Learning Portfolio: Growth And Self-Development

Learning Portfolio Name Institution Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Introduction PAGEREF _Toc513249079 \h 3Team Working PAGEREF _Toc513249080 \h 4Stress Management, Motivation and Goal Setting PAGEREF _Toc513249081 \h 6Skills Audit PAGEREF _Toc513249082 \h 9Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc513249083 \h 11Bibliography PAGEREF _Toc513249084 \h 12 Learning Portfolio Introduction Every human being needs to grow and develop so that they can go a step further in their careers. The only way they can achieve this is through self-development. Self-development provides people with the opportunity to better themselves by acquiring new skills and finding means of developing new habits while dropping the bad ones. Students have the opportunity develop themselves through courses at the university. Within this learning portfolio are all those theories, concepts, and activities that were taught during the professional development course. The portfolio aims at providing a link between the theories that have been learnt so far and the relevant self-development reflections. The reflection also contains those skills that have been acquired throughout my academic, personal and professional life through presentation of the relevant evidence. In this portfolio, I will reflect on team working and stress management, motivation and goal setting. Describing these theories, concepts, and activities in this learning portfolio will show how well I understand the skills that people need to manage themselves whenever they are working in an organization or in a team. It will also provide me with the platform to evaluate and reflect on the strengths and weaknesses so that I can know ways of improving and becoming better. Team Working This activity was carried out with several objectives in mind. The first was to help in understanding why it is important to work as a team and how this can affect the achievement of organizational and personal goals. The activity was also meant to enhance understanding of team dynamics and to enable students to practice those techniques that they need to handle interpersonal problems in teams. Finally, it was meant to provide greater insights into why teams succeed or fail and team norms, roles, and stages. Team-working is very important in today’s corporate world. According toTarricone and Luca (2002, p641),teams normally have a common purpose and goals and team members can rely on these to build “effective mutual relationships” that can help them to achieve these goals. Therefore, those working in teams have to achieve these common goals through working together and sharing skills and knowledge. Flexibility is important if team members are to adapt to the corporate working environment, especially in those organizations where achieving goals requires good collaborations and relying on one another instead of using individualized approaches (Tarricone and Luca, 2002, p641). The first activity involved students forming teams of 5/6. Each group had to use their newspapers to build a bridge. The team that had the bridge that could hold the most weight won a price. Team working is very important and this was an activity that I felt I needed to do. During the activity, I realized that to be an effective team player, I needed to: 1 Be more reliable and meet deadlines to earn the appreciation of team members. 2 Be more open-minded and be ready to listen to ideas and perspectives of other people. 3 Be appreciated of the work styles of other people. 4 Learn to focus on team goals and always be ready to celebrate the success of team members. 5 Communicate effectively. To meet deadlines and be reliable, it was decided that team members needed to take on those tasks they know they can handle well. There is no need taking on a task that is too big for one. If anyone makes a promise to the team members that they are going to do something, they should do it within the stipulated time. To accept perspectives and suggestions of others, emphasis was put on treating each member of the team as equal. It is important to know that teams are built on sharing of ideas and respecting one another. Without this, everyone would want to be the dominant person and they would want their ideas to prevail and this will eventually cause disharmony. To appreciate the work styles of other people, emphasis was put on being prepared to learn from the team members and not having a know-it-all attitude. I have started developing enthusiasm about the works of other people and appreciating why they go about their duties the way they go about them. Finally, on accepting the success of team members, emphasis was put on developing an understanding of what a team member does for the overall good of the team. Therefore, the least one can do is to be happy for the contributions they make towards making the team realize its objectives. This reflection can be linked to the“Bruce Tuckman Theory”. This theory defines four stages of group behavior as: “forming, storming, norming, and performing” (Tuckman’s, 2010, p2). The forming stage occurs at the time the team meets. At this stage, team members try to avoid conflict because they would never want to give a bad impression. The period is characterized by very little work progress.At the storming stage, individuals would start to brainstorm and there would be disagreements as to whose ideas are the best. At this stage, the maturity of the team members is tested. It also determines how capable they are of reaching a compromise on ideas of others. This is a necessary step in coming up with successful teams (Tuckman’s, 2010, p2).At the norming stage, the group has been able to storm and each individual has accepted to reach a compromise. The group is no longer in any disagreement and is ready to start working and assigns roles to team members. At the performing stage, the group starts working as a single unit and begins producing efficiently (Tuckman’s, 2010, p3). There is little argument or hesitation on who is supposed to do what. The team is therefore able to deliver on the project and produce positive results. This theory is relevant in helping to understand how teams transition to start becoming functional. In the reflection, I learnt that disagreements are there in teams and they help in creating a stronger link and bond. That is an important concept that is supported by the reflection. The two agree that the key to success in team work is cohesion and compromise. Stress Management, Motivation and Goal Setting According to Krohne (2002, n.p), stress refers to a situation where an individual is overwhelmed and tensed especially if they have the feeling that they need to do more with limited time and resources. There are various kinds of stress. They include: time stress, anticipatory stress, situational stress, and encounter stress. People experience time stress when they worry about time or lack of sufficient time. Anticipatory stress occurs when one is worried about what is bound to happen in the future. Situation stress occurs when an individual is in a scary situation that they can never control. Encounter stress occurs when one is worried about meeting certain people. In the United...