Information Sheet 5.

1-1

OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT

Learning Objective:
After reading this INFORMATION SHEET, YOU MUST be able to:
1. Identify Opportunities for Improvement

The importance of knowing your weaknesses at work

No one is perfect, but everyone can improve upon their weaknesses to grow
their skills and become more competent at work. Being able to identify and
address areas of improvement for your career can help you land a job and set
yourself up for growth in your company. Knowing where you can improve
enables you to achieve your full potential, impressing supervisors and growing
your professional abilities to meet your long-term career goals.

How to identify your areas for improvement

There are several scenarios where you may be required to identify areas for
improvement including interview questions, performance reviews with human
resources, 360 assessments, and professional development workshops.

1. Regularly check in with yourself to evaluate possible areas of

improvement by writing out your challenges in the workplace.
2. Seek feedback from others.
3. When talking about your areas for improvement in an interview, mention
your goals for addressing them.

Thinking about areas for improvement should be a positive, growth-oriented

experience instead of a negative view of your current skillset.
Common areas for improvement at work
Reflect on how you would assess yourself in each of these areas to recognize
your main areas of improvement in the workplace and potential places where
you could start growing those skills.

Confidence
Even if you are amazing at all other aspects of your job, lacking confidence can
impact your performance and keep you from advancing in your career.
Recognizing that you need to grow in confidence can encourage you to seek out
opportunities to share your skills with others.

Active listening
Listening to others and engaging with what they have to say improves
communication across organizations. Active listening involves not only paying
attention when others are sharing ideas, but asking clarifying questions to
ensure you understand their main point.

Written communication
Expressing ideas clearly in written formats like reports, emails and memos is
essential for smooth and efficient workflow. If written communication isn’t your
strong suit, you can practice by editing drafts of your past written work and
identifying patterns in your writing.

Public speaking
Giving presentations, meeting with clients and other routine business activities
require competent public speaking skills. Take public speaking workshops and
practice voicing your option to address this essential skill.

Setting goals
As you grow in your career, it will become increasingly important to set your
own goals at work. Start by identifying benchmarks you want to meet while
working on a project, then make long-term projections to set strategic goals for
the future.

Accepting feedback
Your ability to let down your defenses and implement feedback is also a skill
you can develop over time. It’s natural to feel uncomfortable when receiving
criticism, but experienced professionals are able to accept feedback and strive
to improve.

Experience and knowledge

Being inexperienced is a challenge in the workplace, but luckily it is one of the
easiest areas of improvement you can tackle. Pursuing professional
development classes, getting certifications and helping out on new projects can
all help you improve your knowledge base.

Trustworthiness
Establishing trust in the workplace takes time. The more you demonstrate
honesty and integrity on the job, the better you will be at encouraging others to
trust you to complete tasks and follow through with your promises.

Leadership
Being a strong leader takes practice, and many people are more comfortable
acting as a follower than the person in charge. But anyone can improve their
leadership skills by voicing their ideas and paying attention to how their team
works together.

Time management
The ability to estimate how long different tasks will take and organize your time
well is highly sought-after in the workplace. Improve your time management
abilities by writing out a schedule where you itemize your day, then compare it
to the actual timeline of tasks throughout the day.
Delegation
Assigning tasks to other people takes problem-solving and critical-thinking
skills. You have to know who you can trust and who is the best person for each
job, then ensure that each aspect of the project gets completed.

Stress management
Working under pressure can take practice. Explore different techniques for
managing stress in the workplace and knowing when to limit your workload.

Attention to detail
To become more detail-oriented, practice looking for patterns and double-
checking your work, even when performing standard tasks. Noticing details can
make a big difference in the quality of your work.

Organization
Getting and staying organized requires forming new habits, which takes
practice over time. Write out your priorities and practice assigning a place for
all of your important tools and paperwork.

Teamwork
Part of working as a team involves working and communicating with others to
meet a common goal. Listen to others’ perspectives and make compromises to
facilitate success on team projects.

Dependability
Regularly delivering quality work on a deadline and meeting expectations
contributes to your reputation as a dependable, reliable employee and
coworker.
Professionalism
Professionalism involves knowing appropriate behavior expectations in different
work environments. You can become more professional by researching industry
standards or simply observing those around you.

Flexibility
Improving your flexibility in the workplace helps you adapt to changes in
leadership and overcome unexpected obstacles. Being open to change and
flexible can help you develop a strategic mindset and improve your workflow.

Attitude
Your attitude impacts workplace culture, overall morale and productivity.
Learn to focus on the positive by reflecting on your successes and how you
learn from failure.

Self-awareness
Knowing the impression you make on others and assessing your abilities is
important for finding ways to improve and making a positive contribution at
work.

Decision-making
Being able to make a final decision without outside input is essential for taking
on more responsibility at work and self-managing effectively. Practice making
choices and then reflect later on how those decisions influenced your success.

Customer service
Practice being customer-oriented and representing the company’s brand every
time you interact with others at work. Customer service is a combination of
patience, problem-solving and persuasion among other interpersonal skills.
Conflict resolution
Mediating conflict between others is important for keeping operations smooth
and completing projects successfully. Improving your conflict resolution skills
involves being tactful and diplomatic when interacting with others.

