PPD Module: Reflective Report on Personal & Professional Growth

This report is a reflective analysis of a student's personal and professional development (PPD) journey within a Business Studies module, focusing on soft skills. The student utilizes Gibb's Reflective Cycle to assess their learning experiences, identifying strengths and weaknesses in areas like time management, communication, problem-solving, and teamwork. The report details the student's feelings, evaluations, and analysis of experiences, including challenges faced during research and presentation preparation, and the strategies employed to overcome them. The student highlights the importance of these skills for future employability and outlines an action plan for continued development, emphasizing the value of reflective learning and its application to real-world scenarios. The report concludes with a summary of key takeaways and a commitment to applying these lessons in future academic and professional endeavors. The student also mentions the importance of research skills and ICT skills in the report. The report is available on Desklib, a platform offering AI-based study tools and resources to students.

Running head: PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Personal and Professional Development
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Introduction
Soft skills are necessary part of employment and many times the recruiters and
managers claim that the aspiring and fresher candidates that enter the job market do not have
the necessary attributes and oft skills that are needed for the job (Stewart, Wall and Marciniec
2016). This essay analyzes my personal and professional development through the course. In
order to assess the personal and professional development that I achieved through the course,
the Gibb’s Reflective Cycle will be used.
Description
Gibb’s Reflective cycle is a model used for learning through reflection. This enables
individuals to reflect on the learning, their feelings, their evaluation of the situation and their
learning through the process (Sekarwinahyu et al. 2019). Many of the students lose their job
or do not get any recruitment due to the great dichotomy that lies in the recruiter’s
requirement of soft skills and the actual skill that the students possess. This module and the
earlier assessment was created in a manner that will help us develop the soft skills that will be
required when we enter the job market (Beard, Schweiger and Surendran 2019). The earlier
assignment required us to prepare a presentation. Through the course work and present
assignment, I learnt skills like written and oral presentation skills. I learnt how to research
effectively and use the applications like power point and documents. Moreover, I learnt about
team work when I discussed the assessments with other peers. For timely delivery of any
task, time and self- management is required (Ritter et al. 2018). This module and particularly
this assessment enhanced my time management skills. I also improved my critical thinking
and problem solving skills through the coursework. The reflection exercise also helped me
find aspects of soft skills that employers want and think is important. I found through
research that many of the coursework and graduation degree now includes the improvement

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of employability soft skills like communication and time management into their curriculum
(Nusrat and Naz 2018). Though most of the soft skills are considered to be immeasurable and
intangible, such techniques can help me keep track of the improvement and the areas that I
need to work harder (Claxton, Costa and Kallick 2016).
Feelings
Before joining the course I did not have any clear idea about the things that I will be
able to learn. I knew what the course included but did not have any idea how that will be
taught. Through the coursework, I had the opportunity to learn by doing things practically. At
first I was apprehensive whether I will be able to do everything properly. I always find
researching and using certain computer applications daunting. Initially, I was much frustrated
about managing all the work in time but as the course went on, I was able to manage all my
work within time (Cherkis and Rosciano 2018). I listed the work that I had to do according to
priorities and set timelines for each of them so that I can complete all the tasks before due
date. I have seen that breaking the tasks into sections and assigning time to each and every
part makes it much easier to measure and achieve. At first there were some frustration which
have given way to a satisfaction and sense of success as I have completed the previous tasks
successfully. By now, I feel confident that I will be able to manage the workload efficiently.
Evaluation
Through the course there were many good and bad experiences. The things that went
well was that I was able to learn about many new topics. I was able to learn about different
skills and their importance in employability. I was able to improve my oral presentation skills
that I had a weakness in. moreover, critical thinking and problem solving, one of the most
important skills of a manager in any organization was improved because of this course
(Nurdyansyah, Siti and Bachtiar 2017). While preparing for the presentation, I had much

