Digital Skills and Professional Development: Importance of Personal and Professional Development in the Digital Era

This article discusses the importance of personal and professional development in the digital era. It covers the advantages of business automation technology and the digital skills required to portray professional competency. Additionally, it explores the soft skills associated with personal and professional development. The article also includes a reflection on the author's current level of soft and professional skills within their workplace.

Professional Skills and
personal development

Contents
Contents...........................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Personal development is an epitome of life irrespective of professions, people are looking
forward of improving themselves. Well personal development takes place when someone is
consistently making efforts in understanding his/her environment. It is a life long journey
through which every individual goes through. It’s crucial for one to understand the nature of
their workplace, because on the basis of which they will be able to develop the required soft and
technical skills. Personal development is a self-analysis which makes one identify the lacking
parts within them which they need to work upon. With the mind-set of personal development a
person will constantly evolve and develop skills, while igniting the passion and purpose within
themselves(Mahajan and Narang,2022) . A larger chunk of personal development revolves
around the career and with the ever rising competition. In the competitive business environment,
it is essential for people to have professional skills which helps them in performing well in their
workplace, for a successful career it is important for the employees to update with the evolving
time. Professional skills are required by one in excelling in their professional as well as academic
years, Educational institutions are the primer place when students develop professional skills
among themselves which they carry with them thought their life.
MAIN BODY
The digital transformations that the world is going through is quite evident, the digital
revolution began about 70 years ago and it’s still in its full swing. The technological
transformations have brought many changes within our environment which has made it
impossible for us to imaging our lives with these advancements. Technology has enormous roles
to play in today's world that ranges from the individual thought process, the interactions made
and running of a business. The major technological transformations began with the year 2011
which is still lasting, individuals experienced many innovations which added value in their lives,
the intervention of technology into individuals personal as well as professional lives was
tremendous (Nur Halifah, and Osly, 2018). Technology dominates and controls our actions and
decisions irrespective of the grounds on which the decisions are to be made.
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Throughout these years the world has experienced many technological transformations
which started with the development of 4G LTE services which gave and edge to the
telecommunication as well the internet world, In the year 2015 Google launches its fibre facility
in the US provinces, in this year the companies experienced the shift of traffic towards mobile
because of the internet facilities additionally in the same year the very first the 4G services were
superseded the 3G services. The year 2020 was a game change as the world experienced the
global pandemic which didn't allowed people to go out from their houses and continue their
normal chores (Payton, 2021). This year and the pandemic situation made many industries
transform which even introduced the different and new form of businesses supported by the
technological transformations. Many big companies find it difficult to handle the situation that
they were stuck in, once such company is Unilever as being a global company running a
business’s operations was not a piece of cake. But the ways the company adopted to overcome
from the situations are mentioned in the report.
Advantages of business automation technology.
The ways which allows the operations of one business automatically with the help of technology
is referred as technological automation. The advantages associated with technological
transformation are as follows:
Less operating cost: Robots are quite efficient and are able to multitask, installing robots in the
task can be advantageous for many businesses including Unilever, as the labour cost and other
health care expenses are reduced. Irrespective of the cost saving factor, human is prone to make
mistakes and there can't be 100% accuracy in the actions associated with them, even in this
scenario the accuracy of the operations is comparatively higher as compared to the humans
(Deshpande and Munshi, 2020).
Safety of the employees: With the automation of technology the employees are no longer
required to perform the tasks which are considered dangerous can could be hazardous for the
humans. Unilever has installed machinery for making the task effective along with the ensuring
the safety of its employees.
Inventory Lead Time: Technology has significantly reduced the lead time that was existing
earlier. Lead time is referred to the time that usually appears between the supplier and the
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production house/ warehouse. Whenever customers make their order the time that is incurred
while transporting the product/ material in the production house is referred as the lead time.
Return On investment: The investment made by Unilever on its technology has a significant
ROI, as the automations has reduced the operating cost along and has significantly reduced the
lead time as the whole business of the company depends on the company’s suppliers (Majid and
Oo,2019). And has increased the companies output.
