Personal and professional developments are important in improving the efficiency in individual and work-related issues. Explain.

Personal and Professional Development

Introduction

Personal and professional developments are important in improving the efficiency in individual and work-related issues. These two concepts are related in that one affects the other, whereby, the improvement in one leads to automatic improvement in the other. Of particular importance is the personal development, which allows individuals to be better persons. Personal development makes the individual to deliver on their personal goals and the organizational ones. In this case, it is important for all individuals to embark on personal development to ensure that they are competent in handling the affairs of the organization they work in. On this light, I also embarked on a personal development journey with the objective of making myself a better person to achieve not only individual goals, but also organizational ones. This involved improvement of my personal leadership, communication, and innovation skills, through self-managed learning. For improved efficacy, I need to evaluate my current skills, determine my strengths and weaknesses, and use that knowledge to understand what needs to improve.
Summary

Task 1

Task 1.1

Self-managed learning is the process of learning without the guidance of professionals. According to Cunningham (1999), the process of self-managed learning entails setting own objectives, putting resources needed in place, and evaluating oneself to confirm that the self-objective are met within the time set. The self-managed learning starts with own self-evaluation to determine the weaknesses and the strengths and how to capitalize on the former and address the latter. According to Mason, Horne & Irvine, (2004), it is important to keep evaluating personal skills to capitalize on them to ensure personal and professional development. Continuous skills evaluation assists an individual to determine the most important skills they have and the ones they need to improve on. Gallagher (2013) emphasizes further on this by claiming that personal evaluation s the first step in personal development plans. It is through these evaluations that an individual is able to set important life goals. Self-evaluations are also important because they assist individuals to have a culture of understanding in regards to making goals, setting aside the resources necessary, and checking where things do not go according to plan and set up the necessary measures to address such flaws. Having personal evaluations does not only assist the individuals, but also the organizations they work in (Gallagher, 2013).

Task 1.2

Lifelong learning is an important aspect for individuals in organizations. Many strategies can enhance lifelong learning. The experiences of a person in organizations enhance lifelong learning because they are likely to understand things they did not understand in the past. Most people keep learning new things in their places of work and even at their homes. In fact, Fields (2000) asserts that individuals cannot stop being lifelong learners. Additionally, individuals keep facing challenges at their workplaces, which help them to learn new things in the quest to innovate solutions to the challenges (Sursock & Smidt 2011). According to Golding and Gray (2006), personal and professional experiences are among the most important in lifelong learning. These experiences play an important role in helping an individual to understand specific situations and issues beforehand, which allows them to be always prepared in the event they face such issues in the future. The experiences are multifaceted, whereby, the individuals gain skills and knowledge that assist them in not only their personal issues, but also organizational ones (Helterbran, 2005).

Other than personal and professional experiences, seminars and workshops help individuals in lifelong learning. In these events, individuals know things they did not know and understand in the past. Individuals who have immense experience in specific subjects or theories usually organize these events. In fact, most are the times the seminars and workshops are organized by experienced individuals who want to share their knowledge and skills with others. Longworth and Davies (2014) claim that seminars and workshops are some of the events where individuals learn many things they knew nothing about. The things learned in these seminars play an important role in personal and professional development. In some of the seminars, there are real world resources the experts use to teach those who attend seminars in the different theories. Additionally, most of the seminars and workshops have real world case studies, which provide good examples of what other organizations have implemented the theories taught (Tummons and Ingleby, 2014). Continuous attendance to seminars and workshops would definitely improve encourage lifelong learning in such individuals.

In my case, the experiences at college and my workplaces have played an important role in the person I am today. It is through such experiences that I have gained knowledge and skills on many concepts, that have proven important in my education and work-related issued. The seminars and workshops I have attended so far have also helped me acquire many important skills. As noted, most of these events have experts who are willing to share their findings, theories, and practices with others. The learning from such events is not comparable to what is learned in schools. Regardless, the knowledge from these events is of immense importance in my personal and professional development.

Task 1.3

Self-managed learning has many benefits to the individuals and the organizations they work in. According to Bennett, Cunningham, and Dawes (2000) claim that self-managed learning helps individuals to get out of their comfort zone to be more innovative, which allows them to devise strategic solutions. On that note, individuals that engage in self-managed learning are able to improve their competence in their personal as well as organizational quests. Bennett, Cunningham, and Dawes (2000) further state that individuals that engaged in self-managed learning improved their self-awareness, which allowed them to understand themselves better. In this case, they can determine their strengths, weaknesses, and other opportunities they may have based on their skills. Understanding one’s strengths and weaknesses is one of the most important things in self-awareness because they individuals understand what they can work with and what they need to improve for enhanced performance and efficiency (Raz, Juhola, Serrat-Fernandez, and Gallis, 2006).

