self awareness and personal development - ibskills international business skills ... · ·...

Association of Business Practitioners

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS SKILLS

Self Awareness and Personal Development ABP Intermediate Award

I hear and I Forget

I see and I Remember

I do and I Understand

“Confucius”

Chinese philosopher & reformer (551 BC - 479 BC)

Student Guide

Professional Curriculum


Published by:

British Business Professional Skills Development (BBPSD), 80 Lodge Lane, Liverpool, L8 0QLUnited Kingdomhttp://www.bbpsd.co.uk

Accredited by:

The Association of Business Practitioners (ABP) is a UK awarding body, which possesses expertise in developing and accrediting qualifications of different sizes and levels, relevant to a wide range of industry sectors. http://www.abp.org.uk/

disclAimer

BBPSD disclaims any and all liability for all use of the information in this document, including losses, damages, claims or expenses that any person or organisation may incur as a result of methodologies presented in this curriculum. Some of the product names and company names used in this book have been used for identification purposes only and may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective manufacturers and sellers.

Further, BBPSD reserves the right to revise this publication and to make changes to its content, at any time, without obligation to notify any person or entity of such revisions or changes.

third-PArty trAdemArks

All third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

First edition

First Print 2010

book number

SA12-01

Copyright © 2012 by British Business Professional Skills Development (BBPSD) UK. All rights reserved. This publication is protected by Copyright, and permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited reproduction.


Self-Awareness and Personal Development

ABP Intermediate Award

Association of Business Practitioners (ABP)

APPROVED COURSEWARE

The ABP Intermediate Diploma in International Business Skills

About the ABP Intermediate Diploma

The ABP Intermediate Diploma in International Business Skills consists of the following 8 self-contained awards:

1. Customer Service2. Business Communications3. Self-Awareness and Personal Development4. Business Etiquette5. Business Basics and Finance6. People Skills7. Time Management8. Information Technology for Business

Each award consists of 50 hours. 20 hours are tutor led (face-to-face) and 30 hours are self-directed learning, with a total of 400 hours to complete the ABP Intermediate Diploma.

At the end of each award, candidates are required to sit a one-hour examination at their local Pearson VUE Testing Centre, for which the pass mark is 70%.

i Self-Awareness and Personal Development

ABP Qualification

To achieve the ABP Intermediate Diploma in International Business Skills, candidates must successfully complete the above 8 awards.

Qualification aims

Candidates who successfully complete the programme at intermediate level will be able to appreciate and develop skills in a broad range of topic areas that are relevant to everyday business. The programme has been designed with two key aims in mind and these two aims run concurrently through all awards. The first key aim is that the candidate will benefit from a personal perspective by developing skills, which will enable them to embark confidently on a successful business career. The second main aim of the programme is that the business in which the candidate is currently employed, or about to be employed by, will also benefit as candidates engage with topics that are at the forefront of modern day business techniques.

Programme overview

The first award covered by candidates is Customer Service. It focuses on the importance of the customer experience and the vital role it plays in business.

Business Communications is the next award covered by candidates. Effective communication skills are at the forefront of business activity. Various common types of communication, both verbal and non-verbal, are considered and candidates are introduced to practical ways in which they can improve their communication skills.

ii© BBPSD 2012 All Rights Reserved.

Self-Awareness and Personal Development is concerned with the candidate’s individual personal development. Skills and techniques that will greatly assist their own and their team’s personal development are introduced and practiced.

Understanding how to behave professionally is the subject of the Business Etiquette award. This established business convention is an essential skill for a business employee.

Basic Business and Finance introduces the candidate to the importance to businesses of correctly making use of available resources. The award begins by ensuring that candidates are aware of the most common business language before considering particular resources and concludes by equipping the candidate with some basic financial planning techniques.

As all managers are aware, dealing with employees is one of the most difficult soft skills. The People Skills award looks closely at some of the key issues that arise when dealing with people and equips candidates with the fundamental skills required to deal with team issues and conflicts that may arise.

Employees making best use of the time available is the subject of the Time Management award. This award is designed to ensure that candidates are aware of current time management techniques and the most common time-wasting activities that occur in businesses.

iii Self-Awareness and Personal Development

The final award in the programme is IT for Business. It is of course now essential that IT skills are prevalent throughout an organisation and the use of information technology is fundamental to the success of a business. This award explores some of the more common technologies in everyday business and gives candidates an understanding of the technical and management skills required in the rapidly changing IT and business environment.

Programme learning outcomes

After successfully completing this programme candidates will be able to:

L1 – Customer Service appreciate the vital role of good customer service and how this contributes to the customer experience.

L2 – Business Communications appreciate the importance of effective communication to a business and develop relevant business communication skills.

L3 – Self-Awareness & Personal

Developmentapply some of the skills and techniques that are available to managers and employees that will greatly assist their own and their teams personal development.

iv© BBPSD 2012 All Rights Reserved.

L4 – Business Etiquette confidently interact in a professional manner and appreciate the importance to an organisation of working within established business conventions.

