Reflective Personal Development Report and Plan - Skills Analysis

This report is a reflective personal development plan, aiming to enhance skills and career prospects. It focuses on core skills: focus and attention, time management, and teamwork. The report includes self-assessment, utilizing tools like the Johari Window Toolkit and the Blake Moulton Managerial Grid, to identify strengths and weaknesses. It explores the importance of each skill, reflecting on current competence and future applications. The report emphasizes how these skills contribute to workplace success, problem-solving, and achieving career goals. It also addresses contradictions in self-perception and provides strategies for improvement, such as practicing mindfulness and time management techniques. The report concludes by highlighting the long-term benefits of developing these skills for personal and professional growth.

Reflective Personal
Development Report and
plan.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................3
Analysis and Action Plan....................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES....................................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
A plan that enables an individual to fulfil his potential, to improve one's talents and to
make progress at work with satisfaction is known as personal development plan. Personal
development plan helps people to develop their skills and in planning of strategies required to
enhance own capabilities. Personal development plan includes a portfolio which contains
evidence of the personal skills, career positioning, one's career, and alternative plans.
Evaluating my capabilities entails reviewing my personal qualities such as my strengths and
weaknesses (Busse, Aboneh and Tefera 2014). The personal development plan will help me
to gear those areas where I am weak and ensure to maintain those areas of strength. This
report covers my aims and objectives, what I want to achieve for my career. Moreover, this
will help me in selecting appropriate development activities. The aim of this report is to
provide my personal self-development in relation to reflect my personal development skills
and competence. In this report I am going to focus on my core skills such as, time
management, team-working, public speaking and attention. Apart from this I will cover three
areas of personal development in relevance to my future career.
What is the core skill?
Core skills are the essential functional skills that enables an individual to utilise given
information and communicate effectively, and to make an effective contribution. My first
most important core skill is Focus and attention skills, it refers to an individual's focus on
what he is doing and not on how to do it. Focus and attention helps to make it possible to
detect information quickly (Gupte, Mullerpatan and Ganesan, 2018). I use focus and
attention, to look at both internal and external stimuli. The more I focus on completing the
skills with right technique, the better I will focus and the better my performance will
become. Attention is the foundational cognitive feature which the brain uses to learn, think,
and execute mental tasks and completion of work. My capability to effectively and
correctly turn my mental focus to an information highly rely on my focused attention, that
is why it is necessary to assess focused attention as it helps me in performing my daily
life's tasks.
Why is this core skill important? Why did I select this skill to reflect on?
In order to achieve success in my career life, it is necessary to make my mind to be
focused, and to calm down my restlessness so that to manage continuous shifting of one
task to another. Practising concentrating exercises was very useful for me, all I needed was

to focus on what I am performing (Warren, Zheng, and Sarkar, 2015). I selected this skill
as it makes me master of my mind, makes me more imaginary, it helps me to be more
creative and achieve my goals easily Without attention I cannot memorize new
information. I chose to reflect on this skill for workplace success. This skill helps me to
focus on various task at workplace and by paying attention I accomplish it and it makes
easy to reach goals.
Reflect on your current competent regarding this skill. How did you assess your
competence?
I assessed my ability of focus and attention through feedbacks from my co-workers and
team members. In every field I used focus and attention skills, whether I am performing
with a team or doing some documentation task. My focusing skills on a particular stimulus
is good but I can't pay attention at the same task continuously. Whenever a task switch to
another one by one, my mind gets distracted and it is difficult to concentrate on with more
intense distractions. Through the Johari Window Toolkit (Kunc, Malpass and White, eds.,
2016), it helped me to understand that there are two factors of this model which helped me
to know about myself. First factor is what I know about myself and second is what other
people know about me. I used this toolkit which show that how my co-workers measured
about my being focused and concentration skills. But there are still some weaknesses in
paying attention for long time at same task.
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?
Because some of my co-workers told me that I have focus and attention skills, I conducted
research regarding this ability and the results were amazing. I found that I am still weak at
some points in focusing at tasks from new fields and I can improve more of my focus skills
by practising mindfulness task daily. I will perform various exercises which will strengthen
my attention. The Johari Window Toolkit, will further help me to improve my
concentration skills.
How will this skill help me in the future?
Being more focused means being able to pay attention to my plan and control the everyday
distractions (Olsen, 2015). Focus and attention skills will make more positive and
optimistic, hence, this will result in career success. It will develop a better understanding of
myself and make me stronger in the long term. Reflect on the developed awareness and
will provide me the opportunity to compete against future challenges. Being more focused
and developing attention skills will make me a better problem solver. I regularly try to

