Individual Analysis of Personal Competencies - Essay Example

Name: Course: Instructor: Date: Individual Analysis of Personal Competencies Executive Summary With the recent dynamics around management as a practice, managerial competencies are increasingly becoming critically important for managers. For any system of management, these competencies are proving to be a recipe for success whether in organizations or businesses or even government. One would ask, however, “Of what importance are managerial competencies?” It is almost impossible to talk about any business entity without mentioning the need for its people to be managed and directed in a way. That is where managerial competencies come in handy. It is through these competencies that an organisation is able to distinguish between mediocre managers and managers that are up to the task. As a result, therefore, it is paramount that everybody understands and analyses their managerial competencies so that it is easier for them to know better how and where they fit well. In order to carry out such personal competency analyses, certain assessment tools are usually used. Some of these instruments include the Competing Values Leadership Instrument, the Competing Values Management Practices Instrument, and a Communication Style Assessment. This report is founded on three main self-assessment tools i.e. Competing Values Management Practice Assessment, Competing Values Leadership Assessment, and Communication Style Assessment. Their findings reveal that I’m an analytical and intuitive communicator, a collaborative and creative manager, and a delegating and facilitating leader. Overall, I should improve on my directing skills, personal communication skills, and coaching skills. A personal action plan with the deliberate intention of helping improve on the apparent weaknesses is also presented towards the end of this report, especially on the three revealed weaknesses that need improvement. Table of Contents Executive Summary 1 Introduction 3 Method 3 Literature Review 3 The Three Self-Assessment Techniques 4 1)The Competing Values Management Practices Instrument Technique 4 2)The Competing Values Leadership Instrument Technique 4 3)Communication Style Assessment Technique 4 Analysis of my Current Competencies 5 Discussion 8 Conclusion 9 My Personal Action Plan for Improvement 9 1)Action Plan for Directing Skills Improvement 9 2)Action Plan for Personal Communication Improvement 10 3)Action Plan for Coaching Skills Improvement 10 References 11 Introduction In view of the brief above, this paper is typically a business report that seeks to provide an in-depth analysis of my personal competencies based on three main self-assessment techniques i.e. the Competing Values Leadership Instrument technique, the Competing Values Management Practices Instrument technique, and a Communication Style Assessment technique. Depending on the results of the three self-assessment tools, a decision will then be made on which specific competencies I need to develop further in order to make me an effective manager of people. Finally, a personal action plan (meant for both short-term as well as long-term goals) with time frames will then be developed for the sole purpose of illustrating the range of activities I’ll undertake to increase my skills and knowledge in the three competencies I shall have identified. Method Literature Review The Competing Values Management Practices Instrument is a tool specifically designed for the purposes of aiding in the development of one’s own approach regarding how they demonstrate the practices linked with the Competing Values Framework (McKeown & Christopher, 2012). According to Quinn (2015), this tool aims at providing the user with a transparent overview of their proficiency in each of the four quadrants therein i.e. Collaborate, Control, Create, and Compete. Unlike the Competing Values Management Practices Instrument, the Competing Values Leadership Instrument is designed to help the user obtain perspectives from other people about their demonstration of the skills linked with the Competing Values Framework (Prelesnik, 2008). Typically, this technique begins with the identification of specific individuals from who the user seeks to obtain information about their leadership capabilities. The skills herein are Facilitate, Delegate, Coach, and Direct (Quinn, 2003). In the Communication Style tool, as the name suggests, the ultimate goal is to make an attempt to understand the user’s communication styles even as they manage people in their day-to-day affairs. Accordingly, its four quadrants are Intuitive, Personal, Functional, and Analytical (Hartman, & McCambridge, 2011). The Three Self-Assessment Techniques 1) The Competing Values Management Practices Instrument Technique In assessing oneself based on their own opinions and views, this instrument is based on four parameters i.e. Control, Create, Control, and Compete. Whereas ‘Compete’ shows improving productivity and increasing profitability, ‘Create’ indicates promoting change and encouraging adaptability. ‘Control’, on the other hand, shows that the assessed individual is keen on establishing and maintaining stability and continuity; while ‘Collaborate’ is proof of ability to create and sustain commitment and cohesion (Owen, 2006). 2) The Competing Values Leadership Instrument Technique This tool is concerned with the development of other people’s approach regarding how the user demonstrates the practices linked with the Competing Values Framework. The four skills here are Facilitating, Directing, Coaching, and Delegating. A facilitating leader is characteristic of providing support to efforts of other people in order to achieve certain tasks alongside sharing decision making with such people. The skill of ‘Directing’ in itself is an indication of implies a leader whose strategy entails one-way communication where the leader is the ultimate decision maker and source of instruction. ‘Delegating’, on its part, shows a leader whose style entails allowing their followers to accomplish tasks, usually because of the followers’ ability to handle tasks effectively as perceived by the leader. Coaching, on the other hand, is a style in which unlike the ‘Directing’ style, the leader uses a two-way communication in order to prepare their followers for the tasks ahead of them (Whetten & Cameron, 2011). 