Manage Personal Work Priorities and Professional Development free essay sample

Ensuring that professional competency development is supported within an organisation gives employees a sense of value for their employer and they are motivated by the opportunity to reach their full potential. Benefits to either party may include cost and time savings, improved work ethic and improved job satisfaction. 4. Why is it important to develop effective internal and external networks? How do they assist with your work? Networks are mutually beneficial relationships established with other business people or potential clients. Information, knowledge and ideas can be exchanged through formal communication and may provide personal, professional or business support. Building good business relationships through networking can provide access to learning opportunities, a chance to gather marketing or competitor information, or may allow an individual or brand to establish an industry identity. 5. What feedback might you receive from an external supplier – in contrast to the feedback you might expect from a member of your workgroup? What will influence the quality and how will the feedback from these sources be related to an assessment of your skills gap? Feedback from these sources can be used to assess performance and to indicate skills gaps or training requirements. Feedback from external clients or customers might indicate a need for customer service training. Feedback from your peers might indicate a need for conflict management, or negotiation training. Specific technological skills needs might be pinpointed. The quality is influenced by the way you engage with the person providing the feedback. You should accept that feedback is likely to be honest and not react defensively otherwise the person providing the feedback will become disinterested and the quality will deteriorate. Any shortcomings in skills will easily be identified when someone provides opinion on how you might have handled a situation or opportunity better. 6. Why is it important for you to take responsibility for your own work tasks and ensure that you are getting feedback to fulfil your role? Taking ownership of work tasks allows an individual to become accountable for their activities in the workplace. It provides a person with an opportunity to conduct assessment of performance against a set of tasks for which the person has accepted responsibility. This makes the contribution within the workplace measurable. Feedback provides information as to whether the tasks being undertaken align to the business goals and also allow an individual to identify and address skills gaps and competencies. 7. Identify 5 forms of learning opportunities you could partake in to improve your performance. 1. Mentoring 2. Self-study 3. Job rotation 4. Classroom training 5. eLearning 8. How do you know whether your work is meeting the standards expected by your organisation? I can gauge the standard of work and whether it meets benchmarks expected by my organisation by: * Seeking regular (annual or biannual) performance appraisals from management. Participating in regular business unit team meetings and discussion. * Actively seeking feedback from clients and colleagues. 9. Which preferred learning style is the best and describes some preferred learning styles? Preferred learning styles are the cognitive method by which an individual best grasps a new concept or idea. The best learning style is the one that best m atches to an individual’s own learning style. Visual learners best learn by reading text or interpreting schematic diagrams, whereas auditory learners rely upon listening and engagement through speech, and retain information easily when communicating orally. Kinaesthetic or tactile learners rely on the ability to interact and learn through practical hands on experience and touch. They thrive on learning through opportunities that involve role playing, interaction, and activity. 10. What is the individual encouraged to do in the ‘balanced scorecard’ model? A balanced scorecard is a strategic planning and organisational management philosophy used to align business activities to the vision statement of an organization. As part of the balanced scorecard strategy an individual is encouraged to examine their own role and responsibilities and devise indicators and measures of performance that relate and contribute to the objectives of their business unit and in turn, employer. 11. What is the Pareto principle? The Pareto principle or 80/20 rule is a rule of thumb implies that 20% of causes generate 80% of the output. Identification of those tasks that produce 80% of the output is important in management as it allows us to prioritise and create streamlined efficiencies to deliver successful outcomes that align with the objectives of the business. 12. Describe how you would develop your own set of competencies. 1. Identify my skills, strengths, and abilities and measure the effectiveness of these competencies. This can be achieved as part of regular performance reviews and analysis of skills against job selection criteria. 2. Define strategies to enhance skills and strengths and remediate weaknesses or shortcomings. This could be done by undertaking training or job sharing opportunities, including job rotation or mentoring. 3. Regularly review skills and development needs to gauge progress. Ensure that feedback is received from colleagues, clients and from other external engagements.