F1_Session13_notes

5/21/2010 1 ACCA-F1 1. Improving Personal Effectiveness 2. Communication and Interpersonal expert@live.cn Objective expert@live.cn Communication and Interpersonal skills Improving personal effectiveness Chapter 28 & 29 What is a personal development plan? • Definition: – Clear developmental action plan for an individual that incorporates a wide set of developmental opportunities including formal training • Decided by employees under the guidance and supervision of the management – Employees decide their targets/goal and ways to achieve them • Development is more general than training • More forward-looking and orientated towards the individual • Is concerned with enabling the individual to fulfill his or her potential. Training vs. Development Training Development Immediately practical. No Immediate practical application Connected to job performance Overtime it enables a person to deal with wider problems expert@live.cn Personal development plan • Purpose: – To ensure ‘growth’ during the person’s career. • The growth should be triggered by a job that provides challenging, stretching goals. • The clearer and more challenging the goals, the more effort will be exerted, and the more likely it is that good performance will result. • If the person does a good job and receives positive feedback, he or she will feel successful (psychological success). These feelings will increase the feelings of confidence and self- esteem and lead to involvement in the work, which in turn leads to the setting of future stretching goals. Personal development plan • Purpose: – Aim • Improved performance in the current job • Developing skills (manual, intellectual, mental, perceptual or social) for future career moves within and outside the organization • Developing specialist expertise. 5/21/2010 2 Career growth-cycle Preparing a personal development plan • Stage 1: – Carry out a personal SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis. Preparing a personal development plan • Stage 1: – Carry out a personal SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis. Preparing a personal development plan • Stage 2: Set personal goals for the individual – The tasks the person does not do well are examined and reasons are established. – This can take the form of an alternative and more traditional type of SWOT analysis by examining the person’s strengths and weaknesses. – Particular weaknesses should be identified as being the cause of failure to carry out certain tasks well. This should then inform a personal set of objectives in order to overcome these weaknesses. – SMART objectives for goal setting–Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic ,Time bounded. Preparing a personal development plan • Stage 3:Draw up action plan – Should be based on addressing the identified weaknesses and trying to move more of the tasks of the current role into the ‘do well’ side of the matrix on the left-hand side. – It is easier to improve the performance of individuals in tasks that they like performing than in those that they don’t. – Some degree of control is necessary to monitor the extent to which the programme is achieving the goals and stated objectives. • Control processes give people structure, define methods and indicate how their performance will be measured. The importance of continuous monitoring and feedback • Stage 3:Draw up action plan – Monitoring in simple terms means watching over something that is happening. – Control processes give people timely, relevant feedback on their performance – this is information about how they did in the light of some goal and that can be used to improve performance. – Usually provided by the manager or supervisor, and should be concurrent – or certainly not long delayed. – People need the reassurance that they are on the right track and are achieving what is expected of them. • Feedback – Should be clear and frequent ( achieved by continuous monitoring of task) – Feedback can also have a motivating effect by providing recognition of work done which in turn provides the incentive to sustain and improve performance levels. – Recognition, praise and encouragement create feelings of confidence, competence, development and progress that enhance the motivation to learn. 5/21/2010 3 Time management • Time is a unique resource – you cannot hire, rent or buy more time. • The supply is totally irreplaceable and everything requires time. Purpose of time management • Plan the best use of time • Cut down on time wasted • Devote more time to the really important issues, or jobs on hand • Complete more in the time available. • Advantages of time management – eliminate wastage – refuse excessive workloads – monitor project progress – allocate resource (time) appropriate to a task’s importance – plan each day/week efficiently. Time management techniques • Spend time planning and organizing – Using time to think and plan is time well spent. • Produce an activity log – A breakdown of your time spent in a typical week, divided between activities at work, home, study, leisure and travel. • Cost your time – Every occasion when you ‘save’ an hour, or put it to better use, you become more cost-effective. • Make lists – Plan the whole of the coming week in advance, then make a list every day before you start work. • Prioritize – Look at the list and assess tasks for relative importance, amount of time required, and any deadlines Time management techniques Time management techniques Steven covey 4 generations of time management approaches. 5/21/2010 4 Barriers to effective time management Improving personal effectiveness  Definition :  Effectiveness means setting the right goals and objectives and then making sure they are accomplished. Being effective means getting the result that you want.  Using a planning aid  A time/appointments diary, a workplanner or daily schedule form to plan daily activities and manage time.  