Market Competition: The modifications in the technology has made it possible in reducing the
time required in the operations traditionally at the same time sustaining the quality of the
products. This gives an edge to the company then its competitors in the global market. At the
time of emergency by just adding some functionalities in the machinery the products can be
increased.
Unilever has taken much advantage from the technological automation a it has helped the
company in numerous ways along with sustaining the quality. As the company is required to deal
with many competitors it’s important for the company to not leave any chance of improvement,
which makes the products replication tougher.
Digital skills required to portray professional competency.
In this digital era if a person known who to work and deal with these technologies the chances of
his successful career enhances. The skills required depends on the company an individual is keen
to approach, there are some common technologies and software's which are commonly used by
many big organisations along with the medium scaled industries (Santilli and Soresi2018). The
skills which helps an individual in portraying his/her professional competency are as follows:
App Development: Each and every company have its own application, it’s nearly impossible in
these days to find a profit earning company to not have their application or website. The people
who have relevant experience in app development and website development will go places as
companies requires people who competent with their skills. The package offered for these jobs is
relevantly higher as it is a technical profile. People just justify their knowledge in the skill by
showing the recruiter the projects and internships they have done.
Business Analyst: This person helps the business in understanding the external factors and the
impact they will cause on the functions of the company. With the help of analysis techniques and
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tool the business is able to make right decisions for the investment purposes. As digital
transformation has taken over in the recent years, Digital business analysts are in higher demand
by business owners. In an effective manner the person helps the business in developing a digital
ecosystem (Khusainova and et.al, 2019). Graphic designers and data visualisation: The digital
ecosystem of the company requires attractive visual representation of the idea and the essence of
the company. It depends on the graphic designers that how they convey the message of the
company through their graphics. Data visualisation is again an important skill which helps
businesses in their decision making process, as the people with this skill filters out the correct
information and represent it in an effective manner which is easy to understand yet attractive
Project Management: In the modern times it’s not feasible for businesses to stick with the
traditional management methodologies with time the businesses have evolved and so is their
nature, to effectively handle businesses, companies required well experienced and trained project
managers which can handle the not so monotonous processes. In the modern time project
managers uses scrum and agile methodologies to handle the business operations and manger
their team effectively.
Product manager: Companies who deals with products which requires technology in the
development of the product requires product mangers which helps the businesses in executing
their processes and manage the life cycle of the product and ensure that the product is being able
to complete the deadlines of the product (Asonitou and Hassall,2019).
. They work on the bigger picture and helps in the execution of the processes.
Digital Marketing: The world has completely overcome from the traditional marketing methods,
as the use and impact of social has increased drastically the businesses required to create their
online presence by which people will able to understand the motives of the business. Digital
marketing is much better than the traditional marketing as it allows business their trageted
audience in a much effective manner, with the use of social media marketing. Search engine
optimisation. User experience design, content marketing companies can effectively market their
products.
Soft skills associated with personal and professional development.
The professional skills of an individual don’t count if other people are not able to work with that
person. Soft skills are those elements which makes people like and work with you, people who
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possess soft skills are more likely to be promoted and recognised. In other words, the soft skills
can also be considered as leadership qualities which justifies it all (Mitic and Okahana, 2021).
Personal and professional development is path for individuals by which they develop skills, set
their goals depending on their liking and with the help of these skills they reach their true
potential which helps them in converting their dreams into reality.
The skills that determines ones professional and personal development includes:
Interpersonal skills: The ability to effectively communicate and connect with other people, if
someone is not able to communicate well and discomforts other they are generally referred as
they lack interpersonal skills. Some people find it difficult to communicate with others, which
should not be carried to their workplace.
Confidence: It’s important to handle things with confidence as we do overthink which leads us
to second thought which ultimately diverts us from the goals that we have set for us. If an
individual lacks confidence and is given the opportunity to handle the team or a project its more
likely that the person will not be able to execute the operations effectively and will eventually
fail (Umer and Gul., 2019). To gain confidence people need to build a different way of thinking
in which they do not consider about what the other people think of them.