L5 – Business Basics & Finance understand and appreciate the importance to businesses of correctly making use of available resources.

L6 – People Skills understand how to work effectively with the people a business employs by considering the important aspects of teamwork, motivation and conflict situations.

L7 – Time Management realise the importance of, and be confident in applying, time management techniques over the short, medium and long term.

L8 – IT for Business understand the technical and management skills required when applying the more common business technologies.

v Self-Awareness and Personal Development

Notes...

vi© BBPSD 2012 All Rights Reserved.

Self-Awareness and Personal DevelopmentContents

Introduction to Self-Awareness and Personal Development 01 Award learning outcomes 03

Award design 03

Learning & teaching methods 06

Assessment type & weighting 06

How to get the most from this book 06

Section 1 – Understanding Self-Awareness and Personal Development 07 What is understood by self-awareness and personal development? 09

SWOT analysis table 16

Personal development is an ongoing requirement 17

Current personal development needs 21

Mission and vision statements 29

Tips for writing a personal mission statement 31

Section 2 – Self-improvement 41Appreciate your particular strengths and weaknesses 43

Techniques available to address strengths and weakness 49

Examples of training and development techniques 51

Examples of education 52

vii Self-Awareness and Personal Development

Ways in which you can positively affect self-improvement 55

The importance of getting relevant feedback 59

Section 3 – Positive Attitude and Awareness 67The importance of a positive attitude 69

Benefits of coaching 73

Techniques that can aid motivation and encourage performance 79

Creating a motivated team 84

Creating an effective team 85

Section 4 – Selling Techniques 91Developing a positive sales attitude 93

Importance of first contact strategies 98

Negotiation techniques 101

Some examples of negotiation tactics 103

Sales technology 106

Section 5 – Building Effective Business Relationships 111The importance of having effective business relationships 113

Aligning your personal development needs with your businesses requirements 120

Establishing and maintaining relationships 123

How do we maintain relationships? 125

Building a reputation for integrity and trust 128

viii© BBPSD 2012 All Rights Reserved.

Self-Awareness and Personal DevelopmentIntroduction

The dramatic increase in personal trainers and coaching over the last few years, particularly in senior management teams, has highlighted the importance of the personal development of each person, rather than generic training for all. It is now recognised that a good basic understanding of your own strengths and weaknesses is required, before it is possible to fully benefit from any personal development. Therefore, this book provides an introduction to what is meant by self-awareness and then goes on to consider how to begin personal development.

Developing your own particular life goals and considering how you might achieve them is explored in section one of this book. You stand a much greater chance of achieving your goals if you are sure about what they are. If you can align your personal goals with those of the organisation you work for, then you are likely to be appreciated more at work. If you can do this with a positive attitude, assertiveness and also look for ways to continually improve, then you are likely to have very good career prospects at work. After considering these points, this award goes on to explore the best way to sell promotions and ideas in a trustworthy and respected way. The final section of the book looks more closely at the importance of building effective and trusted business relationships.

1 Self-Awareness and Personal Development

Award learning outcomes

After successfully completing this award, candidates will be able to:

L1 – appreciate what is understood by self-awareness and personal development.

L2 – understand the benefits of continual self-improvement.L3 – identify ways in which you can develop a positive attitude and assertiveness.L4 – confidently sell promotions and ideas.L5 – understand how to build more effective business relationships.

Award design

This award has been designed to provide candidates with skills and techniques to greatly assist with their own and their team’s personal development needs. It focuses on the importance of being aware of our behaviour and how we appear to others.

The award is subdivided into five sections. Each of these five sections deals in greater depth with one of the overall award’s learning outcomes, L1 to L5 listed above. Therefore, Section 1 corresponds to L1, Section 2 to L2, and so on. The following table provides a brief description of each section in the Self-Awareness and Personal Development award.


Section title Learning Outcomes

Section 1:Understanding Self-Awareness & Personal Development

• Appreciate what is understood by self-awareness and personal development.

• Understand that personal development is an ongoing requirement.

• Recognise your current personal development needs.

• Develop your own mission and vision statements.

Section 2:Self-Improvement

• Appreciate your particular strengths and weaknesses.

• Recognise the techniques available to address strengths and weaknesses.

• Identify the ways in which you can positively affect self-improvement.

• Understand the importance of receiving relevant feedback as part of your ongoing self-improvement.


Section 3:Positive Attitude and Awareness

• Understand the importance of having a positive attitude.

• Appreciate the benefits of coaching.• Recognise techniques that can aid motivation and

encourage performance.• Create a motivated team.

Section 4:Selling Techniques

• Develop a positive sales attitude.• Understand the importance of first contact strategies .• Identify and use the most suitable sales negotiation

techniques.• Recognise effective and appropriate sales technology.

Section 5:Building Effective BusinessRelationships

• Appreciate the importance of having effective business relationships.

• Align your personal development needs with your business’s requirements.

• Understand how to establish and maintain relationships.• Build a reputation for integrity and trust.


Learning & teaching methods

A suitable mix of lectures, tutorials, workshops, case studies, videos and hands on practical exercises. The award has 20 hours of formal contact teaching.

