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CPD MODULE 1

Getting the Bestout of Yourself

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Acknowledgements

Developi ng Profession al Mana gement Ski ll swas developed by MCI in partnership with the Association ofAccounting Technicians, the Engineering Council, the Institute of Administrative Management and the RoyalInstitute of British Architects.

MCI gratefully acknowledges this contribution and, in particular, that of their representatives: Clare Morley (AAT),Paul Saunders (Engineering Council), Mike Faulkner (IAM) and Sue Beavil-Till (RIBA).

MCI thanks the 700 professionals and the professional bodies and organisations who tested Developi ng Professi ona lMana gement Ski ll s, the Department for Education and Employment who provided financial support, the AdvisoryGroup and, in particular, Carol Scutt of MCI.

Julie WitanaProject Manager

MCI

Copyright

Unless stated otherwise, this material is Crown Copyright 1997 and is reproduced under licence from theController of Her Majestys Stationery Office.

ISBN 1 897 587 70 8

MCI, Russell Square House, 10-12 Russell Square, London WC1B 5BZ, Telephone 0171 872 9000.

MCI is the operating arm of the National Forum for Management Education and Development (Registered Charity No: 1002554)

The Institute of Royal Institute ofADMINISTRATIVE MANAGEMENT British Architects

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Getting the best out of yourself

Introduction to the module

This module is about managing your own workload in order that you can achieve all that youwish to achieve. Whilst this is a CPD module in its own right, the concepts covered by thismodule underpin all areas of work and non-work activity and therefore are useful skills toenable the busy manager to get the best out of themselves through all areas of their life.

The sections of the module

There are two sections to this module:

Secti on 1: Managing your time ....................................................................... page 3Secti on 2: Work under pressure, not stress.................................................. page 25

Although the sections follow a logical sequence, you can tackle them individually and in anyorder, depending on your needs.

Your first action plan

Action planning has been introduced to you in divider 3 of your User Guide. Divider 2, Focuson you r Management Developm ent Needs, will have helped you to identify the specificmanagement knowledge and skills you need to develop immediately.

In order to get started you may find it useful to attempt the first three questions of an actionplan before working on this module. This will enable you to determine in greater detail yourcurrent competence in, for example, managing your time.

Take an action plan sheet from the last divider of your User Guide and, using the questionsbelow, take an initial stab at producing your plan. You will find it useful to fill in as much asyou can, but do not agonise over it too much.

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1. Wher e ar e you n ow?

Consider what might be the main skills involved in the topic. What are your strengths ineach area? Where do you feel you could improve?

2. In what genera l area do you most want to improve?

Do you need to focus on any specific area?

3. Which speci f ic sk i l l or sk i l ls do you intend to work on?

Do not be too ambitious take one step at a time.

Now go to your chosen section . . .

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Managing your time

Introduction and anticipated outcomes through CPD

Time is probably your most valuable, non-renewable resource. Unfortunately, it can also be themost abused! Time cannot be turned on or off, replaced or stored up. There are only 24 hoursin a day, so time is also a l imitedresource. The time resource requirement can be difficult toestimate, hard to keep to, and impossible to reallocate without taking time away from

something else or renegotiating the activity completely, all of which has implications for allother resources human, financial, accommodation, machinery, equipment and materials, etc.

If you complete this section successfully you should develop the knowledge, skills and abilitiesyou need to become competent in managing your time. The following outcomes have beenidentified for you to use as measures of your progress. You may wish to change or add to theseoutcomes yourself, especially whilst your understanding of the CPD process develops as yougain in confidence and competence with more practice.

The outcomes you will seek to achieve whilst working through this section are to:

1. Mon i t or you r cu r ren t use o f t ime;

using your own versions of time sheets, checklists, activity planning.

2. Cla r i f y your goals and ob ject i ves;

making them achievable, realistic and challenging.

3. Use dif ferent ways to pri or i t i se your goals and object ives;

including delegation of responsibility and authority.

