Developing Professional Practice: Reflective Blog on HR Manager's Journey of Skill Development

This reflective blog discusses an HR manager's journey of skill development in project management, problem solving, leadership, motivation, and communication. The blog highlights the issues faced by the HR manager and the ways through which they developed these skills. The blog also includes the application of these skills in real-life scenarios and the need for continuous professional development.

Developing professional practice (DVP) assessment activity 4
template
Reflective blog
Name:
Word count:
a) There were a bunch of issues that I personally am facing as being designated to the
post of an HR manager. The issues and the ways through which I am on the journey
of development of these aspects in particular are as follows:
 Project management techniques- I faced major issues in managing the
projects that my department in particular was in charge of handling. This was
because I could not assign the particular projects to the desired and most
relevant person, and also there was difficulty in understanding for me as well
as the employees (Radujkovic. and Sjekavica., 2017). So, I worked on the
activities that would support me in developing the project management skills.
Firstly, I worked on prioritizing the tasks according to their importance. I did
this through major resources like referring to the clear and precise accounting
records of the company due to which I understood what was more necessary
for the company at a particular period of time. And also the efficient and
proficient human resource of the company helped in developing these skills.
 Problem solving techniques- The team that I was managing was facing many
issues regarding the conflicts and issues and they were obviously inclining on
me as I was their superior (Menkel-Meadow. Schneider. and Love., 2020).
But I was not able to resolve those issues because the lack of my problem
solving techniques. I started to work upon personality understanding so that I
could relate to each and every employee on a personal level and through that
be able to resolve the conflicts accordingly. I did this by reading personality
understanding guides and different E-books. It obviously is little time
consuming as u have to search for the most precise content, but slowly it did
show results and there were less conflicts made big in the team.
 Leadership skills- Due to lack of leadership skills I was not able to lead all the
team members towards a single or common organizational goal that they
were required to achieve (Iordanoglou., 2018). So I started taking more
responsibilities regarding tasks and also delegating work so that it is not
stressful for either the subordinates or me and we can work together towards
the common goal. Also, the positive feedback that I got from the employees
is also very appreciative and motivating for me to grow these skills further.
 Effective communication- I lacked communicating the senior instructions to
the employees and vice versa in a clear manner which led to major issues
(Stacho. and et.al., 2019). So, I started taking notes to remember each point
and also I worked upon my tone and voice management so that subordinates

would feel treated with warmth and positivity. This led to increase in the
levels of personal interaction and trust among employees.
 Motivation skills- As the employees of my team were less productive and
motivated, I decided to develop my motivation skills (Gagné. and Howard.,
2016). So I started appreciating the employees more and more and for their
tasks which made them more productive and further helped the company in
gaining competitive advantage too.
b) My application of project management skills- First, when I was not so efficient with my
project management skills, I was not able to be particularly precise. After starting the
journey of learning new skills and developing the old ones I got to learn new things. A
bunch of projects were aligned and I had to make sure that 50% of them were
completed in the time of one week. I examined all the projects and then according to
their importance which I checked from the previous and current records. And then I
assigned the important projects to the most relevant employees.
My application of problem solving techniques- two of the employees in my team faced
a major misunderstanding because of miscommunication among them. One of them
was assigned 75% of the file and the other was assigned only 25%, but they instead
did 50-50 of the file. At the time of recognition, the employee who completed 75% got
more importance, which attacked the self-esteem of the other employee. Meanwhile, I
communicated the issue to the senior management and then they made changes and
again gave each one of them the credit and appreciation they deserved.
My application for leadership techniques like influencing, negotiating and persuading
others/employees- I had a major issue in leading my subordinates or employees. This
could be an issue regarding being influential to them, negotiating with them for the
benefits of the organization as well as the employees themselves and also
persuading them. First thing I had to increase their trust and reliability towards me,
which I did by organizing personal sessions with each of them and to get to know
their personalities on an individual basis and group meetings and activities, so that all
of them learn how to work with each other. Also, I connected the organizational goals
to their individual goals and showed them the path to achieve it. this led to team
movement towards the achievement of the organizational goals, and at the same time
they were capable of achieving their individual goals too, and also this enhanced their
productivity.
c) Still the end objective is not achieved, and the end objective is not achieving or
learning the objectives that I have been working on. Rather the end objective is to
maintain and sustain these skills in my working throughout. Professional development
does not stop for an individual just like personal development. No one can learn
enough and there is always something new. I have just begun the journey of learning
these different sills that I was lacking behind in. through the previous analysis it is
clear to me that what are the objectives that I need to achieve, these include
development of skills in the field of project management, problem solving, leadership,
motivation and communication. As the objectives are clear and precise the
development planned and resources that will be required for the development of
these skills in particular are mainly the human resource and self help books.
d) I have determined that there is a need for me to develop a range of interpersonal
skills within myself that will help in the future career development. Therefore, in order
to develop effective communication skills, I will develop the habit of reading regularly
and also improve my vocabulary. Similarly, in order to develop the leadership skills, I
will inculcate effective listening skills within myself. If I will be able to listen to the
needs of different individuals within a team, it will help me in developing a bond with
them and allow me to lead them effectively.

References
Books and journals
Radujković, M. and Sjekavica, M., 2017. Project management success factors. Procedia
engineering, 196. pp.607-615.
Menkel-Meadow, C.J., Schneider, A.K. and Love, L.P., 2020. Negotiation: processes for
problem solving. Aspen Publishers.
Iordanoglou, D., 2018. Future Trends in Leadership Development Practices and the Crucial
Leadership Skills. Journal of Leadership, Accountability & Ethics, 15(2).
Stacho, Z. and et.al., 2019. Effective communication in organisations increases their
competitiveness. Polish Journal of Management Studies, 19.
Gagné, M. and Howard, J., 2016. A motivational model of employee attachment to an
organization. In Handbook of employee commitment (pp. 59-69). Edward Elgar
Publishing.