Importance Of Teamwork, Assertiveness, And Time Management Skills

Defining Teamwork and its Importance

Teamwork can be defined as the ability by which individuals can work in a collaborative manner with a group of people. This is mainly done to achieve a goal or an objective that is set by an organization. Teamwork can be defined as the crucial part of the business as it enables employees to not only cooperate and coordinate in their different activities but also enables each of them to use their individual skills and knowledge and providing constructive feedback to achieve success in the organization (Brock et al., 2017). Present day workplaces promotes the concept of teamwork to achieve success  where employees in the workplace can act as team members and thereby plan ahead, work cooperatively to assign tasks, assess progress and thereby deliver the proper work on time (Matteson, Anderson and Boyden, 2016). This reduces the time taken by individual if he does the work alone and reduces the chance of failure of the assignment as more than one mind are acting for achieving the organizational goals.

Why is this core skill important?

Teamwork skill is very important in workplace as it has number of different benefits in workplace. Individuals who can successfully engage in teamwork can develop an environment in the workplace that fosters creativity and learning. This helps the organisation to overcome many crisis in an innovative way which might not have been possible in traditional methods were applied (Briiton et al. 2017). The second benefit is that it helps in blending the complementary strengths that helps in achieving the organisational gaols much easily. For example, when one individual has a skill of creative thinking and other has a skill of organization and planning, both can work as team to achieve the goals easily. It also gives scope to team workers to build trusts easily, learn the ways of conflict resolution skills, develops a wider sense of ownership and encourage healthy risk taking (Felstead et al. 2016)

Reflect on your current competent regarding this skill

One of the most important attribute that prevents me from effectively participating in teamwork is my introvert nature. Due to my introvert nature, I am not bake to express my concerns and feelings when in participate in any teamwork. Due to my introvert nature, many of my friends and colleagues negatively perceive me and think that I suffer from superiority complex or that I am avoiding them purposely. In many other cases, as I am not able to express my views on any topic, they take me as less competent and tend to lose their trust on me. As I cannot engage in effective feedback sharing sessions, they feel that I am disinterested in the project and assume that I might withdrawn or not complete my projects effectively. The negative perceptions about me affect my teamwork and in turn, the organisational mission and visions are also affected.

Benefits of Effective Teamwork

Can you identify any contradictions from your analysis above?

I have conducted the Johari window where my introvert nature was identified as the skill that was both known to me as well as known by the team members. My very close friends had been able to identify my introvert nature and had advised me to overcome such nature gradually as this might affect my future professional lives, therefore, I will retry my best to overcome my introvert nature so that I can participate in team working effectively.

How will this skill help me in the future?

Effective team working skill would help me to develop bonds and relationship with my colleagues and would help me to work cooperatively (Ali et al., 2017). I would be able to contribute my ideas and suggestions successfully and thereby would help my team members as well as my organization to reach the zenith of success.

Second skill: Assertiveness

What is the core skill?

Assertiveness can be defined as the ability by which an individual professional develops the ability to tell others of their feelings, beliefs, opinions, suggestions and needs in a honest manner without hurting the emotions and feelings of others. Individuals with high level of assertiveness can clearly express their concerns regarding the tasks that they are not comfortable in doing and hence cannot perform them if assigned (Siu et al. 2017). Many researchers have also described this as the ability by which individuals are able to stand up for themselves. Many people are low on assertiveness that means that they feel guilty when they try to speak up for themselves (Warland et al. 2014) . They are therefore seen to keep themselves quite which makes them feel bad, hopeless and powerless. Individuals who are assertive are always found to be self-assured and therefore they can gain power from this to get their point across firmly, fairly and even with empathy.

Why is this core skill important?

When an individual is assertive, it would not be possible for any other employees to exploit the former and take advantage of the individuals. This skill would also help the individual to be not easily intimidated by superiors who are bossy. When others realise that the assertive individual is not open to any unethical or irrelevant demands and requests and is sincere and truthful, they will start respecting the individual (Fullagar and Demourti 2016). Moreover, those individuals who are high on assertive skills are also seen to effectively control their emotions and maintain a proper workplace environment. Assertive people become more successful in setting boundaries that adds clarity in professional relationships. It also helps the individuals to build their judgements and thereby improve their body language (Charoensap et al., 2016). It also gives the individuals the confidence to ask for what they want and teaches them to deny accepting any unethical requests.

Reflecting on Your Competencies in Teamwork

Reflect on your current competent regarding this skill

I am quite low on assertiveness level and therefore I am not able to deny any requests that are done by my friends and colleagues. A dear friend of mine takes advantage of my poor assertiveness power and always requests me to complete his part of the work stating of his personal problems. In many cases, I have found out that he lies about his personal issues but I had never been able to confront him on this topic. I feel bad to turn him down and therefore always accept his request. Therefore, I have decided to develop my assertiveness level and do not allow anyone to mis-utilize my potential. I will go through important internet resources, evidence-based articles and would engage in discussion sessions with my mentors to develop my assertiveness skills. I believe if I am able to improve my-self awareness and self-confidence, I will be able to develop my assertiveness.

