HR Learning Outcomes Portfolio

Human resource professionals who become successful in their job use appropriate and different approaches towards their work. They share a range of diverse personality traits, beliefs and attributes that make them central determinants of individual manager’s effectiveness and are developed gradually with an awareness of different operating environments and cultural differences/ contexts. This paper is a detailed portfolio of the learning outcomes that I developed and achieved after completing CIPD module. This module helped me develop self-awareness and realize my strengths and weaknesses as a manager.

This paper primarily deals with the skills that I developed after learning about my self-awareness of each HRM definable skills that are key to effective management practices and successful leadership. The skills include, my personal effective management at work place, decision making skills, the management of financial recourses, management of interpersonal relationships at work place, budget management and other more skills dealing with personal effectiveness development and credibility at work place. Each skill is described and the development and improvement that was attained is provided.

This portfolio is a summary of the skills I developed after studying and practicing HRM coordinator job position. The learning outcomes were assessed basing on the human recourse professional Map that scored each skill accordingly on the set band and evidence plan. After self-awareness had been attained, development areas were identified and developed using the particular elaborated methods and measured by a given success criteria. what follows here below are the skills that I needed to develop to be a successful HRM professional, and, they are described as learning outcomes one to eight.

Manage yourself more effectively at work or in another professional context: learning outcome one

Introduction

I assessed myself using the HR professional map which put me in band three with a score of 5.0 for personally credible. I embarked on reading various research materials and theories on this area while reflecting on my skills concerning this learning outcome. After every step of my reflection of this outcome, I received feedback from my colleagues, and consequently scored it on my evidence plan. This helped me improve myself- awareness on managing myself more effectively at work, moreover, it helped me to discover areas where I should focus for my development.

I decided to focus my development on the following areas, time management, professional and ethical approaches to self, and on principles of continuous professional development.  I become determined to increase my skills against this learning outcome from 5.0 to 8 or else be able to evaluate myself against band number for in personality credible.  The major aim of wanting to develop and improve in this particular area is my need to meet the human recourse coordinator responsibilities effectively. The promotion I received as a senior human recourses coordinator required that I ensure that time is managed properly to maintain high employee output, I handle the issues of the organization with professionalism and apply ethical approaches to self and professional developments in all aspects of life.  Before I was promoted to this position, I managed myself professionally at work and in all aspects but not to the standard required by my new senior position. To be a role model and a real leader in this position which involves teaching junior mangers how to carry themselves effectively at work and many more other places, I decided to improve on this learning outcome before I could teach my junior managers how to do it or generally serve as a mirror for everybody to copy and learn silently without needing anybody to explain personal conduct at work.

Methods

• I used several techniques of effective self management at work and professional contexts as provided theoretically during my studies, and I applied them in all situations that called for good time management and employee’s ethical and professional approaches to self management at work. This was due to poor time management I noted in the organization that slowed down production which was brought about by and poor approaches to self management at work.
• I learnt about effective management at work and professional contexts from a one week seminar that was delivered to me at workplace.
• I assigned employee’s duties together with targets to be attained daily to ensure that they managed themselves effectively and save on time and relate ethically to each other.

Success criteria

• Minimize the need to consult colleagues about effective self management behavior at work. Effective time management, ethical behaviors at work and professionalism are HRM coordinator roles, thus, I would make them myself so that my employer can be satisfied that I have made them happen in my organization.
• The feedback from the management that I am handling myself effectively at work, and that I portray good time management, ethical relationships, high job professionalism and improved production..
• Team leaders I was working with portraying effective self management and professionalism in all aspects by using management techniques that I introduced.

