Identifying Personal Development Needs and People Management Strategies

Step-by-Step Process

Identify and critically appraise their own personal development needs and key competencies in areas of leadership, team working, effective social interaction and communication. Identify appropriate people management strategies, procedures and tools.

Follow this step-by-step process:

1.Complete the mandatory tests – see Part One.

2.Complete any additional online tests – see Part Two and Part Three.

3.Critically analyse all your online test data – see Part Four and Part Five

(In essence, critical analysis is breaking down and studying the online test data).

Part One

You are required to complete the following five mandatory online tests from CareerEdge Mandatory Testing -

Click the Students & Staff icon, then Self Awareness – Access Self Assessments for the Mandatory 5 Online Tests

1.Temperament- (MBTI)

2.Personality Insight- Big 5

3.Personal Resilience

4.Assertiveness

5.Sound Decision-Making

Part Two

You may also include the following tests to supplement your analysis of your personality. These can be found on Blackboard in the Self Testing - Emotional Intelligence, Values and Personality folder.

1.Barrett’s Value Test

2.Simple Personality Test

3.The Global Emotional Intelligence Test

Part Three

You may also include the following tests to supplement your analysis of your personality. These tests will be discussed via the online tutorials.

1.Conflict Handling

2.Locus of Contro 

Part Four

So, now scrutinise the online test data and ask yourself:

Is it what you expected? If not, why not?

How does the data look to you?

Can you make a judgement about its value or significance?

Are there are commonalities?

Are there any surprises?

What is the online test data telling you about yourself? Etc.

1.Plan your essay.

2.Research your subject material.

3.Structure your essay.

·Introduction

·Main body

·Conclusion

·List of references

·Appendices – copies of your online tests that you have used in your essay

4.Think about the size/length of your paragraphs (no more than 100 words per paragraph).

5.First line in every paragraph sets the scene for what is to follow.

6.In each paragraph, you must:

a.Develop your academic argument and introduce academic counterarguments.

b.Support your academic arguments with your personal online test data.

c.Support your academic arguments with relevant academic evidence.

Practising Your Reflective Writing:

·Be aware of the purpose of your reflective writing and state if it is appropriate.

·Reflective writing requires practice and constant standing back from oneself.

·Practice reflecting writing on the same event /incident through different people’s viewpoints and disciplines.

Part One: Completing Mandatory Tests

·Deepen your reflection / reflective writing with the help of others through discussing issues with individuals and groups, getting the points of others.

·Always reflect on what you have learnt from an incident, and how you would do something differently another time.

·Try to develop your reflective writing to include the ethical, moral, historical and socio-political contexts where these are relevant.

INTJs are intelligent, competent, great at generating ideas and driven to find conclusions. They are natural leaders and strategists and very adaptable if the situation demands it. They prefer to translate their often brilliant and complex ideas and solutions into a plan or system that others can readily process, but they tend to do this only for those whose intellect and knowledge they respect. If their ideas are not understood they have a tendency to blame the misunderstanding on the limitations of the other party. INTJs are usually very open to hearing alternative solutions, but their dependence on their strong and often very reliable intuition can lead them to ignore input from others, making them seem arrogant and elitist. They tend not to praise or support others, simply because they don’t see it as necessary. Under stress they will get obsessed with unimportant details and become critical and snappy? they will work on the unnecessary or indulge in hedonistic pleasures.

INTJs work best as an equal with other talented people.

INTJs work least well with people who over­focus on observing rules and attending to detail.

INTJs would be happiest in a job that requires them to see the big picture and develop concrete plans of action.

Praise more and criticise less

Sometimes just go with the flow

Learn to control impatience

Be careful you don’t constantly escalate standards, sometimes things are ok as they are Examples of commonly chosen career paths:

Be often perceived as quieter and more reflective than an extravert

Be comfortable working by yourself

Want to think things through carefully before you act/speak

Prefer not to be the centre of attention

Like depth over breadth, often working well with thoughts and ideas

Prefer a job in which you have plenty of time to think alone and where there is less need to be sociable

With your role, consider the extent to which you will be working alone or in a small team. You are likely to find too much interaction with others wearing.

Make sure you have the reflection time and space (physically as well as mentally) that you will need.

Part Two: Additional Online Tests

If you are preparing for an interview, make sure that you talk to the people around you to gather advice, hints and tips from others about the prospective role and on how to do your best. Don’t just rely on online research and reading.