focus on different tasks and operations at workplace and do meditation to improve my
attention skill. This will support future decision making (Chukwu and Mahajan, 2014) .
What is the core skill?
Another core skill is time management, it is an activity of dividing an individual's time
based on the tasks that he is going to perform (O’Connor, McGunnigle and Davie, 2015).
Good time management helps me to get more work done in less time. It is the process of
planning how much time required to perform various task and organise accordingly.
Managing my time well makes me more productive, effective, and efficient and helps me
to meet my deadlines. I try to focus on the most critical and time sensitive tasks and limit
the time wasted on non-essential tasks. It is a key feature of task management and involves
skills such as planning, creating goals, and prioritising for a better performance. Time
management is a set of skills, practices, principles and systems that allow me to use my
time to fulfil what I want.
Why is this core skill important? Why did I select this skill to reflect on?
Time management skill is important for my personal development and career success
(Cruess, Cruess and Steinert, 2015). It teaches me how to effectively manage my time and
make the most of it. Time is an important resource which I can save for later use. It helps
me to make conscious choices, so that I can spend more of my time in completing things
that are more valuable for me. It helps me reduce wasted energy and time, it makes me
more productive and creative. This leads to more balance and fulfilment of my life's goals.
If I will manage my time wisely, it will help me to complete my work faster. Proper
management of time reduces the amount of unhealthy stress in me. I chose time
management skill to reflect on because this skill is very crucial for effective and efficient
working as workplace. Time management helps to complete various tasks effectively and is
completed in a given time period.

Reflect on your current competent regarding this skill. How did you assess your
competence?
I assessed my ability of team management through feedbacks from my officemates and
friends. My peers were right about my ability to manage time properly as I complete my
daily tasks on time. There was a time management system which includes a time clock or
online based application used to track employee's working hours. It helped me manage my
time accordingly. Here I have used the Blake Moulton Managerial Grid to learn more
about my time management skills. And the results stated that I am a good at managing my
time for various tasks.
Can you identify any contradictions from your analysis above?
As my family and friends told me that my ability of managing time is good. But I thought
to learn more about this time management skill. I used to read books about time
management to analyse more about this ability, and I have learned that only performing
task at time is not enough. It is more than just completing your work on time. Blake
Moulton Managerial Grid toolkit will further help me to analyse my weaknesses which
needs to be reduce and strengths required to for effective management.
How will this skill help me in the future?
Managing my time effectively will reduce my stress level. The main goal of time
management is being productive. Being aware of what I need to do, reduces my work load
and allow me to save time for future use. Planning for time and preparing for my day will
help me to avoid my life friction and problems. Time management is about spending right
time in the right place. It will further help me to properly plan my work schedule to avoid
future delay. I daily read various types of time management books which helps me to
improve more in this skill and will help me to achieve future objectives and goals.
(Oettingen, Kappes and Gollwitzer, 2015).

What is the core skill?
It is essential to work effectively in a team when you are working in a big enterprise.
Though some people are natural team players, but for others working in a team may have a
learning experience for them. Teamwork is a skill when you work to combine individual
skills to accomplish a goal (Steadman, Huang, and Khan, 2017). There certain skills
required to work effectively in a team. a) contribution: team work requires contribution of
each member of the team, b) cooperate: as a team member a person must be open to other
team members working together, cooperation is required between them, c) communication:
team work requires good communication skills, d) be respectful: for effective working a
team member comment on the opinions respectfully and other skills are helping and
guiding others, sharing openly, being an active participant, flexible, and showing sincerity.
If you build these skills as a team member, you will be a trustworthy person in a team and
your team will appreciate your efforts.
Why is this core skill important? Why did I select this skill to reflect on?
Teamwork skills motivates team members in the workplace (Robertson, 2016). Good team
work provides a company with creativity, opportunities, variety of thoughts and problem
solving approaches. Proper management of team work increases strengths, bring out the
best from each team member and reduces workload by sharing. Teamwork skills teaches
conflict resolution skills, as whenever conflict arises in a team, members are forced to
resolve it by themselves. Team work also builds strong relationship with co-workers and
creates a sense of trust. Teamwork is an improbable lesson, and a superior way to collect
basic life skills that make me better candidate for any position in a company. Teamwork
skill is important for all team members to make them motivated and for effective
contribution from them in difficult tasks. Hence, team will able to complete all the given
tasks on time.

