delegation of responsibilities and spending appropriate time for an appropriate activity. Time management is important since it helps to accomplish more using less effort, make better decisions, learn more and become more successful (Joseph, 2015). One accomplishes more since they are usually focused on the task involved while better decisions are enabled by creating sufficient time to thinks things over.

I select this skill for reflection because according to Joseph (2015) time management is life management. In life, time is among the valuable possessions that one can have since you cannot have it back once it is gone. As a result, an essential life skill one should strive to master is time management. It is important to make it an objective of making every day to count. This will help to eliminate procrastination and enhance self-discipline. The moment you master how to manage time, it brings more benefits than just increasing productivity. It has the potential of bringing health benefits as it minimises stress hence improving the overall quality of life.

Currently, I am competent when it comes to time management. I have assessed this based on how I usually complete my tasks on time. Rarely will I fall behind with deadlines regardless of what it is that I am involved with. This is also something that people within my circle complement me on. Most of the times when there is a group activity I am given the mandate to be the group leader. This is because I have the ability to ensure that everything is done within the desired period.

There is a match between how I see myself and how others see me. I consider myself to be competent with time management, and that is the same feeling I get from other people. People will trust you with group activities if you can deliver the requirements within the desired period. There have been cases where people have even told me openly based on their observations. As for me, it is something that I noticed from an early age.

This skill will help me in future given the career path that I am aspiring to take. Currently, I am taking a business management degree, and it is an area I aspire to pursue in my career prospects. The skill of time management will help me in setting goals and priorities in the workplace. This will help to identify items in my workload that need to be addressed before moving to those of lower importance. Keeping track of due dates will also become feasible.

Time management also ensures that one develops as an employee since one is likely to feel less pressure while meeting important deadlines. This gives an employee the opportunity of working on the company’s long-term goals rather than worrying on the day to day activities. The skill of time management has been known to be a favourable tool for identifying one’s biggest time wasters hence making the necessary adjustments (Oettingen et al., 2015). Delegation also becomes feasible with time management since every employee at every level wants to complete tasks within designated periods. Delegation is usually a good thing for the empowerment of junior employees.

2.Team-working

I have selected this skill since it offers organisations an opportunity of learning how to work together. Team-working is usually vital for the success of any entity. Creating a team is one thing, but it is something different to create teamwork (Jackson et al., 2014).

The importance of team-working is that it enhances efficiency. Well-trained teams that are working in partnership usually find it easy to complete tasks accurately and quickly. This makes it possible for the team to take on more work hence the probability of increased revenue generation. Through teamwork, ideas also tend to flourish. When there is team-working, members feel comfortable giving suggestions while the teams meet for discussions (Jackson et al., 2014). This concept of brainstorming ensures that there is the generation of varied beneficial ideas.

Team-working also ensures that there is the enhancement of communication. Communication has always been regarded as a significant skill to ensure the success of projects. Poor communication might lead to sending of unwanted messages hence creating a toxic working environment.

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I regard myself to be competent with regards to the skill of team-working. This realisation is through self-assessment findings. When tasked with group projects, I have realised that I always have this ability to work in partnership with other people. There is usually the sharing of ideas, and making relevant conclusions with regards to the issue at hand. I have not experienced aspects of laxity or conflicts while working in these groups. To me, this acts as an indication of my competence with the skill. Apart from self-assessment, my feelings also give me the notion of my team-working abilities. I am always happy and look forward to working with teams.

There are mixed feelings on how others see me with regards to the team- working skill. Some of my friends believe that I am very able when it comes to teamwork. However, there are some contradictions with some people I have worked with before. There are those that say I can be a little controlling while working in teams. There is also an instance where someone told me that I had the tendency of prioritising my ideas. I am not sure if she was being honest or she just wanted to get back at me.

The team-working skill will help me in the future in different ways. Among them is that it will make it possible for me to settle at the workplace without encountering difficulties. Extending this skill at the workplace will also work to boost my prospects of career development. This is because team-working creates synergy, which helps an entity to achieve greater prospects. The skill also promotes an empowered way of working by removing constraints that may hinder an individual from working properly (Salas et al., 2017). Team-working also fosters responsiveness and flexibility, more so when it comes to the ability to respond to change. This ensures that the relationships established in the workplace are positive.

Giving and Receiving Feedback

Giving and receiving feedback is an important skill due to the positive attributes that it brings along. To begin with, feedback keeps people going. Despite the feedback being either positive or negative, it should always be constructive. It helps to keep people going since they are aware of the improvements they are supposed to be making and areas where they need to maintain. Feedback also tends to unlock change and motivation (Petit, 2011). A good example is how customers give feedback to organisations after using a product or service. Organisations use these feedbacks to build on whatever they are offering and make them even better.

Feedback also has the ability to improve performance. This becomes possible when the people being targeted do not view it as criticism. When it is viewed as something constructive, people are willing to adjust according to the recommendations. There is also the tendency of feedback acting as a motivation for employees. This is because they feel valued and appreciated since the management is showing an interest in seeing them progress (Petit, 2011).

I have done a self-assessment and used feedback from peers to reflect on my competence levels with regards to giving and receiving feedback. This is a skill that I excel in. When necessary I will always give feedback on the issue at hand. This is something my peers have praised me about from time to time. I think it is the reason why most of them will approach me when they are encountering issues on different things. I am also very accommodative when it comes to receiving feedback. This is because I know that feedback always gives an opportunity to learn more.