Assessment type & weighting

The award will be assessed by a formal examination of 1 hour duration.

How to get the most from this book

You will gain more benefit when studying this book if you stop and reflect at the end of each section. This award contains five sections and you should look back at the learning outcomes for each section as you complete them, ensuring that you are comfortable with each learning outcome. If you are unsure about one of the learning outcomes, or any aspect of that section, then look back at the associated tutorial notes and exercises you have completed in class.

Do not forget that this is YOUR book, so make notes in it as you go along to help you understand as you learn. Remember that learning is an active exercise and you need to fully engage with the text, as it is not the same as casual reading.

Finally, we hope you enjoy this book and get as much pleasure from studying aspects of business as we do!


Section 2Self-Improvement

Learning outcomes

The learning outcomes of this section are:

• Appreciate your particular strengths and weaknesses.• Recognise the techniques available to address strengths and weaknesses.• Identify the ways in which you can positively affect self-improvement.• Understand the importance of getting relevant feedback as part of your ongoing

self-improvement.


Introduction

In the second section of the book, we take a more detailed look at assessing your strengths and weaknesses, and ways in which you can use techniques to improve strengths and address weaknesses. We look at the training and development that focuses on job-specific skills and education, which typically focuses on your career. The section then goes on to consider ways in which you can positively affect self-improvement by considering the important areas of motivation and self-belief. The section concludes with the important, but difficult topic, of getting relevant feedback that will help you to improve.


Appreciate your particular strengths and weaknesses

It is often helpful to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses when working on your personal development. Earlier in this award, you performed a SWOT analysis, looking at your particular strengths and weaknesses. Understanding personal strengths and weaknesses can help a person to make informed decisions, both personal and developmental. The following paragraphs will explain strengths and weaknesses in more detail.


Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths

It is important to evaluate your strong points, as being aware of your strengths can improve your confidence, guide your current or future career, and help you to understand what you can contribute to a team. When considering your strengths you should be honest with yourself about your personality and skills. If you are unsure about the strengths you possess, you should consider talking to work colleagues, family, and friends. It is important to talk to a variety of people in different environments, as environments can influence strengths and weaknesses. Examples of strength include the following:

• ability to handle conflict• ability to make decisions• ability to think about the big

picture • ability to pay attention to detail• ability to take risks• adaptability and willingness to

change• being personally organised• commercial awareness• commitment• competitiveness

• creativity• determination• enthusiasm• initiative• good judgement• quick thinking and getting to the

point• self-confidence• sensitivity to people and

situations• strength of will• willingness to take responsibility


Weaknesses

When looking at your weaknesses it is important to be honest about the areas in which you need to improve and what your limitations are. The important thing about weaknesses is that you can always improve on them, and some weaknesses can actually have positive implications. For example, you might be a bit obsessive with tasks, but if viewed from a different perspective, this could be seen as attention to detail and a desire for perfection. This is not about hiding from the truth, but more about putting a positive interpretation on a negative characteristic.

Weakness Corresponding StrengthStubborn Tenacious

Cheap EconomicalDemands perfection Strives for excellence

Compromiser NegotiatorImpulsive FastGambler Takes risks

Self-effacing ModestObsessive Attention for detail

Bossy Leadership


You should not be discouraged by your weaknesses, as admitting what might be wrong gives you an opportunity to work towards improvement. Remember that everyone has some type of weakness or limitation.

Activity

Think about and record your answers to the following questions:

Case 1: What are the strong points of my character and personality?


Case 2: What are the weak points of my character and personality?

•


Case 3: Are my weak points something I can put a positive spin on, or are they something that I need to start working on?


Techniques available to address strengths and weaknesses

Both strengths and weaknesses can be improved upon. Just because you identify something as a strength, does not necessarily mean that you no longer need to address that knowledge pool or skill set. For example, your knowledge of a particular computer program may be a current strength, but if you do not keep up-to-date with changes, then in a relatively short space of time it may no longer be a strength, as your knowledge can become out-of-date. Both strengths and weaknesses need to be considered.

One technique, to help address strengths and weaknesses, is to undertake a training needs analysis for your job role. You need to compare your current knowledge and skill set to your job needs and demands to identify where gaps exist. This enables you to identify which specific areas need attention. Typically, weaknesses and gaps are addressed, but as mentioned in the opening paragraph, areas of strength need consideration to ensure they remain so.

What techniques are available to address weaknesses and help ensure strengths remain as such? There are two ways of developing strengths and weaknesses:

1. Training and development2. Education


‘Training’ is the systematic process of providing an opportunity to acquire knowledge and skills, and to develop appropriate attitudes for current or future jobs. ‘Development’ refers to the actual acquisition of knowledge, skills and attitudes. Thus, training is the opportunity for learning, and development is the outcome.

‘Education’ is different to training and development. Training and development typically focus on job-specific knowledge, skills and attitudes (KSAs). Education typically focuses on more general KSAs, which are not necessarily focused on a person’s job or career.