Self-managed learning also plays an important role in helping individuals to come up build networks. This is because the practice helps individuals to improve their skills, which is important in interacting with other individuals, whether their juniors or seniors in regards to the workplace (Harrison, 2005). Personally, self-managed learning has helped to improve my communication and leadership skills. These skills have helped me to interact with my juniors well as well as other individuals I work with. In addition, the self-managed learning leads to diversity in regards to ideas, thinking perceptions, and points of view, which are important in the improvement of work-based competencies as well as personal ones. These skills help individuals to come up with common sustainable solutions that assist them to solve organizational problems amicably (Rovai, 2002; Ray, 2007). On the same note, individuals learn many things from their peers in the networks, which allow them to acquire more knowledge on the different concepts applicable in the institutions.

Task 2
Task 2.1

It is essential for an individual to evaluate his/ her skills in relation to his future career to identify deficiencies and make possible improvements to be successful (Mason, Horne & Irvine, 2004). Conducting a personal skills audit regularly can help a person to remain focused and, therefore, realize both the individual and organizational goals. These evaluations help a person to identify his weak and strong points regarding the professional skills that can shape up their career (Whalley & Allen, 2011). I believe that I have good communication skills that allow me to interact well with my colleagues and other individuals. Considering the theories by Jacobson (2009) that state that good communication skills are all about interpersonal relationships and interactions, I am confident that I have good communication strategies. Whenever individuals communicate to me, I try my best to respond not matter how uncomfortable the issue is. The reason for this is to ensure that I practice good communication skills at all times. These skills make it easy for me to make friends with others easily, which is important in enhancing not only good relations, but also productivity within the organization (Guffey, 2007).

Management Skills are also among my strong points. These skills involve good organizational, planning, and having clear objectives as per the guidelines by Forsyth (2010). I usually have clear objectives for every month, week, and day. I ensure that I plan my work well to ensure that I am able to complete them within the time I set. Every time I have a project, I have to look at the project analytically to understand it better with the objective of creating a clear plan to complete the project. The idea is to plan for the objectives to meet and the timeframe. As Ellis (2005) asserts, these skills have assisted many managers and individuals, like me, to achieve their objectives. They have also guided them in matters regarding personal and professional development.

I also believe that I have good networking skills that allow me to interact with others effectively. According to Roza (2008), good networking skills good hand in hand with good communication skills that are among my strengths. After all, any networks have to start with basic communication and rapport. I am able to engage others easily, which makes it easy for me to make good friends with the people I meet, whether for personal or work related issues. There are individuals who are naturally good networkers, but I am not among them. Regardless, I am able to create good relationships with the individuals with ease. Green (2006) asserts that only commitment allows individuals to become good networkers in the workplace.

Task 2.2

Communication skills

Although I consider myself a good communicator, I need to improve my communication skills. One of the challenges I face when communicating with individuals is the lack of patience at times. I am quick to interrupt individuals in some occasions, which could hinder the communication process. Such behavior can affect the communication process negatively, in which case the targeted communication may fail (Rickheit and Stronher, 2008). This may be disastrous to the individuals communicating and creates a conducive environment for misunderstanding. I need to change this behavior to avoid any cases of miscommunication and misunderstanding that may lead to tensions and conflicts in the workplace (West and Turner, 2010). To ensure that I handle this change, I need to acquire new skills through trainings, including seminars and workshops on the same. I can also enroll for a communication skills class, where tutors will guide me on strategies to improve interpersonal communications.

Management Skills

I believe that my management skills are not the best now; there is a room for improvement. One of the major challenges I face in management is that I tend to compromise the quality of work when working under pressure. This usually happens when I have more than normal workload. At such times, I am unable to prioritize the projects to start with and the ones to come later. I need to have the energy to deal with many tasks at a given time. Having the ability to work well under pressure will help me improve my productivity and relations with other individuals. I tend to alienate most of the colleagues and even my family when working under pressure. I am committed to enrolling to a management class to have good organizational skills. I believe that these skills will help me to work well under pressure and organize tasks such that I am able to complete all of them within the given time. I am confident that with this course, I will be able to work accurately under pressure, as Canwell and Sutherland (2005) assert.

