Self-Assessment and Development Plan: Business Challenge

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments. This report reflects on teamwork and personal development after a business challenge.

Individual reflection

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Innovation and creativity have become the major requirement for standing out in the crowd
in the current market. It is the skill that is required in all the areas. This report contains a
critical reflection on own abilities and skills to comply in the contemporary business
environment. A critical reflection process must be carefully and intentionally designed to
generate, deepens and document learning. The use of theories and models of reflection on
personal experience and learning such as Kolb's model and a team development model
called tuck man and Jensen’s team development model has been applied to reflect on group
work during a business challenge. This report has supported in understanding personal
strengths and weaknesses and formulating an effective personal development plan for the
future development of an individual.
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Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY............................................................................................................. 1
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................2
BUSINESS CHALLENGE..............................................................................................................3
REFLECTION ON TEAMWORK...................................................................................................4
INDIVIDUAL LEARNING AND EXPERIENCE AS A TEAM ENTREPRENEUR...................................6
AREAS FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT......................................................................................8
CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................................... 10
REFERENCES........................................................................................................................... 11
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INTRODUCTION
Creative thinking has become a necessary requirement for surviving in the current business
world. It enables an individual to continuously innovate and develop new products, services
and system to provide better opportunities for themselves and others (Liedtka, 2015). So, I
must havean information and proper understanding of my personal characteristics, skills,
knowledge and capabilities to evaluate my creativeness and innovativeness to comply with
the contemporary needs (Beech, et al., 2017). Therefore, I have prepared this reflective
report to analyse and determine my skills, capabilities, strengths as well as weaknesses. The
report is based on my performance and actions made during the MyCognition business
challenge where I have to work in a team to accomplish the given business challenge of
marketing. My experiences and learning during the business challenges will also be reflected
through the use of appropriate models of reflection. Through the obtained information, I
have also made a personal development plan that will support me in my personal and
professional growth and development by developing essential skills and abilities required in
the current business scenario.
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BUSINESS CHALLENGE
Our MyCognition business challenge is to develop a business strategy within the time limit
of 48 hours. I and my team members have to gather relevant resources and data for making
an effective presentation for the solutions of our business challenge. We had very less time
to complete our project and don't even had sufficient information regarding the problem.
Thus, it has caused chaos and anxiousness in our team as we had a lot of work to complete
in so less time. However, we had come up with a plan to distribute responsibilities among all
of us. We have set a time-bounded plan wherein first 24 hours we had to complete our task
and in the next 24 hours, we have presented it in a group to gain feedback and suggestions
for development. In this way, we have completed our business challenge successfully.
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REFLECTION ON TEAMWORK
For effective understanding and reflection of group process, the Tuckmen and Jensen’s team
development model is used. This model will support in identifying and analysing the
teamwork and development of the team (Forsyth, 2018). As stated in the Tuckman's team
development model, our team has also experienced the same developmental stages:
Forming:
we were a small group, initially, it was really difficult for us to function in a group as all of us
had never worked in a group like this before, here our challenge was big and it was very
important for us to develop the feeling of ‘we’ rather than ‘me’. In order to function
effectively, all of us are required to match with the process and climate within the team.
Initially, I had difficulties in coordinating with my team members and we all had felt stressed
as we have a very small time to complete our challenge.
Storming:
The first challenge that I have faced while working a team is to express my ideas and
opinions freely and communicate with my team members effectively. All of us are trying to
convince others that our ideas are best. This attitude has caused several problems in the
team and we were unable to find the viable solution. There were a lot of unsaid
assumptions. We don't even know about the strengths and weaknesses of each other.
Norming:
Moving on, through involving in continuous discussion and brainstorming process we have
gained a good understanding between us. Now, we are more concerned about working as a
group and completing our challenge on time. By understanding each other, we have decided
to take a break and afterwards, we had decided to trust each other's abilities. The provided
information related to the business challenge was not sufficient for us to go ahead with our
work due to this we have to do extensive research to come up with the relevant answer and
solution to the given problem. We have planned our roles and responsibilities according to
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personal interest and knowledge. By knowing my responsibilities in the team I took the
responsibility of doing research to support my team.
Performing
After going through a lot of chaos, we have now finally set a plan to achieve our goals. We
have decided to break and distributed the work among each other. We have made a clear
plan consisting of what needs to be done and who is responsible for doing it and we have
also set the time to complete individual work. as we have only 2 days to complete the
business challenge, we have decided that on the 1st day we will carry our assignment work
and on the 2nd day we provide and take feedback and suggestions from each other on own
individual work.
Adjourning
During our teamwork, we have tried to ensure equal participation from each team members
