Professional Development

For Strategic Managers

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Contents 1. Methods to improve personal and professional skills required to achieve strategic goals ...... 3

1.1. Skills required for effective strategic management .......................................................... 3

1.1.1. Personal skills ........................................................................................................... 3

1.1.2. Professional skills ..................................................................................................... 4

1.1.3. Contribution of Personal and Professional Skills towards organization ................... 5

1.2. Importance of time management for the strategic managers ........................................... 6

1.2.1. Time management brings more productivity ............................................................ 6

2. Personal Skills Audit............................................................................................................... 7

2.1. Stages of Personal Audit .................................................................................................. 7

2.1.1. Personal Audit developing skills for effective management and leadership ............ 8

2.2. Benefits for identifying Learning Styles .......................................................................... 8

2.2.1. My Learning style and its effectiveness.................................................................... 8

2.2.2. Impact of Learning Styles on Personal development ............................................... 9

3. Personal Development Plan and CPD................................................................................... 10

3.1. Benefits of Personal Development Plan ......................................................................... 10

3.2. My Personal Development Plan for next year ............................................................... 10

3.3. Value of Continuous Professional Development for organization and individuals ....... 12

4. Personal Development Portfolio ........................................................................................... 13

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1. Methods to improve personal and professional skills required to achieve

strategic goals

1.1. Skills required for effective strategic management

In order to develop vision, mission and long term objectives for the company and make the entire

organization aligned with these goals and objectives, there is a need for an effective strategic

manager who is able to carry on all the functions successfully. In order to achieve long term

objectives of the firm, the strategic manager acts like a leader, who lead the subordinates to the

right direction and facilitate the people in overcoming the hurdles and obstacles that might arise

from time to time. In addition to this, the manager also integrates the organization and makes the

people work effectively, to achieve short term goals consistently, in order to meet the long term

objectives of the firm. Thus there is a need for effective skill set for the strategic managers so

that they can handle all the tasks in a successful way.

Some of the skills which are important for the effective strategic management are basic

management skills, time management skills, problem solving skills, stress management skills,

motivational and inspirational skills, decision making skills, leadership skills, openness to

change and effective communication skills. There are various other skills which are important for

the effective strategic management. It is recommended that the people must continuously

monitor themselves and try to establish these skill sets in order to manage the firm in an effective

manner. In order to understand these skills in a detailed manner, the skills are broadly subdivided

into Personal skills and Professional skills. After understanding these skills, individuals can

easily carry on the day to day operations in an effective manner and can understand and apply

the strategic concepts in more detail.

1.1.1. Personal skills

Personal skills are the important requirement as strategic managers. This is because of the fact

that the personality of the manager is a role model for the subordinates. For this reason, presence

of personal skills is very important for the managers. Some of the personal skills are:

Time management skills: Time management is very important for the organizational members.

Organizational goals and objectives are time bound. For this reason it is necessary that the

manager must be able to manage its subordinates in a manner that the right work must be done at

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right time. If the people within organization are able to manage the time in an effective manner,

they will be able to achieve long term objectives and goals. Manager must be able to deal with

the time wasters in an organization appropriately. In the history of management, there are various

examples dealing with time management. The effective strategic managers have minimized those

activities which might waste the time of the employee and directed them to concentrate on their

work. By using their time management skills, managers can increase the productivity of

employees.

Stress management skills: There are various uncertain events in an organization which can be

stressful for the employees as well as for the managers. For example disastrous situations may

arise; organization can be subjected to sudden loss. In addition to this crisis situations are also

related with the business environment which can create stress among the people within or outside

organizational environment. For effective strategic manager, it is important to have stress

management skills. This involves emotional stability of the manager, Problem solving skills and

decision making skills of the managers. Manager must be able to make the right decision at right

time in order to overcome stress among its employees and various other stakeholders.

Communication skills: Effective communication is very important for the managers. The role

of the managers involves and demands effective communication skills because goals, objectives,

roles, responsibilities, decisions are most of the time communicated within an organization. The

individuals must be able to communicate effectively so that the right content is delivered to

various levels of organization. Conflict handling skills, listening skills are some of the examples

of effective communication skills.

