Personal Development Action Plan

This assignment focuses on creating a personalized action plan for self-improvement. It requires analyzing one's strengths and weaknesses, identifying areas for development, setting specific goals, outlining actionable steps to achieve those goals, and establishing a realistic timeline. The plan should encompass both hard skills and soft skills, with particular emphasis on enhancing communication abilities.

Effective Business
[DATE]
[Company name]
[Company address]

Running Head: Report
Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................2
Diagnosis...............................................................................................................................................2
Literature Review..................................................................................................................................5
Action Plan............................................................................................................................................8
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................10
References...........................................................................................................................................11
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Running Head: Report
Introduction
Communication is an essential part of everyone’s life. This factor is the most important
component that is needed in life. The communication is the process of sending or expressing
one’s thoughts and opinions to the other people. It involves an oral or written communication,
which is shared by the one or more than one person. Every communication must be effective.
An effective form of communication must be developed in order to transmit clear and good
messages to the other people. It is very important for a person to develop their
communication skills as any wrong message sent to the other person will create
misunderstanding between the two people (Lunenburg, 2010). Thereby, it is highly
significant to develop and practice the skills required to deliver and possess effective and
sound communication. This report is the self reflection essay that identifies the main areas of
development in one own self by using the diagnostic techniques of communication. Mainly
five tools are used to deeply exhibit the present skills of communication with oneself and
further the areas are determined that require the most attention and care. This report depicts
the literature review where the various theories of communication are highlighted along with
the explanation of the regions that require a change in my communication skills. For bringing
out a change, the action plan is also constructed in the end of the report, which will be
followed to overcome the issues of communication skills that have been found out in this
study (NIFC, 2013).
Diagnosis
This part of the report uses five different diagnostic tools in order to determine the
communication skills that are present in a person. By depicting the theories and styles of
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Running Head: Report
communication, I will be able to reflect my communication skills that will enable me to
understand the skills that require development and upgradation. With the help of best
communication skills, a person can easily use those skills in expressing their thoughts and
can use such abilities in the best and efficient manner. Various tools have been used to
identify the personality along with the skills (Chapman, 2003).
The first tool that has been used is the Social Learning Theory. A person conceives and learns
various attributes from the society that affects its communication. The society plays an
effective role in developing certain kinds of behavior in the person. The factors that prevail in
the society highly influence the communication power of the person. These factors are
classified into three parts: Behavioral Factors, Cognitive Factors and the Environmental
Factors. These are the determinants of the human behavior that tend to depict the
communication patterns of the person (Lambjen, 2010). Such factors highlight the personality
of the person and this reciprocates the communication style of an individual. Cognitive
factors are the personal factors like knowledge, expectation, personal attitude and nature.
Environmental factors state the factors that influence the behavior of the person by the
societal norms. The behavioral factors are the skills that are learned and developed in the
person by continuous practice. Based on this theory, I have found out the results regarding
my personality and communication pattern.
Personal (Cognitive) factors: Joyful, Intelligent, Sensitive, Introvert
Behavioral factors: Cooking, Driving
Environmental factors: Gentle, Religious, Reliable
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The second tool that has been chosen to reflect the communication style is the Four Styles of
Communication. The four types are the Passive, Aggressive, Passive-Aggressive and
Assertive. The passive style of communication states that the person has the nature of
avoiding the communication and also ignores to express thoughts and opinions. The person
here runs from expressing oneself. Being assertive states the style of expression completely
the thoughts, ideas and feelings to the others (Lambjen, 2010). Coming to the third style,
being an Aggressive one is the person who expresses their feelings that somehow hurts and
harms the feelings of the other person. This causes a negative impact on the relationship of
the people. Passive-Aggressive person is the one who does not share their feelings in order to
not to get indulged themselves in any kind of conflict or dispute, but also at the same wants to
say something that might be very rude. This style reflects the bad side of the human behavior,
which is not appreciated. From this analysis of the communication style, I can easily
determine my style of communication, which is the style of being Passive (Bandura, 2007).
The next diagnostic tool that has been used is the Self Perceived Communication
Competence (SPCC) tool, which highlights the ability of the person to speak and
communicate. This enables the person to determine their willingness to communicate with
the people. The person is provided with the questions, which are answered by them and this
style of questions depicts the ability of the person to communicate. The competence of the
person is known. After the thorough analysis of the results, it was found that I have scored 74
on the scale of SPCC that states, I have a moderate level of communication competence while
communicating with the other people (Center, 2014).
