Reflecting on Management and Leadership Skills

This document reflects on the author's management and leadership skills, highlighting strengths such as communication, social skills, and team working. It discusses the importance of good management skills and the need for continuous improvement. The document also includes a personal development plan with objectives for developing leadership and management skills.

1. Reflect on own management and leadership skills using a range of models, and
develop and justify a personal development plan that will facilitate an increased level of
effective management and leadership
To my point of view, there are several strengths of mine that I think makes me
capable enough to be an effective leader in my future career. The most significant of all to
mention are excellent communication skills, excellent social skills, effective skills of
listening, determination and the capability of team working. I am very clear on my goals that
I set and I ensure to do the same because I believe that the performance of mine in order to
achieve my goal would be reflected back to me, whether be it good or bad. With the same, I
always make sure that I am speaking clearly while taking to my peers and I also ensure that
the electronic messages that I share are not vague in any way. I want to choose a career path
that involves working closely with and taking deep interest in the people I interact with, both
my colleagues and clients. For developing my skills of managing or management, I am
focused on pursuing different ways by means of which I can improve the effectiveness of all
those interactions that would be highly rewarding for me in the near future. However, at
present I have several management skills that I feel like would be helping me in my future
career paths and in my job role. These are of problem solving skills, technical skills,
interpersonal skills, planning, managing myself, and most importantly, of effective
communications. I am sure that all these attributes would be helping me in fulfilling the
assigned tasks in my organisations. Good management skills is very important for any
organisation to become successful and achieve its mission and vision, goals and objectives. I
do believe that I have good technical skills as of the fact that I am good at using variety of
techniques in order to achieve my objective. I do make use of machines and software and
different pieces of equipment in order to attain my objective but at the same time, I also have

BUSINESS
the skills necessary for boosting confidence and productivity. I am good with computer and
software and can actively participate in project management as well.
With the same, I am good at planning things. I do plan to attain my objectives. For
example, in order to complete a particular project and assignment given by my teachers in the
given time frame, I always opt for making a work plan. This helps me easy going with my
work and get them completed within the deadline. Thirdly, my interpersonal skills have
always helped me in interacting effectively with people I get to interact with. They enable me
in making use of the human potential in my work environment and motivate my peers for
better results. I am sure that they will also help me in my company where I would be required
to motivate my employees for achieving the desired outcomes.
Furthermore, I am good at decision making and I believe that it is one of the most
important management skills that every manager must possess. It is due to the fact that
managers need to make several decisions on a daily basis. Making effective decision is the
key to success in a company (Ariyachandra and Frolick 2018). Right and proper decision will
lead to the success of the company and on the other hand, the poor ones lead to poor and
failed performance. However, I believe that a good manager is always a good leader. Right
from my early year, I sought for being a part of people who were stronger, older and were
more skilled. I used the opportunities present in front of me to rise up my aspiration growth to
training and my active attitude to life everywhere. This had brought in me good qualities and
they include influencing and leadership skills. I have never been afraid of taking part in any
competitions. I always participated in more than two competitions and have attended
hundreds of conferences and international seminars too. Being a leader, I am very passionate
regarding my organisation activity. I got some fantastic opportunities in order to improve my
skills like by learning Korean language. At present, I am fluent in many international
language including Hindi, Chinese and French. It is to note that as a part of preparedness for

BUSINESS
leadership, I was once given the task of tutoring and bringing out the best in my younger
brother by my parents when there was the need for stepping up his school performance. Also,
during my undergraduate study as a group leader in one of our group presentation, my group
was ranked second among the top five groups and that have helped in enhancing the skills of
leadership in me. Actually, the group had very low morale because the topic that was
assigned to us was very new and unknown to us. There was not much information available
for that topic. The members had very little information presented from the individual search
and were hence, demoralised. Being the leader, I was the one to strengthen the members of
my team through giving them motivation and said them that the task was very surmountable.
I then divided my group as two different sub team and assigned each one of them to search
for resources online and the other one in the University Laboratory. I showed my leadership
by harmonising and collating the resources that were sourced by me as well as my sub-teams
into the form of presentation and that restored my confidence among the team members. My
potential of facilitating communications as well as encouraging feedbacks among the group
made our final presentation a top notch and a good example for many. I presented the work to
the admiration of each and every one as well as our Couse facilitator. From this incidence, I
am sure enough that I use charismatic leadership. According to Storey (2016), charismatic
leadership is a type of leadership model that is very similar to the transformational leadership
model. In this model, leaders are the ones to inspire their followers and teammates in order to
be energetic and to not lose hope. The main focus of the leaders is motivating the teammates
to more forward along with right goals. They create team spirit, excitement, commitment that
prove to be beneficial for the team and the organisation.
However, I still believe that I do need to work more on both my management as well
as leadership skills by means of further learning and having practical experiences as a
manager in an organisation. I feel that leadership is not all about ruling the person who is