Opportunity

Strengths

Weaknesses

Outcom

e

Examples of training and development techniques:

• Formal training courses - these can be in-house or provided by outside organisations.

• On-the-job training.• Apprenticeships - these are typically linked to a formal qualification awarded by

an educational establishment.• Simulations - opportunities to practice in a ‘safe’ environment, where errors

will not impact on business outcomes.• Coaching and mentoring - this can be carried out by people inside or outside

of the organisation, and can be a structured formal arrangement or a loose and informal arrangement.

• Job rotation - the person can learn on-the-job by being transferred to different work areas. In itself, job rotation does not develop strengths or address weaknesses, unless the person is supported in doing so during their rotation.

• Case studies - opportunities to learn by discussing real life scenarios with others.

• Project work - opportunities to learn through actively doing (usually with others, but does not have to be a group activity).

• Problem based learning - opportunities to learn by addressing a problem (usually with others, but does not have to be a group activity).


Examples of education:

• Formal class-based education courses.• Formal distance learning/correspondence courses.


Activity

Imagine that you are a line manager, and as a result of some role re-allocation, one of your staff needs to learn how to design and update web sites. They have about six months to gain the required skills and have no prior knowledge or skills in this area. There are other people in your organisation who have this knowledge and skill set, but not in your department.

Your job is to identify the techniques you could use to address this need. For each technique identify the pros and cons.

Make a recommendation for the technique, or combination of techniques that you would opt for in this scenario.


Ways in which you can positively affect self-improvement

How can you positively impact on self-improvement?The key is in your motivation and self-confidence. Let us consider each one in turn.

Motivation

A person needs to be motivated to engage in self-improvement activities, otherwise there may be little effort exerted and little return on the time and money invested.

It is important that the person concerned has ‘buy-in’, so that they want to engage. For example, managers sometimes tell their staff that they need to go on a particular training course, which the person duly attends, but often does not learn much or transfer what they have learnt back into the workplace. This is often because the person concerned does not understand why they are being instructed to go, and therefore does not see the value. A better technique is for the manager to get the staff member to say they want to go. This requires some careful thought as to how to approach the idea in such a way that the staff member believes it was actually their idea to attend.

Another motivational method is for the manager, in conjunction with the member of staff, to set challenging but realistic goals. Goal setting has been proven to be one of


the best ways to impact on a person’s motivation. If there is a goal to work towards that requires the person to engage in self-improvement, and the person values the achievement of that goal, then there is a greater chance of self-improvement being successful.

The greater the personal motivation to engage, the more likely it is there will be a positive outcome.

Self-belief

The other issue, which is linked to motivation, is to do with a person’s self-belief i.e. do they believe they can do it?

If you require someone to do an MBA, for example, you have to ensure the person is at a point where they believe they can do it. If they are not in this belief frame of mind this will impact on how well they do. A person has to believe they are capable of doing something. They have to open their mind to the learning opportunity in order to get the most out of it.

People often need to have some mental preparation in terms of their personal ability beliefs. This might come in the form of gentle positive encouragement and reinforcement, over a period of time. For example, you might encourage a person to consider their future career prospects. Tap into what you know motivates the person concerned, and then work on helping them to believe that they are capable of doing it.

To summarise, motivation is important and will get the person so far, but motivation AND self-belief should get the person further.


Activity

Najeem was told by his boss that he needed to learn to speak French, as his company aspired to move into the French marketplace within the next 3 years. Najeem was told that if he was able to converse in French with potential new customers, that this would certainly help secure his future with the company over the coming years. Najeem had never spoken a word of French in his life. Growing up in India, he then went to the USA for his undergraduate degree, and then got his job with a British company. There had been no need for French, and no exposure to the language. Najeem tried a few words and felt stupid.

As Najeem’s line manager (and as someone who studied French for a few years while in secondary school) consider how you would go about improving Najeem’s self-confidence and motivation, before enrolling him on a formal French course?


A Red Apple


Une Pomme Rouge

The importance of getting relevant feedback as part of your ongoing self-improvement

When you engage in any kind of self-improvement, it is vital to receive relevant feedback on how you are getting on along the way. Consider for a moment that you are on a masters degree programme in a different country. You are aware that there are different expectations from where you grew up and studied. Everything is new to you and you are a little unsure. You submit your first assignment and expect to receive feedback before you have to submit the next one. You need feedback, so you can see what you need to change in order to improve in the next one. Thus, timely and informative feedback is vital to ensure you incrementally improve.

The feedback you receive needs to be timely, and needs to include aspects that are important for you to consider in order to improve, i.e. the feedback you receive needs to be relevant, and also needs to be specific and precise (as opposed to general and vague). Feedback like “generally a good performance” does not tell you where you need to improve and how to do it.


More specific/precise feedback is preferable, such as “your verbal face-to-face communication with potential customers has significantly improved over the last month. This is now up to company standards and protocols. However, your telephone technique stills needs some work, as you do not always use the company style and protocols. More practice is needed here.” This is very precise, telling the employee that they have reached the required standard in one area, but another still needs work.


