Understanding Self and Others

This document discusses the concept of understanding self and others and its importance in personal and professional development. It explores the core skills required, with a focus on time management. The document also provides insights on developing skills like communication, interpersonal, and leadership. It concludes with a personal development plan to address weaknesses.

Understanding Self and
Others

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
PART -1...........................................................................................................................................1
Reflective................................................................................................................................1
PART -2...........................................................................................................................................5
Summary and Action Plan......................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Understanding and self others are the concept to determine own strength and weaknesses.
Present study will be base explaining core skills and weaknesses individual have. In order to
analyse the study it will be taking Shoprite which is a retail company situated in South Africa.
Therefore present research will divided into two parts Reflective and summary action plan
respectively.
PART -1
Reflective
REFLECTIVE JOURNAL ENTRY PRO-FORMA
What is the core skill to develop?
According to my observation core skills are the most essential skills that should young people
need to be fully prepared for life and work in a global economy. In other words, core skills are
important and beneficial for me to engage my career objectives and goals (Breen and et.al.,
2016). Core competences generally revolve around a particular business function for example
marketing and manufacturing. In other words, core competencies are the kind of strategic
advantage for me which helps to develop within the organisation. However, there are main
core skills which should have in people such core skills are communication, Numeracy,
Information and communication technology, Problem solving, working with others (Clements
and Kamau, 2018).
Through my observation and analysation it has been found that I have a core skill and some of
the other them needed to be developed in future. My core skill which I need to develop is time
management that enable me to face many hurdles and challenges in Shoprite. Time
management skills of mine is not as much good than other skills. For example: At my
workplace I could not properly manage my prioritize work due to which I leg behind. Besides,
I also need to work on my planning skills which is also quite improper in a way. Somehow, It
has been analyse by me that main core skills have to be required in all the employees. Apart
from that, it also makes the person more reliable and forming to be the great achievement and
forming the best source and ideas.
Time management skill is very required for me which I need to develop in my future career.
Time management skill itself is a very important skill in order to make plans at the workplace.
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Somehow, I need to develop skills for some following reasons. Like, it will help me to deliver
my work on time in Shoprite. Besides, time management skill can also assit me to provide a
better quality work to my seniors. This is the fact that time management skills make me more
productive and efficient as a working professional that I wanted to be at my workplace.
Why is this core skill important? Why did I select this skill to reflect on? (use relevant
theories and concepts to support your answer)
For the better development, My core skill which is time management is very necessary for my
future. As I mentioned above that time management skills assist me to become more
productive at my workplace. This skill are also helping me to finish my work before deadline
with efficient manner. Somehow this could reflect on my strength and give the best results.
This skill is very important for me to learn new challenges and how uncertain situations can be
handles by managing the time and resources properly. By supporting Pareto's principle
theory of time management. I understand the concept of this theory that people must need to
focus on the tasks with the greatest benefits in order to accomplish the work on time. Like
80/20 rule is similar to the Pickle Jar theory. It has been suggested that individual can work
smarter by focusing on the necessary tasks through which they can probably derive and get the
productive outcomes for future. In the rock containing jar where 20% of the activities that
should consume 80% of the time. I can take help and support from this theory to understand
and strengthen my time management skills. Besides that, I can also apply this theory in order to
prepare my task delegation and priorities of work in effective manner. However, this business
skills and essential competency level can helps me to develop my career aims. Somehow, it
also helps me to motivate in different context. Time management is very essential skill for me
to manage my personal goals as well. That is why this skill is important for me to develop.
Therefore, according to my personal experience it will help me to make the different
opportunity and task (Latham, Seijts and Slocum, 2016). However, I can also apply this model
of Pare to Principle in following areas of my company like in Human Resource department and
manufacturing or in management. It is more beneficial theory of time management which is
applied in those companies which client service based.
Some other theories of time management can also helpful for me to get overcomes from my
time management weaknesses. Like Goal based theory, ABS concept, Bucket of rocks
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theory of time management etc. all such models and theoretical concepts enable me to fill
differences in time management (Cottrell, 2019).
Reflect on your current competence regarding this skill. How did you assess your
competence? (use your self-assessment findings, feedback from peers and your tutor, plus
your own reflections on your thoughts, feelings and behaviours to answer this question).
In order to evaluate my own competency level and performance, I have been taken feedback
from my friends, peers and seniors.
From the basis of observation or getting feedback from my seniors and peers. I have found
some of my core competencies which might helpful for me to meet my core developing skill.