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Coming to the fourth tool that was used for the analysis is the Personal Report of Public
Speaking Anxiety. This is the tool used to identify the ability of the person to communicate
with the public. Public speaking usually brings anxiety, thereby, this scale or report highlights
the level of anxiety while speaking in public. According to the analysis conducted, it was
found that I scored 98 on the scale of anxiety while communicating with the people in public.
It can be stated that I communicate better with the known people in comparison to the public.
This level of anxiety must be reduced (APR, 2012).
The Fifth tool chosen for the research is the Willingness to Listen Diagnostic Tool (WTL).
This tool enables the person to determine his or her willingness to listen to the others. This
depicts the ability of the person to listen to the others while communicating. The listening
ability of some people is quite low. They tend to communicate more and listen less. By
scaling the willingness, it was found that I scored around 70, which the suitable level of
listening to a person. Scoring a 70 states that I have achieved a moderate level on the scaling
tool of Willingness to listen (Chapman, 2003).
Literature Review
This is the part where I will identify and explain the two areas that need improvement. The
communication skills are the assets of an individual. Without communicating, a person
cannot say or express anything. Today in the business world, it has become very important to
learn and develop skills as this leads to better personality and relationships in the
organization. This project has helped me in finding out my weaknesses and strengths. With
the help of the diagnostic tools, I can easily formulate the areas that are my weakness and
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require due attention. Coming to the analysis, since I scored 98 on the Personal Report of
Public Speaking Anxiety, no matter that it lies in the moderate level, but according to the
other scores and the level of anxiety, this is the area that requires development. Public
speaking is something that requires good verbal communication skills. I have noticed,
whenever I have been told to give away a presentation in Class, I usually get nervous
(Klotsche, 2009). I am not much confident. The level of anxiety rises up that somehow brings
a fear in my mind while speaking in public. Because of such nervousness and fear, I tend to
forget what I had learned and what was I here to communicate. All this creates a negative
impact on my personality in front of the public. Through this analysis, I could easily judge
my capability and weakness along with the reason behind the higher anxiety levels, which I
usually get while speaking in public. Public Speaking is something that will always remain
the core competency required while working in a business organization. Sometimes, the
working environment, people, relationships with managers, organizational setup, all such
factors disturb the anxiety level of a person (Wertheim, 2012). The Communication
Apprehension has helped in conceiving the ideology of an individual regarding their fears
and ability to communicate with others. This also states that negative environment will
always bring negative results in the anxiety levels of the person. This is the most important
area, which requires improvement as no matter what you do, There comes a point when, you
will always have to speak in front of the public, thereby, it is significant to learn from this
mistake and try to develop and improve the weaknesses that lag me behind from the others.
This can be changed from trying to involve more with the other people and learn more how to
communicate, this will reduce the anxiety levels and will help in communicating fluently.
The other issue that I could realize that needs some improvement through the use of
diagnostic tools is the personal factor of being an Introvert. Being an introvert is not
something wrong. But, this causes problems as the an introvert person thinks a lot before
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speaking and usually tend to speak only with the person they know. This restricts the person
from socializing with the other people as the major drawback of being an introvert is the
shyness. This increases the level of anxiousness in a person (Mendoza, 2015). The person has
always less contacts and does not try to engage with other people who are out of their league.
An introvert will always try to stand out from the crowd only because they are shy and there
do not believe in indulging and communicating with the other people. An introvert, always
faces problems while communicating with others as they take a lot of time to adjust and think
while speaking in front of a group of people. This problem usually criticizes an introvert
person. Usually an introvert tries to find out the words before speaking, which corners the
person in a crowd. This restricts the person from sharing their ideas while speaking with a
group of people. This is the reason why introverts prefer to communicate through writing
rather than speaking. This gives them time to think and to wire the words from their brain,
which provides them a useful sight while communicating (CCEA, 2007). This does not
restrict them from speaking, since shyness does not cause problems for them while writing.
According to Marti Olsen, the process of interactions with the other people is a difficult task
for introverts as they take a lot of time while speaking and communicating. It has also been
found that introverts respond to a particular thing very slowly in comparison to the extroverts.
Thereby, this is an issue that requires more attention and development. And it can be easily
coorelated, since I am an introvert because of this I tend to have high anxiety levels while
speaking in public. This is the reason, which restricts me from opening up to new people.