Analysis

The most important thing I felt I learnt about effective self management is the drawing of the plan of activities and stress management skills. Scheduling and planning time for each activity is the best way to handle self managed activities and even a call to professional contexts. HRM coordination duties are sometimes too involving and stressing because it involves dealing with people of diverse personalities and ethical behaviors. I learnt that, as a HRM coordinator, it is bad to take employees behaviors towards situations at work personal. This creates mayhem and stress that destroys the relationships in the organization. To effectively, manage yourself, you must be ready to put yourself in the shoes of everybody in all situations so that you can make right judgments over their behaviors. Further I learnt that, to effectively manage myself in work place or any professional context, I must be ready to use constructive criticism to improve on my performance.  In my new position of a senior HRM coordinator I was forced to work in an environment where clear information and direction was not available to me because I was new in that position. I had to work still productively by demonstrating strength and focus and controlling my emotions under pressure due to difficult situations. Previous experiences and mistakes taught me new ways of dealing with situations that are uncomely. There are number of situations that needed me to react intelligibly because they needed logic for instance, dealing with employees bad habits like lateness, rivalry among themselves and working conditions complaints. I had to coordinate a team of leaders in handling the organization difficult situations with sober mind although with resistance from some members. in overall, I was satisfied that  the steadfastness and courage together with strong  persuasive communication I was able to handle bad habits, lateness and rivalry among the employees although it was my first time to do it

from this analysis, I found that to effectively manage myself in work place , I should be ready to listen to other peoples feedback so that I can make adjustments or correct  my leadership mistakes. Moreover, I was able to teach the importance of ethics and professional approaches to self in workplace as the tap root of any organization.  Using the knowledge that I had gained concerning the time management, I realized that the team of new leaders I was dealing with were not time conscious. I used this opportunity to set a time table for handling activities and setting up fines for anyone who violated the time table of activities realized that some people work well when they are under pressure and with strict deadlines.

Conclusion

I can conclude that, I have successfully attained the success criteria I set myself for this learning outcome. I realize that I should have also set myself self the target around stress management and mange myself beyond my colleagues. I should have set this because I learnt that personal stress or group stress is detrimental to the success of an organization because it creates politics that can be fatal. Learning about stress management is essential for effective self management at workplace. I have concluded that self management at workplace was effective but only needed some improvement to become more effective in situations that needed logical reasons and personal emotional control. Because of the increased responsibility and a wide number of people I lead, the behaviors I demonstrate regularly affect employees at my organization, therefore, effective selfmangement respecting peoples behaviors, and acting professionally keeps the organization moving.

My development plan was very effective and I gained a lot on this learning outcome through personal efforts by practicing formal learning and practice. When I reflect on my state of knowledge and experience on this learning outcome, I feel that I have developed greatly. I will ask my colleagues who have been in this position of senior HRM coordinators for many years now to present to me some difficult situations they have faced and present and detail how I could have managed myself in such situations if it were me. They will assess me if I would have managed myself effectively or not so that I can take appropriate action.

Recommendations

Manage interpersonal relationships at work more effectively:  Learning Outcome two

Introduction

I assessed myself using HR management map which put me on band three with a core of 5.5 under “effective influencer”, and by reflecting my skills against this learning outcome using the formal research and by getting feedback from colleagues and my manger and scoring this on my evidence plan. This score and feedback improved my self-awareness around my interpersonal relationship and taught me areas where I should seek and focus my development.

After becoming aware of my skill level, on interpersonal relationships, I decided to focus my development efforts on assertiveness, interpersonal communication, effective negotiation and networking. My key intention was to increase my skill level from 5.5 to a minimum of 7 in band three or even jump to band four which is the highest assessment rank/ score.

The need for me to improve on these areas was triggered by my position of HR coordinator whose roles and duties revolve around effective interpersonal communication. I realized that lack of effective interpersonal communication, can make one to fail to deliver in this position because it involves meeting with managers and executive persons to deliberate the organization development and progress. Before I was promoted to this position, my manger used to relate to the organization persons and could communicate organizational development effectively, but now I have to perform this duty myself because it is more personal and I could rarely consult him or my colleagues.  As a HR coordinator my roles include, coaching other managers on interpersonal relations and issues relating to interpersonal communication. Therefore, I considered it necessary to improve on these skills before I could embark of training others in using them on day to day human recourses activities.