1.1.2. Professional skills

Some of the professional skills that are necessary for the strategic managers are stated as follows:

Coaching and counseling Skills: At workplace, there are many situations in which the

subordinates are facing certain issues and for this reason, the productivity of overall organization

can be affected. For this reason, there is a need for the counseling, mentoring and coaching skills

of the managers which can help the employees by suggesting them the way out of the situation.

In this manner, the productivity and other concerns for organization can be solved. Paternalistic

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advice can not only help the employee but the employee will be motivated and inspired to work

in the long run.

Leadership skills: Change is the demand for most of the organization. This is because of the

various situational factors that demands change in the structure, functions and direction of an

organization. For this reason, leadership skills are required so that in such situations, manager

could act as a leader and lead the organizational towards adoption of new strategic dimension. As

leading is one of the important functions of management, for this reason these skills are

necessary for the strategic managers.

Presentation skills: There are various situations when the manager has to represent the

organization in the outside environment. In these cases he/she has to perform the role of

spokesperson or a liaison. In order to perform these roles appropriately, there is a need for

effective presentation skills. By using these skills the strategic managers can communicate their

point of view and organizational motives in a better way. Presentation skills can also be used

within an organization when the managers have to present the ideas or proposal in front of Board

of Directors and other stakeholders.

1.1.3. Contribution of Personal and Professional Skills towards organization

The personal and professional skills described earlier are very important in order to achieve

organizational goals. Managers must use these skills in an appropriate manner in order to align

the people within an organization towards specific directions. Combinations of skills can be used

simultaneously. In some conditions, manager can use effective communication skills along with

the leadership skills in order to motivate the followers to do certain task. In the same way,

various other skill sets might be used. But it is observable that the purpose of usage of these

skills is always contributing and facilitating towards achieving long term organizational

objectives. If the objective of the management is concern for people within an organization,

managers can use counseling and problem solving skills. Similarly organizations demand

productivity of employees in order to achieve goals and attain profitability, managers has to use

their time management skills and other skills. Thus it can be monitored from the above

discussion that the personal and professional skills contribute for attaining long term business

objectives of an organization. If a person has certain vision in his or her life, for example my

vision is to become a successful event manager. Various skill sets will be required to me in order

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to accomplish this. Time management skills, effective communication skills in order to

communicate the event plans to the suppliers and other business partners and various other skills

will be required in order to achieve my personal goals. Same is the case with business

organizations.

1.2. Importance of time management for the strategic managers

Managing time is of considerable importance in the current business environment. This is

because of the fact that organizations are striving to achieve competitive advantage and are

continuously improving their functions and operations. This trend for gaining competitive

advantage demands the workforce to work in an effective manner and achieve the short term

business objectives on time. This paves the way for achieving long term business objectives.

Strategic managers must develop effective time management skills so that they can achieve their

objectives and can perform the roles effectively. They must be able to develop capabilities

among their employees to realize the importance of time and perform the task assigned to them

on timely basis.

1.2.1. Time management brings more productivity

There are various companies which provide time management training to their employees which

increase the productivity of the employees. By managing time in an effective manager, strategic

thinkers can motivate their employees to limit the unnecessary activities in the job environment.

When these extra activities are limited, people can concentrate on their task and can accomplish

these tasks on time. Usually milestones and other timescales are introduced in the work setting

which specifies the time required to complete certain task. The actual performance of employee

is gauged against these time standards. Productivity of the employees is dependent upon the

assigned level of task. If the employees are lazy and are busy in the additional activities, they

require more time. On the other hand if the employees manage their time and do not waste the

time assigned to them, they will be more productive. In this manner, time management brings

productivity in an organization.

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2. Personal Skills Audit

Individuals must be able to identify the skills and various learning styles within ones' self in

order to develop potential for learning. Skill audit not only facilitate the individuals and

organizations to evaluate their current skills but are helpful in improving their existing skills and

paves the way for the development of additional skills.

2.1. Stages of Personal Audit

There are five stages of personal audit. These stages facilitate the individuals in identifying

various skills, and support the individuals in defining the required skills necessary for effective

management and leadership practices within or outside the organizations.

Stage 1: Identification of Existing Skills and Information level

In the bullet points, individual can jolt down the current or existing knowledge about certain

field. If a person is a manager, he/she can write down various management skills which

according to him/her are currently present. The job description page can be reviewed and the

individual can identify which of the skills are present and which of them are not present.