If you receive relevant, specific and timely feedback, it will enable you to focus your efforts on your weaker areas. Getting positive feedback on what you are doing well will help keep you motivated. When focusing on weaker areas, you need to receive regular feedback as to whether the activities you are undertaking to address the weaknesses are actually having any positive impact.

Most workplaces have a formal mechanism for providing feedback, such as the performance appraisal. However, this tends to be an annual event, and although some workplaces have bi-annual reviews, the formal appraisal should not be the only form of feedback provided. The annual appraisal feedback mechanism tends to be formal. Less formal feedback, that is more immediate, i.e. provided closer to the time of the event, is of greater benefit with regard to development. Feedback is more powerful when received close to the event.

Feedback is also more effective when it is delivered by a person who actually understands your work. This may seem obvious, but people are often appraised by individuals who know little of their actual work capabilities. Feedback should therefore be given by someone who understands your work, thus giving legitimacy to the feedback. This legitimacy should help to ensure that the feedback is accepted by the recipient, as it is then more likely to be acted upon.


Supervisors/line managers should provide feedback as part of ‘ongoing good management’. Some supervisors/managers will do this and make a point of providing you with formal and informal feedback. However, other supervisors/line managers may not do this. Therefore, if feedback is not forthcoming, you should take the initiative and ask for it.


Example

Jonas was recently promoted to the position of assistant forensic accountant in a large company. Training was two-fold, an in-house training programme and formal coaching by a nominated forensic accountant at the company.

The formal training programme consisted of formal teaching sessions, where participants received verbal feedback during each session. Formal assessments took place once per month, for which feedback was provided within one week of the assessment date.

The coach spent one day per fortnight working directly with their trainee. The coach provided immediate feedback on anything relevant (both positive and negative feedback) as the day progressed.


Overview

In this section, we have taken a more detailed look at how to assess your strengths and weaknesses, by considering ways in which you can use techniques to improve them. We have considered two types of training and development, which focus on job-specific skills and educational skills.

The section has looked particularly at how you can positively affect self-improvement, by investigating motivation and improving your self-belief. Finally, we have highlighted the importance of receiving relevant, timely and informative feedback that will help you to improve incrementally.


Notes ...


Section 5Building Effective Business Relationships

Learning outcomes

The learning outcomes of this section are:

• Appreciate the importance of having effective business relationships.• Align your personal development needs with your business’s requirements.• Understand how to establish and maintain relationships.• Build a reputation for integrity and trust.


Introduction

A great deal of the success we achieve in life is dependent on personal relationships, whether at home or at work and in general, no two relationships that you form will be exactly the same. The final section of the book looks at the importance of having effective business relationships and goes on to explain that you should align your personal development needs with your work requirements. In order to align your personal development needs with that of your job will mean that you need to be aware of the organisations goals. This section investigates what you need to do to ensure that your goals are aligned with the organisations. The final part of this section looks at how to establish a reputation for trust and integrity.


The importance of having effective business relationships

In all aspects of business it is vital to create and nurture effective relationships with people you do business with. This includes people within your own organisation, people in organisations with whom you currently do business, people in organisations with whom you may do business with in the future, and other people in your field. In fact, it could be argued that you need to have effective business relationships with any ‘stakeholder’ that may influence your current and future successes.

A ‘stakeholder’ is any individual or group that may be interested in, and/or may be affected by the plans and activities of your organisation, or the behaviour of any member in that organisation. This includes internal and external stakeholders, who may be contractual or non-contractual in their nature.

Example of internal contractual stakeholders:

• Employees/co-workers

Examples of external contractual stakeholders:

• Customers• Suppliers


Examples of internal non-contractual stakeholders:

• Departments• Internal customers• Internal suppliers

Examples of external non-contractual stakeholders:

• Media• Local government• National government• Pressure groups• Competitors

Of course, the people you need to develop and maintain effective relationships with will largely depend on your job role. Thus, it is important for you to reflect on and identify who your key stakeholder relationships are with.

It is often said that people do business for people, which means that personal relationships between people are important in the business relationship.

It is almost impossible to be successful at work (or indeed in your home life) without being able to establish and maintain effective relationships. Whether you like it or not, and whether you like the person or not, you have to find ways of creating and maintaining effective relationships.


An interesting point about business relationships is that they are never neutral. What this means is that they are either strong or weak, hot or cold, healthy or unhealthy, friendly or unfriendly. Every relationship will have a mix of feelings in there.

Another interesting point about business relationships is that no two relationships will ever be built and maintained in the same way. Each is unique and needs individual thought and attention. Good relationships do not happen by accident. You must consciously build your relationships with each unique individual, and work hard (in most cases) to maintain them.

You will need to build relationships vertically and horizontally. This means that you need to build relationships with people who are above and below you in the hierarchical sense, as well as with people who are deemed to be on the same or similar level as you. You might call this ‘networking’.

Perhaps your most important vertical business relationship is your immediate line manager/supervisor. You may even have more than one person who falls into this category, which means you have more work to do in relationship building and maintenance. This is likely to be the most important person for you in terms of future job prospects within your organisation, and you may spend a significant part of your work time with the person. This necessitates that reflection and thought go into how you can build and maintain the right kind of relationship.