BUSINESS
working under us. Rather, it means helping the ones who are performing poorly and helping
them in doing well in order to ensure that they can do much better in their future.
Through a Personal Development plan, I can assess my own management and
leadership skills and at the same time, also can determine the development and improvement
that are necessary in order to ensure that I can support in executing and achieving the
objectives of mine and my workplace in my future career (Sendjaya et al. 2016). It is a
process by means of which I can create an action plan on the basis of my strengths and
competencies for enhancing my skills and abilities present within me in my organisation. It
will also support me in taking a back and then for indicating the knowledge and skills that are
attained by me in an organised manner.
Personal Development Plan with clear objectives for developing my leadership and
management skills
What are my
development
Objectives?
What activities do I
need to undertake to
achieve my
objectives?
What
support/resources
do I need to achieve
my objectives
Target
date for
achieving
my
objectives
Actual
date of
achieving
my
objectives
To develop my
communication
skills
 Daily meeting
with new
people
 Encouraging
my peers to
give their ideas
and thoughts
 Group
discussions
 Reading
 Exercise
 Friends
 E-mail
28thFeb 20 29th Feb
20
To develop my
decision
making skills
 Encouraging
peers to play
active role in
the process of
decision
making
 Supporting
team
participation
 Formal and
 Friends
 Teams
 Meeting
arrangements
25th April
20
1st May 20

BUSINESS
casual group
meetings on
different
subjects
To develop my
team building
skills
 Forming teams
within my
workplace
 Dividing the
activities
among every
individuals
 Consulting
team members
before taking
any decisions
 Workplace
 Learning
activities
 Reading
 Researching
30th April
20
31st May
20
To develop my
interpersonal
skills
 Improving
communication
with different
individuals
 Getting
engaged with
individuals
having
common likes
and dislikes
 Interacting with
workers and
staffs
 A good trait
with every
peers
 Practising
active
listening
 Positive
outlook
 Learning and
reading about
different
languages
and cultures
15th May
20
15 May 20
To develop my
time
management
skills
 Allotting
proper time for
completing the
tasks
 Ranking daily
activities and
tasks as per the
importance
 Empowering
less important
undertaking to
the other person
 Deadlines
 Scheduled
tasks
 Multitasking
23rd April
20
21st April
20
To develop my
stress
management
skills
 Engaging in
physical
activities
 Trying
relaxation
methods
 Brainstorming
sessions
 Reading
 Relaxation
 Exercising
 Sleep
 Avoiding
drugs and
alcohol
30th April 30th April
To develop my
skills of
 Providing the
products as per
 Knowledge
 Thick skin
30th June 31st June

BUSINESS
attending
customers
the customer
needs
 Listening with
full attention to
all the needs of
the customers
 Adaptability
 Work ethics
My first objective is of developing my skills of communication. In order to do this, I
shall be meeting new people on a daily basis, encourage my peers to give their ideas and
thought and would engage in group discussion. The supporting resources that I need to use
for achieving my objectives are that of exercising, reading some books and literatures on the
same, friends and e-mailing. I have set the target date for achieving my objectives to 28th of
February, 2020 and I think I will be achieving my target on or before 29th of Feb, 2020.
My second objective is of developing my skills of decision making. In order to do
this, I shall be encouraging my peers to play active role in decision making process,
encouraging team participation and shall engage in formal and casual group meetings. The
supporting resources that I need to use for achieving my objectives are that of friends, teams
and meeting arrangements. I have set the target date for achieving my objectives to 25th of
April, 2020 and I think I will be achieving my target on or before 1st May, 2020.
My third objective is of developing my skills of team building. In order to do this, I
shall be forming teams within my place of work, dividing the activities among every
individuals and consult my team members before taking any decision regarding the work.
The supporting resources that I need to use for achieving my objectives are that of a
supportive workplace, learning activities, researching and reading. I have set the target date
for achieving my objectives to 30th April, 2020 and I think I will be achieving my target on or
before 31st of May, 2020.