Stage 2: Identification of Potential skills and Information level

Stage 2 of the personal skill audit involves the list of the skills and information requirements

which are important in terms of career and job requirements. There might be fifteen to twenty

points which can be included in this list.

Stage 3: Rating abilities

The next step is to rate both the lists on the scale of 1 to 5 describing your current capabilities, 1

symbolizing little competency and 5 symbolizing high competency. 3 in this scale describe

moderate level of competency.

Stage 4: Review of the rating score

In stage 4, the individual might ask the peers and instructors to evaluate and review the rating

score. In this stage it is important that the person, selected for the review, must be highly just and

should not be biased while giving their suggestions.

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Stage 5: Future prospects for developing skills

In the final stage, individual can analyze the entire information available to him/her and can

focus on the areas which are important for the career of a person.

2.1.1. Personal Audit developing skills for effective management and leadership

The above mentioned stages of the personal skills audit are very fruitful for the strategic

managers. By following these stages, they can not only identify which of the fields within ones

self are effective and which are the areas which requires the attention of individuals. The skills

which got less scores from the individual and peers is highlighted and the individual can easily

inform the ways which can be used in order to overcome the weaknesses. In this manner

effective leadership and management skills can be developed.

2.2. Benefits for identifying Learning Styles

Learning process is necessary in order to process the information provided to a person from the

external environment. By identifying the learning styles, individuals can avoid various

problematic situations by making smart choices. In addition to this, individual will be successful

on job. They can identify the environment which is suitable for the team building and individual

will be better able to work with peers and other team members. There are various models which

are developed by the practitioners indicating the ways, people learn things. David Kolbs model

defines experience as a source of learning. It is important for the people to identify their learning

style in order to improve their information handling and processing skills. Learning is the

continuous phenomenon and individual learn things which gradually shape the behavior and

personality. Thus people must pay attention on identifying their learning styles.

2.2.1. My Learning style and its effectiveness

In most of the cases, I follow Flemings VAK and VARK model for learning. I believe that

individual learn most of the things via senses. Visual, Auditory and Tactile senses is most of the

time facilitating the people for learning things. Being a student and part time worker, most of the

things are learned during the class room environment and at the workplace. The managers or

supervisors communicate things with the help of written or verbal communication. In addition to

this, most of the materials which are taught to us during the class room environment are written

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or verbal. For this reason, my mind processes this information and recognizes the thing which is

important for me to learn and facilitate me for learning.

2.2.2. Impact of Learning Styles on Personal development

Recent studies have proved that the learning helps in improving self confidence which further

contributes for fulfilling self esteem needs in the Maslow hierarchy. It is important for the people

to identify the learning styles because they have positive impact on the personal and professional

development of an individual. People can easily process the information and learn things in an

effective manner. Thus it can be said that the learning styles contribute for the personal

development of an individual. This can be explained with the help of an example. When there is

an infant, there are only limited things to do in that situation but when the infant gradually

transform into toddler, child and adult, there are variety of things he/she learns. These learned

things are either because of experience or deductive or inductive reasoning. But they facilitate

the individual to learn things and then apply these things in the personal and professional life. In

order to broaden the scope of learning, it is important for the people to identify the learning

styles.

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3. Personal Development Plan and CPD

Personal development plan is the structured approach which involves listing the goals and

objectives and facilitates the individuals in determining the ways to achieve these objectives.

3.1. Benefits of Personal Development Plan

Personal development plan is one of the important tools of professional development that helps

the people to access their skills and abilities. With the help of this plan, they can easily access

what are their capabilities and core competencies. The weaknesses are also highlighted with the

help of this plan and the individual can easily identify the areas in which more effort is required.

Personal development plan is of great use to the strategic managers and they can easily avail the

career opportunities by working on this plan. There is variety of options available with the

people in order to work on these plans. They can use several worksheets that track the routine

activities of the people. Thus it can be said that by recording the detailed routine activities,

individual can monitor how much time is spent on each activity and by keen analysis, he/she can

work out which of the activities can be added or eliminated from the routine in order to get more

fruitful results.

Personal development plan clarifies the ways and choices to the individual which are source of

benefit or threat for accomplishing certain task. The plan should show continuous improvement

in the personality of individuals. This is because of the fact that if the development plan is

showing progress then the overall objective of developing various skills would be achieved.