3) Communication Style Assessment Technique The four communication styles under this self-assessment are Analytical, Intuitive, Personal, and Functional. While an analytical communicator may be said to be one that is very strict on their language and prefers dealing with actual figures and facts, an intuitive communicator is characteristic of avoidance of details and likes to take an approach that would rather lead them to the conclusion. A personal communicator, on their part, is one who tends to attach their language to the emotions with a view of digging into the minds of other people. Generally, they are good listeners and empathetic people. Finally, a functional communicator is one obsessed with absolute detail, perfect timelines, and scheduling. It suffices to say that a functional communicator tends to ensure that they communicate everything as it is without missing a word (Hartman, & McCambridge, 2011). Analysis of my Current Competencies An assessment of my leadership competencies based on Competing Values Leadership competency tool revealed the following about me: Figure 1: My Competing Values Leadership competency assessment A thorough check of the results in Figure 1 above leads to the conclusion that I like delegating more than any other style of leadership. Generally, I believe my followers have the capability to handle tasks, and this makes me feel more comfortable allowing them handle tasks even in my absence. A score of 5.64 on ‘Facilitating’ also indicates that I’m equally good at providing support to efforts of other people in order to achieve certain tasks alongside sharing decision making with them. In a contrasting check, however, I’m poor at enforcing a one-way communication where as the leader; I’m the one telling my subsidiaries what to do. In a similar note also, I tend to be hesitant at preparing my subsidiaries for the tasks ahead. I’d rather just facilitate them to do it. An assessment of my personal competencies using the Competing Values Management Practices technique revealed the following findings about me: Figure 2: My Competing Values Management Practices competency assessment Looking at the quadrant in Figure 2 above, it can be inferred that my greatest strength (as assessed by myself) lies with ‘Collaborating’ followed by ‘Creating’. My weaknesses, on the other hand turned out to be ‘Controlling’ followed by ‘Competing’. Accordingly, this can be interpreted to mean that I’m excellent at creating and sustaining commitment and cohesion. It also implies that I’m also good at initiating change and encouraging adaptability. On the other hand, it also implies that I’m generally poor at establishing and maintaining stability and continuity. Additionally, the results indicate that my ability to improve productivity and improve profitability is average, neither too bad nor too good. An assessment of my communication styles ended up with the illustration shown below of who I am in so far as communication styles are concerned: Figure 3: My Communication Styles competency assessment From Figure 3 above, it can be seen that I’m an analytical communicator (the highest score). This implies that my communication is rarely influenced by emotions at hand, and that I tend to value facts and figures in their accuracy while communicating. The results also show that I am intuitive in my communication. For that reason, despite my apparent strictness in facts and figures while communicating, I generally do not tolerate too much detail. All I am concerned with is the end result of the communication, and not necessarily the finer details of that particular communication. On the flipside, though, I am a poor personal and functional communicator. That implies that I’m not guided by emotions during my communication and also that I generally am of the opinion that “better the end result than the finer details of the communication at hand”. Discussion The findings about my competency in matters leadership assessment is not only informative about whom I actually am, but it is also an eye-opener to me about whom people think I actually am. In fact, the findings are a complete reflection of whom I’ve always thought I am. Ever since, I knew I have this tendency of giving other people just as much credit as I give to myself especially when it comes to handling a given task. The fact, therefore, that the assessment revealed that I’ve delegating leadership competencies comes with very little surprise, as I knew for a fact that I’m more comfortable delegating duties and tasks. In a similar fashion, I like supporting other people in their accomplishment of tasks whenever they actually need my facilitation whether as a leader or not. This finding is also a true reflection of who I practically am. The findings of an assessment of my leadership competencies also revealed that I do not direct people on what they should do in my course of leading and managing them. Having taken a keen analysis of myself while at work, I’ve come to the conclusion that I prefer to engage the people I lead and hear from them most of the time. On the contrary, however, I do not like coaching or preparing other people for tasks. While in a leadership position, I would rather give my followers the opportunity to handle the task (provided I confide in their capability to handle that particular task) than coach them first prior to letting them handle the task. These illustrations of myself, therefore, credit as well the findings that I performed poorly in terms of ‘Directing’ and ‘Coaching’. In my competing values management practices