Skillful Futures: Crafting an Action Plan for Personal and Professional Excellence

1. Introduction

Personal and professional development planning is effective to reflect upon own skill and knowledge and also it provides a scope to create action plan for further skill developmental activities. The report aims at identifying the challenges in the group as well as developing reflective practice by discussing own skill set and abilities. I will reflect on the skills and abilities that will be beneficial for me to work efficiently and meet the team objectives in the organisation. Through Action plan, I will represent the future personal and professional skill enhancement programs, through which I would be able to maximise my capabilities.

2. Evaluating the existing challenges

Apprentice Challenge

Apprentice Challenges mainly aim to enhance communicative skills and inspire teams to come up with creative ideas (Husam and Abraham, 2019). It is hereby important to develop employability skill and ensure good working practice through enhancing communication and cooperation. For enhancing internal communication, I focus on the Zoom meeting and online conference though webinars that will be the best option in the recent digitalisation era, where the employees and the employers can communicate with each other and participate actively to make the job done proficiently. Additionally, the interview with the employees are also arranged for discussing over different topics and gather vast range of ideas from the employees, and it also provides a scope to improve employability skill set and hire the experienced staff in the organisation. (Appendix1)

Presentation Challenge

For presenting the research and organisational activities, the presentation and good communication skill are mandatory so that the employees can connect with the customers and retain them in long run (Dwesini, 2017). I am open-minded and flexible at the workplace, where I continuously try to contact with the customers and present all the necessary information about the organisation. Using MS excel and the presentation skill further helps me to represent the information and data in a systematic way. I am optimistic and continuously find new ideas and latest technology to perform proficiently and maximise business creativity as a whole, I am trying to work with the employees through collaborative decision making practice and partnership working, so that I can renovate the business activities and meet the strategic aim of the firm. Group presentation, good command over English language, efficiency in market research and problem solving skills are effective for me to present the information and conduct the organisational job roles successfully. I try to utilise the marketing theories, PESTEL and SWOT analysis and other material theories and concepts to work of the companies where I contribute in making good decision for promoting the organisational products and making the business profitable. (Appendix3)

T-shirt Challenge

There are several departments in the organisation, where the managers of different department must cooperate with each other and meet the strategic aim of the company by promoting the organisational products and services (Lisá, Hennelová and Newman, 2019). The goal is to promote the brand by making collaborative decision (Husam and Abraham, 2019). The marketing and sales team, production, operations department as well as finance department must be cooperative to make the decision of promoting the products t-shorts by arranging capital (Wickam, 2018). For brand awareness and creating good brand image, it is essential to promote the t-shirts in the market and it is a difficult part for the team to conduct in-depth critical analysis about market trend and develop good strategies for brand promotion. I focus on profit and loss account that must be generated where I need to be knowledgeable about the financing programs, good skill to utilise MS excel and present the data and information efficiently to create good decision. (Appendix 2)

3. Reflective practice on developing skills

Communication and emotional intelligence

In order to improve own capabilities to perform well in the workplace, it is beneficial for the employees to enhance communication skill and emotional skill so that it would be possible to lead other in the workplace and achieve the future organisational success (Misra and Khurana, 2017). There are group activities with arranging general meeting and group discussion, win which the team embers try to interact with each other and share the relevant ideas and thoughts for making good decision. Emotional intelligence skill includes self-awareness, self-regulation, and empathy for others, social skills and motivation (Lisá, Hennelová and Newman, 2019). I try to understand others perspective and show empathy and respect for others, o that good corporate bonding can be developed in long run. There are different challenges related to communication at the workplace, which are lack of interest in the working activities, language gap and internal conflicts, for which the employees are cooperating with others. Communication gap further deteriorates the overall performance of the team. It is my duty to develop my communication skill and encourage others to interact and share new ideas and information for working as a team. I also focus on improving my abilities to monitor the workplace, lead the workers towards meeting individual and team goals and contribute positively in making the business profitable. In order to mitigate the challenges, there is also good technical infrastructure such as Information and Communication Technology or ICT through which, it is possible for me to enhance internal communication among the workers and develop strong team work, by empathy, respect for others and developing trust among the team members.

Time management and meeting skill

Time management and meeting skills are also beneficial in maximising employability skill and complete the allocated projects within time (Ornellas, Falkner and Stålbrandt, 2019). Hence, the expertise in prioritising the tasks, note taking skill, self-motivated and self-regulated learning practice further help me to improve own abilities and perform the task timely. It further helps me to manage the workers and conduct the organisational activities within the allocated time by utilising the resources.