According to my manager within the organisation. He think that I am good at self motivation
because of my confidence, positive thinking which necessary for time management. On the
same side, some other people and colleagues of mine recommend me to form a different skill
set to develop my prioritisation al growth. As strong as it may should be more influencing and
developing.
Time management is not a stand-alone skill which cannot manage by the people standing alone
with the best developing channels. According to meeting my core skills I am enough capable to
manage my tasks and break them into the smaller task it will help me to contribute in the best
forming manner. As according to my peers, I am very good at managing managerial activities
and task which is also very needed to learn time management skill. My competency level is
good to meet my desired results and goals. According to my colleagues and friends, I am a
creative person who always gives good efforts on the task which has been assign to me at any
time. So this process conclude that I am competitive in terms of taking time management skill.
Conflict management is my other competence which helps me to solve threats and unbalance
situations between two people. This skill and strength of mine somehow helps me to learn time
management skills. Other than that, Communication skills are also very important which I need
to improve in me to get my career opportunities. Interpersonal skills is the another area which I
need to look upon which is essential for me to make the good things and full fill my career
objectives. Last foremost skill which I need to focus which is leadership skills. Leadership
quality is important for me to better understand the task and also able to handle a team.
As according to my one manager he thinks that I need to focus on my leadership skills and get
some more knowledge to handle the team mates. They suggest me to learn leadership skills to
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be a good leader.
Can you identify any contradictions from your analysis above? For example, is there a
match between how you see yourself and how others see you, or not?
As per the above discussion it has been observed that people notice me as like I am. According
to them I have many competencies to learn time management skills and to meet my objectives
as well. Like they said I am a creative person so I am a creative and I always try something
else to accomplish the task rather than the process which is followed by people. Slightly I am
not agree with this statement that I am a excellent managerial power. According to me because
of my initial stage I require more experience to make the final statement, so this skill require
more attention required currently. Also I am good at presenting my work with full of
confidence as other people also said. I also observed throughout my analysation that which
skills and competence is required to develop for myself. However, this situations can helps me
to found the best statistical manner to found some logistic skill set. I can say said, I agree on
some of the statements which has been given by my seniors and colleagues.
Some other employees and my colleagues suggested that I am less focused on my work
because of my confusing impressions. I disagree with this observation that I am less capable
towards my task. I am a good observer and I always focus on my things which assigned to me
at my workplace. But on the same part, I agree with my peers that I am less effective in
communication skills. In which I am good at written skills but bad in verbal skills. Somehow I
also agree with this statement that I need to develop my leadership skills because I am not
enough capable to lead a team which might reduce my work quality. So for that I need to
mention this skill also in my personal development plan.
It has been analysed that some of the observation is correct and some of them are not.
How might this skill help me in the future?
There are so much skills to learn or to develop through individual can achieve their set career
objectives (Locke and Latham, 2019). Like I have plan to learn time management skills to be
more competitive and challenging. There are several benefits that I will get in future which
enable to achieve my goals. Through time management learning skills I can be more capable to
take multiple projects for my organisation development. Through I also get good working
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experience too. Time management skill can help me to complete my work on time so there will
be no delays. In personal context, such situation also makes me satisfied and happy which is
good for self motivation. With the help of learning time management skills I can better take
decisions on time which makes the good ability to break challenges and discover the new
power of list making which makes the things more effective and positive. Besides that, it will
more helpful for me to take less stress at the workplace so that I can better focus on my other
tasks. Through managing time of the given task it will more helpful to get free time sometimes
in which I can work on my some other task to build-up the new knowledge based learning.
Time management also helps to learn discipline which is very valuable in professional career. I
can get good experience and disciplined work value in future. In future I can use this skill to
develop my career growth and expansion growth. The biggest time eater is often tasks that
shouldn't be going anyway. By growing practice in delegation of work to others it will help me
to promote my work profile in future as well. In my future this developing skill helps me in my
professional as well as my personal development.
Or else time management skill can helps me to get higher position at my workplace which is
very high beneficial advantage for me as well.
PART -2
Summary and Action Plan
It is very essential to regularly evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of any individual as
these help in formulating an efficient development plan that assists in developing the necessary
skills. I have already identified my core competencies in the journal entries made above and in
the following section I have classified them into strengths and weaknesses.
