Reflective Journal on Leadership and Personal Development Skills

This assignment presents a reflective journal focusing on personal and professional development, particularly concerning employability and leadership skills. The journal utilizes Gibbs' Reflective Cycle to analyze the learning process and skill enhancement gained from a previous task. It covers aspects like understanding leadership theories, self-assessment of skills, identification of skill gaps, and strategies for improvement. The reflection includes experiences, feelings, and evaluations related to leadership styles, time management, communication, and research skills. The journal concludes with an action plan for future development, emphasizing the importance of continuous learning and self-improvement for career growth. The student reflects on the task of researching Jeff Bezos' leadership, analyzing Amazon's management, and identifying personal areas for development, such as communication and presentation skills, alongside enhanced research and time-management abilities.

Personal and
Professional
Development
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Table of Contents
Introduction ....................................................................................................................................3
Main Body ......................................................................................................................................3
Task 2 - Reflective Journal.....................................................................................................3
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................6
References ......................................................................................................................................7
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Introduction
Employability skills refers to the skills and attributes which helps in exploring career
opportunities and allow an individual to apply efficiency in his working. These are the qualities
and traits which are preferred by an employer in order to hire the most competent personnel for
the job role. These skills defines the productivity level of an employee and why he should be
assigned for a particular defined task. Some most common employability skills include
communication skills, time management skills, decision making skills, know-how to technology,
collaborative approach, adaptability to work environment and other important skills. The
presence of these skills make an individual's profile attractive and boost his confidence in the
process of interviews. The possession of these skills helps an individual in taking advantage of
career opportunities and boost personality development.
Main Body
Task 2 - Reflective Journal
The assessment of reflective journal is performed to evaluate the process of enhancement
of skills and personal development. After completion of task one, my understanding and
knowledge regarding leadership theories and models have improved. My learning has enhanced
and I have gained better understanding of the role of leadership and how different leadership
styles executes performances differently(Ahmed, 2018). To conduct the assessment of reflective
journal, I used an effective model known as Gibbs reflective cycle for the elaboration purpose.
Gibbs' reflective cycle
This model is one of the most prominent model used to evaluate the process of self
learning and reflection. Gibbs' reflective style aims to achieve comprehension by examining
various elements and aspects and facilitate self reflection. Gibbs' reflective style analyse six
stages involved in the process and helps in gaining an understanding about the learning
developed by an individual. The six stages in the Gibbs' reflective cycle is discussed in detail
below:
Description: The research conducted and detailed study performed about Jeff Bezos the
CEO of Amazon Inc. has provided me insights into the working patterns of an influential
personality. Throughout the completion process of task one, I have observed many areas which
defines the working styles and management functions of the Amazon. This task has helped me in
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gaining knowledge regarding the areas which decides success and progress of a company. By
analysing various leadership theories and academic models, I have succeeded in enhancing
various skills which is required for effective leadership(Sweet, Bass and Graham, 2019)
(Giannouli, 2018). The execution of research based on the leadership patterns and styles helped
in establishing awareness about effectiveness of various models. The process of performing task
one includes the research on management and leadership styles. It has conducted study which
helps in examining consequences of different leadership patterns that are being followed in
different organisations. This process leads me to acquire information which is useful and helpful
in establishing great learning aptitude. It has allowed me to gain overview about the working
decorum of the company. Through gaining knowledge about the approaches and tactics adopted
by Jeff Bezos, I have determined my personal attitude to adopt his style for the improvement of
my employability skills.
Feelings: This experience has helped me in personally reviewing my abilities and skills
for personality development. The assessment of task one was challenging and made me feel self
accomplished on the completion. The task of making presentation enhanced my creativity and
the process was enjoyable through application of innovative ideas. Leadership styles are
differently adopted in various organisations according to their suitability and preferences by
leaders. Through performing task one, I have understood the utility and significance that various
leadership styles hold(Rouleau and Liljedahl, 2018). The assessment of task one helped me in
observing patterns and management criteria of the amazon company. This task was both
challenging and fulfilling as completion of a challenging task boosts self confidence and create a
sense of self-worth. Research conducted on a successful organisation helps in obtaining ideas
that could lead to generation of future progress. By looking into working patterns and leadership
styles of successful owners, the knowledge of ensuring viability has generated. I have analysed
my working efficiency and self assessed myself by evaluating enhanced skills along with the
skills which are lacking.
Evaluation: I have evaluated skill gap in the process of performing task one and found
my scope of improvement upon the completion. As for developing leadership skills, there are
scope of development of numerous traits and attributes. The assessment of task one has helped in
gaining idea regarding skill gap analysis. Further more, through obtaining knowledge from the
performance of task one, I have established understanding on the remedies needed to fill the
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gap . I possess ability to effectively manage time and organise working to facilitate efficiency in
management. I have understood the significance of time management in performing day to day
routine actions of the organisation(Woodside, Subramanian and Carrick, 2020). This experience
has made me understand the necessity of various skills that promotes strong leadership attitude.