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difficulty in figuring out how to present it in a visually pleasing way. I learnt how to use the
different features of the application using internet. Another problem that I faced was during
research. There were many sources that were not accessible which affected the outcome of
my research. I took longer than I expected and on several cases, I was unable to come up with
resources that I needed. Later, researched using keywords and phrases which improved my
research results and I found resources easily (Lander, Seeho and Foster 2019). Till now, team
work has not been so well. We did not have much opportunity for it but I have discussed
issues that I faced and most of my peers actively helped me overcome these issues. My ICT
and communication skills also improved throughout this course.
Analysis
The problems that I faced in the initial part of my work is because of my lack of
ability in time management skills. I did not plan the work in the beginning and thus, my work
was in disarray. I did not set any specific milestones and did not assign time for completion
of each step. Thus, I was unable to track that I was losing valuable time. Setting timeline and
keeping track of time is an important skills that managers must have as they are entrusted
with meeting deadlines of task delivery (Cherkis and Rosciano 2018). When I realized that I
had lost much time, I had to solve this problem and save time. The problems occurred for
lack of communication as well. Many times, I felt I needed help in situations but by that time,
there was much hurry and I had to read overnight to complete all my readings. In retrospect, I
believe that while working on any project scheduling and allotting time to each task and
ensuring that each part is completed before commencing the next step is necessary. As
leaders or manager, I would need to practice these learnings that I am gathering and manage
teams effectively to complete tasks within deadlines.

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Conclusion
Through the module and the assignments I have gathered many necessary lessons and
skills that are going to particularly helpful for me. Through the previous assignments I was
able to learn about famous leaders and their leadership styles. I was able to improve my
research skills and interpreting information that is necessary while working as leaders or
managers. Organizations nowadays need a combination of both to work properly (Sousa and
Rocha 2017). I learn time management skills which was an important skill for me as I lacked
that skill before. I also learnt about using ICTs effectively to prepare for oral and visual
presentations. I was able to learn team work and team management through research and also
learnt how to manage work and self to deliver work in a timely manner. Through this course,
I was able to identify the strengths and weaknesses that other have and how to overcome this.
This is an important leadership quality and may be used for my future employment. I need to
develop my problem solving skills. This skill help individuals to manage any critical situation
and find a way out. This ability is one of the most sought after skill for managers during
employment (Beard, Schweiger and Surendran 2019).
Action plan
If I am working on similar projects or I am presented with similar situation I will do
many things differently. The first thing that I will do is to make a detailed list of the things
that I have to do to complete the task. I will them set time for each and make a flowchart that
will help me understand the workflow. I will set time according to the priority and
importance of the tasks (Nusrat and Naz 2018). For example, doing proper research and
interpreting the data is one of the most important part of any assignment. I will allocate a
major amount of time there and I will ensure that I take meticulous notes about, my findings,
analysis and sources. This way it will be easier to locate them. I will also enhance my verbal
presentation skill which I feel needs more improvement. For the development of these skills,

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I have decided to create daily schedule and planner, research topics that we are reading in
class to find out more about subjects, keep note on the interesting things that I find and watch
videos that will help me in improving my communication skills. The next time I will make
sure that I act differently and more responsibly. By improving my problem solving skills I
will be able to respond better in critical situations that arose this time.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that the exercises that I undertook
along with the other parts of the module was exceptionally helpful. The reflective learning
method that we had to take helped us learn about the strengths and weaknesses that I have
and the areas that we need to develop further to improve my chances of being employed. I
learnt about the important skills that are required for employability which I now can develop
further. This has been a good learning experience and I would use the experience for similar
situations in future.

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References
Beard, D., Schweiger, D. and Surendran, K., 2019. Integrating soft skills assessment through
university, college, and programmatic efforts at an AACSB accredited institution. Journal of
Information Systems Education, 19(2), p.11.
Cherkis, F. and Rosciano, A., 2018. Reflective practice: Implementation across
curriculums. International Journal of Nursing Research Health Care, 7.
Claxton, G., Costa, A. and Kallick, B., 2016. Hard thinking about soft skills. Educational
leadership, 73(6).
Lander, J., Seeho, S. and Foster, K., 2019. Learning Practical Research Skills Using An
Academic Paper Framework–An Innovative, Integrated Approach. Health Professions
Education, 5(2), pp.136-145.
Mindtools.com. 2020. How Good Is Your Problem Solving?:. [online] Available at:
https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_72.htm [Accessed 16 Feb. 2020].
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Nurdyansyah, N., Siti, M. and Bachtiar, S.B., 2017. Problem Solving Model with Integration
Pattern: Student’s Problem Solving Capability.
Nusrat, M. and Naz, K., 2018. Soft Skills for Sustainable Employment: Does it really
Matter?. Soft Skills for Sustainable Employment: Does it really Matter, pp.1835-1837.

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