Understanding Self and Others: Reflective Journal Entries Analysis

This assignment presents a series of reflective journal entries exploring the development of core skills crucial for professional growth. The entries delve into four key areas: attention and focus, time management, team working, and written communication. Each entry follows a pro-forma structure, prompting self-assessment of current competence, identification of areas for improvement, and analysis of how these skills might benefit the individual in the future. The assignment incorporates relevant theories, such as Bandura's social cognitive theory and Tuckman's stages of team development, to support the reflections. Furthermore, the author includes feedback from peers and tutors to provide a comprehensive understanding of their strengths and weaknesses in each skill area. The journal entries demonstrate a critical self-awareness and a proactive approach to enhancing professional capabilities.

Understanding Self and Others

TABLE OF CONTENTS
REFLECTIVE JOURNAL ENTRY.....................................................................................................3
SUMMARY AND ACTION PLAN.....................................................................................................9
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................11
APPENDIX........................................................................................................................................13

REFLECTIVE JOURNAL ENTRY
REFLECTIVE JOURNAL ENTRY PRO-FORMA 1
Core skill
Attention and focus are related to each other. Attention means giving your mind a direction from
a random thinking about a specific thought. An individual is required to be focused in order to
manage work significantly and minimising mistakes as well (Catmur, Cross and Over, 2016).
Importance of selected core skill
Bandura’s social cognitive theory explains that there are various factor that influence the
concentration level of individual. Person’s self efficacy always impacts on behaviour and
working pattern of individual hence focus and attention help in minimising issue of lack of
attention which supports the person in performing well in organisation.
This theory is very important as individual gain raise efficiency level by pay more focus on
actual work. Apart from this, attention gives opportunity to person to get promotion in the
career as well. Mischel cognitive affective personality system explains that interaction of person
with other create a perception in the mind of individual. Without a good focus and attention there
is no ability to think and it is a medium to our thinking. This thinking lead to a perception,
reasoning and develop problem solving skills and enhance the way we make decisions (Steinbeis,
2016). Our learning capacity develop and it gives a direction to our thinking. I selected this skill as
it will increase by focus on work and efficiency.
Current competence
This skill of mine is good , I am able to pay close attention on my work hence I can complete
given work significantly.
 Self assessment:-For assessing the competence I used Concentration and focus skill test
which helped me to know despite distraction I was concentrated towards my work or not.
The test concluded that I am focused in my work
 Feedback from peers:- I evaluated my capability by asking my team members whether I
focus on my work or not. There feedback was that I work with focus and always attentive
to my work.
 Tutor's feedback:-He also gave positive feedback that I am attentive and concentrate on
my work.
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?

No I didn't felt any contradiction from views of peer group members and tutor feedback, I am
attentive person and focus towards my work.
How might this skill help me in the future
In near future this skill will help me out because I would be able to complete my allotted work
effective without any failure. Apart from this, I can easily improve my quality of work by focusing
on my given responsibilities . I will be good for a team and can work in any environment. People
will feel fortunate to work with me and with my new ideas and focus on work can help me to lead
my team. In future I will be able to work more efficiently and doing productive work for me and
my team. This also develop self discipline in me. My value to work in a team will increase and I
can give my 100% to achieve the tasks assign to me. My learning capacity will increase and I can
utilize it for development of my organisation (Catmur, Cross and Over, 2016).
REFLECTIVE JOURNAL ENTRY PRO-FORMA 2
What is the core skill to develop?
Time management is the potentiality to use time effectually to complete the work in a given
period. This process need a planning and execution of that plan in right direction in short period
which will lower the stress of the person and will result in success of the task given (Komives,
2016).
Why is this core skill important? Why did I select this skill to reflect on? (use relevant
theories and concepts to support your answer)
Pickle Jar theory explains that an individual is required to prioritise the work and have to
understand whether time will be finished on time or not. Time management skill helps in
scheduling the task and setting goals to reach the target on time. With help of this skill person can
differentiate between tasks and arrange them on priority bases(Serrat, 2017). I selected this skill to
develop my quality of work without taking any sort of stress and to focus on new opportunities
coming in may hand.
Reflect on your current competence regarding this skill. How did you assess your competence
My time management skill is not up to the mark, I can not manage my work on time if I am in
heavy workload.
 Self assessment:-When I was working in my team, I had a thinking that I do manage
things on time. Whenever any task was given to me I worked so hard to complete it on
time. But the stress level was too high. So I used Jung personality Test which helped me
out to know why I was lacking in it.
 Tutor's feedback:-My tutor has given feed back that I am unable to manage my time

