What I failed to do and learned during this course was to push myself further when I was faced with challenging situations. This would be necessary if I wanted to progress and improve my skills in the future. For example, during the rock climbing activity I felt unwilling to climb higher due to my slight fear of heights. To combat this, I became aware of the Comfort Zone theory, illustrated in ‘Appendix 8’, during a discussion with my instructor. White (2003) explanation of this theory shows I will learn most effectively and expand my comfort zone, Zone A, when I push myself into Zone B, otherwise described as the Optimum Learning Zone or Discomfort Zone, where I am “unwilling but able to carry out the task” (2003: p.11). This enhanced my understanding and knowledge of my progression in future skill development. I tried to incorporate this concept by having a more determined attitude and attempting more activities, such as abseiling, where I felt slightly uncomfortable or afraid. I still use this theory today to monitor and assess how I can improve certain skills. In appliance to the assessment period, I was more determined and aimed to revise more difficult, challenging areas of subjects first.
2) Self Discipline & Communication skills
Throughout my gap year, I took on a more prominent role in coaching children and teenagers at my local (sport) club and was training daily in preparation for competing in the summer. Since I have been a teenager, I have trained regularly for (sport) with friends and individually. This has had a huge impact on my development. Particularly during my gap year, training daily was personally both physically and mentally challenging and required considerable dedication. At times, I made sacrifices to remain committed to the training schedules assigned to me by my coach, which sometimes meant training early on a Sunday morning at the expensive of socialising with friends on a Saturday evening.
Through doing this I have developed exceptional self-discipline which has become a great strength of mine. My (sport) has taught me how to remain focused, committed and dedicated to tasks. I apply this self-discipline to my degree work in that I work hard and apply a good effort in order to achieve my goals. This is related to the Achievement Goal Theory highlighted by Hutchinson and Mercier (2004). The theory assumes student behaviour is intentional and goal related (Hutchinson and Mercier, 2004). I am applicable for the task-orientation perspective of this theory in that I focus on personal improvement by setting myself ambitious but realistic goals. I have always found having something to aim for helps me remain motivated. I still train as often as possible with my degree work taking priority. In the assessment period, I used this theory by setting myself specific goals and deadlines in revising certain areas to raise my motivation. The goal to achieve good marks in the exams is motivation in itself.
However, when I was coaching children or teenagers, my communication skills were insufficient. Generally these skills are strong areas of mine, but I was inexperienced in coaching younger age groups and found it difficult to guide them and teach them effectively. This form of communication can be identified as ‘supportive communication’ which aims to preserve good relationships while still addressing a problem (Cameron and Whetten, 2005). I learnt that improving my supportive communication would allow me to provide negative feedback more effectively. I tried to incorporate this concept into my coaching style and improved it further by attending a two-day coaching course to become a qualified coach. I learned how to break up a task or skill into separate parts in order to teach it more effectively. I also applied this concept in the assessment period. When I was preparing my revision, I broke up the modules into separate topics so it was clearer what I needed to focus on.
3) Social Skills & Self Confidence
From the beginning of semester one I showed great commitment to the university (sport) team attending training regularly and being available for team selection for matches. With a large influx of new players following the arrival of new first years, it was important we all got to know each other to make team bonding easier.
I demonstrated good interpersonal and social skills during this period where my gregarious manner helped me mix well with the new players; I was very supportive to those who needed encouragement and made considerable effort to become acquainted with those who I had not met. My social skills have improved dramatically over the years and are now one of my main strengths. Over the years, I have learned and developed valuable life skills through playing sport. Sport has taught me of the value of teamwork, communication, support and how to cope in high pressured situations, all of which can be applied to the workplace environment. The ability to get along with people can have large influence on career success (Utay and Utay, 2005). Sport has also given me the opportunity to meet and learn from people from different backgrounds to me. We can apply this to the Social Learning Theory, which suggests most human behaviour is learned observationally from others (Bandura, 1976). Although, the main criticism of this theory is that it rejects the genetic differences of individuals (Jeffery, 1985) so I may act in a certain way due genes I have inherited. Nevertheless, in this case I have learnt and perfected skills through interacting with others.