It also had made me realise that my lack of some crucial leadership skills could be improved
through applying learning techniques. By observing the styles and patterns of management and
leadership practised by Jeff Bezos, I have learned the techniques of application of these skills
which helped me in exploring career growth opportunities.
Analysis: the performance and completion of task one has facilitated effective analysis of
understanding various concepts of leadership. The detailed evaluation helped in gaining insights
into the working patterns of amazon which leads to development of learning ideas. It also helps
in achieving knowledge of skills possessed and skills which need improvement through learning
aptitude(Nesbit, Jensen and Delany, 2018). The various theories and styles of leadership imply
variations in outcomes and therefore helps in understanding distinction among one another. The
performance of task one implies that the learning outcomes are helps in identifying opportunities
as well as areas where focus is needed. This assessment task is helpful in designing plans and
devising strategies for the future for effective management. The skills that are identified to be
lacking are communication skills, managing tasks within framework of team and problem-
solving skills. The skills which are already enhanced and could help in effective leadership are
research skills, time management skills and problem-solving skills. This skill analysis could be
prove really helpful for the purpose of acquiring high employability skills to experience boom in
career opportunities.
Conclusion: the effective framework of performing work has been observed and helped
in understanding the process of performing assessments. The performance of an assessment
helps in understanding various concepts and establish awareness regarding the processes. Upon
completion of the task, I have analysed my working and scope of improvement in the methods
used in procedure. After conducting research, organising data is a very crucial step which
ensures accuracy. Data organisation allows an individual to identify useful data to avoid
inaccurate conclusions drawn from unreliable data. The data collected is taken from various
sources which implies that only some percentage of data is reliable. To avoid the use of
unnecessary information, organisation and selection of important data is must. I have observed
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that my presentation skills lacks in creating customised content which is readily understandable
just by looking at it. Good presentation skills suggest that the presentation is capable of
producing conclusive content only with a bird eye view. Information could be summarised and
presented in such a way that it looks impressive and gives the whole idea about the given topic.
Through generating self reflective approach, the improvement in presentation skills should be
adopted for the next assessment.
Action plan: the last step of the process determines the plan to deal with situations when
arise in future or the need for implementing changes. The assessment of task one implies the
detailed informative analysis conducted on the leadership styles of Jeff Bezos. This task has
accomplished with the help of acquiring knowledge about company and working approaches
followed by the owners of the organisation(Monteith and Geerlings,2019). The skill gap analysis
will allow me to formulate strategies and devise plans for the purpose of developing leadership
attributes. Strong communication skills are required to be developed through enabling
personality development sessions which focus on enhancement of soft skills. Communication
skills could be improved through listening to sessions held by influential speakers and learn the
art of creatively maintaining flow of communication. Good communication skills is helpful in
encouraging the spirit of teamwork and allow an individual to think smart solutions for the
disagreements happening within the team. The development of research skills will require my
constant efforts to acquire in-depth learning. For the purpose of enhancement of my research
skills, I will pay emphasis on performing research based assignments which would automatically
improve my skills to conduct research.
Conclusion
As per the view of respective reflection journal, it has been concluded that performance
of assessments helps in evaluation of skills and provides an individual with opportunities of
personality development. Through conducting research, abilities and skills of individuals are
identified and could be enhanced through application of gained knowledge. Through analysing
personal experience of completing an assessment regarding leadership, working methods and
approaches have been identified and evaluated. It also implies the need for changes and self
reflective journal has assessed the development of employability skills.
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References
Ahmed, F., 2018. Leadership and management influences on personal and professional
development and group dynamics: a student’s experience. Nursing children and young
people, 30(2).
Giannouli, V., 2018. Creative Thinking and Reflective Teaching in Prospective Teachers.
In Fostering Reflective Teaching Practice in Pre-Service Education (pp. 115-132). IGI
Global.
Monteith, D. and Geerlings, P., 2019. Pulled by motivation, pushed by inspiration: Approaches
to transitioning high school students to university. In Transitioning Students into Higher
Education (pp. 91-100). Routledge.
Nesbit, K. C., Jensen, G. M. and Delany, C., 2018. The active engagement model of applied
ethics as a structure for ethical reflection in the context of course-based service
learning. Physiotherapy theory and practice, 34(1), pp.1-12.
Rouleau, A. and Liljedahl, P., 2018. Creating tension between action and intent. In Students' and
teachers' values, attitudes, feelings and beliefs in mathematics classrooms (pp. 25-32).
Springer, Cham.
Sweet, L., Bass, J. and Graham, K., 2019. The continuity of care experience and reflective
writing: Enhancing post-practicum learning for midwifery students. In Augmenting
health and social care students’ clinical learning experiences (pp. 141-162). Springer,
Cham.
Woodside, J. M., Subramanian, R. and Carrick, J., 2020, April. Critical Success Factors for
Assessment and Improvement of Student Learning Outcomes through Computerized
Simulations. In Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International
Conference (pp. 528-533). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education
(AACE).
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