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Action Plan
From the above identification of my communication skills, I have designed an action plan for
a period of six months, which I will follow in order to improve my weaknesses. This plan
will help me in overcoming the issues that I am facing. The first step that I would like to take
is to maintain a journal, where I will record all my actions and this will help me identifying
my wrong and right acts, that are helping me in improving my skills. This will help me in
keeping a track on myself and my progress. This journal will be helpful to me in the future
progress. The next step that I would like to take is to read some books, that help me in
bringing strength and power while communicating. The book that I prefer is the “Art of
Communicating” by Thich Nhat Hanh. This book will help me in learning how to
communicate with the other people effectively. The third step that I will take is to hire a tutor
or mentor, who will help me by giving me training in public speaking (CRS, 2013). The
regular interpersonal communication courses will definitely help me in bringing a change in
myself. I will hire Peter Dhu and Violet Dhu as my mentors, who will consistently guide and
train me for speaking in public and this will help me in reducing the levels of anxiety.
Through this I will be able to develop my personality and will also result in the development
of effective communication skills. I will also try to take up an interpersonal communication
skill course for a few months, where I can enhance my communication skills. The training
course at New Horizons, will help in building key communication skills, which will also help
me in improving my two areas that require attention and advancement. Also, I have planned
to concentrate on SMART goals, i.e., Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely,
where I will use my mental strength and abilities to focus on my specific plans and will try to
attain them on a timely basis through the help of mental strategies. All such courses and plan
will help me in nurturing my skills and capabilities, which will prove out to the best for my
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Running Head: Report
personality (Boyaci & Aksu, 2010). Such a plan will help me in providing advice and full
guidance regarding the steps to build and inculcate new and effective skills to communicate
while Public Speaking. This will also help me in overcoming the ability of shyness and
improve my way of communicating and through this help, I will be able to tackle and
overcome the issues of being an Introvert.
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Conclusion
It can be easily concluded that this essay was a reflective speech, where the personal
communication skills and abilities to communicate were identified using the five unique
diagnostic tools in order to evaluate the areas where my skills require attention. This report
used tools that have helped me out in determining the two key areas that lag behind because
of some reasons. Proper analysis was done in order to carefully identify and evaluate the
regions that require utmost development. Finally, the two areas were ascertained that were
being an introvert was my personal factor and high level of anxiety while public speaking.
The complete analysis was done and accordingly in the last, an improvement plan was
designed in order to handle such issues. The plan has been designed for at least six months
that will give enough time to perform each and every activity. The complete action plan has
been highlighted above in the study, which will help me in developing the core areas for
improving my skills and capabilities.
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References
APR, 2012. Communication Models and theories, Available at:
http://www.praccreditation.org/resources/documents/APRSG-Comm-Models.pdf
Bandura, A., 2007. Social learning theory, Available at:
http://www.jku.at/org/content/e54521/e54528/e54529/e178059/Bandura_SocialLearningTheo
ry_ger.pdf
Boyaci, C. & Aksu, A., 2010. The importance of communication within organizations,
Available at: http://www.opf.slu.cz/vvr/akce/turecko/pdf/Boyaci.pdf
CCEA, 2007. Developing Communication Skills in Learning for Life and Work, Available at:
http://ccea.org.uk/sites/default/files/docs/curriculum/area_of_learning/learning_life_work/
ks3_llw_comm_checklist.pdf
Center, U. V. I. a. P., 2014. The Four Basic Styles of Communication, Available at:
https://www.uky.edu/hr/sites/www.uky.edu.hr/files/wellness/images/
Conf14_FourCommStyles.pdf
Chapman, A., 2003. A model for self-awareness, personal development, group development
and understanding relationship, Available at:
https://apps.cfli.wisc.edu/johari/support/JohariExplainChapman2003.pdf
CRS, 2013. Develop a communication plan in nine steps, Available at:
https://www.crs.org/sites/default/files/crs-files/communication-toolbox-template-develop-a-
communication-plan.pdf
Klotsche, J., 2009. The importance of communication in today's world. The Speech Teacher
journal, 11(4), pp. 322-326.
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Lambjen, 2010. Trait Theories of Personality, Available at:
http://www.ep309.org/faculty/LAMBJEN/Chapter6/trait_theories_of_personality.pdf
Lunenburg, F., 2010. Communication: The Process, Barriers, And Improving Effectiveness,
Available at: http://www.nationalforum.com/Electronic%20Journal%20Volumes/Lunenburg,
%20Fred%20C,%20Communication%20Schooling%20V1%20N1%202010.pdf
Mendoza, L., 2015. Developing effecTIve communication skills, Available at:
http://kortschakcenter.usc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Workshop-Presentation-
condensed.pdf
NIFC, 2013. Keys To effective Communication, Available at:
https://www.nifc.gov/hrsp/tools/keys_to_effective_communication.pdf
Wertheim, E., 2012. The Importance of Effective Communication, Available at:
https://ysrinfo.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/effectivecommunication5.pdf
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