and equal opportunities for learning for everyone. We have set proper coordination and
communication between the team members that have provided a pleasing experience of
working in a team.
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INDIVIDUAL LEARNING AND EXPERIENCE AS A TEAM ENTREPRENEUR
In order to explore a comprehensive understating about the individual skills and capabilities
in the business environment, a reflection on individual learning and experience is very
useful. The Kolb’s Model of experiential learning can be effectively used to reflect on the
individual learning in a team (Easterby-Smith and Cunliffe, 2017). The four stages of Kolb’s
learning cycle are:
Figure 1: Kolb’s experiential learning model
[Source: Easterby-Smith and Cunliffe, 2017]
 Concrete experience: during this stage, I have experienced new challenges and
situations that have served as the basis for my personal observation. During the
business challenge, I have learnt new qualities and skills and also gained an idea
about my personal strengths and weaknesses. I have participated in the group
activity to find a solution to a business challenge that has provided me with a great
opportunity of learning new things on both personal as well as professional level.
It was a totally new experience for me to work with my teammates. I was very
nervous during the initiation of the project as we don’t even have sufficient
information regarding the business challenge. Although with the passage of time I
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have developed confidence in my abilities and even take initiative to do research to
gather relevant information related to our business challenge.
 Reflective observation: my team has gone through with several ups-and down
during the business challenge. We have experienced a situation where we were
unable to find a solution to the problem due to our attitude and lack of
understandings between us. I have observed that the lack of mutual understanding
and respect adversely affected the outcomes of overall work. I have also
experienced a situation where I have to take decisions in the team that has
showcased my decision-making and leadership qualities. At the begging, I was very
anxious regarding my team roles and duties.
During the challenge, I have also experienced a situation where I had to take a
charge of my team by setting goals and motivating my teammates.
 Abstract conceptualisation: if we were tending more to work in a team, we will be
able to complete our challenge more effectively. During the module, I have learnt
the importance of knowledge of team roles that can be filled and suited best to each
team members. I have also learnt the importance of switching roles in a team
through my teamwork experience. It supports utilizing the skills and experiences of
team members at an optimum level.
While motivating my team members, I have explored that I possess some leadership
skills that have enabled me to energize and direct my team. My decision-making
skills were also good as I have to made decisions at few points where my team
members were unable to decide. This challenge has also opened my eyes and
enabled me to value the viewpoints and opinions of team members to effectively
work in a team.
 Active experimentation: we have decided to let our team members do what they
are good at as we all have different strengths and weaknesses. I have learnt that the
best way to increase the team effectiveness and productivity of my team is to
distribute work on the basis of personal strengths and talent. I have taken the
responsibility of researching and the other one is assigned with the role of making
presentations and one member was responsible for presenting our solutions. We
have worked hard to find an innovative solution to the business problem.
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We all have learnt so many things and new experiences during the business
challenge but the main thing that has learnt is to value everyone and coordinate with
team members to ensure the successful accomplishment of our goals.
AREAS FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT
During this business challenge, I have got to know very useful information about my
personal strengths, skills and competitiveness as well as about my weaknesses. I have found
that I should work on certain skills such as time management creativeness, coordination,
public speaking and problem-solving abilities. In order to develop my personal
competitiveness and overcome my weaknesses I have made a personal development plan
that will support me improving my core strengths (Tasker, 2015).
TABLE 1: PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Areas for
Development
CPD
Activities
Required
Resources
Planned
Date to
Achieve
Parameter of
Success
Review Date
time management to make
time-
bounded
plans for
every
activity
a pen or paper
or in a
Smartphone
April 2019 to be able to
complete the
task on time
every week
Innovative and
creative thinking
by focusing
on adopting
a unique and
more
effective
way of doing
things
self-motivation June 2019 to be able to
find unique
solutions to
the problems
everyday
public speaking by involving
in
conversation
with as
many
experts as
possible and
reading
books on
public
speaking
self-motivation
and books
June 2019 to be able to
present
personal ideas
and opinions
in public
effectively
everyday
team coordination by valuing
other’s
opportunities
to work in a
May 2019 to be able to
effectively
every
alternate day
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opinions and
ideas in the
team
team work in a team
problem-solving
abilities
through
adapting
critical view
on every
situation and
problems
self-motivation July 2019 to be able to
solve any
problem in an
effective
manner
twice a week
Besides this, in order to become a successful entrepreneur, I have to keep the focus on
continuous learning and development. I should highly focus on creative thinking and
innovativeness to comply with the ever-changing market needs. This business challenge has
enabled me to think out of the box. In order to develop creativeness, I have read a book
“Steal Like an artist: 10 Things nobody told you about being creative" this books has
provided me with a new take on how to be creative.
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CONCLUSION
In summarizing, I can surely say that the business challenge has provided me with a great
opportunity of understanding my personal calibre and capabilities to comply with the
rapidly changing market. I have learnt and experienced so many things through this project.
First of all, I have learnt to value other people's opinions and coordinate with others in a
team. I have also come to know that I possess good leadership and decision –making skills.
By identifying my weaknesses I have decided to work accordingly with the set personal
development plan. I will majorly emphasise on developing creativity as it is the most crucial
trait for standing out in the crowd. I have planned to apply it on everyday life as well in small
decisions to develop innovativeness in oneself.
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