Reflective Report on Skills Development: MG408 The Graduate Challenge

This reflective essay discusses the development of personal and professional skills through participation in the Apprentice challenge, presentation challenge, and T-shirt challenge. It highlights the importance of communication skills, teamwork, and business skills for career development. The essay reflects on challenges faced, such as communication difficulties and time management issues, and proposes an action plan with strategies for improvement, including active listening, public speaking practice, and time prioritization. The conclusion emphasizes the significance of continuous self-evaluation and skill enhancement for future success, referencing academic sources to support the analysis and recommendations. Desklib is a valuable resource for students seeking similar solved assignments and study tools.

REFLECTIVE ESSAY

Table of Contents
1. INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................3
2. MAIN BODY.........................................................................................................................3
Challenges to develop the skills and abilities..............................................................................3
Action Plan..................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

1. INTRODUCTION
Personal and professional development is the way for the people to access their abilities,
skills and set their goals in order to analyse and maximise their potential. Personal
development helps in improving and enhancing the employment skills for the development
in the future. Professional development is the process of improving the capabilities of staff
members through training and access to education (Noonan, 2019). The report covers the
various challenges to develop the skills required for the development of the career in future
and strategies and time period for improving the skills.
2. MAIN BODY
Challenges to develop the skills and abilities
The apprentice challenge, presentation challenge and T- shirt help an individual to develop their
communication skills and develop the sense of team work which helps in the personal
development of the person. It also helps in achieving the future career goals. By conducting these
challenges, an individual comes to know the skills they have to improve and focus on developing
those skills (Misko, et.al, 2020). It also helps in recognising the potential of the person which
helps in the personal development. It is very important for a person to improve their
communication skills and business skills in order to survive in the workplace and also helps in
increasing knowledge of the person.
1. Apprentice challenge: Apprentice challenge is considered as the effective way to
identify the leaders within the team and helps to promote team work. This challenge aims
to enhance the communicative skills of an individual and inspire the team members to
come up with new and creative ideas. An organisation use this challenge to boost the
communication skills of the employees within the organization as having effective
communication will reflect the productivity of the company (Knutson, 2019. While
performing the apprentice challenge I realised that I was not able to communicate with
other team members in the beginning and feared to interact like the other team members.
I realised that to work in a team it is very necessary for me develop my communication
skills. I have always feared from speaking in public. By conducting this I realised that
not only communicating with others is important but also to listen to the views of is
equally important. I also realised that having poor communication skills will lead to poor

performance and lack of team work and leads to confusion among the team members.
This challenge not only helped in identifying the weak points but also encouraged me to
improve my communication skills which can help me in my future career. This challenge
helped me focus on my weak point which is important to survive in any field. I developed
my listening skills and coordinate with the team members. I tried to communicate with
my team mates and present my views which helped to improve my communication skills
and also build the team work (Hulton, and Gapper, 2020). This challenge helped me to
come up with creative and new ideas which helped me to build confidence in me to
present myself before the other team members. This challenge not only improves the
communications skills but enhances their area of knowledge for performing better in
future.
2. Presentation Challenge: It is observed that presentation challenges can only be
achieved by the use of proper communication skills. Presentation skills are the most
important skill in any field of business. In the course given we were asked to present a
group presentation about the new business ideas. I observed that while presenting I
realised that the major issue I faced that we did not managed the time correctly in order to
complete the presentation on time (Swift, Long Presentation). I also realised that there
was lack of proper communication within the group members and observed that with the
proper communication skills would helped them in overcoming the problem. As the
matter of time issue I realised that we have not invested much time in the research and
realised that detailed research was needed I also experienced that as a team there was not
much problem in communication but the major issue was that time was not properly
managed. By conducting this challenge I came to know that it is important to have proper
communication among the team mates but it is also important to have proper time
management. From my experience there are various factors that would help me in
presenting my business ideas in more effective manner. I have gained a large amount of
knowledge reflecting in my work and improve the mistakes and also focus on tackle the
problems (Trumbull, et.al, 2020). In future I would invest more time in research and also
apply the communication skills which I have learned which can be helpful for me in
presenting my work better in future. Apart from this I believed that my team members