Task 2.3

Considering that these skills are very important, I have to commit to learn on ways to improve them. The two skills are important, but considering my current schedule, I will have to start with one. Weighing my options, the management one should come first. This has been very challenging to me and since I have to ensure that the work I deliver is perfect, I should start with it. I plan to start learning on ways to manage myself better immediately, whereby, I am enrolling in a management class within the month. The course will take approximately one year, as it will be on a part-time basis. I will be attending the class two to three hours a day all days except Sundays. To better my management skills, I will also be going to seminars and workshops when I get time. These events are very important in enhancing management skills.

Upon completing the management class, I will enroll into another class with the objective of improving my communication skills. I believe I have good communication skills but the impatience I have compromises the communication at times. It seems rude to the other individuals and leads to misunderstandings many times. I am tired of having conflicts with my colleagues all because of misunderstandings, which I cause in some cases. The communication skills course will also take about one year because it will also be part-time.

Task 2.4

The achievement of the skills that I need to improve will not be an easy task. I understand that the process is a challenge, especially considering the fact that I have to do most of the things on my own. The first thing I need is full commitment. I have to be committed to the objectives I have set in place, to ensure that my action plan works seamlessly. According to Cantore and Passmore (2012), commitment is the most important thing in any individual who has specific goals and targets to meet in business. Harington (2015) is of the same opinion by claiming that students and other individuals have to show commitment for them to achieve their goals. However, commitment alone cannot make me achieve all I want. It is necessary to have good management skills to plan my time and resources accordingly. I have to ensure that all the tasks I have to accomplish get enough time and resources to complete them effectively (Combe, 2014).

To ensure that I complete the tasks within the target time, I ensured that I followed the time management strategies by Halonen and Santrock (2012). Some of the principles these authors believe in are taking action immediately, have a daily plan of what to do, embracing efficiency, and ensuring that there is room for adjustment in the event that unforeseeable factors that hinder the work occur. On that note, I am keen to ensure that I follow these guidelines throughout. Moreover, these principles have already assisted me in achieving the much I have so far. The efficiency of this plan is so effective that I cannot think of any other plan to accomplish my tasks.

Task 3

Task 3.1

Achieving the action plan objectives is very important. On that light, I undertook a management course that was meant to assist me in achieving my specific goals, improving my management skills. I understand that management skills are paramount and can affect the commitment towards a certain goal. The management course really assisted me to have better planning skills in addition to acquiring important skills to handle crises and challenges that come my way. It is very important to always avert some problems, especially if they are those that are possible to prevent. Having proper management skills is the most important thing for any individual to be able to avert problems amicably. Additionally, they prepare an individual such that they are always prepared to handle challenges, which are a common occurrence in the modern societies (Mitroff, 2000). On the same note, these skills assist an individual to bounce back when they are facing challenges and crises (Smith, 2012). Based on this light, the course I am planning to take is offered in one of the universities nearby, which made it easy for me to enroll. I also put extra efforts to learning more about management on my own through the internet resources as well as seminars and workshops on the same. The combination of the principles taught in class and my own research helped me to improve my management skills remarkably. In addition, I also realized that my commitment to the goals I set improved, which was important in helping me achieve the goals I set forth.

Task 3.2

I believe that my learning helped me to achieve the goals that I had set seamlessly. However, there was a variation in the time because I was late considering the deadline I had set forth. Wu (2009) asserts that inability to meet deadlines is an issue most people face every time, especially in business. Even with the best management skills, it is still possible for individuals to miss the deadline set. However, individuals have varying strengths, whereby, some may complete their tasks just after the deadline while others may take longer after the deadline to achieve their objectives. Regardless, I am proud that I achieved the goals shortly after my deadline. I understand that not all individuals are capable to meeting their set goals. Most people get tired along the way and never achieve the goals set forth. On that note, I am happy that I endured through the one-man journey to achieve my goals. It is usually very challenging to work all alone over extended periods. I believe that the additional course I undertook will help me to achieve my goals within the set date in the future.

Task 3.3

Considering that I have achieved that objective, it is my wish to have better management strategies and commitment, especially when handling many projects at the same time. I understand that as time unwinds, responsibilities increase, which necessitate better management skills. On that note, have effective management skills will be the next target.. It is my understanding that handling many responsibilities at the same time can be challenging and some of the projects may fail. Having better skills to handle the many responsibilities in the future will prepare me for the worst. There are many strategies individuals use to complete many projects successfully (Gido and Clements, 2008). Project management is among the best strategies to achieve targeted goals. This strategy ensures that all the projects receive enough resources and time and they can be worked on simultaneously. Using these skills will help me to ensure that all the projects are completed on time and the specific goals for each project are met.