Methods

• To perfect my skills in this learning outcome, I used diverse theoretical interpersonal communication techniques that I learnt about during my studies and applied them in situations that required them to be applied. I had to use assertiveness as a way of addressing controversial issues and negotiation skills to solve employee’s disputes at work place. at times situations could become complex till I resorted to networking with other HR coordinators from senior organization to help me solve effectively the situations.
• I learnt about interpersonal communication and networking from a course delivered to me at the work place for one week.
• I introduced interpersonal communication workshop to help enlighten employees about their relationships at work place. Moreover, I created a network with other HR coordinators to see if we can improve interpersonal relations faster and from different perspectives.

Success criteria

• Reduced employees disputes and evidence from my manger that interpersonal relations maintained in the organization is ok.
• Good interpersonal communication in the organization.
• The success of a network of HR coordinators as a role model to employees
• Being able to relate interpersonally, with workers and managers smoothly at all capacities.

Analysis

The most important things I felt that I learnt effectively are interpersonal communication and assertiveness. Interpersonal communication skill is a core competence in HR coordinators role, effective interpersonal communication requires that the HR coordinator conveys information and opinions in a very critical and structured ways. Assertiveness at workplace is the contributor to good employee performance and is very relevant in negotiation incidences. Many a times, assertion is confused with aggression. I learnt that assertiveness is different from aggression because aggression is attacking and destructive and leads to the loss of interaction in negotiation. I was able to learn that for good interpersonal relations to exist in an organization, assertiveness must be one of the competences of the HR coordinator. This is because assertiveness means respect and care of an individual’s needs and the needs of the other parties. I realized that, being non-assertive in the workplace makes me passive and this brings a lot of huge problems which leads to resentment, frustration, confusion and anger began working on my assertiveness by starting with respecting my needs of my workplace and the needs of other persons (Isaac, 2006). I began caring for the employees by sharing some feedback about things that hinder them from becoming successful at workplace. When I began caring for individual’s success at workplace as my own, it was indeed transformation for both of us. Another fact that I learnt and applied at work place is sharing just facts without accusations, judgments and intimidations, by stating the behaviours I witnessed that needed corrections. I learnt that by being open to dialogue, working together to agree on the future actions and agreeing on follow-ups when the issues have been solved produces best interpersonal relationships management. When I applied all this steps in dealing with employees I realized that I become more assertive and I witnessed interpersonal respect, dignity and higher performance in the organization.

From this analysis I was able to know the best ways to relate with people at workplace on daily basis. Building alliance is one important interpersonal relationship technique. Friends who tell yore the truth are very crucial in correcting you wherever you go wrong or headed in the wrong direction. I used this technique by having a network of colleagues whom I shared with some critical issues. This analysis helped me relate with people at workplace effectively without crashing even if situations were not conducive. Learning of interpersonal communication skills played a major role in dealing with my manger and clients effectively. I was able to learn from the team of leaders I was working with that they had very low assertiveness, average negotiation skills and limited conflict resolution understanding. This gave me an opportunity to coach them long this areas. after I assigned them duties, I learnt that they demonstrated assertiveness, good conflict resolution skills and improved negotiation skills this helped boost my morale to keep on advancing in learning about managing interpersonal relationships at workplace at advanced levels so that each time I had the opportunity to coach I can add value or new approaches to interpersonal relationships.

As a HR coordinator, it is my role to ensure that interpersonal relationships in an organization is effective to avoid conflicts, unproductively, disrespect and untrustworthy among many other interpersonal misunderstandings. I used assertiveness at every leadership meetings or in solving all problems that arose due to poor interpersonal relationships. I learnt that, respect for one another and using truth in all aspects of life is very important in maintaining effective interpersonal relationship at work place. I realized after practicing shortly my HR coordinator responsibilities that managing interpersonal relationships at workplace depends greatly on the communications style that a HRM coordinator will use in communicating with employees or the manager or between employees. I learnt that there are four styles of communication, passive, aggressive, passive-aggressive and assertive. After considering the attributes of all these styles of communication, assertive style become the most appropriate in managing interpersonal relationships because it confronts/ attacks the problem and not the individual (Isaac, 2006)

Conclusion

I can conclude that, my set goal of wanting to improve and develop my interpersonal relationship was successfully achieved for this learning outcome. I feel strong and successful for attaining assertiveness which has helped me to transform all my frustrations and resentments at workplace into constructive idea that bring respect and honor to everybody. After attaining assertiveness and conflict resolution techniques, I found it too basic to deal with situations that seemed complex to me before a learnt these skills. I believe I should have set my goals a little bit higher that what I did in the first place. This is because of my quick learning abilities as well as reflection on my past experiences before embarking on new undertakings.