Ethics: Irrespective of the technical skills if the person do not know the way of reacting and
behaving with others it’s unlikely that the person will be much successful. As at higher positions,
individuals are required to work together with people and if they lack ethics it will be a huge
mess in their personal and professional life.
Critical Thinking: The way people analyse situations and derives suitable solutions for them are
referred as critical thinking. Each and every decision taken has a logic behind it. The ways
people can develop critical thinking among themselves includes understanding the the
possibilities and the logic behind the happenings. One can verify the likelihood of the
happenings of the events. Collection of data to justify the assumptions to justify the decisions
made, considering all the possibilities and taking the right decision (Kanjanabootra,. and
Cooper., 2018).
Unilever gives major importance towards the importance of the soft skills of the employees as it
is a global company where the employee base Is quite diverse, it become important for the
company to hire people who possess these skills, otherwise the company will be facing many
internal clashes because of which the operations of the company are effected. With the training
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sessions provided by the company helps the employees in developing skills which helps them in
their professional as well as personal life (Atolagbe,. and Floyd., 2020).
Reflection on my current level of soft and professional skills within my workplace.
Through my academic years I have focused on my professional skills, as my university
from the very beginning focused on helping us develop the skills which will helps us landing a
job. The university focused more on the practical skills which helped us combining our
theoretical skills, as we were required do summer internships which helped me develop the
required professional skills. I joined Unilever as an Assistant Project Manager just after
completing my education, the company had to over a diverse work environment along with
employees from different cultures and nations. The soft skills I developed in the course of my
university and schooling helped me in my performance in the company, I am an effective
communicator as my university gave me several opportunities to speak in front of thousands of
people and communicate with them which helped me in developing interpersonal skills. As my
course was divided into modules which made it possible for me to purse a part time job to help
my finances which not only helped me develop saving skills but also time management skills as I
was juggling my education as well a part time job. From the beginning of my job I have been
communicating with the people involved in negotiating with the stakeholders and the clients, this
has helped in keeping my team as well as the stakeholders satisfied, as agreeing on each and
every term of the client will not be feasible. I have developed my critical thinking abilities as I'm
required to analyse each and every situation and formulate a plan on the basis of which I apply
different negotiation styles. As project is a well-defined and structure group of events and needs
to be well implemented by scheduling the tasks and operations within a particular time frame.
For scheduling the task son time, I do need to communicate with my team and take a deadline
with they are comfortable and bend it within the time period of the project. The reason why
other project manager fails in achieving their target is that they do not communicate with their
stakeholders and get a clear overview of the things which causes issues later in the team, as
nobody knows for what they are working for. Throughout my educational years I have been
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practising on portraying my leadership skills, in the university the projects I have leaded. In other
word throughout my academic years I developed my leadership qualities, which has helped in
my company as managing a team requires a great deal of leadership quality. As technology has
overtaken most of the operations its essential for me as a project manager to known the ways
things work, as this helps me in communicating and understanding the side of the web
developers who deal with the technical aspects of the project. After joining the company, I took
some courses which helped me in understanding the basis which helps in understanding the
issues that the team member faces and I am able to convey the same to may stakeholders
Professional development plan.
Skills to
be
developed
Current
proficiency
Future
efficiency
Action plan Evaluation
criteria
Timeline
Interperso
nal Skills
Medium High [1] Need to have a
word with my team to
understand the
lacking parts. [2] I
will participate in
courses which will
make me practise my
skills and eventually
develop them. [3] I
need to work on my
attention area, for
which I will be
paying attention the
details that my team
and stakeholders
mentions.
Once I will
start paying
attention to
the mentioned
points I will
get to see
some visible
results.
1 month
Critical Medium Medium In my profession I'm I just need to Not
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Thinking required to take many
serious actions for
which I need to keep
on practising my
critical thinking
techniques which I'm
presently using
sustain my
present level
of skills for
which I will
keep on doing
the things that
I'm presently
doing with full
efficiency.
defined
Communi
cation
Medium High Taking a course
which will make me
communicate with
people on a random
topic. I will start
communicating with
my stakeholders
without hesitating. I
will arrange coffee
sessions for my team
so that we can open
up with the team
members.
Better
coordination
with the team
members.
