Evidence of Development and Effectiveness of Skills

Skills such as management of interpersonal relationships, decision-making and problem-solving, leading and influencing, interpreting financial information and managing finance, and people management skills have been recognized as critical for one to succeed in school and the workplace.

Management of Interpersonal Relationships

Performance of people in any organization depends on the ability of the people in the organization to interact effectively with their co-workers, subordinates, and superiors. The success of an organization also depends on how members of the organization interact with suppliers, consumers, and the general public. Therefore, interpersonal relations are a crucial issue in any organization. People's problems are prevalent in most organizations due to negative interpersonal relations, which creates obstacles to the attainment of objectives. As such, people should make an effort to improve their management of interpersonal relationships.

That being said, I have acquired skills in the management of interpersonal relationships in the various positions that I have held over the years. I acquired these skills in my position as Client Relationship and FM Service Delivery Manager at OCS Group. Interacting with client enables me to understand that no one is perfect. For this reason, I learned to stay positive at all times, and this enabled me to avoid finding mistakes in other people. Effective communication is also important if one is to manage interpersonal relationships in an effective manner. As a Logistics Operations Manager, I also manage personnel, which requires that I develop effective communication skills. One must be careful about the tone and pitch of their voice for healthy interpersonal relationships at the workplace. I also learned that choice of words is important. I never use words that may be considered rude or talk loudly. Although verbal communication is important, I communicated more through emails because they are considered to be more reliable.

As a logistics manager, I am the first point of contact for all escalated customer queries and complaints. This has enabled me to develop the skills that I need to manage interpersonal relationships very effectively. These skills include making customers feel important. I strive to show how much I care for them. Also, I also acknowledge my fellow employees when they perform tasks excellently in front of everyone. This ensures that they are cheerful which works to promote positive interpersonal relationships. Further, being people manager to 14 managers and 16 supervisors made me acknowledge the importance of an individual’s personal interest taking a backseat at workplace. One has to learn how to control their emotions because the office should not be a place for personal problems and personal life.

Decision-Making and Problem-Solving

Both stakeholders and organizations reap the huge benefit when leaders display strong decision-making and decisive problem-solving skills (Kerns, 2016). The competence of a leader to decisively solve problems helps in driving effectiveness of leadership and success in an organization. Decisive problem solving is a critical area for leaders in managerial positions to execute in their action roles competently as influencers of situations and people. Influencing skills and decisive problem solving are people skills that cut across the major action roles that leaders need to perform competently. According to Kerns (2016), decisive problem solving requires setting strategic directions that are clear, policy formulation, ensuring people are focused on crucial and relevant performance areas, and linking and coordinating resources, especially major stakeholders. The positions I have held over the years enabled me to develop and hone my skills in decision making and problem-solving. For instance, I redefined the recruitment model for agency-covered positions that delivered significant cost savings in my position as Client Relationship & FM Service Delivery Manager, executed Human resource policies absence or sickness reduction and monitoring, conducted staff appraisals, and implemented performance improvement plans to improve employee productivity. I also partnered with statutory stakeholders to embed ISO and quality structures. Further, I redefined customer service standards to improve brand reputation and culture in my position as a regional operations manager. The mentioned achievements demonstrate that I have acquired strong decision making and problem-solving skills.

Leading and Influencing

Successful leadership today does not require authorization. One requires influence to be an effective leader (Haymond, 2017). Influence is the ability to have an effect on the views, actions, and opinions of others. Therefore, anyone can be an influencer since it does depend on title, role, or positional hierarchy. Although a leader can achieve compliance through authority, true commitment is achieved through influence (Haymond, 2017). Understanding that the most way effective way of leading others is through influence has enabled me to achieve many goals in the organizations I have worked in over the years. For instance, I was able to deliver £250,000 of cost savings through organizational restructuring to new TOM because of the influence I had on people in the organization that made it easy for the corporate. I learned that influence is an integral part of leadership. One’s position in an organization and the power the position gives them are not adequate in inspiring or motivating people to achieve goals (Dellaert & Davydov, 2017). I was able to Mobilize over 400 employees through a complex TUPE process to

acceptance. Dellaert & Davydov (2017) opine that a leader sells and promotes their ideas to the people he represents. This is important in organizations today as organizations today are less dependent on individual heroes and less hierarchical. Further, I have been able to achieve organizational goals with less monitoring thanks to my influencing skills. Influencing results in commitment, which in turn leads to voluntary support. Consequently, voluntary support means lower monitoring needs and high sustained effort.

Interpreting Financial Information and Managing Finance

Managers make daily decisions that can affect their organization’s financial performance, whether it is hiring, firing employees, and scheduling operations. Other decisions, such as approving capital investment, preparing budgets, or sending invoices for payment, may also affect a company’s financial performance (Salazar, et al., 2014). When managers lack the basic financial skills that can enable them to understand the implications of their decisions, resources may be wasted, and the organization’s financial performance suffers. Based on my experience as a regional operations manager, I realized that anyone with management or supervisory responsibility should have basic financial skills. Having skills in interpreting financial information and managing finance enabled me to effectively manage re-tenders and identify opportunities for cost improvement and growth. Further, I understood the importance of collaborating with business analysts to spot financial trends and reduce debt.