If you are attending an assessment centre/extended interview, remember that the assessors may require you to talk and participate more than you might have to in the job you are applying for.

As an introvert, ensure you share what you’re thinking and make a significant contribution and don’t allow others to fill in the gaps for you or interrupt.

In interviews, make sure that you talk about yourself sufficiently to give the interviewer the best evidence you’ve got. Don’t wait for prompting questions? they may never come.

Make sure you arrive early for all meetings/interviews/assessments. Lateness will be very poorly viewed, no matter how charming you are!

When giving presentations, remember that others are likely to want to know about the practicalities of your ideas as well as your visions.

When applying for a new role, make sure you consider the practical day­to­day considerations and how it would work in practice rather than going on your ‘sense’ of it.

When preparing for interviews, go into the detail of the competencies being assessed and ensure your answers are sufficiently specific.

When relaying your strategy for your role (e.g. ‘What will you do in the first 90 days?’), make sure you pay attention to the implementation as well as the overall ideas.

Remember that sometimes it is more important to build and preserve relationships rather than prove your point.

When looking at new roles and opportunities, be aware of your value as a potential people manager. Prospective employers will benefit from your ability to stay calm and in control and instil this in others.

When answering questions during assessments or interviews, make sure you show that you have considered the impact on the people involved and how to mitigate any negative consequences.

If you are preparing for an interview, make sure you benefit from your calm approach, but remember that a few nerves are a good thing – they may raise anxiety, but they also raise performance levels.

You may thrive in jobs that require people to be calm and collected e.g. high pressure environments where meeting deadlines is vital. Identify jobs and careers that could value an ability to stay positive in a crisis.

Part Three: Supplemental Tests via Online Tutorials

Don’t let your desire to make quick decisions stop you from gathering sufficient information to make the right decision.

During change, be prepared to be more flexible and open to opportunities than you would normally feel comfortable with.

When going through application and assessment processes, be prepared to be patient. Becoming frustrated or pushing for closure or a decision about a role might result in your losing it.

If you are moving within an organisation you know, consider how highly a structured approach is regarded in the available roles. In some jobs the end result may be more important than the process of getting there. Consider roles that require a focus on compliance and regulation if that attracts you. Do these activities exist in your organisation?

If you are preparing for an interview, you are likely to do all you can to prepare for it. Ensure that you do not over prepare e.g. over­rehearse set answers to questions you think might be asked by interviewers. Interviewers want you to answer their questions and not just receive the information you want to give them.

If you are attending an assessment centre/extended interview, there is only so much you can do to prepare for the exercises and you may need to relax some of your expectations in order to be successful. During the assessment centre, for example, you may find you need to trade off accuracy for speed in some of the timed assessments e.g. ability or reasoning tests and written exercises that require pre­reading. There may be some exercises where you are unable to finish, but this is often the way they are designed i.e. to stretch your abilities to the highest level.

ABOUT THIS ASSESSMENT:

Temperament Types is based on the work of Swiss psychologist Carl Jung who published his book ‘Psychological Types’ back in 1921. Since then, his theories have been the basis for some of the most widely used personality instruments in business, with almost 2 million people a year discovering their personality ‘type’. There are four scales to Jungian theory:

Extraversion or Introversion (E­I): This is where you get your energy from ­ whether from within yourself or from the external environment.

Sensing or Intuition (S­N): This is about how you like to take in information and whether you prefer to pay attention to the details and the concrete or the possibilities and the abstract.

Thinking or Feeling (T­F): This is about how you make decisions and which factors influence you most, whether objectivity and truth or people's needs and values.

Part Four: Critical Analysis of Online Test Data

Judging or Perceiving (J­P): How you like to live your life, whether planned and ordered or flexible and spontaneous.

If you scored between 25 and 45, your decision­making is missing some essential steps

You may find making decisions difficult, or will sometimes avoid doing so if you can. When you do make a decision you may think that you intuitively “just know” the right answer, or perhaps tend to act emotionally rather than gathering relevant objective information to help you decide, based on the evidence.

If you are avoiding making decisions, try to work out why that may be, perhaps by talking the issue through with a close friend.

Get a process clear in your head and start with understanding: the situation, the key factors, the additional information you need and the options. The quality of your decisions is likely to be improved by making sure that you have come up with at least two or three different options, then weighing up the pros and cons of each.

Listen to your instinct, but use logic and do a rational assessment too? involve others in the process, but ensure you make (and have faith in) your own decision. A trusted colleague as a sounding board can help with this process.