Task 3.4

I believe that the time management skills I used are effective. Time management skills are deemed effective when an individual is able to complete the goals of each project within the timeframe set. This skill takes into account all activities including those that are business related and those that are individual (personal), including leisure activities. For the time management skills to work well, there has to be a balance between the work activities and the personal ones. Any individual has to ensure that they do not borrow time from either of the two, to ensure that there is optimal balance among the two. These principles have helped me to complete my chores on time. Through these principles, I am able to budget for the resources and time for each task and all the tasks are within the deadline. Additionally, the specific goals are within the targets. However, I understand that I can improve these skills to meet accomplish tasks before the deadline set. This may come with extra dedication and responsibilities, but I am up for the challenge.

Task 4

Task 4.1

Conflicts are inevitable in places where people have to work together. In such cases, it is important to resolve such conflicts as soon as possible to ensure that they do not get out of hand. According to Pammer and Killian (2003), many strategies can be used to resolve conflicts in organizations. The most important thing to do in organizations is providing space for every individual to do their own tasks in peace. In the event that the workers have to work in groups, the management has to emphasize on the importance of working together and diversity (Patrick and Kumar, 2012). The management can train the workers on the importance of diversity by showing them how they can complement each other.

In the case that workers engage in conflicts with the understanding provided by the management, it would be important for the management to look for strategies that aim at solving the issue. The strategy the management can use is calling the parties conflicting, determine the root of the problem, and confirm the person on the wrong. The one on the wrong should apologize to the other one at that time (Diana, 2001). In the event that one of the staff members was on the wrong and the other responded in a conflicting manner, both should apologize to each other as well as other staff members in the case they distracted them. If the management finds it necessary to punish the staff members conflicting, it should be fine as long as the management is certain that the strategy is the long lasting solution (Pammer and Killian, 2003).

In some cases, employees arrive late at work and this may affect their work. In fact, employees who arrive late at work are likely to be late with their work. Banfield and Kay (2012) claim that poor time keeping skills automatically result in poor productivity. Occasionally it may be okay for the employee to be late, especially in cases where they encounter unforeseeable situations. However, being late every day could really compromise the overall delivery of the organization (Sandler and Keefe, 2007). Dealing with such employees is usually tricky. In my opinion, any employee who arrives late at work should carry their work home, in accordance to the guidelines provided by Adamchik (2011) and Cadwell (2006). In the event that such behavior persists, the most sustainable solution would be to fire such an employee.

In any business, having a smooth transition from one department to another is important in the operations of the business. When the smooth flow is disrupted, the chances of having poor services and products to the clients are very high (Hass, 2011). According to Hills and Jones (2012), it is important to ensure that there is good coordination between departments. Therefore, the first step is to ensure that all the departments coordinate seamlessly and complement each other on the weaknesses and strengths. Hills, Jones, and Schilling (2014) assert that coordination among departments is only possible when all the workers understand their roles and the command chain through the organization. Additionally, all the workers must have good communication skills to ensure that all the processes in the organization are seamless. In the event that there are client complaints, Weems (2008) asserts that there must be a proper mechanism to handle their issues. It is important to ensure that the clients are comfortable throughout because they are the most valuable to any business.

Task 4.2

Having good communication strategies in organizations is probably one of the most important things in any organization. Effective communication strategies guarantee seamless flow of information from one department to the other. Additionally, they ensure that there is no miscommunication or misunderstanding in the entire chain. The communication strategies should be open, inclusive, multichannel, and results-driven (Hunter, 2014). Ensuring that the employees appreciate these strategies would be the best thing to do in the organization (Downs and Adrian, 2012). To ensure this, the management has to introduce basic communication principles to all employees. It is mandatory for all the employees and leaders to follow the protocol set to ensure that communication is seamless across the organization. In the event that there is a lapse in the communication protocols, there has to be effective counter measures to ensure that the plan proceeds according to the plan.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is clear that personal and professional developments are important in improving work efficiency. Individuals must undergo these important steps for them to deliver on their set goals within the deadlines. The best strategy for personal development is self-managed learning, which allows individuals to improve their personal skills such as communication, leadership, and networking. If every person in an organization undertook a self-managed learning, then it would be very easy for such organizations to achieve their objectives within the timelines set. Additionally, the individuals acquire skills that assist them to handle the colleagues and their juniors. Overall, it is evident that personal and professional developments play a critical role in improving personal and organizational efficiency.

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