In sports that I am highly skilled in, (sport) in particular, I have plenty of self-confidence. However, in (other sport) this is not the case. Although I recognise I have a decent skill level in this sport, I realised during the first game of the season my self-confidence was lower than it should be and that this was hindering my performance in certain situations. Short and Sullivan state “Self-confidence reflects an individual’s judgement or perception of his or her capabilities and effort” (2003: p. 45). It was imperative that I have more self-confidence in my own abilities in future unfamiliar situations and tasks, especially during new jobs during my career.
I incorporated techniques to build my self-confidence similar to those suggested by Eales-White (2003). I created affirmative statements by reminding myself of my main strengths and what Ealers-White refers to as ‘building a ring of confidence’. This involves recalling and visualising all positive emotions I have had on previous occasions, so I did not worry and foresee myself making mistakes. I also performed extra training to improve my (sport) skills to become more confident in game situations. This further complements my preferred learning style in that I learnt enormously through being part of sport based experiences. With reference to the assessment period, I used these techniques to give me more confidence prior to the exams so I avoided feeling nervous about the thought of performing badly.
4) Time Management, Stress Management and Essay Writing skills
As the first semester progressed in the second year, the assignments for my degree and the work in general became more demanding particularly during October and November, as expected. I also had substantial sport commitments with the university (sport) team during this time having to attend training (number) nights a week with a match on Wednesdays. With the pressures in my degree to achieve good results and to continue playing my sport, I had to adapt my lifestyle to cope and manage my time efficiently and effectively.
During this period, my time and stress management was exceptional in countering stressors. Cameron and Whetten have define stressors as “stimuli that cause physiological and psychological reactions in individuals” (2005, p.654). Cameron and Whetten (2005) identify four main sources of stress: Time, Situational, Encounter and Anticipatory stressors. In this example and in general, time stressors, such as work overload and lack of control, are usually the more prominent source of stress for me. However, I counter these stressors by having good time management. I effectively manage my time using a planner, generating to-do lists and efficiently use my time by reading selectively, prioritising tasks and setting personal deadlines. These are all methods put forward by Cameron and Whetten (2005) in their ‘20 Rules for everyone’.
Despite having a high workload accompanied with sport commitments and making time in the evenings for socialising, I still make time and sometimes sacrifice doing certain jobs or activities to spend time on more important tasks. If this is applied to Lewin’s (1997) Stress Force Field diagram which is illustrated in ‘Appendix 9’, the strength of the time stressor Driving Force ‘D’ upon me is matched by the Restraining Force ‘D’ which is good time management. Time management could be known as a proactive strategy to combat stress in the long-term. Doing exercise regularly and having a balanced diet are other proactive strategies that help my combat any Encounter or Anticipatory stressors. Kilpatrick et al (2005) say physical activity improves health and helps reduce stress levels. By having effective time management, I have ensured that I had sufficient time to revise everything I needed to for the exams. I also made time to do exercise during this period to avoid becoming stressed and used exercise as an incentive and a personal reward for doing revision to keep myself motivated.
Although this is good, I was reminded during this time what I needed to improve. I realised at the end of my first year and whilst doing two individual assignments in this semester that my essay and report writing skills were currently not sufficient to attain higher marks in the 70% region. From reading mark schemes and acknowledging feedback, I realised I had to be more critical and evaluative to support any arguments or points I made in order to improve my marks.
To improve on this, I considered Blooms Taxonomy of Learning which is illustrated in ‘Appendix 10’. The taxonomy scheme is used for classifying educational goals, objectives and most recently standards (Krathwhol, 2002). Anderson and Sosniak (1994) have highlighted researcher’s criticisms focused on the distinctions made between the categories and empirical evidence questioning the hierarchical order of the taxonomy levels. However, it is a framework that has been widely adopted and adapted for many decades and has been improved following a review by Krathwhol (2002). I tried to incorporate elements of the ‘Evaluation & Judgement’ component into my work by conducting more thorough research from books and electronic journals to obtain a variety of perspectives.