Source: https://www.glassdoor.com/blog/guide/areas-of-improvement/
 Information Sheet 5.2-1
COMMUNICATING IDEAS

Learning Objective:
After reading this INFORMATION SHEET, YOU MUST be able to:
1. Describe the procedure for Communicating Ideas

Good communication is an essential tool in achieving productivity and

maintaining strong working relationships at all levels of an organisation – and
this has been particularly important since the Covid-19 outbreak forced many
people to work remotely. Employers who invest time and energy into delivering
clear lines of communication will rapidly build trust among employees, leading
to increases in productivity, output and morale in general. Meanwhile,
employees who communicate effectively with colleagues, managers and
customers are always valuable assets to an organisation and it is a skill which
can often set people apart from their competition when applying for jobs.

Poor communication in the workplace will inevitably lead to unmotivated staff

that may begin to question their own confidence in their abilities and inevitably
in the organisation.

The importance of strong communication runs deep within a business. Here

are five key reasons you should be paying attention:

Team building – Building effective teams is really all about how those team
members communicate and collaborate together. By implementing effective
strategies, such as those listed below, to boost communication you will go a
long way toward building effective teams. This, in turn, will improve morale
and employee satisfaction.

Gives everyone a voice – As mentioned above, employee satisfaction can rely

a lot on their having a voice and being listened to, whether it be in regards to
an idea they have had or about a complaint they need to make. Well
established lines of communication should afford everyone, no matter their
level, the ability to freely communicate with their peers, colleagues and
superiors.

Innovation – Where employees are enabled to openly communicate ideas

without fear of ridicule or retribution they are far more likely to bring their idea
to the table. Innovation relies heavily on this and an organisation which
encourages communication is far more likely to be an innovative one.
Growth – Communication can be viewed both internally and externally. By
being joined up internally and having strong lines of communication you are
ensuring that the message you are delivering externally is consistent. Any
growth project relies on strong communication and on all stakeholders,
whether internal or external, being on the same wavelength.

Strong management – When managers are strong communicators, they are

better able to manage their teams. The delegation of tasks, conflict
management, motivation and relationship building (all key responsibilities of
any manager) are all much easier when you are a strong communicator. Strong
communication is not just the ability to speak to people but to empower them
to speak to each other – facilitating strong communication channels is key.

How can you improve how your organisation communicates?

With 40 years of recruitment experience, we understand the value of good

communication. Below, we’ve outlined some of the key areas where
organisations can improve and enhance communication between their teams.

 Define goals and expectations – Managers need to deliver clear,

achievable goals to both teams and individuals, outlining exactly
what is required on any given project, and ensuring that all staff are
aware of the objectives of the project, the department and the
organisation as a whole.
 Clearly deliver your message – Ensure your message is clear and
accessible to your intended audience. To do this it is essential that
you speak plainly and politely – getting your message across clearly
without causing confusion or offence.
 Choose your medium carefully – Once you’ve created your message
you need to ensure it’s delivered in the best possible format. While
face-to-face communication is by far the best way to build trust with
employees, it is not always an option. Take time to decide whether
information delivered in a printed copy would work better than an
email or if a general memo will suffice.
 Keep everyone involved – Ensure that lines of communication are
kept open at all times. Actively seek and encourage progress reports
and project updates. This is particularly important when dealing with
remote staff.
 Listen and show empathy – Communication is a two-way process
and no company or individual will survive long if it doesn’t listen and
encourage dialogue with the other party. Listening shows respect and
allows you to learn about any outstanding issues you may need to
address as an employer.
If you are looking for a new opportunity and would like to learn more about the
positions we have available, browse our jobs pages or use our Job Match tool.
Alternatively, for reports, eBooks, tips on hiring, and managing teams, please
visit our Management advice section.

Source:
https://www.michaelpage.co.uk/advice/management-advice/development-
and-retention/importance-good-communication-workplace
 Information Sheet 5.3-1

INTEGRATING IDEAS FOR CHANGE

Learning Objectives:
After reading this INFORMATION SHEET, YOU MUST be able to:
1. Describe the procedure for Integrating Ideas for Change

Ideas. We’ve all had them. Some are big and ambitious, some small and simple.
Some are good (the wheel, sliced bread, the internet...), some are bad (chocolate
teapots, glass skateboards – yep, they exist).

It’s those good ideas we want to focus on, of course, because when it comes to
a business, ideas are everything.
 
Whether it's coming up with innovative and disruptive new products;
continuously improving processes and reducing costs; or engaging the
workforce on important strategic challenges - Employee ideas play a major part
in the sustained success of many of the world's biggest and best companies.

What is idea management?

Idea management, then, is an important weapon in an organization’s armoury.

It means that a structure is in place to generate ideas, identify the best ones
from the pool, capture and organize them and, ultimately, implement them for
the benefit of the company, in a way that wouldn't have happened through
normal processes.
When done well, employee idea campaigns, backed up by effective idea
management, can be really effective in helping companies grow and succeed.
How integrated idea management works

Integrated idea management is built upon two fundamental principles:

1) Make it simple to share an idea - It should be quick and easy for
employees to share and collaborate on ideas, whenever, wherever they
are;
2) Ensure the best ideas can be quickly identified  - There should be a
smart way for teams to manage, filter and prioritize the best ideas.

In practice, this means employees are empowered to submit and discuss ideas
on the tools they already use in their working day - the 'front end' of the
campaign.

These ideas are then fed into an idea management platform, allowing teams to
manage them at scale - the 'back end' of the campaign. 

The benefits of an integrated idea management approach is that it engages

people and encourages collaboration – particularly important at organizations
with a large, disparate workforce – by using existing tools as opposed to
learning to operate yet another new application

Source: https://ideadrop.co/idea-management/idea-management-ultimate-
guide-driving-innovation/