Otherwise, it would be of no use.

3.2. My Personal Development Plan for next year

The following chart shows my personal development plan for next year. In the skills and

attributes, the skills which are already present or not present are listed down. In the next two

columns, the status of these skills is represented which depicts whether these skills are present,

needs to be improved or to be learned. In these columns, the status has been written and the score

from 1 to 4 is given to these skills depicting the level of particular skill and its relative

importance in the next year. In this manner, the score represents what is the degree of the skill

present in me and how much effort is required in order to improve this skill.

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Sr.

No.

Skills and Attributes Already learned To be learned next year

Status Score Status Importance

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

1 Business report writing Yes 3 Yes 1

2 Creative skills for marketing No 1 Yes 3

3 Effective Communication

Skills

Yes 3 Yes 4

4 Working with databases No 1 Yes 4

5 Working with Information

Systems

Yes 1 Yes 3

6 Technical writing Yes 4 No 1

7 Listening skills Yes 4 No 1

8 Presentation skills Yes 2 Yes 3

9 Information searching skills Yes 4 No 1

10 Basic mathematic calculations Yes 3 No 1

11 Dealing with scientific

equipment

No 1 No 1

12 Analytical reasoning skills Yes 3 Yes 2

13 Working in teams Yes 1 Yes 4

14 Decision making skills Yes 1 Yes 4

15 Logical reasoning skills Yes 2 Yes 3

My strengths:

Writing skills are one of my strengths. This includes business report writing, technical writing,

computer knowledge, listening skills, information skills, analytical reasoning skills and various

other writing and communication skills.

My weaknesses:

Marketing, being my area of interest involves various creative skills of the marketers. For this

reason, there is a need for the understanding of creative software which not only facilitates in

developing various branding elements, but enhances the creative skills of the person. Thus

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creative skills are not currently present in me and there is a need for development of these skills.

Resources needed: Access to the institutes developing creative skills among the people and

teaching the use of creative software. Same is the case with databases and scientific tool handling

skills.

Decision making skills are also lacking in me. This could be enhanced by playing various

business management games which are tend to improve decision making skills among the

business professionals.

Opportunities:

Access to various institutes is one of the opportunities available to me. In addition to this,

internet is one of the most appropriate opportunities available currently which help the people to

access information and the ways to develop various skills.

Threat:

Limited budget available to me is one of the threats that are posed in order to develop the

effective skill set within me.

3.3. Value of Continuous Professional Development for organization and

individuals

Continuous professional development or CPD is important for both the organizations, as well as

for the individuals. This is because of the fact that change is the continuous process that has been

occurring in the job environment as well as in businesses. Trained and skillful workforce is the

requirement of every organization and the companies appreciates those employees which are

dedicated towards achieving organizational goals. For this reason, it is important for the people

who want to work in well reputed organizations to focus on continuous professional

development plans, which not only facilitate them for achieving their personal objectives of self

esteem, but will facilitate the organizations as well.

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4. Personal Development Portfolio

In order to evaluate the professional profile in strategic perspectives, personal development

portfolio plays very important role. This portfolio not only describes evidence of individuals

skills and expertise, but facilitates in developing effective strategies, which are required in

improvement of these skills. It can be said that it is a form of working document which helps the

individual throughout the career. Learning log is one of the important tools that determine the

details of what the individual has learned, what the skills which are developed are and how the

skill can be improved further.

Skill: Creative skills for marketing

Date Activity

Performed

Reason Outcome of

Activity

Application of

Activity

Required

improvements

13-09-2011 Installed Corel

software

Corel includes

various

elements which

improves

creativity

Access to the

software

Improvement

of creative

skills helpful in

Marketing

Needs to be

learned

14-09-2011 Read and

Applied

tutorials

Got basic

information

about the

software

Facilitates

working on the

software

First step of

learning

Still needs to

be learned

15-09-2011 Created logo

and applied it

on business

card and letter

head

Fundamental

learning

Got basic idea

about the

software

Familiarizing

the concepts

Required

practice in

order to get

perfection in

logo

16-09-2011 Practiced same

logo

Improvement Improvement Got the idea

about working

of software and

improved

Improvement

was evident

WORDCOUNT: 3498

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