properly. I was doing the work in last moments. He advises me to working accordingly as I
have to divide my work and pick up the task on priority basis. I have to work on self
discipline and do my ask according to need of the team.
 Peers:-My peers gave me feedback that I am not performing the tasks which is having high
priority and should be completed first. They advise me to make proper plan by dividing
time for each 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?
No there was no contradiction, views of tutor, peer group and self-assessment are same that my
time management skill is not good.
How might this skill help me in the future? (use references to support your argument)
Improvement in time management skill will be helping me in my near future also as I will never
work without proper management of time and full planning related to my tasks. This will also
work when load and pressure is more from team side and I will be self motivating to focus on my
work to make good decision to reach my goal. This will increase quality of my work and build my
career in right direction.
REFLECTIVE JOURNAL ENTRY PRO-FORMA 3

Core skill to develop is team working.
The core skill to develop is team working. Team working denotes as when the different people
gather for the same purpose to accomplish specific goals and objectives within the organisation in
more efficient and productive way. For example cricket team, business team and project team.
Developing team skills are necessary skill because it can minimize the complexity and push a
motivating drive force so that people can do subtasks within the team as well with the
collaboration with the team members.(Wagner and et.al., 2018).
Importance of the Team working
This core skill is important because working in a team should promote and improve the member
interaction with each other. It can lead the better decision, products as well as services. I select
this skill to reflect on it can develop the communication quality and developing relationship which
will help me in future references. Here I can take tuck man's theory of team working.
Tuckman's theory -Bruce Tuckman introduced four stages of theory. These stages are as follows
Forming- It is the initial stage of team development. Here task is associated and people get to
know each other. At this stage people behaves nicely because they wanted to accept in the team.
Storming-here team is formed and decide to move forwards to accomplish task. Here conflicts
may be arise and results in the lack of performance. Norming-here team members are coming
together clarify the work who does what and how the things will be done. This phase is known as
development of the team. Performing-this is the final stage focused on the increased tasks and the
relationship. Here team members understands the objective and capable of making decisions
independent. If I want to become a good team leader then I will have to make my candidate
comfortable in the organisation, once they become comfortable then they have to make them
aware with their job role. Tuckman theory supports in understanding team working and finding
manner to lead team well. This will be beneficial for me to manage team well and retain staff
members in business for longer duration. I would be able to get promotional opportunities soon if
I can develop my team working skill.
My current competence regarding Team working
My team working skill is average, I sometimes fail to work in a team or lead team properly.
Self-assessment- I feel shy when I work with peoples. I am unable to open myself in front of
them. I feel very stressed when someone came to me and start discussing about the project or
tasks which is ongoing in team. When someone asked me about myself even then I am unable to
answer them properly. When my team leader assigns me some project and I have some doubt, I

cannot ask him about my problem and at last my team leader screamed at me and I feel very bad. I
apply here 123 test 2017 here and found that I have lack of efficiency in team working.
I used the team test here which tells me about my lack of performance in team working.
Feedback from peers-My peers giving me feedback that I feel hesitated while working in team,
there is lack of confidence in me while performing tasks with others. They tell me that I have very
low efficiency and also low patience so I am unable to handle any task properly.
Feedback from tutors-My tutors finds that I have lack of team working skills such as
communication and team coordination.
Contradictions from above analysis with examples.
No, I don't feel any contradictions from the above analysis. Feedback from my peers and tutors
match with my self-analysis, as I too feel that they are right, I feel shyness as well feels problem
in opening with others and lack of confidence when I am working team members I feel discomfort
and hesitation.
Team working skills help me in future
This skill builds the confidence in me, it develops the art of coordination as well as
communication which helps me to make better relations with others and it also helps to teach me
that how to work effectively with collaboration. It helps me to handle any task in personal as well
as in profession life properly with the help of others. It will give me opportunity to work with
different people and learn from their experience.
REFLECTIVE JOURNAL ENTRY PRO-FORMA 4