competency assessment, I agree with everything else except the assertion that my ability to improve productivity and raise profitability is average. This is contrary to what I’ve always thought about myself, especially when managing people. For example, I’ve always believed that my ability to delegate and facilitate others at work while managing them is an important parameter in ensuring that their productivity and profitability thereof were at their best. It, therefore, surprises me to discover that according to this tool, the contrary is true. I agree, though, with the findings revealing that I’m excellent at creating and sustaining commitment and cohesion, I’m good at initiating change and encouraging adaptability, and that I’m generally poor at establishing and maintaining stability and continuity. Primarily, that is who I think I am. Regarding the assessment on my communication styles, I tend to disagree somewhat with the findings on the grounds that I think I am more of a functional communicator than an analytical one per se. Whereas these two communication styles seem to be similar in a way, I am of the opinion that my insistence in finer details and well-thought-out plans far much outweighs the mere fact that I’m stricter with figures and facts while communicating. For that reason, I’ve the belief that functional communication style is what describes me best, and not the analytical communication style. I also do not agree that I value the conclusion more than I value the finer details in communication. While reporting, for instance, I would not want to miss out on anything. In fact, I’ve realized over time that my overemphasis on finer details has made people get bored whenever I’m communicating, therefore, losing attention of my audience at times. I agree, however, that I’m never emotionally driven whenever I am communicating. My attention to details rarely allows me to connect with my audience’s emotions during my communication. Conclusion From the analysis and assessment described above, it is clear that I need to improve in personal communication, coaching skills, and controlling skills. It turns out from the assessments that my extreme belief in delegating duties impacts negatively on the overall productivity and profitability in the task at hand. It would be paramount that I consider balancing delegation with directing so as to improve productivity and raise profitability. My analysis also revealed that I’m too emphatically obsessed with too much detail in communication, and this ends up eating into my connection with my audience during communication. I should, therefore, consider toning down a little bit on my overemphasis on detail so that I can give some room to emotions at times. This could help me to deeply connect with my audience whenever I am communicating. Finally, rather than just delegating irrespective of the capability of the delegate, I should improve by making deliberate attempts to coach my followers. By doing so, it is expected that there will be continuity and stability even in my absence as a manager of people. My Personal Action Plan for Improvement 1) Action Plan for Directing Skills Improvement Weakness Action Timeframe Building assertiveness Insisting on what I think is right despite allowing for a two-way communication approach Case by case Meeting set objectives Pushing the unit to meet the set objectives, might require some confrontations though Case by case Monitoring performance of the unit Applying a hands-on approach in managing people Case by case 2) Action Plan for Personal Communication Improvement Weakness Action Timeframe Empathizing with the audience Psychologically learning the feelings and expectations of the audience during communication Twice a week Improving attention from the audience Reducing unnecessary jargon during my communication Twice a week 3) Action Plan for Coaching Skills Improvement Weakness Action Timeframe Private mentoring In-house training of subordinates individually on the tasks ahead Three times a month Combined mentoring Establishing management talks for subordinates as a combined group Monthly References Belasen, A T 2000, ‘Leading the learning organization: communication and competencies for managing change’, State University of New York Press, Albany, New York. Cameron, K S & Robert E Q 2011, Diagnosing and changing organizational culture based on the competing values framework, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Competing values leadership 2014, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Flexible Training Partners 2015, Leadership styles questionnaire, viewed on 26 May 2015, Hartman, J L & McCambridge, J 2011, ‘Optimising Millennials’ Communication Styles’, Business Communication Quarterly, March, Vol. 74, Issue 1, p. 37-39. McKeown E & Christopher T 2012, ‘Leadership: Competing values framework analysis of behavioral roles, organizational culture, and career experience among nonprofit executive directors’. Owen, J 2006, ‘The leadership skills handbook: 50 key skills from 1,000 Leaders’, Kogan Page, Great Britain. Parkinson, A & McBain, R 2014, ‘Managing people’, Sage Publications Ltd, London. Parkinson, JR & Grossman, G 2010, ‘Becoming a successful manager: power tools for making a smooth transition to managing a team’, 2nd edn, McGraw-Hill, USA. Prelesnik, M 2008, ‘A study of middle school athletic coaching using the competing values framework’, Saarbrücken, Germany. Quinn, R E 1991, ‘Beyond rational management: mastering the paradoxes and competing demands of high performance’, San Francisco, Jossey-Bass. Quinn, R E & Robert, E Q 2015, ‘Becoming a master manager: a competing values approach.’ Quinn, R E & Robert, E Q 2014, ‘Becoming a master manager: a competing values approach.’ Quinn, R E 2003, ‘Becoming a master manager: a competency framework’, John Wiley & Sons, New York. Whetten DA & Cameron, KS 2011, Developing management skills, 8th edn, Pearson Education, United States of America. Read More