I also learnt that my interpersonal relationship techniques were very accurate since I scored highly on the HRM map. I realized that my relationships could not change any better since I had related assertively, without theoretical knowledge about assertiveness techniques. However, because my role entails dealing with complex situations I count it a gain since I may need to apply the newly learnt techniques to solve interpersonal conflicts and coach my group leaders who may not be familiar with these techniques.

The planning for my development was effective due to personal efforts to research on theories and techniques of building and maintaining group relationships and practicing assertiveness in addressing complex situations at workplace. After reflecting on the outcomes of my actions on such situations, and depending on the feedback from my manger and colleagues I feel I achieved a lot. I was also able to attain from my development six interpersonal skills which include, analyzing the situation, establishing realistic approaches selecting appropriate ways of behavior, controlling your behavior, shaping other peoples behavior and monitoring my own behavior ant others as well.

I need to embark on learning more complex interpersonal relationship techniques by requesting colleagues and my manger to help me with scenarios that needed interpersonal relationship techniques to solve them. I will handle these situations assertively, and ask for assessment and score on my evidence plan to see if I made effective interpersonal relationship.

Recommendations

Make sound and justifiable decisions and solve problems more effectively: Learning outcome 3

Introduction 

After assessing myself using the professional HR map, I scored 6.0 under band three for a “decisive thinker”. The score was arrived at after careful reflection on my past skills against this learning outcome together with the feedback from my colleagues and my manager as well as my research and reading on various theories about decision making and comparing them with my evidence plan. This evaluation improved my self-awareness about decision making skills and directed me on areas I should focus my development.

I decided to focus my development on systematic and evidence based decision making, communicating and justifying descriptions and ethical decision making. I planned to improve my skill level from 6.0 to around 7.5 in band three and if possible be able to assess my skill level against the highest band (four) in “decisive thinker”. The roles of a HR coordinator compelled me to develop this area as I need to make justifiable decisions on various aspects in the organization. Some of the situations that require competent decision making include, employee’s salary reviews, human recourse policy formulation, emergency consultations and workplace human relationships. Before I became an HR coordinator, my manger used to make decisions on various HR coordinator roles and by the fact that he is very busy in his newly promoted position as a CEO I will rely get him to seek consultation about decisions concerning certain HRM aspects.

My position requires the role of the leader and people manger in day to day HRM issues. Therefore, I needed to coach team leaders and advice mangers on team decision making and human resource related decisions making. To do all this leadership roles, I wanted to improve my decision making skills before I could competently educate others in using them.

Methods

• I used several decision making techniques that I studied and applied them in situations that called me to make decisions. As a HR coordinator I had to make decisions concerning the employees salaries review, employment of new employees due to resigning and demotion of incompetent workers. Also, I had to make decisions how to downsize a given department which had many employees who were less productive.
• I learnt about group decision making from a workshop that was organized by the managers within the organization for three days.
• I used the knowledge gained from the workshop and introduced a team decision making technique in leadership team of production and operations to see if they will hasten making critical decisions and take faster actions.
• I used cost analysis as a technique of decision making when drafting a new policy to replace the old policy which had may flaws.

Success criteria

• Leadership teams making right and justifiable decisions quickly through the decision making techniques I introduced to them.
• Making decisions by myself and getting a feedback from the manger that the decision I made were good and satisfactorily as per the situation.
• High productivity in the organization to evidence that the decisions I made were the results of the high profits in the areas of business I handle.
• The success of the new HR policy based on cost analysis decision making technique after its validation by reward and finance.

Analysis

My need for improvement and development was not in vain because I felt that I lear.............