Hightown Housing Association: HR Advisor Skills and Development Report

This report, focusing on Hightown Housing Association, delves into the crucial skills, knowledge, and attributes necessary for an HR advisor. It begins by outlining these core competencies and then presents a detailed personal skill audit utilizing the Brunel skill audit and SWOT analysis. A professional development plan (PDP) is included to address identified weaknesses. The report further explores organizational and individual learning, the significance of training and development, and the application of Kolb's learning cycle for continuous professional development (CPD). The briefing paper discusses the concept of organizational and individual learning, training, and development, and the learning cycle. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of skill audits, learning cycles, and training for maximizing productivity and employee commitment, particularly within the context of high-performance working (HPW). The report also suggests the importance of continuous learning and professional development (CPD) and the positive impact on the organization. Finally, the report recommends that Hightown should provide effective training sessions to their employees and apply effective learning models to develop skills like critical thinking and decision making.

Developing individuals, Teams and
Organizations

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
SECTION 1......................................................................................................................................1
a) Describing the knowledge, skills and attributes fro HR advisor.............................................1
b) Detailed personal skill audit....................................................................................................2
c) Professional development plan................................................................................................4
d) Briefing paper..........................................................................................................................5
SECTION 2......................................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
In the recent times, business units lay high level of emphasis on developing
individuals, team and thereby organizations. Companies can attain success in the competitive
environment only when they have competent team with skilled individuals. Now, firms also
make focus on developing effectual culture which contributes in both employee’s and
organizational performance. The present report is based on Hightown, a charitable housing
association, which is involved in the welfare of others. It provides support and care to the people
who unable to rent home at market values. In this, report will provide deeper insight about skills
and knowledge that HR manager must have for carry out activities effectually. Further, report
will also shed light on how learning cycle facilitates professional development in the context of
sustainable business performance. This report will also develop understanding about how high
performance working aspect enhances business performance and thereby productivity as well as
profitability. It also develops understanding about different approaches associated with HPW.
SECTION 1
a) Describing the knowledge, skills and attributes fro HR advisor
In Hightown Housing Association, the role of HR advisor is to improve the relation
between employees and manager. For that they need to possess effective knowledge, skills and
attributes which are as mention:
Knowledge: The HR advisor must have a knowledge related to relevant HR Policies as
well as procedure, they must have a knowledge related to recruitment and selection process so
that they will recruit the best candidate for the vacant seats. (Miheso, Manyasi and Wanjere,
2019) They must have knowledge related to Employment law and have an ability to I use HR
information system that includes accessing, inputting and compiling data for smooth functioning
of a business. Moreover, HR advisor also have knowledge related to KPI so that they provide
good support to manager in order to analyse the performance of their employees.
Skills: HR Advisor must have organizing and administrative skills so that they may
easily manage the overall work in better way. Have good communication and negotiation skills
in order to lead entire workforce in better way. Further, HR Advisor must advising and working
with senior member and have good IT skills as well (Shariff, and et.al., 2016). Therefore, an
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effective training session should also be provided to their employees in order to enhance their
production level.
Attributes: Empathy and trustworthiness is consider one of the most common attribute in
HR Advisor through which the company may run smoothly. Further, they also posses strong
confidence and have good communication and negotiation skills, in addition to this, HR advisor
also have good problem solving abilities that helps to resolve many issues and provide better
working environment to their employees as well (Rustam, Hamra and Weda, 2015).
b) Detailed personal skill audit
For personal skill audit, it is essential to use Brunel skill audit that is a management tool
that helps to determine strength and weaknesses in HR Advisor. Thus it is as mention below:
Needs to improve I could still improve I am confident
Skills
Time and management skills
Critical thinking abilities
Oral communication
Written communication
Organizing skills
Management skills
IT skills
Numeracy skills
Confidence
Presentation skills
Accountability skills
Negotiation skills
Interpersonal skills
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After skill audit, it is essential to determine the strength and weaknesses of HR advisor
and it is done by using SWOT analysis. It is the strategic management tool that helps to
determine strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and the same is also applied by the
person s in order to identify whether he is suitable for the post or not.
