MODULE 6 - PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE

Learning Resources
How Competent Are You?

Carry out regular self-assessments

From time to time you should review your performance and competence and question whether you are achieving appropriate standards.
Do not underestimate the value of self-assessments as they are sometimes more truthful than other people’s perception of your work.
They also act as a key mechanism through which you determine your level of professional fulfilment.

It is important to be able to acknowledge your skills and identify areas in which you need to improve. All managers have things they do
well and other things they could perhaps do better. One of your key challenges is to identify those qualities and skills that you have
already, and those that you need to develop.

Activity: Self-Assessment - There are many qualities and skills that are important for managers in the modern workplace.

 1. Rate yourself against the following qualities and skills using the scale shown. This will help you discover the areas in which you
need to improve.
 Alwa Most of Someti Rare Nev
ys the time mes ly er

Personal Qualities

I have a positive attitude towards my job

I maintain high ethical standards

I provide a positive role model for others

Communication

I clearly communicate my needs and expectations to

colleagues and others

I know when to talk and when to listen

I consult other people when appropriate

I foster openness and two-way communication

I can give professional presentations and public speeches

People Skills

I relate well to all different types of people

I work well with a wide range of internal and external

stakeholders
 I treat other people with respect

I treat other people fairly and equally and do not have

favourites

I make people feel valued

I am skilled at resolving interpersonal conflict

I successfullresolve complains from dissatisfied clients

Team Management

I help create a positive working environment for my team

I encourage cooperation between my team and others

I allocate work appropriately and effectively

I make sure all team members ‘pull their weight’

I provide my team members with effective coaching

and mentoring

I recognise and reward good performance

I recognise and address poor performance

I help my team members understand how their jobs contribute

to the bigger picture
 Performance

I perform to a high standard

I am motivated to achieve my goals

I am reliable and dependable

I work well under pressure

I meet deadlines

I prioritise my own work schedule

I manage my time effectively

I can make decisions

I am aware of my strengths and weaknesses

Change and Innovation

I learn from my mistakes and experiences

I am flexible and can adapt to change

I can work under unertainty

I like funding solutions to problems

I keep abreast of changes and developments in my industry

I use feedback from customers to facilitate change and

innovation

Technology

I am proficient at using the technology required in my role

I have sufficient understanding of the workplace information

system to interact with IT

 2. Think of an effective manager you have worked for or come into contact with.

o Identify the qualities and skills they have that make you regard them highly

o Which of these would you most like to develop yourself?

 3. Think of an ineffective manager you have worked for or come in contact with.

o Identify the qualities and skills they lack that make you regard them poorly.

o Are there any of these that you also lack and need to develop?

 4. Visit: www.mycareer.com.au or www.seek.com.au Use the search engine to locate three management positions advertised on
the site. What qualities and skills are these jobs asking for? How do you rate yourself against them?
 5. Review your current personal work goals. Will any of these mean you need to improve your current skills or develop new ones
over the next 6–12 months?

 6. Think about the events you can foresee happening in your organisation over the next 6–12 months. Will any of these
necessitate you improving your current skills or developing new ones?

 7. Develop a summary list of the skills and qualities that you currently have and the key ones you would like to develop or improve
on

 Seek feedback from others

One of the best ways of improving your skills and performance is to seek feedback from as many people as possible, and to take
account of what they say.

A key source of feedback is the performance appraisal process carried out in many organisations. This may involve a meeting
between yourself and a senior mager to discuss your performance, or it may involve a 360 degree appraisal in which you are
evaluated against a set of criteria by your manager, your peers, your team members and yourself.
Even if your organisation does not currently conduct 360 degree appraisals, it is worthwhile seeking feedback on your
performance from a range of people you deal with regularly other than senior management. These may include peers, team
members, suppliers and clients. The more perspectives you seek, the more accurate and complete picture you will gain of your
strengths and weaknesses.

When seeking feedback from others, it is important to remember that many people are initially uncomfortable with being asked to
provide honest, constructive feedback, particularly if the person seeking the feedback is their manager. It is therefore essential that
the feedback mechanism you establish is completely anonymous. For example, you might ask people to complete an electronic
form that they print and slip into a sealed box; or you might allow people to send you their feedback from an anonymous email
address.
If you decide to seek feedback on your performance from your team members, discuss the issue with them and ask them to help
you devise an anonymous feedback mechanism. Try to create a non-threatening environment by emphasising how much you
value their feedback and that you’ll never be able to work on addressing your weaknesses unless you know they exist. Most
important of all, reassure your team members that there will be no repercussions if they submit negative feedback—but accept
they may be unwilling to be truly honest until they have been through the process several times and have learnt they can trust it.