BUSINESS
My fourth objective is of developing my interpersonal skills. In order to do this, I
shall be improving my communication with different individuals, getting engaged with the
individuals who have common likes and dislikes, meeting and interacting with staffs and
workers. The supporting resources that I need to use for achieving my objectives are that of a
good trait with every team members, active listening skill, positive outlook and learning and
reading different languages and cultures. I have set the target date for achieving my
objectives to 15th May, 2020 and I think I will be achieving my target on or before 15th of
May, 2020.
My fifth objective is of developing my skills of time management. In order to do this,
I shall be allotting proper time for completing the tasks, ranking the daily activities and tasks
according to deadlines, empowering less important understandings to other people. The
supporting resources that I need to use for achieving my objectives are that of deadlines,
scheduled tasks and multi-tasking. I have set the target date for achieving my objectives to
23rd April, 2020 and I think I will be achieving my target on or before 21st April, 2020.
My sixth objective is of developing my skills of stress management. In order to do
this, I shall be engaging in physical activities, trying relaxation methods and conducting
Brainstorming sessions. The supporting resources that I need to use for achieving my
objectives are that of reading, exercising, relaxation, sleeping, avoiding drugs and alcohol. I
have set the target date for achieving my objectives to 30th April, 2020 and I think I will be
achieving my target on or before 30th of May, 2020.
My seventh objective is of developing my skills of attending customers. In order to do
this, I shall be providing the products according to customer needs, listening with full
attention to all the customer needs. The supporting resources that I need to use for achieving
my objectives are that of thick skin, knowledge, work ethics and adaptability. I have set the

BUSINESS
target date for achieving my objectives to 30th June, 2020 and I think I will be achieving my
target on or before 31st June, 2020.
2. Explain the following transferable skills using relevant theory and apply them to an
organisation which you are familiar with or one you can research. (If you do not have
experience within an organisation, apply best practice from your learning materials to
suggest how they should be implemented within a specific organisation). The skills to
consider are as follows:
Transferable skills refer to the abilities and skills that are helpful and relevant over
diverse areas of life, both professionally and socially at the schools (Jackson et al. 2019). As
per Hancock and Walsh (2016), they are also known as portable skills. These skills are-
Supportive Communication, Motivation, Empowerment, Conflict Management and Team
Effectiveness. It is to note that people often think regarding their transferable skills while
applying for a job and while thinking regarding their career change. With the same,
employers also look for people who can showcase a good set of transferrable skills.
Supportive Communication- Supportive communication refers to the style of communication
that has a particular set of techniques and goals (Abu Bakar and McCann 2016). As per many
managers, the most important factor that helps in ensuring transferability is that of effective
communication. Keeping this in mind, it is very astonishing to see that there are still many
managers and employees working within organisations that lack in effective skills of
communication. There are several managers who still find effective communication to be
their biggest problem in the workplaces. According to Kent et al. (2016), the main foundation
of effective communication in a workplace is of supportive communication. It is the form of
communication that helps in preserving relationship while addressing the issue in the most
effective way. As per Gradinaru (2019), there are a total of eight attributes of supportive

BUSINESS
communication and they are- problem-oriented, being congruent, descriptive, validating,
specific, conjunctive, owned and supportive.
1. Congruent refers to matching the message to how they are feeling.
2. Being descriptive on the other hand is describing the occurrence, their reaction and
the suggested alternatives.
3. Being supportive refers to the appropriate responses for supporting people.
4. Being problem-oriented means focusing on the problem instead of the person who
is doing it wrong.
5. Validating is all about focusing on the statements which communicate about the
flexibility and respect.
6. Being Specific refers to focusing on some specific events instead of on general
behaviour.
7. Being conjunctive refers to being focused on statements which flow from one topic
to another.
8. Being owned refers to the habit of taking responsibilities of ones’ own statements.
Motivation- According to (), motivation refers to the set of internal and external factors
which help in stimulating the energy and desire in the people for being consistently interested
and committed to their job. The skill of motivation is highly valued in every workplace. If we
are successful at motivating others, then, it is an important skill which we want to put out to
the potential employers in our workplace. Motivation skills are basically used by the people
in order to increase the chance of getting positive outcomes while interfacing with the
subordinates, customers, suppliers, team members, upper management and supervisors. For
the managers who want to inspire the entire team of people in his organisation as a whole, the
potential of motivating is of utmost importance. According to Cairns, Goodwin and Wright
(2016), the skills of motivation can be defined as the strategies and actions that elicit the