In terms of stress management, I learned best from doing and having to manage my time which compliments my learning style. However, the fact I improved my essay writing and evaluative skills through theory proves I am prepared to adopt a different learning style. With regards to the assessment period, I used Bloom’s Taxonomy Evaluation & judgement component in my revision to ensure I was being evaluative and critical when I wrote answers to questions, which is required to achieve high marks.
5) Organisational Skills and Presentation Skills
The skills I have analysed are all of great significance, but presentation skills are arguably the most important. Presentations are increasingly important in today’s business environment and these skills are highly valued by prospective employers (Lecture notes, 3/11/05). In a seminar, I had to give a five minute oral presentation on myself in an exercise designed to practice the skill of selling myself to an employee with emphasis on my personal skills and strengths. It was also in preparation for an assessed group assignment presentation a couple weeks later.
Prior to both the personal and group presentations, I demonstrated good organisational and preparation skills. My organisational skills have had to improve during my second year at university as there is a considerably higher workload compared to the previous year. I now prepare appropriately for assignments and tasks by researching into relevant material and beginning assignments as soon as possible to give myself more time to complete them. I made sure I had the necessary information sources at my disposal to expand on my revision during the assessment period with plenty of time before the exams.
However, while I appeared and delivered my personal presentation with confidence, feedback from my tutor informed me that my presentation skills could be improved in order to have a more positive impact on the audience. I found it difficult to give emphasis to main points that I wanted to say. For example, I spoke too quickly and I had limited body language. I can apply this to Yate and Sander’s (2003) Ten Steps to Building an Effective Presentation model illustrated in ‘Appendix 11’. If I apply this model to myself I am good at steps 1-9 but I failed perform step 10 to practice the presentation prior to performing it. ‘Appendix 12’ also shows the 5 S’s Approach to an Effective Presentation (Lecture notes 3/11/05). There is no widely agreed model or theory for designing an effective presentation but most authors emphasise preparation and rehearsal is essential.
I learned that improving these skills will also help improve my persuasive skills. In some presentations, the aim is to present an argument effective persuade the audience to agree with you (Yate and Sander, 2003). To improve my performance in the group presentation, I incorporated the later stages of both the presentation models by rehearsing in front of a mirror and to friends. Siddons (1999) suggests doing this enables one to calculate the actual duration of a presentation and to experiment with particular words and phrases. The group presentation gave me the opportunity to use techniques to make my presentation more effective. Having more eye contact with my audience, adopting an open posture and using hand gestures to emphasise certain words (Siddons, 1999; Hare, 1988) allowed me to communicate more with body language.
I had the opportunity to incorporate these techniques further and practice my persuasive skills when I ran for a position on the (committee) in semester two. I had to persuade a large audience to elect me for the position over the other candidates in a speech, in which I was successful. I found the more I have performed presentations in front of audiences, the better I have become at doing them. The fact I have learnt best by actively doing presentations further complements my LSI style.
6) Creative Problem Solving and Leadership
I began a group assignment in for the (degree) module in the beginning of semester two with four other students, in which we had to formulate and develop a (assignment) to promote a particular. Our group knew one another relatively well so establishing initial group cohesion was not a problem. Unlike some past group assignments, this was relatively interesting and enjoyable as the task was directly related to the career we all desired to pursue upon graduation of university.
