List and describe six (6) characteristics you have that enable you to act as a positive role model in the workplace (60-100 words).
1. Courage- a role model is not afraid to face challenges and would go beyond their comfort zone to achieve their goals.
2. Goal oriented- a role model sets for himself realistic and achievable goals.
3. Creative- comes up with new ways of handling or solving a problem
4. Inspiring and enthusiastic- their zeal is contagious making others want to follow them.
5. High energy- never give up easily but instead keep pushing with a lot of energy.
6. Committed and dedicated- performs their duties with passion.
Question 2
How would you ensure that your personal work goals reflect the organisation’s plans, and your own responsibilities and accountabilities? (100-150 words)
A role model ought to be a good planner. I would plan my day so as to help in achieving my goals. Having a strategic plan usually of three to five years will help in ensuring my personal work goals reflect the organization’s plans. An organizational plan which usually focuses more on the goals of the organization and is more detailed than the strategic plan will help me achieve my personal work goals. A worker is held accountable and is given a sense of responsibility when there are codes of conduct, vison and mission statements for the organization.
Question 3
List five strategies you can use to measure and maintain your personal performance.
Provide a brief description of each strategy.
Include how you will address issues as they arise and develop contingencies to ensure that you maintain your performance (100-150 words)
1. Setting realistic goals- one should not break themselves in the name of trying to achieve a certain goal. Goals should be realistic and should have realistic deadlines attached to them.
2. Set priorities- setting priorities help deal with the most pressing issue first then the rest follows. It is also important to break down large goals into small ones to avoid being overwhelmed. It is much easier to achieve small goals than large ones and procrastination is easily avoided.
3. Have a safety time margin-there are things that happen over a certain period of time and are inevitable.
4. Effective delegation- this is one way of reducing my workload.
5. Have time for myself- setting some time off work and spending it with family and friends will help maintain my personal performance.
Question 4
A member of your team has presented you with their work goals for the next quarter. You are surprised to see that they all focus on this person pursuing a particular project that they raised with you last month.
You need to have this person working on the new product launch and you cannot see how they will have time to spend on a project that does not contribute in any way to the new product getting to market.
What strategies could you use to help the team member understand the goals of the organisation and the team, and realign their work goals to reflect the organisation’s plans and goals? (80 to 100 words)
Organizing team processes when working on a project helps in establishing the roles of each member of the team for the purpose of mitigating setbacks. Setting of defined goals which are measurable and time specific ensures that each team member is aware of the organization’s goals. The set goals that are measurable helps members to measure their efforts both individually and as a team. Having clearly outlined roles and responsibilities limits the time spent on delegating and assigning tasks and enables members of the team to concentrate on the assigned task. Leading by example is a good way of communicating hard work and it ensures that a team produces strong results.
Question 5
What technology can be used to efficiently and effectively manage priorities and commitments? (50–75 words)
Technology helps improve performance making it a lot easier to meet ones goals. Business technology can be used to manage priorities and commitments efficiently and effectively. They include: computers, mobile, television, personal digital assistants (PDA), software applications, networks and electronic whiteboards, cameras, printers, photocopiers, scanners, sound equipment, palm pilots, landline, satellite, BlackBerrys and MP3 players.
Question 6
List ten strategies to help ensure technology is used effectively.
1. Using the right technology for a particular task.
2. Training of staff on how to use the technology.
3. Provision of support systems.
4. Ensure the available resources as and when needed are the consumable resources.
5. Come up with rules and regulations that are clear.
6. Accept that the technological applications have their own limitations.
7. Safety controls to be in place as well as continue to monitor the safety systems.
8. If need be, upgrade the technology in use to a later version.
9. Confidentiality - bar leakage of any sensitive information to unauthorised person.
10. Come up with the necessary preventive maintenance making use of the qualified personnel.
Question 7
What is work-life balance? (50-100 words)
Work-life balance is when there is an appropriate balance and control of stress. Happiness is when one is not stressed and this translates to being productive at work. A healthy work-life balance is where work does not take much of one’s time. A healthy work-life balance includes: healthy eating, work, vacation, holidays and relationships.
Question 8
List and describe (80 to 100 words each) three strategies that will help you maintain a healthy work-life balance and ensure stress is effectively managed and health is attended to.
1. Flexibility in work hours- I can have time for my personal commitments without even reducing work time. My employees and I can have varying starts and finish to create time for personal goals without interfering with the business.
2. Work from home- this scheme can work well if I live far from my workplace or if I have family members who need my attention during office hours. The time spent commuting to work can be spent on personal commitments.
3. Part –timing- I will be able to work for less hours compared to when it is full time.
Question 9
Describe how you can assess your personal knowledge and skills against the competency standards for a position (50 - 80 words).