Information technology available to support and improve personal productivity Outlook/ Goalpro: Features for personal productivity management • A calendar allows users to timetable their activities for the day and plan meetings with others. It will also be able to generate reminders. • An address book. • To do lists. • A journal. This can automatically record interactions with people involved in a project, such as email messages and record and time actions such as creating and working on files. The journal will keep track of all of this and is useful both as a record of work done and as a quick way of finding relevant files and messages without having to remember where each one is saved. • A jotter for jotting down notes as quick reminders of questions, ideas, and so on. Personal development • Mentoring • Coaching and • Counseling Mentoring • It is a process where one person offers help, guidance, advice and support to facilitate the learning or development of another. • It follows an open and evolving agenda and deals with a range of issues. • Core activities – Exchange of knowledge that is unique to a business, industry, profession or organization – A sustained partnering relationship – A measurable, beneficial outcomes for the individual parties involved and for the larger organization. Who is a mentor? • A mentor is a guide, counselor, tutor or trainer who: – Can give practical study support and advice – Can give technical, ethical and general business guidance – Can help with development of interpersonal and work skills – Is an impartial sounding board – no direct reporting responsibility – Is a role model who can help improve career goals. 5/21/2010 5 Coaching • Focuses on achieving specific objectives, usually within a preferred time period. • It is more about improving the performance of someone who is already competent rather than establishing competency in the first place, or focusing on the task and ensuring that the learner gains competence. Coaching • It is usually on a one-to-one basis, is set in the everyday working situation and is a continuing activity. • It involves gently nudging people to improve their performance, to develop their skills and to increase their self-confidence so that they can take more responsibility for their own work and develop their career prospects. • Most coaching is carried out by a more senior person, or manager. • Essential qualities of a coach: – Expertise, judgment and experience Counseling • Defined as ‘a purposeful relationship in which one person helps another to help himself/herself’. • Through active listening, the use of open questions and clarifications, the counselor encourages reflection and help the client identify issues and solutions • Counseling does not involve giving advice or making suggestions. Counselor needs to • Observant. There is a need to note behavior, which may be symptomatic of a problem. • Sensitive. There is a need to acknowledge and understand that another person’s beliefs and values may be different from their own (for example religious beliefs). • Empathetic. There is a need to appreciate that the problem may seem overwhelming to the individual. • Impartial. There is a need to remain impartial and refrain from giving advice. • Discreet. There will be situations when an employee cannot be completely open unless they are sure that the comments they make will be treated with confidentiality. Effective communications and interpersonal skills What is communication? • It is the interchange of information, ideas, facts and emotions by two or more persons. • It establishes relationships and makes organizing possible. • Communication in an organization – Giving or receiving information and instructions – Exchanging ideas – Announcing plans and strategies – Laying down rules or procedures – Comparing actual results against a plan – Manuals, organization charts and job descriptions 5/21/2010 6 The stages of communications process  Sender(encoder)  Initiates the process  Message  The information sender wants to send  Channel/Medium  Means of communication  Receiver (decoder)  The person or group for whom the communication effort is intended.  Noise  Interference to communication  Feedback  Ensures mutual understanding has taken place in a communication. Receiver becomes sender and vice versa How to ensure information will be received and understood? • Selecting the appropriate channel – Based on urgency, permanency, complexity, sensitivity and cost. • Adopting feedback – ‘Two-way’ nature of communication ( receiver seeks clarity and sender seeks acknowledgement) • Using more than one communication network – Usage of information communication network • Restricting the number of communication ‘links in the chain’ – Shorter distance leads to better clarity • Ensuring clarity – Sensitivity to the needs of the receipts ( experience , awareness, intelligence, perception..etc) Communication in workplace • The effectiveness of an organization depends to a large extent on the effectiveness of communication by its managers and employees. • Information is exchanged in two ways 1. Formally – Help to provide management structure, so that individuals know what is expected of them and know how they have actually performed. 2. Informally. – By means of face-to-face conversations, telephone conversations, emails and text messages. – Feature of cooperation between individuals. – People need to communicate in a way that promotes constructive working relationships. Formal communication flow • Workflow – It is an important factor that shapes the formal pathway or channel for the sending and receiving of communications. • Types of formal communications – Vertical • Downwards, from superior to subordinate or upwards from subordinate to superior. – Horizontal or lateral • Communication between people at a similar level in the organization's management hierarchy. (individuals in the same work or peer group, and also between individuals in different work groups) – Diagonal • Interdepartmental communication by people of different ranks. Formal communication channels • Downward communication – Provides the basis for giving specific job instructions, policy decisions, guidance and resolution of queries. • To much emphasis can create problems – People become reluctant to come forward and share information – Management getting out of touch with their subordinates • Upward communication – Provides management with feedback • Management can gauge organizational climate • Deal with grievances/ low productivity before they escalate. Information flows in and out of organization Inflow : research and surveillance Outflow, e.g. advertising, marketing, and public relations Formal communication channels • Lateral or horizontal communication – Refers to communication between people or groups at the same level in the organization 1. Task co-ordination • Department heads may meet periodically to discuss how each department is contributing to organizational objectives. 