Team work

Team working skill is essential for encouraging employees creativity and meeting the organisational aim collaboratively (Puad and Desa, 2020). Here, I try to enhance partnership working practice through continuous motivation and employee empowerment. I aim at providing clear vision and sharing team objectives, so that the employees can work efficiently and share their ideas for achieving the brand success. ICT, group meeting and conferences are effective where the senior management team support the employees for working collaboratively and continuously guide them for better managerial practice.

Business skill and competencies

It is essential to develop business competencies by improving knowledge about Excel and presentation skill, so that data analysis can be conducted proficiently for making the best solution to the business (Bhagra and Sharma, 2018). I need to develop decision making skill and critical analytical skill so that the business competencies can be maintained well. I encourage others to participate actively and improve the process of data handling and organisational information analysis so that creative decision can be develop by utilising the organisational resources and maximising the capabilities of the employees. I gain knowledge about the profit and loss account, revenue generation scheme and resource utilisation for making the business profitable through fruitful investment decision.

4. Action Plan

Communication skill is important for me and I will get engaged in group meeting and internal discussion as well as utilise Information and Communication Technology as it is important to share information and enhance internal and external communication. Developing friendly working atmosphere to perform and sharing information and experience to perform efficiently are effective to improve my communication skill. I need to develop collaborative skill also through enhancing team working practice, cooperative behaviour of the colleagues, respect for each other, managing transparency and accountability management at the workplace. Approximately 8 months are required to develop communication and collaborative skill. In addition to this, I need to develop managerial and leadership skill. I try to focus on interdependence among the colleagues at the workplace as well as managing recognition and promotion to manage the workers. Developing effective group and ensuring change management practice in the workplace will be helpful for me to improve my abilities for managing the workers at the workplace. Critical analytical skill must be developed for evaluating the gathered data where empowerment in the institution must be ensured so that I contribute positively to utilise organisational resources and meet strategic aim by developing critical decision. For achieving professional career aim, I need to improve leadership skill with emotional intelligence. I focus at enhancing collaborative workplace; developing good organisational culture, seek support from the senior management team, and ensuring respect and integrity management. On the other hand, computerised and technical skill is essential for me where I focus on accessing IT framework developed with the help of the technicians, understanding e-commerce technology and data analysis software for making good business decisions in future.

5. Conclusion

Personal and professional development is hereby important to mitigate the challenges like apprentice, presentation and T-shirt. In order to improve my capabilities in personal and professional field, I focus on the skills such as time management, organising and planning, presentation skill and teamwork. I would like to achieve future professional success by leading the people efficiently with continuous creativity and innovation. I am efficient in organising and planning as well as effective decision making practice which will provide me a scope to achieve future success. I would like to improve my communication skill and technical skill in future so that I would be able to become a successful leader.

Reference List

Bhagra, A. and Sharma, D.K., 2018. Changing paradigm of employability skills in the global business world: A review. IUP Journal of Soft Skills, 12(2), pp.7-24.

Dwesini, N.F., 2017. The role of Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) in enhancing employability skills: graduate perspectives. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 6(2), pp.1-9.

Husam, H.A. and Abraham, P., 2019. Employability skills development through assessment in higher education: Students’ voices on reflective assessments. Glob Acad J Econ Buss, 1, pp.36-42.

Lisá, E., Hennelová, K. and Newman, D., 2019. Comparison between Employers' and Students' Expectations in Respect of Employability Skills of University Graduates. International journal of work-integrated learning, 20(1), pp.71-82.

Misra, R.K. and Khurana, K., 2017. Employability skills among information technology professionals: A literature review. Procedia computer science, 122, pp.63-70.

Ornellas, A., Falkner, K. and Stålbrandt, E.E., 2019. Enhancing graduates’ employability skills through authentic learning approaches. Higher education, skills and work-based learning.

Puad, M.H.M. and Desa, H.M., 2020. Dissecting perceptions of new graduates on work orientation and self-confidence in employability skills training program. Universal Journal of Educational Research, 8(1), pp.70-75.

Wickam, M.J., 2018. Using service-learning to enhance employability skills in graduate business capstones: A dissertation overview. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, 22(1), pp.163-174.