Seeking honest feedback from others can be difficult, but receiving it and acting upon it can be just as challenging. It can be
particularly uncomfortable if you discover that your view of your own performance is quite different to the view of others. Resist
knee-jerk reactions and take some time to critically reflect on the feedback you have received. Focus less on each individual piece
of feedback and more on the overall picture that emerges. For example, if one client thinks you don’t pay them enough attention,
but you know you give all your clients equal attention, then this feedback may simply indicate that one of your clients has greater
needs than the others. It is up to you to decide how you would like to respond to such feedback. However, if several of your clients
think you don’t pay them enough attention, this is evidence of an overall issue that you need to address.

Even though you may not act on every single piece of feedback you receive, it is important that you are seen to take feedback
seriously and to be willing to address important issues raised, including those that are difficult or uncomfortable. Remember, if you
fail to respond constructively to feedback, people will stop giving it.

Activity: Seeking Feedback

o 1. Using the Self-Assessment form from the previous activity, ask each of your team members to complete the form and
return it to you anonymously (they are completing the form based on how they see you)
 o 2. Ask between three and five of your peers to complete the same form and return it to you anonymously

o 3. Ask between three and five clients to complete it and return it to you anonymously

o 4. Critically reflect on the results and identify both your strengths and the key areas in which you need to improve

o 5. Compare these results with those from your self-assessment. Develop a priority list of no more than five areas to
address over the next 6–12 months

Professional Development (PD)

Having identified your professional development priorities, you now need to select and undertake appropriate activities to enable
you to achieve these goals. As with most things in life, this requires that you invest time in planning what you would like to do and
then carrying out your plan.

Identify Professional Development Activities

Before you can develop a professional development plan you must first identify appropriate professional development activities to
undertake. Professional development can be undertaken through a range of different activities. These include:

o formal education and training courses

o informal education and training courses

o seminars and conferences

o networking
 o being mentored

o research and reading

o critical reflection

Formal education and Training Courses

Formal education and training courses are those that lead to a recognised qualification such as a vocational diploma or a
university degree. They are usually delivered by an external education or training organisation and may involve attending off-the-
job classes, studying online, studying by distance education, working through self-paced learning materials, receiving on-the-job
training, or any combination of these activities. Formal education and training courses generally take anything from months to
years to complete.
Informal Education and Training Courses
Informal education and training courses are those that do not lead to a recognised qualification. They may be delivered by either
your employer or an external education or training organisation and may involve in-house-training sessions, off-the-job classes,
studying online, working through self-paced learning materials, or any combination of these activities. Informal education and
training courses generally take anything from days to months to complete.
Seminars and Conferences

Seminars and conferences are often run by professional associations and industry bodies. They are usually short, running for a
few hours or a few days, and provide an excellent opportunity to keep up-to-date with general industry developments and network
with other people.
Networking
Networking involves actively maintaining business relationships with a broad range of people both inside and outside your
organisation, and using those relationships for mutual benefit. Whilst networking takes time and effort, you will find that it also
provides you with many benefits including:

o better understanding the needs of your customers and suppliers

o increasing your ability to win and keep contracts

o keeping you abreast of new work methods, products and markets

o increasing information sharing and cooperation across and within teams of people

o helping you to be more strategically and operationally creative

When considering networking, it is important to consider social media. LinkedIn is now a leading professional networking site and
is an essential tool for any professional.
Being Mentored
Mentoring generally refers to a one-on-one relationship where a more experienced colleague agrees to provide you with personal
advice, guidance and assistance. A workplace mentor can expand your awareness of different workplace issues and provide you
with new insights and perspectives based on personal experiences. They can be particularly helpful in guiding your career
development or helping you with ways to respond to difficult situations.
Reading and Research
Not all professional development needs to involve attending courses or seminars to learn directly from others. Set aside time each
week to read relevant newspapers, magazines, industry journals and websites to keep abreast of developments and trends. When
you need to research an issue further, the Internet can be an invaluable source of information.