How I see myself with regards to giving and receiving feedback is the same way that others see me. I am competent at giving feedback, and also competent while receiving the same.

In future, this skill will be helpful as it will enhance my career development. This is because when feedback at the workplace is constructive, it helps employees that take it seriously to develop even further. They are now aware of their weaknesses hence have the ability to work in these areas (Petit, 2011). Being positive about feedbacks also creates a favourable rapport with the management. Having this skill will also help me develop a feeling of purpose and belonging. This is more so when the feedback is positive. There is usually the feeling of being appreciated, needed and part of the team.

Focus and Attention

Having the skill of focus and attention is quite important since it creates a better opportunity of doing what one is indulged with. This is something that applies to many things in life such as school, work, relationships, sports and anything else out there. It is apparent that for someone to become successful, there is the need of focusing the mind and coming down its restlessness and the tendency to shift constantly between subjects. Regardless of what it is, everything needs some level of focus and attention for substantial results to be obtained (Goleman, 2013). The power of attention is not something that people are born with, but it is a skill that people learn as they develop.

The skill of focus and attention helps people to control their thoughts, free the mind from annoying thoughts, improve the ability to study, work more efficiently, strengthen their intuition, improve meditation, gain inner peace, and improve memory among other things.

When it comes to focus and attention, it is not a skill that I would praise myself about. This is because my ability to focus and maintain attention is dependent on the issue at hand and the people involved. If I am not interested in the issue at hand or the people involved, there is a high probability that my level of focus and attention will be low. This is why I have always struggled with subjects that do not interest me.

There are contradictions between how I view myself on this skill, and how my peers view it. Most of them think that I am highly competent in this skill. However, what they are not aware is that I appear to be competent with the skill because I am interested in them as individuals. That is why our interactions are usually positive.

This skill will be helpful in future since it will help me to focus on things that matter most. On most occasions, people fail to fulfil their long-run goals since they tend to give attention to side-shows along the way. This is why most people tend to get stuck in their careers and other issues. They do not seem to be moving forward since there are other things that are acting as obstacles (Goleman, 2013). When someone embraces the skill of focus and attention, it becomes possible to block out destructions and deal with things that matter the most. This way, it becomes feasible to achieve one’s goals.

Through the reflective journal entries, I have been able to identify some of my strengths and weaknesses.

Strengths

Among the strengths that I have identified is my competence when it comes to time management. I now understand how this is a big thing when it comes to life in general. Time management does not only apply to the workplace environment since one needs to create balance with all the things happening. When time is managed in an appropriate manner, it becomes easy to accomplish the important things in life. Moreover, as Joseph (2015) says time management is life management.

I have also identified the strength of being accommodative to feedback. I did not realise how this was important in my life until I encountered the reflective journal entries. This is because of how feedback allows you to grow both personally and career-wise. More so, when it comes to constructive feedback.

Weaknesses

Among the areas I have noted some weaknesses is on the skill of focus and attention. It seems that I have not fully embraced the skill since I am selective on when to be focused and show attention and when no to. I think this is more of an attitude that has developed over time to become a behaviour. It is not desirable due to the disadvantages that can accrue.

I have also noted I am lacking in the aspect of team-working. On my behalf, I always think of myself being competent with team-working. However, upon reflection, I have realised it is not everyone around me that thinks so.

Action Plan

Self-awareness

I have realised this is an area I need development due to the instance of team-working where some of what I believe is different from what others believe. I plan to interact more with people and indulge in more group activities. For the people that believe my team-working skills are wanting, I want to know more about what brings about these sentiments.

Embracing positivity

This has been triggered by the realisation that I give focus and attention to things that I only want to. Embracing positivity will help me to develop an open mind when being involved with everyone. This means that now I will be open to understanding their point of views despite the nature of the relationship that we share. This is something that will now help me to improve the skill of focus and attention.

Improving potential

Through the reflection, I have been able to assess that I have great potential of succeeding in my career due to the skills that I demonstrate competence with. In order to improve potential, I plan to try and identify most of the skills I am good at. After identifying these skills, now I will take the initiative of ensuring that I become better in them. This increases my prospects of succeeding in future career due to the strengths that will be associated. One cannot be good at everything, so it is good to get even better at what you are competent with.

References

Joseph, S., 2015. Positive psychology in practice: Promoting HumanFlourishing in Work, Health, Education, and Everyday Life, Second Edition. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.

Oettingen, G., Kappes, H., Guttenberg, K. and Gollwitzer, P., 2015. Self-regulation of time management: Mental contrasting with implementation intentions. European Journal of Social Psychology, 45(2), pp.218-229.

Jackson, D., Sibson, R. and Riebe, L., 2014. Undergraduate perceptions of thedevelopment of team-working skills. Education + Training, 56(1), pp.7-20.

Salas, E., Rico, R. and Passmore, J., 2017. The Wiley Blackwell handbook of the psychology of team working and collaborative processes. John Wiley & Sons.

Petit, J., 2011. Workshop on Giving, Receiving, and Soliciting Feedback. MedEdPORTAL Publications.

Goleman, D., 2013. Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence. A&C Black.

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