4. Est imate the dura t ion of tasks and act i v i t i es;

determining how you can save time in the future.

5. Plan how to dea l w i th the unexpected ;

making contingency plans whilst ensuring you also have quiet time.

6. Use methods to plan your t im e and say no posi t ively ;

ensuring you do not end up doing everything yourself to little effect.

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Allocate your time

A key principle in time management is the Pareto principle, commonly known as the 80/20rule. A 19th century Italian economist, Wilfredo Pareto, observed that the significant items in agroup seemed to form the smallest proportion of that group:

20% of a workforce does 80% of the work

20% of a document contains 80% of the relevant information

20% of a companys sales accounts for 80% of its profit.

Applying this rule to time management, 20% of your tasks may produce 80% of your results.

Time management is a process by which you take control of your time and use it to do thethings you want, or need, to do. Good time management will improve the quality of your lifebecause you will:

achieve more goals

become less stressed

gain more personal and job satisfaction

produce better results quality rather than quantity

have more time to think

have more leisure time.

You can improve the way you manage your time if you understand how you use your time atthe moment. You will then be able to pinpoint areas where your management of time can beimproved and take specific steps to increase your control over your time. You are thereforerecommended to:

keep a daily time log

complete time sheets

make lists or notes of what you do, when, and for how long.

When analysing how effectively you use your time, ask yourself:

do I spend enough time on planning and scheduling my work?

do I make to do lists and prioritise tasks?

am I doing work which could be done by others? Am I managingor doingthe work?

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do I need to allocate specific times to specific activities (eg Monday mornings foradministration)? Are there regular activities which can be planned in?

do I leave enough time between activities to allow myself to adjust my role?

am I so busy getting low priority work out of the way that I do not get time for highpriority activities?

are there areas which I want to change? What are they? What changes do I want to make?

Activity 1: Allocating your timeCreate a t ime log. P lan a nd prepare wa ys of allocat ing your time and recording actua l

time spent, which are appropriate to your situation. The chart on the next page may help

you with this, or you can use an alternative method if you prefer.

A

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Personal peak performance time

It is also well known that people vary as to what time of the day they reach their peak interms of performance. We have all heard people say that they are a night person or at theirbest in the mornings. It is useful for you to understand yourself when developing timemanagement skills and maximising your use of time:

think about and identify your energy cycle

use your peak time for concentrating on priority tasks

use your trough time for doing simple, routine tasks

for many people, maximum performance time is in the morning

also for many, after lunch is a relatively relaxing time (watch people drowse during earlyafternoon meetings or training sessions!)

there is often a secondary peak later in the day.

But you can only improve your time management if you really want to. There are severaltechniques which you can adopt, but they will only work if you are genuinely committed tochanging the way you approach your management of time.

Activity 2: Your personal peak timeLook back at your time log from Activity 1 and think about your ideal performance in

the past. Can you arrange your priorities in an order that best fits your personal peak

performance time? Try it on a To Do Today list.

Be clear about your objectives

Spend some time clarifying what you have to achieve overall, by when and what the prioritiesare. Remember also to allow adequate time to cope with unforeseen circumstances. Identifywhat individual activities need to be carried out to achieve these objectives, how you andothers might carry them out, the resources you will need to achieve them and estimate howlongeach activity will take. For the purposes of this section, focus your attention fully on thetime resource, leaving others to later activities.

R Review your acti on pl anWhat time management learning needs have you identified from working through these

activities?

A

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Plan these activities into your time on an annual, monthly, weekly and daily basis to ensureobjectives are achieved on time. Include time for monitoring, review and evaluation. Allowtime in your planning for additional activities as may be identified later and for activities tooverrun.

When setting your aims and objectives, remember that time management is not about doing asmuch as possible. It is about doing those things which achieve the required objectives. Resultscome by doin g the ri ght t hin gs, not by doing things right! (Peter Drucker). Effective timemanagers match daily tasks with personal and business objectives and set out to achieve them.