Can you identify any contradictions from your analysis above?

I had conducted Johari window analysis that had helped me to understand that I am quite poor in my self-awareness skills as well as my self-confidence skills. Therefore, these may be the main contributing factors for which I do not have high level of assertiveness.

How will this skill help me in the future?

This skill is extremely important for future endeavours. This is mainly because it helps an individual to thrive successfully in place even when the situation becomes ambiguous (Creswell et al. 2015) . These individuals are able to stand up for themselves in ways that does not hurt other feelings. This would help me to be transparent in my feelings with my colleagues as well as engage in clear and honest communication. I would be also able to generate positive results by controlling my immediate environment effectively in a positive manner.

Third skill: Time management

What is the core skill?

Time management skill can be defined as the skill by which individuals develop the capability to organize as well as plan about proper dividing of time between different specific activities that the individual need to conduct. Researchers are of the opinion that good time management skills help people to act smarter and not act harder (Certo et al. 2018). Therefore, such individuals are able to complete more amount of work in less time even when the time is short and pressures are high. Failure of management of time results in damaging the effectiveness and causing stress in the individuals. In short, this skill can be defined as the procedures by which an individual is able to organize and thereby plan specific amount of time that he or she would be allocating for specific tasks for their speedy completion. Researchers are of the opinion that time management skills help tasks seems less daunting to professionals and more organized (Grissom et al. 2015). This would help the individuals to complete the task in a timely manner and in a more productive manner.

Defining Assertiveness and its Importance

Why is this core skill important?

The different benefits that remain associated with effective time management skills are greater productivity and efficiency in the organisation. Moreover, those individuals who can mange time effectively are never seen to miss deadlines and complete their work on time that results them in gaining better professional reputation. Moreover, as these individuals are able to complete the work on time, such individuals are seen to go through less stress. Such individual also have increased opportunities for advancement in their lives (Bolden 2016). The individuals who have proper time management skills are seen to achieve important life as well as career goals that help them to reach the peak of success in their lives (Wilson 2018). They are never seen to miss deadlines for which the organisations never suffer loss and go into crisis period. Individuals who are seen to fail miserably in time management are seen to suffer from inefficient workflow, poor work quality, poor professional reputation and high stress levels.

Reflect on your current competent regarding this skill

I am quite efficient in time management. From the early period in my life, I had always been very active in my work activities and always used to plan my schedule in the early morning of the day. I use to allocate specific time slots to each of my activities. I used to adhere by the division of the time slots very leniently and therefore, I always completed my work in a timely and disciplined manner. The habit of mine has helped me to develop time management skills efficiently. With my effective time management skills, I can always adhere to the deadlines given to me and completed them within time. Therefore, my mentors are always very happy with the responsibility the assignments that they give to me as I complete them efficiently. Therefore, my productivity is very high, for which the organisation can meet its goals effectively.

Can you identify any contradictions from your analysis above?

I have assessed the appraisal data, post-academic reports and absenteeism data that have also reported the same result about my time management skills. My colleagues also praise me about this skill and want to know how they can develop such skills like me.

How will this skill help me in the future?

In my future endeavours, time management skills would help me to complete my tasks, jobs or projects within the tome without missing the deadlines. This would help me to increase my productivity and develop reputation (Brundiers and Wiek 2017). I also may be appointed to the level of manager, as I would be able to help my employees complete the task within timeline helping them to achieve goals successfully.

Benefits of Assertiveness in the Workplace

Fourth skill: Feedback sharing and receiving skills

What is the core skill?

Feedback giving and receiving skills are mainly considered to be an important aspect of effective communication skills. Researchers are of the opinion that when individuals engage in effective feedback and giving skills, interpersonal conversations become effective, as both the members feel respected and cared for (Brink and costigan 2015). In teamwork, it is mainly seen to be an important aspect as it helps individuals in not only developing their skills and knowledge but also helps in providing innovative ideas by which problems can be solved much easily.

Why is this core skill important?

Feedback is considered to be important in every organisation as constructive feedback has the capacity to help people realise their mistakes or help them to develop their quality of work on a better way. Moreover, constructive feedback also has the calibre to motivate people in such a way by which they can work beyond their potential and achieve the targets much easily (Meulenbroek et al. 2016). Feedback is extremely important as leaders can use effective feedback sharing procedures by which they can help in improvement of the employees working under the team. Moreover, it is also seen to be an effective method of receiving suggestions as different employees coming from different backgrounds can suggest new ideas as effective feedback giving that can help in development of productivity of the organisation and helping the organisations to overcome crisis (Delaney et al. 2017). Feedback is an effective tool for continued learning where employees are able to align with the goals, create strategies, improvement of relationships, develop products and even service improvements.