BUSINESS
desired responses and behaviour by the stakeholders. All these actions and strategies differ on
the basis of three main factors and they are- the target audience, the style of the motivators
and the personality of the person the motivator wants to influence. It is to note that there are
several steps in the process of motivation. It is a process that needs careful strategy in order to
attain success. These steps involves:
a) Assessing the personality characteristics and preferences of the group or the
individual who are to be motivated
b) Defining the motivational strategies that are appropriate for that target
c) Conveying the expectations for the performance from the object of motivation and
making it clear that the person can attain the desired results
d) Communicating the rewards, benefits and sanctions if the expectations are not met
e) Addressing the obstacles or the problems that are limiting the success
f) Providing rewards for the desired outcomes
g) Issuing warnings before enacting the sanctions.
h) Recognising the people who have responded in the desired way.
Empowerment- Empowerment refers to the practise of sharing power, rewards and
information with the employees in order to ensure that they take the initiative and make the
necessary decisions for solving the problems and improving their performance and services.
It helps in framing the expectations of an employee and then set the goals for accomplishing
their main purpose of work. It helps in enabling a person to take the complete control of their
job and use the skills that they never knew that they could ever use. According to Kim and
Beehr (2017), there are four different ways for emphasising employee empowerment and
they are- confidence, listening, growth paths and responsibility.

BUSINESS
a) Confidence- It is the process of letting employees or our team mates know that we
believe in them and their work and that, they can handle the challenging tasks. It is
very important for a person to know that he and his opinions are respected and cared
in order to stay motivated and bring in new ideas for the betterment of the
organisation.
b) Listening- It is very important to listen to the employees and try to understand their
concerns and struggles in a workplace by the managers. It allows them in trusting
their manager and feel like that they have a voice.
c) Growth paths- Career development and growth opportunities creates an assurance for
an employee. Career plans focus on the needs of an employee for growth as well as
what it takes for making it to the next steps in the job position.
d) Responsibilities- It is very important for the employers in every organisation to let
their employees take on the new projects and give an employee power to them. It
helps in achieving new goals and responsibilities.
Conflict Management- Conflict management refers to the process of limiting the negative
aspects of conflict by increasing the positive aspects of the conflict (Wallensteen 2018).
Conflict arises in each and every organisation. But the way those conflicts are handled, can
either build relationships or disintegrate them. It is to note that strong skills of conflict
management has become very essential for the HR professionals. It is to note that conflicts
take place when the individuals have different interests, thought processes and interests and
are not willing to compromise with one another. It is always wide to adjust to some extent
and try to find out a solution to their problem instead of fighting and cribbing. Disagreements
and conflicts only result in negativity and things can never reach to a conclusion. According
to Marshall (2016), “Conflict management goes a long way in strengthening the bond among
the employees and half of the problems automatically disappear”. Individuals need to feel

BUSINESS
motivated at their workplace and find every day challenging and exciting. Before the
implementation of the idea, it needs to be discussed with each and every one and no one
should feel ignored and left out. In this way, each and every employee feel indispensable for
their respective office and then tries hard for living up to the expectations of their colleagues
and managers as well as in a way aiding to the organisation in his best possible manner. This
skill of conflict management avoids the conflict to a significant extent and at the same time,
also reduced the tensions and the stress of the employees.
Team Effectiveness- According to Luciano et al. (2018), team effectiveness refers to the
potential of a team to attain the objectives and goals that are administered by an organisation
or any authorised personnel. An effective team can help in achieving incredible results. It is
also a significant skill that each and every one working in an organisation must possess in
themselves. A group or team that is not working can result in unwanted disruption, strategic
failure and failed delivery. At present, it is near about impossible to ignore and avoid being a
team member. If one is not on an official team at workplace, there are high chances that you
function in one way or the other. Therefore, it is very important for our own career and
personal development to know the strengths and weaknesses of team-working. It is very
essential in the corporates in order bring out better output and better bonding among the
employees. For example, a sales and marketing team has employees who are inclined towards
marketing and branding activities for promoting their brand. However, an individual having
human resource specialisation would be out of the place in such a team. According to recent
reports, organisation having clearly defined teams are way more successful than the ones with
a one man show. Commitment and trust, communication, adaptability, diversity of different
capabilities and creative freedom are the key elements for effective teamwork that can help
one in building and maintaining high-performance teams all through the organisation. There
are many roles that one person can take on in a particular team and as per the team roles