Horizontal relationships are important with your co-workers. These can be people in the same department as you, but they might also be in other departments, depending on the kind of work you do. If you are new to a group or team then you are starting from scratch. You need to work out who you need to build relationships with, and how best to do it. It is possible to learn a lot about the people with whom you need to build a relationship by watching how other people interact with them, but it is important to make your own decisions about them and forge relationships based on your own experiences.

It is likely that you will make mistakes along the journey, but it is important to take time to reflect on why your relationships are or are not working as well as you would like, and to try different ways of building and maintaining them. This may, at times, involve dealing with conflict and/or communication and trust issues.

One common mistake that new people can make is to concentrate on building a relationship with their line manager at the expense of building relationships with colleagues horizontally. We all need our colleagues to support us sooner or later, especially as the majority of work these days relies on a team approach. Another common mistake is to create good relationships with only one or two horizontal colleagues, while neglecting relationships with everyone else.

You should not underestimate the value of building and maintaining effective relationships with a wide variety of people, even if they do not appear to be necessary for your current job. In other words, build an effective network with internal and external contacts, both vertically and horizontally.


Activity

Below are some possible scenarios about relationship challenges. Read each one and make some suggestions for how you could work on improving the relationship.

Challenging relationship issue 1

You have been moved into an office with a co-worker who is twice your age, the opposite sex, from a different country, and has strong religious beliefs that conflict with your own. You could not be any more different if you tried! The room is small and you cannot avoid each other. On your first day in the room it is clear you are not hitting it off and the other person has only managed to grunt ‘hello’ once. How could you build a relationship with this person?



You have just started a new job and have been introduced to two key colleagues with whom you will need to work very closely in order to do your job. They have worked together for over a year and clearly get on very well together. How are you going to join this established pair?



Your job requires you to work with two external organisational partners. Each partner thinks they are the most important partner, that you could not do your job without them, and each thinks that you should prioritise their work. How are you going to handle these demanding business relationships?


Aligning your personal development needs with your businesses requirements

Everyone will have personal development needs at certain points throughout their working lives. It is important to be able to identify what these personal development needs are, but from an organisation’s perspective, it is important that the needs are aligned to the needs of the company; to help them achieve their goals. In other words, an organisation needs to ensure that it invests in people in a way that is most likely to ensure the organisation achieves its goals and objectives. Thus, employees need to align their personal development needs with the needs of the business, if they are to enhance the chances of gaining support for their development needs.

As an employee, if you think your line manager may have difficulty in seeing the benefit(s) of investing in one or more of your personal development needs, it is your job to try and convince them of the business benefits. As an employee, if you can identify the personal development that you need to undertake and make a case to your manager/supervisor about how it will/may help achieve one or more organisational requirements, then you would be better placed to receive support from the organisation.

The first step is to find out what the business requirements are now, in the immediate future and in the medium - long term. Find out what your organisation’s mission, goals and objectives are. If you work for an organisation with departments/sections, you also need to find out what the goals and objectives are of that particular department/section.


The second step is to think about these goals and objectives and reflect on how you can help with their achievement. What personal development needs do you have that could help the organisation in achieving its goals and objectives?

The next step is to present your personal development needs to your line manager/supervisor. Most organisations have a formal, structured, and usually annual process for this, called a performance appraisal or personal development review. However, you do not need to wait for the formal process to come around if you think you have needs that could help the business. Having a good relationship with your line manager/supervisor should enable you to bring up these issues, as and when appropriate to do so.

Bear in mind however, that most organisations address personal development needs on a structured timetable, usually linked with an appraisal, and that most organisations have pre-set training and development budgets. It is normally at this time in the annual cycle that decisions are made as to which personal development needs they will invest time and money in. It will help your case if you can explain how/why your development needs can/may impact on organisational objectives.


Activity

Think about the personal development needs you may have at this point in time. List them.


Establishing and maintaining relationships

Having established that making and maintaining effective working relationships is important, how do we go about doing it?

The first step is to meet people. If you do not know people in your target business community, there are a number of ways to start meeting the relevant people. You can meet people through formal and informal mechanisms.

Traditional methods include personal introductions by current or old colleagues/contacts, membership of networking groups (and subsequent attendance at meetings/events), membership of professional bodies (and subsequent attendance/involvement with the organisation) and attendance at trade fairs and conferences.

Other ways of establishing business relationships are to attend meetings, go for lunch with colleagues, have breaks with people, and generally make the effort to meet and talk with people.

All of these methods involve you making the effort to meet and engage with people. This is referred to as ‘networking’.

These days you can network face-to-face in person, and also use ICT (virtual


networking). However, face-to-face networking is the most powerful way to establish a relationship, as body language is extremely important in the early days of any kind of relationship.

Meeting people is only the first challenge though. A relationship is more than simply meeting someone. You need to build a rapport with the person, find some common ground and make small talk. Get to know the person and get them to like you. If someone likes you and enjoys your company they will be more inclined to seek you out in the future. Make sure the person also knows who you are, where you work, and what you might be able to help them with, should the time come.