Remember that no decision is ever perfect, often all the desired information isn’t available and sometimes any decision is better than no decision, otherwise opportunities may pass you by or events may overtake you while you continue to procrastinate.

When you make decisions you may have a tendency to do this in a hurried way, going with your gut, or using limited information, possibly from less credible or knowledgeable sources, but then not consistently evaluating them in an objective way.

Make sure you fully understand the situation presented to you before you leap to a solution and don’t forget to ask questions and listen to opinions. When you collect information, make sure you look at a wide range of sources and verify their credibility. Be aware that those sources may be biased: agendas, prejudices and affiliations will all affect the content of a source.

Make sure that you take sufficient time to generate several options for important decisions, and

Find objective ways to evaluate your options from different perspectives. For example you could compare the costs and benefits or the risks and rewards, before choosing the best option

Remember to involve others to help you generate those all­important options.

Planning and Writing Your Essay

If you scored between 66 and 85 your decision­making process is probably sound, now make it more consistent

You probably have a good grasp of the basics of sound decision­making although improvements to your process and approach will help you make better decisions more confidently.

Try expanding the sources of relevant information that you take into account, and checking for biases or gaps in the information.

Involve others to mitigate issues such ‘blind­spots’ or the tendency to make assumptions,

Try generating more options to choose between and then use more formal frameworks or tools to evaluate them. For example, you could create a spreadsheet showing the important factors to take into account, assign them a weighting depending on their relative importance and rate and compare each option that you have by adding up the scores.

However, beware of ‘analysis paralysis’ where you can spend so much time analysing information and options that you don’t always manage to make decisions in a timely way.

Having made the decision make sure you explain clearly to others how you reached it and how it could be put into action. Explanations are always easier if you keep track of your decision­making process.

You probably know how to analyse situations, collect a range of relevant information and are aware of the potential for bias. You probably already use some tools to assess a range of options then make a rational decision that you are able to explain and justify to yourself and others.

Additionally, try to evaluate more closely your sources of information in terms of both credibility and potential bias: ask yourself whether there might be any hidden agendas behind the sources, such as lobby groups or political affiliations.

You can expand the repertoire of tools and frameworks that you use to compare and evaluate options simply by searching on the Internet. You’ll find a wide variety of tools for specialist problem areas such as finance, business, ethics, logistics and health. One such tool is Porters Five forces, which is used to compare the competitive positions of different businesses.

You could also develop a plan regarding the communication and implementation of your decision. This will help you to be more rigorous and structured in your approach.

Remember that not all decisions require this level of analysis and that in some low­risk situations it may be worth listening more closely to your instinct.

If you scored between 101 and 125 you are probably making some great decisions, can you make them even better?

You are very likely to analyse the situation, collect a wide range of relevant information from several knowledgeable and experienced sources, and take in to account any potential biases. You are likely to use a range of appropriate and specialist tools to assess options and potential impacts of them, then make a rational decision that you are able to explain, justify and if needed defend, whilst understanding the variable factors that could affect the soundness of your decision.

 In addition, consider the likely impact on (and reaction from) different stakeholders such as staff, management and customers? then predict or tease out possible objections and how to overcome those using features and benefits of your decision that relate specifically to the interests of each stakeholder group.

‘Stress­test’ your decision to model the likely impact if one or more of the variables changes. It can also be worth creating a ‘fall­back’ plan so that you understand the options for next steps if your decision proves not to be a good one.

Extraversion          

You scored high on Extraversion which means you are likely to:

enjoy being with people participate in social gatherings be perceived as full of energy

prefer a quick­paced, sociable job with lots of interaction with other people

Tips

As you are high on extraversion check that jobs you choose will bring you into contact with a variety of people and that you will have the opportunity to work with them.

If you are moving within an organisation you know, then consider how your extravert personality might influence your choice of role. Will you be working within a team? You are unlikely to feel satisfied if you don’t have enough interaction with others.

If you are preparing for an interview, make sure you do your research on the role, the company values and the competencies they will be assessing you against etc. As an extravert you are likely to have had lots of conversations about this, but it would be a mistake to overly rely on the hearsay of others. If you are attending an assessment centre/extended interview, make sure that your talkative side does not take over and pay attention to what the interviewer asks of you. Allow others to talk even if you feel you know the answers or feel you want to interrupt.

As an extravert it is likely that you will sometimes dominate the airspace or other people’s time. What scope is there for this in a new role? Would it be encouraged or frowned upon? How would you feel about that?

