Personal management / Self management skills for students

The first time where I showed good quality personal management Skills was when I was studying my first year at college on my Business Administration course. One of our assignments involved group work. It’s obvious that I behave in a manner that mature students are expected to behave and therefore, it was not a shock when there was a visible clash between the mature side of the team and the immature childish side of the team. There were arguments and various other types of conflict due to a mix of different personalities. This obviously meant that because the team was not getting along there was lack of communication and lack of work being done. As I have a huge drive towards getting the best results I used my initiative to take it upon myself to do the PowerPoint presentation slides by myself so that at least I would have a successful grade. The only thing that was helping me to get all the work done by myself on top of all the other assignments I had to do without getting annoyed with other team members was self motivation. Self Motivation led me to achieve a good grade at the end. Clearly this is a good example of high level personal management skills as I managed my time, kept motivated and used my initiative.

In the second year of college in my Business Management course we had three assignments due each week and it was vital we met the deadlines else we would not get feedback on our assignments. As I was aiming for the top grade then this was vital. In order to make sure that I had hit the deadlines for all three assignments every week I put my personal management skills to the test. I started prioritising my work over other activities so that I would know that I was putting the required amount of work that was required for a high grade. I also started writing lists and tick boxes for each assignment so that I would clearly know what needed to be done and which section had been completed. This meant I would be able to evidently evaluate how much work was still needed to be finished in each assignment. This meant I could then write out a table of what days I would Finnish a particular assignment off and how long I would need to take on it. This is so that I would still have additional time that I could use wisely by proof reading and checking my work before the submission deadline.

Thirdly I have undoubtedly showed my Personal Management skills outside of the educational environment and I have used it within my part time job. As my part time job I work at Mercedes-Benz as a meeter and greeter and receptionist. One of the more experienced receptionist colleagues faced an injury this meant that I would have to work weekends on my own doing both the receptionist and the meeter and greeters job at once. Within this situation it is obvious that I needed to be able to show personal management skills or else looking after of both sets of customers; face to face and on the telephone could have gone drastically wrong. The way I showed good use of these skills was that I used my initiative and always had a piece of paper and a pen. As I was dealing with telephone calls as well as customers in the showroom and there was a chance that salesmen may not have been free at that particular time I came up with a plan. This would help me If more than one customer came in the showroom at once as I would write their names down with a number next to it depending on how many other customers were waiting before them when they came in. For example; if there were two customers already waiting I would put next to Joe Blogs that had just walked in a number three. This helped me to remember in what order the customers had came into the dealership and that way there would be no mix-up or complaints. This led me to keep control when times got busy on the telephones. If I had to take a telephone call which meant my attention would be diverted from the customers in the showroom I would still have a record of the names of the people in the showroom, what salesmen they wanted to see and in what order they had came in. This means that even though my attention was diverted from the situation I was still prepared and in control.

Lastly I also showed my personal management skills when I took it upon myself to create works receptionists router as I knew that the hours were only a week away and no one had created the router. As well as carrying out my work duties within the day I managed my time effectively so that I would also be able to create a detailed and professional router that all members of staff would be able to understand. If I did not have good level of personal management skills then this could have lead me not prioritising getting the router done which in theory could have meant that it was done at the last minute. If it had been left to the last minute this could have caused the router to be rushed which may have lead to mistakes. This could have had major consequences such as the wrong reception employees turning up at the wrong time due to the times or names being wrote down on the router, therefore, it is clear that within this scenario it was extremely beneficial that I had good self management skills to offer.

As I mentioned in the previous strength above I carried out a Self-Audit material; Higher Education QAA Core Skills. When analysing the information gained from conducting the self audit material it evidently showed that my self management was a skilled strength that I had that I could contribute in work, University and day to day situations. I came to this conclusion when I saw that I had rated the section stating personal management skills as five. This showed that I knew that this was strength of mine but it became really clear when seeing that some of the other skills were rated as low as two. In the Self management skills section it stated that; time planning motivation and initiative are all part of having good personal management skills. I believe this was a good audit material to use as it allowed me to clearly compare my weaker areas that were as weak as two and compare them to my really advanced skill of self management.

I found that the Audit material; Self Assessed skills audit form was also really beneficial. Just like the previous self audit material used you had to rate from one to five. Five meaning that you feel really confident within that field. I managed to rate myself within the; reflective, self aware and self motivated category with all fives. This outlined to me that I had good self management skills to give. A few of the bullet points listed was; set own goals and view them systematically, adjust to meet different work styles and establish a course of action for self and evaluate own performance. The fact I had scored all of these as five I am confident within this skill. I am able to show a good range of self management skills in my studies and in everyday situations. I felt this self – audit material was excellent as I did not only realise that I am good in the area of self management but I was also able to see the additional aspects of self management such as; reviewing gaps in understanding and knowledge that I use within my studies at university and within the work environment every week.

Lastly I used the help of the; Life style questionnaire audit material to collect an array of information relating to my good level of self management skills. There were thirty six statements and I had to tick which ones that I felt were relevant to me, fill out a grid and then calculate the percentage to work out which I category I had fell into. I had come out as the motivator. Within the motivator category it stated relevant information such as; Likes competitive activity, wants success to be visible and believes in facts materialistic, practical and conservative. I realised that my self management was at the top end of my scale regarding strengths as I had came out 100% in this area. I liked this audit material as it gave me a better understanding of self management skills and gave me a better understanding of myself as being regarded as a motivator.

I believe that this skill is important to have and develop further for my future career goal within Human Resources Management. Within the management area of Human Resources it is vital that you are able to manage yourself. If you are not able to manage yourself then your stressed manner could be portrayed onto your team which could lead to overall bad department performance. If you are able to professionally and successfully manage yourself it helps you to have a clearer head and it stops you from being stressed as you are taking it upon yourself to take charge, use your initiative and motivation. If you are able to show motivation, use initiative and show good time management skills for yourself as a manager then this will also start to show within your employees in your department and it will gradually cause the employees to develop the same work ethic and mind set which will in theory increase employee and team performance and sense of motivation.

studymumbai

StudyMumbai.com is an educational resource for students, parents, and teachers, with special focus on Mumbai. Our staff includes educators with several years of experience. Our mission is to simplify learning and to provide free education. Read more about us.