Strength:
 I am a graduate in business and have good presentation and interpersonal skills that helps
to interact with other members easily.
 I posses strong written communication skills so that it will help to communicate others
without any mistakes.
 I can also work under pressure which is also consider my strength.
 Moreover, I am quite confident and dynamic with pleasing personality and also leave first
impression in good manner.
 I have strong organizing and management skills in which I can easily take better decision
as per requirement.
 Possess good negotiation skills which helps to convince others easily.
 I also possess critical thinking abilities that helps to solve problem.
Weaknesses:
 I am fresher in the industry and I am workaholic as well.
 I did not possess strong oral communication and that is why, I did not feel comfortable in
long meetings as well. Also I feel hesitation to ask any questions.
 I also lack strong time management skills and as a result, I did not complete the work on
time.
 I am a good decision maker but due to emotional attachment I did not take better
decisions accordingly.
 I also lack IT skills and Accountability skills that affect my career in opposite way.
Opportunities:
 Having a strong management and organizing skills provide an opportunity to work in HR
department which is actually good option for the career.
 I also possess strong negotiation and convincing skills that helps me to select good path
for my career.
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 If I overcome my weaknesses such as time management skills, then it will be better carer
option for me.
Threat:
 Strong competition in the HR industry is consider as a threat.
 I also feel threat to those candidate who possess same skill such as strong organizing and
management skills, because it may affect my career growth in opposite way.
c) Professional development plan
PDP is the process of improving and increasing the skills (weaknesses) of an individual
that may affect the person's career growth in negative way and in order to overcome my
weaknesses, I also uses PDP which is as mention below:
Development
objectives
Priority Action to
be taken
Resources Target
start date
Target end
date
Criteria for
success
Time
Management
skills
high Prioritize
the work as
per
requirement.
Attending
the
workshops
and training
Trainer,
mentor
02/11/19 22/11/19 Achieve the
goal by
Taking
feedback
from mentor
Oral
communicati
on skills
high Start
attending
training
session,
Speak
publicly,
share my
ideas with
peers
Peers,
Mentor,
books
05/11/19 20/11/19 By taking
feedback
from others
will help to
determine
whether I
meet with
the set goals
or not
IT skills medium Start Books, 25/11/19 05/12/19 Start using
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attending
training
session,
implement
the same
into
working
place,
research on
assignments
trainer computer
and advance
techniques
in order to
determine
whether I
posses IT
skills.
Accountabilit
y skills
low Start
reading
books and
implement
the same at
workplace.
Further,
with the
help of
mentor, start
reading
financial
accounts of
the
company.
Books,
accounts
reports,
mentor
30/11/19 30/12/19 By feeding
the entries
in final
accounts in
order to
ensure
whether I
am able to
manage the
work
individually
or not.
d) Briefing paper
Abstract
Organizational and individual learning are essential for every individual and even training and
development helps to enhance the overall productivity of the company. In the same way,
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current briefing paper helps to provide knowledge related to organizational and individual
learning.
Introduction
The briefing paper describe the meaning of organizational and individual learning, training and
development and well as describe the learning cycle related to continuous learning and
professional development.
Organizational and individual learning
Individual learning is a self- directed and work based process that helps to increase the adaptive
capacity while on the other side, organizational learning is that process which is improving the
entire system of the organization (Namada, 2018). Through this, an employee of Hightown
may enhance their current knowledge and also integrates to new knowledge into an
organization. Therefore, individual learning helps to raise own capabilities while organizing
learning assist to raise productivity and profitability of the company.
Training and development
Training is the learning process in which the employee get an opportunities to enhance skill and
knowledge while development is that process which is related to growth of employees. Training
main objective is to improve the work performance for the employees while development is
provided in order to prepare the employees for the future challenges (Training and
development, 2018).