Objectives should also be consistent with organisational objectives, policies and values. Dailyplanning should involve objectives which are SMART:

SPECIFIC clear and unambiguous

MEASURABLE outcomes must be obvious with clear values

APPROPRIATE to your needs

REALISTIC achievable and not too ambitious

TIME-BOUND deadlines which you will be able to achieve

and

CHALLENGING objectives need to be developmental and demanding.

Activity 3: Auditing your timeReferring to Activity 1, audit the time you allocated to activities and the time actually

spent. Decide which aspects of your own time management you need to improve. Use the

form on the next page to help you.

A

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Prioritise and plan

You will need to agree your priorities with others, as well as in relation to the objectives youhave set yourself. Clear views of how you should prioritise at the beginning of activities cansave a lot of time later. That is not to say that they are set in stone; it is often necessary tochange priorities as the unexpected occurs or additional criteria emerge following reviews, etc.Early prioritising will help you have a clear idea of:

what should be done

what should come first

what can be put aside

what can be delegated.

By setting priorities, you can make decisions about what is most important overall, or shouldbe done before all else because it is a prerequisite. There are also activities which can becarried out simultaneously; these need to be identified. You can then avoid doing the lessimportant, or less urgent, tasks (which may not move the business forward or achieve yourpersonal objectives) when doing them would affect those tasks which are urgent andimportant. There is also a difference between avoiding doing certain activities altogetherbecause they are irrelevant, and simply postponing activities until they are more important or

more urgent.

A way to prioritise effectively is to use the urgency and importance system. You have to decidewhat you must do first (top priority) and what can be left until later (low priority) or rejectedaltogether. A task can be:

very urgent and need immediate action

very important and need a great deal of attention.

It is often assumed that urgent and important are the same. They are not. Urgency implies atimescale. Importance implies a pay-off.

Set ti me lim it s whi ch wi l l concentr ate the mi nd, all owi ng approxim ately:

5 hours (60%) for planned items

3 hours (40%) for contingencies (interruptions, emergencies, thinking time).

R Review your acti on pl anhaving identified any improvements in how you spend your time or any personal

development needs.

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Review your plan :

on an ongoing basis interruptions may cause a need for rescheduling

at the end of the day tick off completed tasks, move uncompleted ones to the nextappropriate day.

Use pla nn i ng aids; these might i nclu de:

daily, monthly and yearly planning forms

action planning forms for use in achieving key personal development objectives

key task forms.

Successful pla nn ing i nvol ves:

mapping out your day

setting your objectives

clarifying what needs to be done

prioritising

estimating the time required

setting time limits

building in contingency time

rescheduling if necessary

reviewing your efforts at the end of the day

ticking off completed tasks and transferring unfinished or untackled tasks to theappropriate date

planning your next day before you go home.

To pl an effecti vely, you need to establi sh:

your strengths your attributes which will help you achieve your goal

your weaknesses time problems which might prevent you from achieving your goal

opportunities ways of changing the way you manage your time

threats outside barriers which may hinder you achieving your goal.

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Activity 4: Planning your timeUpdate Activity 1 (your time audit) including planning and prioritising. You may change

or develop the form below, according t o your own needs.

A

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Delegate activities making the most effective use of available

time and resources

Effective delegation is a delicate skill deserving careful attention in your development of it. As amanager, the two statements you do not want to be made about you by others are:

I never get any really interesting work to do, its all bits and pieces; I have noresponsibilities

My boss just tries to pass the buck to me because they dont know what to do.

To avoid the first of these statements, you will need to discuss in some detail what is requiredoverall, and then agree with individuals what contributions they can make immediately to theoutcomes required. You can then agree the specific responsibilities they can shoulder and howyour role subsumes responsibility and accountability for the total outcome. You will also needto identify with individuals what and how they need to develop to make other contributionslater on, and identify and agree opportunities for them to do so.