Reflect on your current competent regarding this skill. How did you assess your
competence?
I assessed my ability of teamwork through response from my team workers and my team
leader. They have noticed a lot of change in my team working skills. I have improved a lot
to communicate well and effectively with my team members, learned how to cooperate
with them. Thus, this made me a good team member and improved my teamwork skills.
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?
I used Belbin Team Roles toolkit for further analysis on team working skills, and the results
I got were that there are no good or bad team roles. Each team member has its own strengths
and weaknesses and each has equal importance. Belbin Self-Perception, helped me to
understand my strengths to interact and share it with the other team members.
How will this skill help me in the future?
 Team work fosters creativity and learning (Cruess, Cruess and Steinert, 2015).
 Teamwork skills builds trust between team members.
 Teaches conflict resolution skills.
I engage myself in various tasks with other team members, which allow me to know them
better and makes me more comfortable in interaction.

What is the core skill?
Public speaking, refers to a process of presenting a speech in front of a live audience.
Public speaking is a formal face to face speaking (Thomas, 2015). There are five elements
of public speaking i.e. source of message, message itself, audience, medium and the effect.
It is basically an activity delivering information to live audiences. Public speaking is a
process of talking in front of people with some preparations. In public speaking, the
purposeful message is conveyed which influence or entertain a group of people. Public
speaking skill is important both in personal life and career development. Even if you don't
perform this activity regularly, developing personal skills in this area will raise your
confidence and reduce stress. Stage presence with good public speakers looks confidence,
enthusiastic and energetic.
Why is this core skill important? Why did I select this skill to reflect on?
Public speaking skills help me to increase my self-confidence. It improves my
communicating skills with others and also increases my skills at perceiving audience's
reaction to my messages. This core skill is important because it makes me more
comfortable around other people. It allows me make a difference in my personal and career
life. Public speaking skills is an opportunity to become a leader, as by speaking confidently
in front of a live audience, put yourself above many other people who refuse to speak. This
skill is important as it helps me to improve my knowledge and it polishes my
communication skills, confidence, leadership skills and my ability to understand people. I
chose this skill to reflect upon because it enhances fluency in speaking, interaction with live
audiences, provides knowledge, builds confidence, and makes you a leader for future career
success.
Reflect on your current competent regarding this skill. How did you assess your
competence?
I assessed my ability of public speaking skills through feedback from audience and their
reaction at the time of my speech. Using the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), I
completed a questionnaire regarding my public speaking skills and then it scored 78%. It

helped me to understand where my skills are lacking. I need focus more on communication
skills and need to build more confidence while speaking.
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?
According to the feedback from audience and their response allowed me to know that my
ability of public speaking is good. But I thought to learn more about this time management
skill. Through analysis I have learned that I need to improve my speaking skills more for
future development.
How will this skill help me in the future?
Public speaking skills will help me with career advancement, as it indicates creativity,
leadership qualities, and critical thinking skills (O'Connor, McGunnigle and Davie, 2015).
It is a good way of building credibility. I attend various conferences, group meetings and
seminars to gain more confidence and knowledge about public speaking.

Analysis and Action Plan
Analysing an individual's personality is one of the most complex task that a person
needs to do to evaluate and understand their skills, what they need to improve and what they
are good at. Self-development plan has an important role in improving those skills which are
necessary for career success. And if I will be able to identify and understand my strengths
and weaknesses I can manage to defeat the future threats and develop my abilities that are
suitable to make my career and achieve targets. Using my reflective personal development
report, I realised that my skills in which I am already good at are focus skills, time
management, teamwork and public speaking as well. However, these skills are still not
entirely developed and they have some weak point as well. I will try to improve my weak
points and convert it into my strength by adopting tools and techniques. Organisations look
for people with higher confidence level and self-awareness. They need people who are
creative, innovative and effective.
According to my public speaking skills I can say that my strengths related to the fact that
I am confident enough to speak with new people and can resolve the situations with conflicts.
It improves my communicating skills with others and also increases my skills at perceiving
audience's reaction to my messages. This core skill is important because it makes me more
comfortable around other people. However, through analysing more on my public speaking
skills I found that, sometimes I feel little nervous before my speech because due to my lack of
time management skills, I can't make time to revise my speech.
Time management and public are areas where I need to develop, and to be more
specific. I need to control my nervousness and try to keep calm. With reflection of my
teamwork and focus skills, I am sure that I can handle the discussion in some way and I will
be able to achieve the desired objective and goals. I usually want to pay more attention to
those tasks with distraction. This is the second area where I want to develop myself. I need to
learn how to pay attention on task by removing distractions. To improve my attention skills,
I will practice gradually, will prepare a distraction free surroundings. I will perform various
exercises which will strengthen my attention.