2. Problem solving • Members of a department may meet to discuss how they will handle a threatened budget cut. 3. Information sharing • Members of one department may meet to with members of another department to explain some new information or study 4. Conflict resolution • Members of a one department may meet to discuss a problem. 5/21/2010 7 Informal communication channels • In almost all organizations there will be a number of informal communication channels. • Informal communication: – Can move in any direction – Skips authority levels – Is as likely to satisfy social needs as it is to facilitate task accomplishments. • A grapevine is the network of social relations that arises spontaneously as people associate with one another. – Used deliberately by management to give out information that it would not wish to transmit formally ( announce some bad news) When ‘grapevine activity’ or ‘bush telegraph’ flourishes? • There is a lack of information about a situation and people try to fill in the gaps as best they can • There is insecurity in the situation • There is a personal interest in a situation, e.g. when a friend is disciplined by a supervisor people may well gossip(idle talk) about it • There is personal animosity in a situation and people seek to gain advantage by the spreading of rumors(may be true or false) • There is new information which people wish to spread quickly Note • Gossip – Can be a morale booster, a socializing force which spells out group norms, and it can be beneficial to the individual as a means of sharing employment worries. Ineffective communication • Ineffective communication includes poor, or inadequate control, as well as faulty coordination. • Lack of downward communication: results – Poor awareness of corporate objectives at lower management levels – Poor understanding of working instructions and responsibilities – Poor morale of junior managers because they are not consulted about changes which affect them or their working conditions. Ineffective communication • Lack of upward communication results in the following undesirable consequences – Early warning of troubled areas is not received – Benefit of creative ability in subordinates is lost – Participation of subordinates is limited – Need for change is not appreciated because management is isolated from the operation areas – Control becomes difficult – Introduction of change is difficult Ineffective communication • Lack of lateral communication leads to – Divisions in management teams – Lack of coordination – Rivalry between sections and departments – Lack of advice and involvement by staff specialists 5/21/2010 8 Best way to communicate When information can go wrong? Importance of good communication Attributes of effective communication • Effective communication will ensure that the right person receives the right information at the right time. – Timely –Accurate, complete and to the point –Directed to the right people –Understandable Barriers to effective communication • Poor communication can be the result of barriers to and breakdowns in communication • A barrier to communication is anything that stops information from: – getting to its intended recipient(s) – being understood by the recipients and – being acted on in the way intended. Reasons for barriers in communication • The personal background of the individuals communicating, e.g. natural reserve and status barriers can result in reluctance to pass information upwards for fear of incurring criticism • Language differences or the use of technical or professional jargon • Difference in education levels • Noise, i.e. the message is confused by extraneous matters • Conflict within the organization and between individuals • Overload, i.e. too much information being communicated • Distance between communicators • Simple misunderstanding as to content or context • Distortion of information by the receiver. Overcoming barriers to communication 5/21/2010 9 Communication patterns • Communication networks – Systems of communication lines linking various senders and receivers. • linkages among work groups, departmental or organizational members • The flow of information is regulated by several factors: – The proximity of workers to one another – The rules governing who communicates with whom – The status hierarchy – Other elements such as job assignments and duties. Communication patterns Communication patterns In the centralized networks (chain, wheel and ‘Y’), group members have to go through a person located in the central position in the network in order to communicate with others. This leads to unequal access to information in the group. In decentralized networks (circle and allchannels) information can flow freely between members without having to go through a central person. Communication patterns – conclusion The wheel is always the quickest way to reach a conclusion, and the circle the slowest. For complex problems, the allchannel is the most likely process to reach the best decision. The level of satisfaction for individuals is lowest in the circle, fairly high in the allchannel, mixed in the wheel, with the central figures usually expressing greater satisfaction, and the rest feeling isolated. Under time pressure the allchannels system either restructures, to become a wheel, or disintegrates.