gained as team work skills as we were successfully presented the presentation about our
new and creative business ideas.
3. T-shirt challenge: This challenge is based on the designing a logo for T-shirt and related
to the formation of the marketing plan, arrangement of the clothes and all the costs
included in this challenge. The creation of the logo denotes the elements of the brand
personality. In this challenge the target market was covered was the youth. The logo of
the T-shirt addresses the trends for the sustainable business (Rios et.al, 2020). I
participated in the T-shirt challenge where I was excited to design a T-shirt for the youth
so that it should attract audience. I started designing the T-shirt by using my creativity
and skills. Fir attracting people I used my effective presentation and communication
skills to present my product in the market. This challenge helped me use my business
skills, knowledge and ability. From the T-shirt challenge I experienced that I could able
to learn and enhance my communication skills (Majid, et.al, 2019). From the entire
experience I have learnt different skills such as communication, team work. This
challenge helped me to improve my areas of business knowledge which will be very
helpful for me in future. Apart from this, I also focused on improving sand enhancing my
knowledge for my personal development in future.
Action Plan
Skills Strategies Monitoring and evaluation Time period
Communication
skills
 Practise active
listening and
listen to the
views and
opinions of
others
 Focus on
nonverbal
communication
as it will help
to prevent
miscommunicat
 Ask for feedback
from the team
mates.
 Get engage in the
group discussions
and evaluate the
improvement in the
communication
skills.
 2 week time
period to
identify the
level of
overall
improvemen
t of the
communicati
on skill.

Team work
ion.
 Practice public
speaking as it
will help to
develop
communication
skills while
presenting in
the meeting.
 Involve leaders
as they are
considered as a
driver of
teamwork.
 Reward and
appreciate the
efforts and hard
work of the
team members
on the
completion of
the target.
 Open
communication
channels should
be established
so that every
team member
 Ask for feedback.
 Regularly
coordinate with the
team members.
 Organise group
presentation in
order to evaluate
the improvement in
the team work.
 Communication
with the other team
members and
presenting opinions
and views in the
meetings among
the team members.
Monitoring on
regular basis will
help to improve the
team work is 3
weeks.

Time management
and meeting skills
can openly
present their
suggestions and
views.
 Give priority to
those tasks
which are of
higher
importance
should be
accomplished.
 In depth of the
research should
be done.
 Effective time
management
requires strong
planning skills
by constructing
the task
schedule and
the time for
completion of
such task.
 Be clear about
the goals and
objectives.
 Monitor the time
on regular basis
after the
completion of
specific task.
 Note down the time
duration taken for
the completion of
the tasks and focus
on doing that work
in less time and in
effective way.
1 month

Business skills  Strengthen the
decision
making skills
as it is very
important for
any business.
 Focus on
giving their
views in
presentable
way.
 Good
communication
skills needed in
order to openly
communicate
and present the
ideas.
 Improve the
leadership
skills in order
to achieve the
objectives.
 Monitor the
performance on
regular basis.
 Try new and
creative ideas and
evaluate whether it
is working
successfully or not.
 Focus on
improving the
communication
skills in order to
improve or make
any new innovation
in the business.
2 months

CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that personal development is helpful as it
sharpen the existing skills and helps in focusing on the areas of weakness. It is very important for
an individual to improve their communication skills, team work, business skills in order to
survive better in the company and also to improve their future performance. The person should
not only focus on improving but timely evaluate the level of improvement and examine the time
period required to improve its areas of knowledge and skill. This will help to increase their areas
of knowledge and also be helpful in the place of work. The various challenges help the
individual to identify their strength and weakness and should focus on overcoming those
weaknesses in order to achieve their future goals.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Hulton, A.T. and Gapper, K., 2020. An Innovative Presentation Tool as an Alternative to
Traditional Methods for Student Assessments. In Enhancing Student-Centred Teaching
in Higher Education (pp. 273-291). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Knutson, C., 2019. Middle Skills Education: Planners Are Reimagining Ways to Meld
Instruction and Industry. Planning for Higher Education.47(4) pp.20-27.
Majid, et.al, 2019. The importance of soft skills for employability and career development:
Students and employers' perspectives. IUP Journal of Soft Skills. 13(4) pp.7-39.
Misko, et.al, 2020. Traditional trade apprenticeships: experiences and outcomes.
Noonan, J., 2019. An affinity for learning: Teacher identity and powerful professional
development. Journal of Teacher Education.70(5). pp.526-537.
Rios et.al, 2020. Identifying critical 21st-century skills for workplace success: A content analysis
of job advertisements. Educational Researcher.49(2). pp.80-89.
Swift, J., Long Presentation. Tuesday 26 November 2019 from 8.30 am–4.00 pm John Niland
Scientia Building, p.18.
Trumbull, et.al, 2020. From Altered Perceptions to Altered Practice: Teachers Bridge Cultures in
the Classroom. School Community Journal. 30(1). pp.243-266.
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