People Management Skills

The bedrock of organizations is people. People are the key elements of organizational change; therefore, strategies that emphasize structures and systems alone always fail (Kolachi & Akan, 2015). Managers must work actively on the ground with staff to implement sustainable and successful change to improve performance. People management skills ensure that employees are engaged. Employees who are highly engaged are more likely to contribute to the success of an organization because they are more willing to give more effort to ensure that an organization achieves its goals. My people management skills have enabled me to achieve many goals in the managerial positions that I have held in different organizations. Being people manager to 14 managers and 16 supervisors requires people management skills. Also, I was able to redefine customer service standards to improve culture and brand reputation because I worked actively on the ground with staff.

Learning Log Activities

There is a range of activities that have helped to hone the skills discussed above. Such activities include my business management studies, BTEC Level 2 Certificate: Working in the Health Sector (NHS), customer excellence certificate, and project management. In my pursuit of the BTEC Level 2 Certificate: Working in the Health Sector (NHS), some of the units that were covered included communication skills, personality, and people development, maintain quality standards, and improvement of service in the health sector. In pursuing my qualification in customer excellence, I learned that differentiating oneself is the essence of outstanding service. Also, understanding expectations of customers and delivering above their expectations is the secret to value addition. I also learned that excellent service does not just benefit the customer; it is a competitive differentiator. The certificate program enabled me to be able to leverage customer service strategies to redefine customer service standards for OCS Group. I learned how to evaluate the market needs for the services provided by OCS Group and developed the leadership competencies that I needed to improve culture at OCS Group which inspired outstanding service. Further, studying project management also enabled to learn the skills that are important for project managers. One of the important skills that a project manager needs is leadership. I learned that it important to inspire others. Lead effectively and set the goals and visions for the team. Another important skill in project management is critical thinking. Critical thinking is vital if one is to be able to have excellent decision-making and problem-solving skills. I understood that critical thinking could be built through practice and equipping oneself with approaches and tools to help them structure arguments in a logical manner and see things from different perspectives before making a decision.

Forward Planning (CPPD) and Self Reflection

Although organizations today are less hierarchical, as mentioned above, the hierarchical organizational structure still exists, and it requires that supervisors and managers oversee the work of other employees to complete different projects. Therefore, my people management needs on-going development. Also, people management includes many other skills such as leadership, communication, motivation, performance feedback, delegation, and training that need continuous sharpening. Specifically, I should pay keen attention to training. This is because training is critical for new employees. A manager needs to recognize the skills an employee has and determine the right training the employee needs to do their job efficaciously. I need to learn how to recognize the right training new employees need because it negatively affects the delivery of human resource services as inadequate training limits job performance. Developing in this area of people management will also help my personal development. Another area of people management that I need to work on in the future is delegation in the sense that knowing the right employee to whom to delegate is often challenging to me. This affects my work-life balance as I find myself unable to find the right balance because I fear to delegate certain tasks.

Personal Reflection Statement

Preparing this portfolio gave me a chance to have a collection of records that reflect my achievements, experiences, skills, and attributes. It has allowed me to showcase some of my achievements that are I am proud of. It also enabled me to reflect on my abilities. This portfolio allowed me to be creative and personal in expanding on and exhibiting my skills, knowledge, experiences, and projects. I have achieved self-discovery and improved my confidence. Although preparing this portfolio was not simple it helped me discover some of the skills that I possessed that I was not aware of.

With this in mind, preparing this portfolio gave me a chance to reflect upon my many experiences, the support, the challenges, and the many frustrations that I have experienced in my career. I also reflected on the impact my superiors had on me, which has made me into the person and leader I am today. Some of the skills I widely reflected upon are the leadership skills that this portfolio enabled me to discover. I realized that leadership is all about motivating others and gaining their commitment to enhancing performance by influencing them. I learned that commitment of others enabled me to achieve all of the goals in my career. I also learned that leadership is continuous learning curve, and leaders are in a constant journey of learning and growth, developing capabilities to think creatively, evolve, and develop competencies throughout the journey. I learned that people management requires one learn to engage, not control others, gain constructive and regular feedback, and have a passion for positive outcomes and driving success. Finally, I realized that I have been able to achieve most of the goals in my career because I have greater self-awareness and willingness to take risks that are calculated.

Continue your journey with our comprehensive guide to Evaluating Spoken Language Skills and Presentation.

References

Dellaert, M. & Davydov, S., 2017. Influencing: The Skill of Persuasion, Building Commitment, and Getting Results. [Online].

Haymond, S., 2017. Enhance Your Leadership Through Influence. The Journal of Applied Laboratory Medicine, IX(2), pp. 162-182.

Kerns, C. D., 2016. Decisive Problem Solving: A Key Leadership Practice. Journal of Management Policy and Practice, II(17), pp. 62-77.

Kolachi, N. & Akan, O. H., 2015. The Role Of HR Managers In Developing Intellectual Capital: A Comparative Case Study And Viewpoints On Some Selected Companies. Journal of Business Case Studies, X(2), pp. 191-202.

Salazar, A. L., Soto, C. & Espinosa, R., 2014. The Impact of Financial Decisions and Strategy on Small Business Competitiveness. International Journal of Management, VII(10), pp. 103-112.