As an extravert it is likely that you will work at different rates, on different projects on different days. Is there the flexibility in the role to accommodate this working pattern?

Agreeableness          

You have scored in the mid­range for Agreeableness, which means you are likely to enjoy team working, but you will challenge others and voice your views when you feel strongly about an issue. On less important issues, you may be willing to compromise and go along with the thoughts of others.

Tips

You may wish to look at roles where team­working, being helpful and considerate at work is valued. A role where consultation and collaboration are important.

You may wish to seek out leadership roles that require more independence of mind and action. People who voice their opinions and pursue goals are more likely to suit the demands of a leadership role.

If you are preparing for an interview, ensure you have some evidence or examples of compromising in favour of the wider team goals and achieving your own aims without alienating other people.

If you are attending an assessment centre/extended interview, ensure that you hold your own in any group activities, e.g. group discussions, and that you assert your views willingly even if you eventually compromise to enable the group to reach a shared decision.

Look for organisations where consensus working and/or fellowship are valued and building good relationships is paramount, but where there is also a strong leader giving direction.

Emotional stability          

You have scored in the mid­range for Emotional Stability, which means that you are likely to cope with some pressure and stress in your life and still be effective. This may change if you are put under undue stress and pressure. As you are average for Emotional Stability you may find you are aware of your own and other’s feelings at work, but tend not to get overwhelmed by them.

Tips

You may do well as a manager, balancing the sensitivity required to work with others with the tough approach sometimes required. Ask about the opportunities to take on more responsibility for others.

It is likely that you cope well with pressure up to a certain point at which it can feel overwhelming. So if you are preparing for an interview make sure that you leave enough time to prepare fully so that the balance does not tip and you can portray yourself at your best.

If you are attending an assessment centre/extended interview ensure that you display the balance you have between being in control of your emotions and the ability to pick up the rise in emotions in others.

Think about where the balance for you lies in coping with pressure. If you prefer to remain calm and collected, think about how high pressured the environment might be. Identify jobs and careers that value an ability to stay positive under difficult challenges, but which don’t reach crisis level.

Conscientiousness          

You have scored in the middle range on Conscientiousness, which means you are likely to be task focused, but flexible in your approach depending on the priority you allocate to the activity. You may be organised in some areas of your life, but leave other things to chance.

Tips

When job hunting, consider to what extent the end result may be more important than the process of getting there. Consider roles that have some focus on compliance and regulation, but not too much. Do these activities exist in your organisation?

If you are preparing for an interview, consider how much preparation you want to do for the interview. Ensure that you do not over prepare e.g. overrehearse set answers to questions you think might be asked by interviewers. Interviewers want you to answer their questions as part of a two­way conversation and not just receive the information you want to give them.

If you are attending an assessment centre/extended interview, for example, you may find you need to trade off accuracy for speed in some of the timed assessments such as the ability or reasoning tests and written exercises that require pre­reading. There may be some exercises where you are unable to finish such as the ability tests, but this is often the way they are designed i.e. to stretch your abilities to the highest level.

Consider roles with the amount of self­discipline, regulation and an emphasis on achieving results on time and to budget that would suit you. You are likely to be effective at researching your future job or direction.

Openness          

You scored in the middle range for Openness. You are likely to enjoy some measure of change, but also appreciate stability in some areas. You may know that whilst enjoying variety and new experiences there is likely to be some comfort in taking on routine and familiar tasks. You are likely to accept that some changes are inevitable at work and you are likely to take this in your stride.

Tips

When looking to move within the organisation, get more information about a potential new role to try to gauge the amount of change going on in different departments to see where you would best fit.

With a new role, consider if the job has the right balance of requiring some creativity and imagination, but that it is not expected all the time.

If you are preparing for an interview, remember that, depending on the type of new employer, you may have colleagues who value the status quo. You may have to work hard to persuade them of the benefits of changing the way they operate. Illustrate how you will strike the balance between following processes yet challenging things which need to be changed.

If you are attending an assessment centre/extended interview, think about your flexibility and approach to change. Ensure that you demonstrate both sides of your preferred style by being structured yet willing and able to deviate from this if necessary.

If you are thinking of changing career or direction, remember that most jobs have some elements of the routine? identify your ideal balance between variety and routine tasks before you rule out certain careers and job roles

ABOUT THIS ASSESSMENT:

There are lots of theories of personality and behaviour. What makes us behave and think the way we do has fascinated psychologists and scientists for decades. One of the dominant and current of the