Establishing a relationship is more than just meeting someone once. It takes time and several positive encounters to be able to say you have a relationship with someone. So, it takes time and effort to establish a relationship.


How do we maintain relationships?

Given that it takes time and effort to establish relationships, it is clear that there is a good business case for maintaining those relationships. People like to feel valued and interesting. Therefore, to maintain relationships we have to ensure that we stay in touch with people and portray a genuine interest in them. The danger is that if we do not maintain a relationship then we will fade into the distance and the person will forget us, and all the effort we made to establish the relationship will be lost.

Another important element of maintaining good relationships is to ensure that after any business exchange of any sort, we endeavour to deliver what was promised in the agreed time frame. Should anything hinder the agreement/deadline, then good, open, honest two-way communication is crucial to help preserve the relationship.

Example

Mr Salam started a new job six months ago. He moved to a different part of the country, changed industry and he did not bring any important business relationships with him to his new job. Mr Salam had to start from scratch in establishing new business relationships.


How did he do it?

He started with his immediate line manager, who introduced him to all the key players inside of the organisation. Through these initial contacts, Mr Salam found out who would be useful to him with regard to his job and new development opportunities in the organisation.

Mr Salam asked his internal contacts who he would be best to meet up with and perhaps meet outside the organisation. He created his own opportunities to meet and socialise with people by contacting them by phone and following-up with informal face-to-face meetings over coffee and lunch.

Mr Salam also made use of organised networking groups in the area to meet potential new clients. He sponsored one of the bigger events for an opportunity to stand up and present to the group, and networked at several events, chatting away over lunch and drinks, circulating his business card and collecting other peoples’ contact details. Mr Salam followed-up via e-mail and further phone conversations with anyone he met at events that might be of business value in the future.

Mr Salam identified three groups of business relationships: those who were immediately important to him, those who may be important but this was not yet clear, and those who probably would not be important in his current job. Mr Salam prioritised his contacts and interaction frequency and methods accordingly.


Activity

Identify two of the most important business relationships you have. Identify ways in which you can work at maintaining these relationships over time.


Building a reputation for integrity and trust

In the last section we saw how important it is to establish and maintain relationships with people. This is one of the reasons why we warned against using ‘Bluff ’ as a strategy. Part of relationship building is about integrity and trust. Integrity is about the honesty of our motivations for our actions, whereas trust is defined as our reliance on another person, and it is vital for building good business networks. Trust cannot develop without integrity; people need to feel that we are true and honest about our intentions before they are likely to trust us with their business.

Perhaps the easiest way to explore this section is to ask yourself the following question: ‘Would you do business with someone who you did not feel you entirely trusted and who you thought was not being honest about why they wanted to do business with you?’ The answer to this question is probably no. So, you can see it is vital to build a reputation for integrity and trust.

In business what you really want to aim for is a situation where your integrity and trust do not come into question. How can you build that kind of reputation? Building a reputation for integrity and trust requires you to be truthful, honest and sincere in all your business activities. Other peoples’ words and endorsements speak much louder than your own. People are more likely to believe what other people have to say about you, so for this reason your reputation should be built by other people espousing your virtues of integrity and trust.

How do you do it? You will do this by hard work and honesty. You will do it through working with other people who are also hard working and honest. Your reputation is not just about you, but it can be tainted by those who you choose to do business or associate with.


Tips for building a reputation for integrity and trust:

• Be open and honest about your motivation for wanting to work with someone else.

• Have open and honest two-way communication with the people you do business with.

• Try to only do business with other people who have a good reputation (as their reputation can rub off on yours).

• Try to deliver on your business promise every time.• If anything goes or starts to go wrong, address it as soon as possible to limit

the potential damage.• Maintain confidentiality.


Activity

Imagine that you have recently started working for a large company, who have had a lot of bad press in the last year over some business ventures that were thought to involve the use of bribery. It was never proven, but none-the-less people in the business community are quite wary of your company, and as such may tar you with the same brush i.e. believe you are the same type of person.

Suggest how you would go about building a reputation for integrity and trust in this type of situation.


Overview

This final section of the course has looked at the importance of personal relationships and the effect it has on the amount of success we achieve in life. We have looked at business relationships, from internal contractual stakeholders through to external non-contractual stakeholders and we have stressed the importance of identifying who your key stakeholders are. It was also noted that we need to build relationships vertically and horizontally and that you must consciously work to establish and maintain them.

The importance of aligning personal development needs with employment and business needs was looked at, with a view to matching your personal development requirements with those of the organisation. Finally, we looked at how you can establish a reputation for trust and integrity. The simplest way to do this at work, is of course by working hard and honestly. Although not always possible, we suggested that you should always endeavour to only work with people who have a good reputation.


Notes ...


ABP Intermediate Diploma in International Business Skills

ABP Intermediate Diploma in International Business Skills

In order to be awarded the ABP Intermediate Diploma in International Business Skills, candidates must successfully complete the following 8 awards.