I am able to assess my personal know ledge and skills by:
1. Observing reactions- body language from employees whether open or closed can really show where I lie as a role model.
2. Keep records- the number of times a personnel asks for your opinion can tell a lot about you as a role model. If no one asks for my opinion, there are two possibilities: either I have intimidated them or none of them respects my opinion.
Question 10
Describe how you might create a personal career plan to prioritise and meet your development needs (150 - 200 words)
Coming up with a career plan will help me identify options available, identifying markers and also help identify available options open. Having Work and personal goals will help separate the skills in to those that need to be developed now and those for later. I will separate the goals into short term, medium term and long term and afterwards identify what I require to achieve those goals. I may need to learn a new skill or maybe gain more experience in an attempt to realize my goals. Setting priorities and timeframes will help me focus on achieving my work and personal goals. Urgent and important tasks will be done first, followed by urgent and not important and lastly the not urgent and not important. SMART objectives are measurable, specific, achievable, and realistic and time bound. Achieving my objectives will be made possible if I make the right decision on the best ways of doing so. My final step will be to put all my development plans in to writing. This will motivate me to work even harder in order to achieve my goals. Monitoring and evaluation along the way is paramount.
Question 11
List seven forms of feedback or information that might be useful for identifying and developing ways to improve competence
1. Supervisors and colleagues Verbal and informal feedback
2. Suppliers Verbal and written feedback
3. Personal reflection and self-assessment
4. Formal and informal performance appraisals
5. Internal and external clients feedback
6. End product observation and measurement
7. Organizational monitoring and control processes data.
Question 12
How does feedback contribute to improvement of competence? (100-150 words)
The only way to assess performance is through feedback. A performance appraisal tells a lot on what is expected in a work place. Feedback can either be constructive or positive and negative feedback. A negative feedback does not necessarily mean the performance bad, but rather shows there is room for improvement. You are probably doing a good job if you get a positive feedback. However, this should not create room for complacency. The 360 degree feedback allows employees, other managers and peers to give feedback about your performance. It helps a manager recognize where they need to improve and also measure the performance of the employees. The 360 degree feedback, constructive feedback, helps in team development and in reducing the risk of biasness.
Question 13
Explain how understanding your personal learning style can assist you when identifying, evaluating and selecting development opportunities. (100-150 words)
Understanding my preferable and comfortable learning style will assist in identifying and determining the best development opportunities .People learn through feeling, by feeling, by watching and by doing. None of the styles is better than the other but rather preferences are determined by the mode one finds more comfortable. People can learn in all situations but they will learn much more if the learning situation uses their preferred learning style. There are those people who understand more if they learn from watching professionals perform, others prefer reading whereas others prefer experimenting.
Question 14
How can you establish and nurture networking opportunities to enhance personal knowledge, skills and work relationships? (150 to 200 words)
Exchange of information, knowledge and ideas can be done formally through channels such as websites or informally through business contacts .information can be exchanged at social gatherings, seminars and training programs. My organization may use networking contacts as the referral contacts for my clients. Establishing trust with other people is another way of forming and nurturing networks. The people whom I have dealt with before may refer other clients to me since they know my work. This may also give me a clear picture of how key clients view me as a manager and also tell a lot about my competitors. Establishment of communication systems is necessary since it will enhance exchange of ideas, verification of information and networking with partners. Work-based networks can be done though face to face discussions or through email and phone interactions. The internet is a tool that helps communicate with persons virtually anywhere. I can also get a lot of information from the internet that will help nurture my networks.
Question 15
Explain how developing new skills can contribute to the development of a competitive edge. (150 to 200 words).
Every institution needs to have a competitive edge, a distinguishing factor that captures the attention of clients. Employees of any institution therefore need to upgrade their skills in order to be at par with the competitors. Organizations must change to match with the competitive world which means that employees have to adjust accordingly. Acquiring new skills also translates to having more ideas related to improvement of goods and services. Improvement and changes to operational procedures are related to development of new skills which ensures that an employee bridges the gap between their personal goals and organization’s goals.
Question 16A
Identify and list below three (3) types of learning styles and a brief description of each (20-40 words each).
Action learning refers a learning style whereby one learns through someone else’s experiences. It is a learning and reflection process whereby colleagues provide support. Action learning encourages the learning of new skills, active listening and empathy.
Coaching is the achievement of goals by personnel through guidance. The aim of coaching is to identify achievable goals, enhance performance, and develop a plan and to monitor the progress. A coach must have good questioning techniques during facilitation.
Exchange - an organization can allow job rotations whereby an employee can move from one position to another within the organization. This job rotation helps match the skills one is trying to develop to the job that they rotate to.
Question 16B
Looking at each learning style, which learning style suits you best and why? (60-80 words)
Action learning suits me best because I learn through feelings and by feelings. If someone shares their real life experiences, I am more likely to understand a particular concept as compared to other styles. Learning through feelings and by feelings is well demonstrated by action learning through empathy. I am a social person hence I thrive well amongst a group of people. I can therefore understand better through action learning.