BUSINESS
suggested by Belbin, these are: Shaper, Completer-finisher, Implementer, Resource
Investigator, Coordinator, Team worker, Specialist, Plant and Monitor-Evaluator.
Conclusion
To conclude, it can be said that management and leadership skills help an individual
in achieving success in a competitive market environment. This paper has concluded that the
skills that a person possess, along with his or her values and culture, influence the
management and leadership role of their within the organisation. I have also presented a
personal development plan to improve the skills of attending customer, communication,
decision making, interpersonal, team building and time management that will help me in
executing my leadership and management goals in my workplace.

BUSINESS
References:
Abu Bakar, H. and McCann, R.M., 2016. The mediating effect of leader–member dyadic
communication style agreement on the relationship between servant leadership and group-
level organizational citizenship behavior. Management Communication Quarterly, 30(1),
pp.32-58.
Ariyachandra, T.R. and Frolick, M.N., 2018. Critical success factors in business performance
management—Striving for success. Information systems management, 25(2), pp.113-120.
Cairns, G., Goodwin, P. and Wright, G., 2016. A decision-analysis-based framework for
analysing stakeholder behaviour in scenario planning. European Journal of Operational
Research, 249(3), pp.1050-1062.
GRADINARU, I.A., 2019, January. The Principles of Supportive Communication: A Critical
Perspective. In Argumentum: Journal the Seminar of Discursive Logic, Argumentation
Theory & Rhetoric (Vol. 17, No. 1).
Hancock, S. and Walsh, E., 2016. Beyond knowledge and skills: rethinking the development
of professional identity during the STEM doctorate. Studies in Higher Education, 41(1),
pp.37-50.
Jackson, M.A., Dillon Jr, G.L., Bennett, K. and Regis, A.K., 2019. Identifying Strength-
Based Transferable Skills from Personal Accomplishment Narratives to Expand
Educational/Career Pathways with Marginalized Youth. Career Development Interventions
for Social Justice: Addressing Needs Across the Lifespan in Educational, Community, and
Employment Contexts, p.25.

BUSINESS
Kent, K., Goetzel, R.Z., Roemer, E.C., Prasad, A. and Freundlich, N., 2016. Promoting
healthy workplaces by building cultures of health and applying strategic
communications. Journal of occupational and environmental medicine, 58(2), pp.114-122.
Kim, M. and Beehr, T.A., 2017. Self-efficacy and psychological ownership mediate the
effects of empowering leadership on both good and bad employee behaviors. Journal of
Leadership & Organizational Studies, 24(4), pp.466-478.
Luciano, M.M., Bartels, A.L., D’Innocenzo, L., Maynard, M.T. and Mathieu, J.E., 2018.
Shared team experiences and team effectiveness: Unpacking the contingent effects of
entrained rhythms and task characteristics. Academy of Management Journal, 61(4), pp.1403-
1430.
Marshall, R.C.B., 2016. Leadership Models, Processes, and Practices. In Clinical Informatics
Study Guide (pp. 311-341). Springer, Cham.
Sendjaya, S., Pekerti, A., Härtel, C., Hirst, G. and Butarbutar, I., 2016. Are authentic leaders
always moral? The role of Machiavellianism in the relationship between authentic leadership
and morality. Journal of Business Ethics, 133(1), pp.125-139.
Storey, J., 2016. Changing theories of leadership and leadership development. In Leadership
in Organizations (pp. 33-58). Routledge.
Wallensteen, P., 2018. Understanding conflict resolution. SAGE Publications Limited.