Better
execution of
the project
schedule.
3 Months
Time
Managem
ent
Medium High -I will schedule the
tasks before hand
-Need to give a
flexible deadline to
the stakeholder
-Need to take the
training sessions
provided by the
company for project
There will be
visible results
as my work
will be more
organised and
scheduled.
4 Months
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managers for
managing their time
effectively.
Leadershi
p
Medium High I will practise
discipline within my
team. Prioritising the
present assigned
projects and not
taking any new
project if the previous
one is complex. Keep
on developing skills.
By resolving internal
clashes.
The result will
be that my
team will be
more efficient
and
disciplined,
we will be
able to
achieve our
goals within
time.
3 Months
Negotiatio
n
Low Medium Will study reports on
negotiation to
understand the
concepts. I need to
develop my offers
beforehand. I need to
use correct figures
instead of
approximation. I do
not need to talk
unnecessarily. Ask
multiple questions
until my doubt is not
resolved.
I will be able
to bring much
better offers
within the
company.
Along with
keeping my
team mates
happy and
satisfied.
1.6
Months
Technical
Skills
Low Medium I will communicate
with the developers in
my team to
I will able to
direct the
stakeholder in
3 Months
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understand the basic
skills which will help
me in understanding
the basic skills.
According to the
explained skills I will
attend the training
sessions offered by
the company along
with will take a
course which will
adequately train me
with the required
skills.
the right way,
as I will be
having the
required
knowledge of
the technical
skills.
CONCLUSION
The aim of the report was to explain and to provide the overview of the skills which are required
which influences the personal and professional career of an individual. This report focused on
the skills Unilever looks for its employees and how they train them in developing the skills
required to survive in the company. The provided training also helps the individuals in showing
their full potential in the company’s operations. The report entirely focuses on the skills which
helps an individual in his / her personal as well as professional development. In the report a
professional development plan has been formulated which helps an individual in understanding
the lacking parts and helps in creating a strategy which helps the person to work on the defined
strategy, along within a determined deadline.
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REFERENCES
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Nur Halifah, Rizki, Miftah Uldini, and Osly Usman. "Effect of recruitment, selection, training,
and placement on performance of employee (in era industri 4.0)." Miftah and Usman,
Osly, Effect of Recruitment, Selection, Training, and Placement on Performance of
Employee (In ERA Industri 4.0)(January 12, 2019) (2019).
Payton, K., 2021. Vocational Education: CNA Students’ Perspectives of Soft Skills in Training
and the Workplace (Doctoral dissertation, Brandman University).
Deshpande, S. and Munshi, M.M., 2020. The Impact of Soft Skills Training on the Behavior and
Work Performance of Employees in Service Organizations. IUP Journal of Soft Skills,
14(1).
Majid, S., Eapen, C.M., Aung, E.M. and Oo, K.T., 2019. The Importance of Soft Skills for
Employability and Career Development: Students and Employers' Perspectives. IUP
Journal of Soft Skills, 13(4).
Santilli, S., Ginevra, M.C., Nota, L. and Soresi, S., 2018. Decent work and social inclusion for
people with disability and vulnerability: From the soft skills to the involvement of the
context. In Interventions in career design and education (pp. 303-313). Springer, Cham.
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119-124). Springer, Cham.
Asonitou, S. and Hassall, T., 2019. Which skills and competences to develop in accountants in a
country in crisis?. The International Journal of Management Education, 17(3),
p.100308.
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Mitic, R.R. and Okahana, H., 2021. Don’t count them out: PhD skills development and careers in
industry. Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education, 12(2), pp.206-229.
Umer, M. and Gul, R., 2019. The Relevance of Sociocultural Theory for Linguistic Skills
Development: Classroom Observations. Dialogue (Pakistan), 14(4).
Kanjanabootra, S., Von Meding, J. and Cooper, V., 2018. Building project management skills in
university programs in conditions of uncertainty. In Proceedings of the 16th
Engineering Project Organization Conference (EPOC 2018) (pp. 934-949). Engineering
Project Organization Society.
Atolagbe, A. and Floyd, S., 2020, March. Diversifying the next generation of project managers:
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