Strengths:- I can classify my conflict management skills and managerial skills as my strengths
because whenever there are any conflicts in my workplace, I am the mediator who solves the
problems between them. I can encourage collaboration between employees and integrate their
efforts to generate higher productivity. Similarly, I can attribute managerial skill as my strength
because I can successfully manage group activities and distribute work efficiently and this has
has helped me in forming those strategies that increases the effectiveness of the task performed
as I use scientific management theories for getting my work done. In the current action plan, I
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was motivated to develop my time management skills, communication skills, interpersonal skills
and leadership skills. I selected these skills out of all the deficiencies because I know that I can
work very effectively on improving my interpersonal and communication skills because I have
good communication and convincing capabilities.
Weakness:- After evaluating the skills described in my journal, I can conclude that my time
management skills are extremely poor and I often end up procrastinating things or cause
unnecessary delay in their completion. I think applicable of ABC Model will help me in
managing time in a better manner (Noe and et.al., 2017). This has created a black spot over my
performance. Apart from this my weakness is lack of leadership qualities. Though I can manage
people well but I cannot lead people i.e. influence them or motivate them to adopt certain
ideologies. However, the interpersonal skill still purports to be the biggest challenge that I face
while doing my job since I am extremely weak at this and therefore, out of the four skills for
which I intend to formulate an action plan, the most challenging task would be development of
interpersonal skills.
Personal Development Plan
Skills Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Timely
Time
Manageme
nt
I intend to
formulate
better work
completion
techniques
which will
help me in
completing
my activities
on time.
The major aim
would be to
complete all
the activities
that are
For
developing
this, I will
use Time
Evaluation
Sheet and
implement
ABC model
which will
regularly
keep track of
my
performance
and help me
in identifying
For managing
time in a
better
manner,
developing
time
evaluation
sheet will
help in
tracking my
progress and
also
implement
changes
accordingly.
This will
bridge the
gap between
actual time
and the
allotted time
so that I can
complete all
my tasks.
7 months
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allotted for
each day on
time.
how much
performance
has been
improved
(White and
et.al., 2017).
Leadership
Skills
I want to
develop
leadership
skills which
will help me
in influencing
people
towards doing
the right
thing.
I will
implement
trait theory
i.e.
identifying
different
traits of
people and
working on
them
accordingly.
It is
attainable as
trait theory
will guide me
towards
different
tactics that
should be
adopted
while dealing
with people.
It is relevant
as my
developing
leaderships
skills I would
be able to
become a
leader.
9 months
Communic
ation skills
Developing
communicatio
n skills will
help me in
presenting my
ideas in a
better way and
capture the
attention of
targeted
audience.
I will joining
coaching
classes and
read various
books
available on
improvement
of
communicati
on skills.
I will be able
to develop
better
communicati
on skills
which will
help me in
developing
an influential
personality.
This skill will
act as a
supporting
skill for
development
of leadership
qualities
3 months
Inter-
personal
Skills
Developing
interpersonal
skills will help
Joining
workshops
and sessions
I will be able
to develop
better
Inter-
Personal
skills will act
3 months
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me in
formulating
better
relationships
at the work
place and this
will help me
in widening
my options at
success.
that will help
me in
developing
my inter-
personal
skills.
relationships
with juniors
and seniors
thus
improving
the ease with
which I can
work in such
environments
.
as a base for
increasing the
bonding in
personal and
professional
life.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of above defined knowledge and information, it has been analysed that how
much core skills and competency is required to meet the set development plan and future
objectives. However, present study describes the whole information in the reflective form in
order to fill the personal development plan Journal in Reflective Journals. It explored the
importance of skill/attribute on the basis of taking feedback from friends and colleagues. In the
other segments, it summarized action plan on the basis of strength and weaknesses or in order to
prepare the personal development plan as well. In the PDP plan following study defined the
developing skills like time management, communication skills & leadership skills.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Breen, L. and et.al., 2016. Time for management training? Investigating the support for the
continuous professional development of critical management skills amongst community
and hospital pharmacists.
Clements, A. J. and Kamau, C., 2018. Understanding students’ motivation towards proactive
career behaviours through goal-setting theory and the job demands–resources
model. Studies in Higher Education. 43(12). pp.2279-2293.
Cottrell, S., 2019. The study skills handbook. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Latham, G., Seijts, G. and Slocum, J., 2016. The goal setting and goal orientation
labyrinth. Organizational Dynamics. 4(45). pp.271-277.
Locke, E. and Latham, G. P., 2019. Reply to commentaries on “The development of goal setting
theory: A half century retrospective”.
Noe, R. A. and et.al., 2017. Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage.
New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
White, S. M. and et.al., 2017. Assessment of Time Management Skills: Psychometric Properties
of the Swedish Version (ATMS–S). American Journal of Occupational
Therapy, 71(4_Supplement_1), pp.7111500040p1-7111500040p1.
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