Continuous learning and professional development
By using Kolb's learning cycle style it is analysed that the every individual may fall within four
learning style which are:
Diverging: These type of people have different perspective and also use imagination to solve
problems and they have an ability to listen with open mind and also take feedback personally as
well.
Assimilating: These type of people have logical approach and for them the idea and concept
are important than people (North and Kumta, 2018). It is mostly used by people because it
helps to develop critical thinking abilities.
Converging: People uses this style in order to solve practical issues because they are able to
find the solutions of every question using their logical approach.
Accommodating: It is not used mostly because it relies on intuition rather than logic.
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There is a need to provide continuous learning and professional development in quoted firm
because it helps to lead a business towards further level of success and also keep the employees
interested into the working area only. Moreover, by providing CPD, employees keep raising
their skills and knowledge which directly helps to increase the productivity of the company.
Further, by using CPD, the company also improve the quality of work that helps to attract wide
range of customers and it also helps to attain the identified goals as well (Beier, Torres, and
Gilberto, 2017). On the other side, there is a need to developing CPD because it helps to
deliver the deeper understanding related to professionals and then develop confidence among
workers in order to raise their working capabilities. Thus, it is clearly reflect that the company
uses CPD in order to reach at further level of success.
Conclusion
By summing up above it has been concluded that training and development are two different
concept that is used by the Hightown in order to leads a business towards success. Further, by
using Kolbs' learning cycle it is also concluded that company's employees may develop
problem solving and decision making skills so that it leads a business towards right direction.
Lastly, its shows the importance of using CPD at working place in order to raise its brand image
at international level.
Recommendation
 Hightown should provide effective training session to their employees in order to raise
their working abilities so that it will be helpful for the employees to attain the defined
goals.
 Further, it is also recommended to the firm to apply effective learning models for their
employees so that they may develop skills such as critical thinking, decision making
abilities etc.
SECTION 2
Enclosed in PPT.
CONCLUSION
By summing up this report, it has been articulated that skill audit is highly significant which
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helps in assessing areas where improvements are required. It can be seen in the report that
learning cycle helps in developing skills in line with the requirements and thereby contributes in
success attainment. Besides this, it can be inferred that Hightown should focus on conducting
training & development session for personnel for improving the proficiency level of personnel.
By this, company can maximize productivity through delivering quality services to the
customers. Along with this, it can be stated from the evaluation that using HPW system,
Hightown can get employee commitment and satisfaction. Thus, through the means of competent
and motivated workforce business unit can make significant contribution in the welfare of others.
Further, it can be summarized from the evaluation that by undertaking different approaches such
as collaborative working, administrative etc Hightown can ensure better culture which
contributes in overall growth or success.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Beier, M. E., Torres, W. J. and Gilberto, J. M., 2017. CONTINUOUS DEVELOPMENT
THROUGHOUTA CAREER. Autonomous Learning in the Workplace, p.147.
Miheso, P., Manyasi, J. and Wanjere, D., 2019. Effect of recruitment and selection practices on
employee retention in SACCOS in Kakamega County. The Strategic Journal of Business
& Change Management. 6(3). pp.356-360.
Namada, J. M., 2018. Organizational learning and competitive advantage. In Handbook of
Research on Knowledge Management for Contemporary Business Environments (pp. 86-
104). IGI Global.
North, K. and Kumta, G., 2018. Knowledge management: Value creation through organizational
learning. Springer.
Rustam, N. S., Hamra, A. and Weda, S., 2015. The Language Learning Strategies Used By
Students Of Merchant Marine Studies Polytehnics Makassar. ELT WORLDWIDE" Journal
Of English Language Teaching".2(2). pp.1-126.
Shariff, M., Parkes, D., Heckman, G., Hilder, V. and Lugtig, S., 2016. Academic Innovation
Committee on the Robson Hall JD Curriculum: Consultation Paper (2014). Man. LJ. 39.
p.241.
Online
Training and development. 2018. [Online]. Available through:
<https://keydifferences.com/difference-between-training-and-development.html>.
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