1. ABP Intermediate Award in Customer Service2. ABP Intermediate Award in Business Communication3. ABP Intermediate Award in Self-Awareness and Personal

Development4. ABP Intermediate Award in Business Etiquette5. ABP Intermediate Award in Business Basics and Finance6. ABP Intermediate Award in People Skills7. ABP Intermediate Award in Time Management8. ABP Intermediate Award in Information Technology for Business

The programme is studied and assessed at Intermediate level of the ABP qualifications system.


In order to complete the ABP Intermediate Diploma in International Business Skills, you need to complete the remaining 7 awards as outlined on the following pages:


Customer Service ABP Intermediate Award


Rationale for award

This award has been designed to give candidates an understanding, both practically and theoretically, of the importance to businesses of customer service and an appreciation of how candidates can play an important role in delivering effective customer service.

The award is a core component of the ABP Intermediate Diploma in International Business Skills.


After successfully completing this award candidates will be able to:

L1 – identify different customer segments and their needs.L2 – understand the importance of developing a positive customer

experience.L3 – recognise the need to meet relative customer expectations.L4 – appreciate the role of effective communication with customers.L5 – understand the importance of planning and organising your daily

routine.


Business Communication ABP Intermediate Award


Rationale for award

The Business Communication award focuses on the importance of good communication throughout a business and the vital role it plays in its success. After successfully completing this award, candidates will be able to appreciate the range of communication used in business, the importance of overcoming communication barriers and they will also have a better understanding of good communication techniques.




L1 – identify and appreciate the range of communication used in business.L2 – appreciate effective and ineffective communication.L3 – establish where and when barriers to communication exist.L4 – conduct successful business team meetings.L5 – identify and apply techniques to improve personal communication skills.


Business Etiquette ABP Intermediate Award


Rationale for award

The Business Etiquette award focuses on how a business interacts with both external and internal stakeholders. Understanding business etiquette, the established convention in which businesses relate to each other, is an essential skill for a business employee. This award introduces some of the cultural business expectations that are present in the modern business environment. The award also introduces the important concept of business ethics.




L1 – understand what is meant by business etiquette.L2 – appreciate the importance of both professional and cultural expectations.L3 – act in a professional manner with customers and work colleagues.L4 – understand the importance of behaving in a professional manner.L5 – recognise the importance of ethical business behaviour.


Business Basics & Finance ABP Intermediate Award


Rationale for award

The Business Basics and Finance award introduces everyday business terminology and relates this to the more common legal business entities. The different internal and external factors that affect a business are explained and their importance explored. Basic financial planning is introduced and there is a focus on making best use of available resources, particular emphasis is placed on the importance of cash flow to the business.




L1 – identify and understand everyday business terminology.L2 – distinguish between the various legal structures for a business.L3 – recognise the importance of transforming resources into goods and

services.L4 – apply basic financial planning tools and techniques.L5 – appreciate the main issues when managing a business.


People Skills ABP Intermediate Award


Rationale for award

A business’ success is mainly reliant on how effectively it deals with the people it employs and how these employees interact with each other. This award looks closely at some of the key issues that arise when dealing with people, and aims to provide the necessary skills to better equip candidates to deal with teams and conflict that occurs. It looks particularly at self-management and conflict resolution.




L1 – recognise why people skills are vital to your organisation’s success.L2 – appreciate the importance of self-management and working with

differences.L3 – identify and confidently deal with conflict.L4 – work effectively with and in teams.L5 – understand how to communicate effectively with people.


Time Management ABP Intermediate Award


Rationale for award

Time is a fixed resource over which we have no control; the way we use our time can greatly influence how effective we become. This award is designed to make you aware of your current time management techniques and how you can improve them over the short, medium, and long-term. It looks particularly at the most common time-wasting activities that occur in businesses and provides guidance on how to avoid them.




L1 – understand why time management skills are necessary.L2 – determine how to make the best use of the time available.L3 – identify ways in which you can eliminate time-wasting activities in business.L4 – confidently delegate tasks.L5 – understand how to use personal time management to achieve strategic

objectives.


IT for Business ABP Intermediate Award


Rationale for award

The use of information technology is now fundamental to the success of a business. This award explores some of the more common technologies used in everyday business and aims to give candidates an understanding of the technical and management skills required in the rapidly changing IT and business environment. This award will give candidates more confidence in the more common IT packages and explain how to derive maximum benefit from them.




L1 – appreciate what is understood by IT and e-commerce in the business world.

L2 – recognise the benefits of a planned IT strategy.L3 – identify ways in which they can derive maximum benefit from technology. L4 – confidently use the most common business applications.L5 – understand the important of IT security and data protection.


ABP IntermediateAwards

Self Awareness and PersonalDevelopment

CustomerService

BusinessBasics andFinance

TimeManagement

IT forBusiness

BusinessEtiquette

BusinessCommunication

People Skills

in

InternationalBusiness Skills


ABP IntermediateDiploma


Student Guide

Professional Curriculum

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Not Just a Living

www.bbpsd.co.uk


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