Core skill to develop is Written Communication.
The core skill to develop in Written Communication is a mode of the communication where
sending the messages as well as orders in written mode through circulars, manuals, office memos,
emails, faxes etc. It is known as the formal method of communication as well as less flexible.
Here the key to communication is to written messages in accurate and concise manner as possible
(Winter, Bohus and Lis, 2017).
Importance of the Written Communication with the help of the Johari window model.
Psychology of communication is the theory that states that media tools are helpful in coordinating
with others in efficient manner. Use of graphs and pictures make written communication more
effective. This increases clarity and minimises confusion between two people. This skill can
support me in becoming a good manager because manager is responsible for coordinating with
others. This makes the person a good leader who exchange information in effective manner.
My current competence regarding written communication skill
My written communication skill is not good.
Self-assessment- I am not good in writing; I can form the sentences properly but selection of
word is not good. So I analysis my performance with the help of the Johari Window Model and
get to know that my performance in writing communication is good.
Feedbacks from peers-My peers appreciated me for my hard work and my good communications
skills. They told me that I can do well in my career if I continued with it.
Feedback from tutors-My tutors also tells me that my writing skills is average , I need to work
on it
Contradictions from above analysis yes or no ?with examples.
Yes I am agreed with my peers and with my tutors and I do feel that I am very good in written
communication and I am passion about developing new skills related to improving written style of
the communication.
Communication skills help me in future-it helps me grow my carrier in writing styles,
especially in content writing .written communication builds my confidence with respect to do
work in any multi national company. Through written communication i can preserve my
documents with more safety as it is permanent source of communication useful when record
maintenance is necessary and also help me if any conflict occur on future. I will be getting more
opportunity in my career which will help me to grow and develop my personal skills.

SUMMARY AND ACTION PLAN
From the above reflection, I understood that I have some strength and weaknesses, these
strengths can help me in grabbing opportunities in future and weaknesses which I possess are in
need to be improved and with proper planning I can overcome them.
Strengths
 I have good communication skill, I am able to understand and write the message and
information which will help in achieving future opportunities
 I am also a good listener, I am able to focus on my work and always pay attention to what
my team leader discusses to us. Invent new ideas out of it to get success.
Weaknesses
 I have poor Time management skills, I am not able to manage my work with time and this
result to stress. I feel difficult to work in team and due to this reason not able to reach my
goals.
 My written communication is not good, I have to work on this skill.
 My team working skill is average, I will have to work on this skill
Personal development plan
Areas of
improvement
Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Timely
Development
area 1
To improve my
Time
management
skills
I need to work
on it to
enhance my
time
management
skills
To measure my
improvement I
need to
complete my
task on time
without stress
by giving
priority to task
those are most
important and
dividing the
time among all
It can be
attained by
assigning
targets with
priority of its
completion.
It will need
attention to
manage
multiple works
at the same
time.
2 months
Development I will have to I have to proof I have to take I need to read 2 months

area 2
To improve
my written
communicatio
n skill
understand
selection of
right words so
that I can make
clear written
communication
with others.
ready my mails
and other
content before
sending it to
others.
support of my
seniors in order
to improve this
skill. By this
way I can
attain this
level.
some books
and have to
know about
more effective
words.
Development
area 3
To improve my
Team working
I need to work
in a team and
coordinate
with them
accordingly
To measure my
improvement I
have to get
involve with
each member
and work with
them happily.
It can be
attainable by
working in
team and
understanding
each others
point of view.
It will need
attention of
every member
of team to each
other.
3 months

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Catmur, C., Cross, E. S. and Over, H., 2016. Understanding self and others: from origins to
disorders.
Komives, S. R., 2016. Leadership for a better world: Understanding the social change model of
leadership development. John Wiley & Sons.
Serrat, O., 2017. Understanding and developing emotional intelligence. In Knowledge solutions (pp.
329-339). Springer, Singapore.
Steinbeis, N., 2016. The role of self–other distinction in understanding others' mental and emotional
states: neurocognitive mechanisms in children and adults. Philosophical Transactions of the
Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 371(1686). pp.20150074.
Wagner, A. and et.al., 2018. From˜ Privacy Calculus™ to˜ Social Calculus™: Understanding Self-
Disclosure on Social Networking Sites.
Winter, D., Bohus, M. and Lis, S., 2017. Understanding negative self-evaluations in borderline
personality disorder—A review of self-related cognitions, emotions, and motives. Current
psychiatry reports. 19(3). pp.17.

APPENDIX
The Johan Window test result .
Illustration 1: https://kevan.org/johari.cgi
123 test
Illustration 2:
https://www.123test.com/team-roles-test/diagram/activiteiten/1:25/20:20:20:17:10:10:10:7:7/
Expl.:Driver:Compl.:Analyst:Exec.:Chairperson:Team.:Innov.:Expert

Concentration and focus skill test
Jung personality test
Illustration 4: https://www.123test.com/report/CFFRKOTFJHJMUWRV6W/
Illustration 3: https://psychologytoday.tests.psychtests.com/bin/transfer