When the group project was assigned, from the beginning I demonstrated good leadership qualities and communication skills in taking an active role of contacting the group members regularly, organising meetings and encouraging group discussions to start working for the project as soon as possible. In this group assignment and in previous group projects, I have always preferred to take a leading role as I am good at organising and coordinating people and tasks. This is supported by my MBTI and Belbin profiles. Although, Leadership has been described as only a temporary condition where certain skills and competencies are displayed (Quinn, 2004). I acknowledge I do not take a leading role in all situations I am involved in, for example in rugby. However, the leading role I have taken in group assignments can be applied to Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory (SLT) developed in the late 1960’s and has become widely accepted by companies (Grover et al, 2003). The theory revolves round the concept that leaders or managers use a style that fits the specific demands of the situation (Chen and Silverthorne, 2005). Using the diagram displayed in ‘Appendix 13’, for this example I have adopted the S3 or ‘participating’ collaborative style, where group members are apprehensive about proceeding but know how to do the tasks (Grover et al, 2003). However, the validity of this theory is still in question due to the lack of research support.
An integral part of this project was the need for creativity to devise original ideas, and creative thinking and problem solving were areas where I was struggling. My analytical problem solving was sufficient, but I realised if I was to pursue a future career in (career), my creative thinking needed improvement. Effective managers are those who solve problems both creatively and analytically (Cameron and Whetten, 2005).
Firstly, I considered Edward de Bono’s (1995) Six Metaphorical Hats theory. He agrees creativity does not have to be a group orientated. These six hats are described in ‘Appendix 10’ and I used this theory to specify a creative type of thinking, such as the ‘green’ hat. I then applied this to the approaches and techniques put forward by Alder (1994) which I learned during a seminar to stimulate my creative thinking. These included reversing statements, using metaphors to compare situations with pictures and stories, and looking at an issue in smaller chunks (Alder, 1994). I also experimented with Williams’ (2002) Feedback Focused Strategy where a group engages in brainstorming refrained from comments during discussion. Although Edward de Bono (1995) is critical of brainstorming activities, it was an exercise that helped my group to produce excellent ideas for our project and which has helped me become a better creative thinker. Using creative thinking theory in the assessment period, I made sure I analysed issues and topics in smaller chunks, considered issues from different perspectives and revised in peaceful environments, such as in the library or even outside.
Conclusions
It is evident throughout my development I have undertaken what is described in Argyris and Schon’s model as double-loop learning. This is shown in ‘Appendix 15’. Brown (2005) refers to this model explaining that learning involves detection and correction following the actual outcome and enables us to respond to change. In reference to ‘Appendix 15’ from experiencing situations during the year and in events prior to university, I have evaluated the actual outcomes against my desired outcomes. After recognising gaps in some of my skills, I have incorporated different theories and methods in order to improve certain skills. I preferred Accommodative learning style is evident throughout my development whilst I also adopted different learning styles in order to learn effectively in particular situations.
I approach the summer vacation with the aim or improving my negotiation skills with the intention of obtaining relevant work experience that will help my achieve this goal.
References
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Appendices
Appendix 1 – LSI and MBTI scores (see next page)
Appendix 2 - Kolb’s Learning Style model
Kolb, D. A. et al, (1984) Organisational Psychology. An Experiential Approach to Organisational Behaviour, Prentice-Hall, New Jersey
Appendix 3 – Learning Style Inventory target
Appendix 4 – LSI Grid
www.hccbrandon.net/ learnstyle/printgrid.html
Appendix 5 – Learning Style model
Lecture notes
Appendix 6 – Belbin Team Role scores (see next page)
Appendix 7 – Tuckman’s Stages of Team Development
Lecture notes
Appendix 8 – Comfort Zone
White, A., (2003), Performance Management Quick Guide: Development Phases, Performance Management Solutions Ltd, Jersey
Appendix 9 – Lewin’s Stress Force Field
Lecture notes
Appendix 10 – Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning
Lecture notes
Appendix 11 – Ten- Step Presentation
Yate, M., Sander, P., (2003), The Ultimate Business Presentations Book, Adams Media Corporation
Appendix 12 – Five Step Presentation
Lecture notes
Appendix 13 – Situational Leadership Task model
Appendix 14 – de Bono’s Six Hats theory
de Bono, E., (1995) “Serious Creativity”, The Journal for Quality and Participation. Cincinnati, Vol. 18, Issue 5, pp. 12-19
Appendix 15 – Double Loop Learning
Lecture notes