Reflect on your current competent regarding this skill

I have moderate level of feedback giving and receiving skills as I can participate in constructive feedback and receiving sessions. However, one backlog that I have is that I often become defensive when someone suggests me to develop my professional attribute. It becomes very difficult for me to accept it and therefore, I tend to argue when someone criticises my skills. This sends negative vibes to the speaker and he withdraws himself in order to avoid conflict. Therefore, I need to be open towards criticism, as such, criticism would help me to develop my attributes and prepare me as a better professional for future.  

Can you identify any contradictions from your analysis above?

Both johari window and feedback from my peers had helped me to identify this issue.

Reflecting on Your Competencies in Assertiveness

How will this skill help me in the future?

In future, if I get promoted to managerial as well as leadership role, this skill would be extremely helpful. This would help me to engage with my team where I can help my subordinates to develop their skills and they could provide me effective feedback by which I can achieve the organizational target or manage entire projects effectively (Prince et al. 2015).

Summary and action plan:

From the entire discussion above, I have easily identified four important skills that need to be developed by me. These are the feedback exchange skills, team-working skills and my assertiveness level. It has been found that apart from the feedback skills (on which I score moderate), other skills are also not developed enough and these may become a barrier in my pathway towards professional success. Therefore, I need to develop action plan on these three important weaknesses that I have identified through these requirements. However, I have identified that my time management skill is high and therefore, I will try my best to keep up with such skills so that I can benefit from it in my future endeavors.

Goals: development of assertiveness, feedback giving and receiving skills and team-working skills

Specific: I will be joining workshop in my community that helps professionals to help them develop their professional skills. The mentors there take regular assessment and practical classes to make individual future-ready for their professional lives. I will be working on these three attributes mainly. Besides, I will go through evidence-based articles where the researchers have given recommendations that help individuals to develop their particular attributes and come out as successful professional.

Measurable: the workshop takes examination on a weekly basis and therefore the marks of this assignment will help me to know how well I am developing my skills. In addition, I would take feedback from the enter so that I can understand how much I have developed and how much I need to work more on this attributes. Moreover, I can also reflect on my improvements. Reflection is an important tool that gives good amount of information about elf developments well (Lippman et al. 2015).

Attainable:

The workshop is present within the community and is help in the evening session. Therefore, it is attainable for me as I could complete my university in the afternoon and attend the workshops in the evening. Moreover, it is within a walking distance and therefore, it would be also require less time for me to go there. Moreover, the money required for admission is also affordable. I have free access to digital library in my university from where I can easily search or the important articles required by me. Therefore, the actions are all attainable.

Defining Time Management and its Importance

Relevant:

Joining workshop classes would be relevant, as I would be training under eminent mentors. I will be under their guidance and they would be helping me to realize my mistakes. They would also help me to learn how to overcome my barriers and come out victorious. The evidence based articles are easier ways to get accommodated with the organizational behaviors expected on the modern generation and the recommendations there would help me to develop myself in a way by which I can match up to the requirement with proper sets of skills.

Timeframe: This would be completed with 5 to six months.

References:

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Bolden, R., 2016. Leadership, management and organisational development. In Gower handbook of leadership and management development (pp. 143-158). Routledge.

Brink, K.E. and Costigan, R.D., 2015. Oral communication skills: Are the priorities of the workplace and AACSB-accredited business programs aligned?. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 14(2), pp.205-221.

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Brundiers, K. and Wiek, A., 2017. Beyond Interpersonal Competence: Teaching and Learning Professional Skills in Sustainability. Education Sciences, 7(1), p.39.

Certo, S.C., 2018. Supervision: Concepts and skill-building. McGraw-Hill Education.

Charoensap-Kelly, P., Broussard, L., Lindsly, M. and Troy, M., 2016. Evaluation of a soft skills training program. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly, 79(2), pp.154-179.

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Felstead, A., Gallie, D., Green, F. and Henseke, G., 2016. The determinants of skills use and work pressure: A longitudinal analysis. Economic and Industrial Democracy, p.0143831X16656412.

Fullagar, C.J. and Demerouti, E., 2016. Experiencing Flow in the Workplace and What Individuals and Organizations Can Do to Foster It. In The Fulfilling Workplace (pp. 91-110). Routledge.

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Meulenbroek, P., Bowers, B. and Turkstra, L.S., 2016. Characterizing common workplace communication skills for disorders associated with traumatic brain injury: A qualitative study. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 44(1), pp.15-31.

Prince, M., Burns, D., Lu, X. and Winsor, R., 2015. Knowledge and skills transfer between MBA and workplace. Journal of workplace learning, 27(3), pp.207-225.

Siu, O.L., 2017. Stress management techniques in the workplace. The Routledge Companion to Wellbeing at Work, p.284.

Warland, J., McKellar, L. and Diaz, M., 2014. Assertiveness training for undergraduate midwifery students. Nurse education in practice, 14(6), pp.752-756.

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