Critical Reflection

Critical reflection is the process of analysing and questioning your current practices, thinking or beliefs, and using the insights you
gain to help implement positive changes. Critical thinking is an important skill for managers to develop because it helps you
confront the reasons why other forms of professional development may not be achieving the changes intended. Many of the
activities in this Study Guide require you to critically reflect about your actions or practices.

Learning Styles

When identifying appropriate professional development activities to undertake, it is important to keep your preferred learning style
in mind. Learning styles and preferences vary from person to person and across different environments. Developing skills to
support your learning, as well as understanding your preferred style, will ensure you have the best learning experience. Of course,
in a managerial role, it would also be important to understand that other people have different learning preferences, and thus tailor
your message accordingly.

Activity – What’s your learning style? Go to the following website, complete the questionnaire to find out what learning style you
are.
http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html
Future Planning

When reflecting on and planning for future goals and aspirations, it is important to consider to what you and your workplaces will
look like in the future.

Hisorically, it was usual for employees to hold the same job and and/or organisation for life. In contemporary society, this has
changed significantly; people will hold a number of different positions, and work for multiple organisations, in their lifetime.

With this in mind, both employers and employees have moved towards more flexible working arrangements.

As a result of the changing face of work, it is becoming increasingly necessary to manage our own career throughout our lifetime.
This means planning ahead and setting necessary goals into the future.

Forming Your PD Plan

Once you have identified the potential professional development activities that match your needs, you need to identify the time
commitment each involves, when each is available, and how important each is to your immediate, medium-term and long-term
needs. From there you need to decide which activities you wish to pursue and then draw up a professional development plan for
yourself for the next 12 months.

It is important that you schedule some time each month for professional development activities. If you allow your time to be fully
occupied by work for months and months, you will never improve your skills or competence. Try to spread the time evenly across
the year so that it will not greatly affect any single month (which will inevitably be the month you need to do more ‘real work’ than
ever). Finally, make it a habit that other people observe and understand. If your organisation isn’t committed to employees
pursuing professional development, raise this as an issue and ask your manager to consider allowing you to allocate an
appropriate amount of time to these activities.

Example: Establishing a professional development plan

Michael works for an Internet service provider and has recently been appointed customer service coordinator. This is his first time
in a management role. Michael has identified his three most important professional development needs as:

o Developing team management skills

o Improving his business writing skills

o Improving his understanding of the capability of the organisation’s client relationship management system

To address these needs he has identified the following potential professional development opportunities:

Activity Time Commitment

Diploma of Leadership and Management 6 hours per week for 18 months

Business writing course 2 days

In-house training by IT staff 1 hour per week for 4 weeks

 Being mentored 1 hour per fortnight

Michael discusses these activities with his manager who agrees that Michael should attend a business writing course within the
next two months and that he can additionally spend the equivalent of one day each month on professional development activities.
He also says Michael is welcome to use the organisation’s facilities to work on his professional development after hours.

Michael then draws up a professional development plan in which he allocates every Wednesday afternoon between 3pm and 5pm
to professional development activities. This has the advantage of allowing Michael to stay back and spend longer working on his
diploma activities when other commitments permit. Michael schedules the in-house IT training to begin immediately and books into
a business writing course taking place in six weeks time. He schedules a fortnightly discussion with his mentor over coffee and
allocates the remainder of his professional development time to working on the activities and Assessment Tasks for his diploma.

Once you begin undertaking professional development, it is important that you establish a way of measuring your progress. If your
professional development is in the form of a qualification, measuring your progress is easy because you either pass or fail at the
end of the learning. However, if some of your learning involves things such as improving your interpersonal skills, measuring your
progress is much more difficult. Seeking regular feedback from others on your progress may be a useful way of gauging just how
well you are doing.

Summary
Module 6 asks you to assess personal knowledge and skills against competency standards. This allowed you to determine
development needs, priorities and plans. We discussed the importance of seeking feedback from employers, clients and
colleagues to identify and develop ways to improve competence.

Furthermore, we identified, evaluated, selected and used development opportunities, appropriate for your personal learning
style/s, to develop competence.

You were encouraged to undertake participation in networks to enhance personal knowledge, skills and work relationships.

Finally, you identified and developed new skills to achieve and maintain a competitive edge.