interpersonal skills for business
...re confident. It was a presentation for the Introduction to Brand Management. I did not know my group at all, as well as the fact that we were to give some speech. Furthermore, I had no idea what was the speech about. As a result I had to present something I had never read about absolutely live. After this incident I knew that nothing worse could happen to me and it has built my confidence as well. I have also found some additional help in the module guide, which provided me with some useful tips concerning keeping the audience attracted. What also helped me with my presentations was just writing some essential points on the piece of paper and taking about them but not writing down the ideas. I always wanted my presentation to be perfect, so I searched for nice words and planning and tried to learn it by heart. As a result I could remember minor part of my speech so I had to keep notes with me. When I had them with me I was so afraid I would say something wrong that I was almost reading the notes what missed the aim of oral presentation at all. In order to stop that, I have decided not to take any notes at all. Surprisingly, I remember almost everything I want to say. I have used a questionnaire “Presentation skills inventory” (APP151) to present the level of improvement in my presentation skills. The shaded numbers next to the statements were my scores at the beginning of the course and the numbers in brackets are current scores. As it is easily seen my skills applying to presentation have considerably improved in comparison to the beginning of the term. The initial score increased from 57 to 80. Over 40% increase is an impressing improvement. But what is most important, I also feel 40% more confident while giving presentation. 2.3 Report writing skills improvement In case of writing essays, my skills have also improved during the first term. The reason for my lack of report writing skills was the same as with oral presentation. I had no practise, as in my previous school the impact was placed on different skills, frequently unimportant ones. In fact, report writing turned out to be not as difficult as I expected. It was just lack of practise. During the second teaching week I rated myself as a weak report writer (grade 4 in 1-5 scale); however my skills have considerably improved during the last ten weeks. Currently I would rate myself two and a half as I am aware of further improvements could be done in this skill. Particular aspects of report writing I have improved are definitely executive summary and the overall structure of the report. 2.4 Group working skills improvement A positive element of my personality is that I am easily motivated by others. This conclusion can be made when considering the results of two questionnaires (APP 95,140). The second one says that I am a sharper (APP 144) which is generally considered crucial member of the group. I am also a considerably good listener, what is stated by the first questionnaire. During the first term I have spotted such characteristics of myself. This was especially easily seen in the mentioned presentation of a game during your seminars. I was able to pick the role of a leader and our presentation was considered to be successful. Being a good listener is also appreciated in a group work as well as during usual conversation or debate or even a lecture. I am not a person who disturbs others and I always listen carefully what they want to tell me, so that I can easily respond. A fact that sometimes I push the group work forward is a surprise to me in comparison with working on my own, where it is me who needs to be pushed to do something. The possible reason for this could be a fact that I am not an egoist and I just would not bare the awareness that some other people suffer and I am the reason. I have never considered myself as an important group member, as in my previous school working in groups was totally different. I am not sure whether I have gained these group working skills for the last twelve weeks or they have been just inside me for years but the true fact is, that it is the Westminster University where these skills have finally revealed. 2.5 Planning and using time effectively and self motivation problems Unfortunately, I have made almost no improvement in my time management as well as the self motivation (APP61). What is interesting, I have always had a clear vision who I am going to be and what I am going to achieve. I also know how to change myself (APP53) and what threats are if I do not, but I am still as I was two years ago. A procrastination indicator (APP58) is presenting my weaknesses in a proper way. I always procrastinate my work, what has a considerable impact on my grades. The possible reason for the lack of improvement in these areas is that I live with my seven friends, so from time to time my work is disturbed and I frequently prefer to spend time with them than on reports and assignments. As I have a relatively high self-esteem, I am very depressed by the fact that if I did everything as fast as possible I would obtain marks around 30% greater that I do now. This can even result in failing some modules, as I have left myself three reports for 2500-3000 words and two presentations for just ten days. In areas such as self-motivation and time management (generally planning and using my time effectively) I am willing to fight for biggest improvement in the next semester. I have also created myself a plan and aims that could help me with fulfilling my objectives. In fact, I always set myself an ambitious plan but I always fail, however this is the aim I want to focus on so I hope some positive effects to come soon. 2.6 Out of school skills improvement Considering some skills acquired or improved outside the school is definitely being persuasive. This particular skill was extremely improved during last twelve weeks. In case of my job, I was working four weeks in a club called Soho Lounge three weeks ago. My role was to talk to people in a way they would be enough interested to visit the club. I had to be very persuasive as in was near Soho, where dozens of similar clubs were located. Furthermore, it was really difficult to convince a group of people to change their plans. In case of my home, a big part of the table (APP193) would be suitable. I live with seven friends of mine, so some skills concerning communicating with others are essential for everybody in order not to have arguments and to understand what we expect from each other. As we all have different characters, we had to learn to cope with many types of people, which is also helpful at the university and even improved there as well. As living together in such big amount of people is definitely not easy and some problems, bigger or smaller sometimes may occur, we all had to learn how to cope with it. Problems may be various. It can be some dishes washing, cleaning, shopping, or even division of rooms while moving in. Currently, I can see no problem that could disturb our friendship and there is nothing that can isolate us. Such ability as problem solving has significantly developed in me as a result of living in such a big group and I consider it as very helpful in future and absolutely essential in my future workplace or even any group work at the university. Although all of these abilities evolved considerably I consider persuading and influencing others as the ability that is highest rated. I consider this ability to be always my advantage and, from time to time I make use of it to make some things to run as I like when I think it is proper for them. Generally, I consider myself as a confident person who always tries to achieve its goals through conversation and persuading and considering this particular area I cannot make considerable improvements, however I am going to be more effective in communication, as well as to adapt some negotiation skills that would eventually even improve achieving my goals. 3. Learning styles and strategies Completing the module guide, I have found that I have not adopted almost any learning strategy. The only one that I use is listing the key points for one aspect of study (APP73). This is disappointing, as in the two next questionnaires it was shown that I am a pragmatist (APP69) and that I would find real difficulty while learning in an environment that does not provide verbal and visual learning materials (APP81). It means that I use a very low percentage of my abilities and potential. It would be strongly recommended for me, to use some diagrams, sketches, schematics, photographs, flow charts, as well as other material predominantly visual. In case of verbal learning it would be beneficial if I wrote the outlines of course material in my own words. I could also gain more understanding of material if I heard explanations of my class...