To avoid the second statement, you will need to follow on from the above agreement, byopenly accepting and acknowledging your own strengths (and how best to apply them) andweaknesses (and where you need to overcome them), what your overall responsibilities areand how you should be allocating your own time.

You will need to show your approach to delegation by identifying: howyou are using individualexpertise as the best method of achieving the various aspects of the objectives; and/or howyouare best using the time of individuals as available to you. You will also need to provethat youaccept overall responsibility and are ultimately accountable, by providing the means ofreviewing and feeding back as often as needed between the various individuals and yourself.

Where priorities need to be changed for yourself and others, you need to show that you are ontop of the situation and fully conversant with the issues concerned. This will only be so as longas you make t imeto review performance and outcomes, formally and informally, at regularintervals according to need.

Review your activities and, where possible, delegate those activities which could be doneequally well (and often better!) by someone else, with training and guidance whereappropriate. How often do you hear managers say I dont have time to delegate or No oneelse could do it properly or even If you want a job done, do it yourself? These are signs ofpoor delegation.

R Review your acti on pl anDo you need to add to your skills and abilities in order to improve your prioritising

skills? How might you best do this?

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Good delegators give themselves more time to manage, build teams and motivate other staff.Poor delegators end up doing everything themselves and do not have time to manageeffectively. Delegation does not always have to be downwards it can also be upwards andsideways but the direction it takes must be appropriate to the situation.

Effecti ve delegat i on:

relieves you of routine tasks

gives you more time for planning

extends your capacity to manage your time

motivates and improves job satisfaction for those to whom you delegate

develops team spirit

relieves boredom

spreads the workload.

Effective delegation involves a number of steps. First of all you need to decide:

what t o delegate consider the appropriateness of the tasks and whether you shoulddelegate whole tasks or part of them. Remember to delegate the good things as well asthose perceived to be not so good!

who should d o it the person to whom you choose to delegate work must have theskills, knowledge, motivation and/or potential to carry out the task.

Once you know what you want to delegate and to whom you are going to delegate it, youneed to:

bri ef t he person take time to explain the task(s). Be clear and precise about them andinvite feedback to ensure that the person has understood correctly. Specify the outcomesyou are expecting.

provide gui dan ce ensure that there is two-way communication and giveencouragement. It may also be necessary for the person to receive some training beforeundertaking the task.

mon it or progress ensure that the initial stages are being completed correctly and thatinterim target dates and systems for reporting back are adhered to. Remember to makeallowances for mistakes. When you delegate, it is often more effective to adopt a hands

off approach.

revi ew the process provide positive feedback give praise and constructive criticism.

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Delegati on d os and dont s

Do:

delegate things you do not want to delegate

delegate the objective, not the procedure

trust the colleague to whom you delegate

always delegate to the most able and appropriate person.

Dont :

delegate what you can eliminate

delegate simply because you do not want to do it yourself

abdicate!

Activity 5: Delegating to maximise the time resourceUpdate your planning and prioritising (Activity 4), this time including delegation of

act ivities to others.

A

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Activity 6: Delegation scenarioRead through the following scenario. You might have the opportunity to role play this

scenario with colleagues, especially if you have away-days from your place of work. If

you feel you cannot relate to an operation which plans and delivers management training

and development, then go to the next section, Control your Time, on page 19.

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The people Their backgrounds (all experts in their fields, and have managed projects before)

The Manager: Chris marketing and management research

Technical Team:

Clara operations management (holidays planned for the last two weeks of J une)

Karen supplier networking and distribution management (holidays planned for last

week in J uly and first in August)

Alan computer analysis and programming

Brian management and financial accounts (holidays planned for last two weeks in

September)

Tim human resource management

Michael administration management (he currently supports the team in this activity).

The situation:

J ustus Training is a small operation, managing the provision of management training and development in

a small Sussex town. The firm provides training and consultancy to several large blue-chip companies

nationally and internationally, local government, health trusts and various organisations responsible for

government sponsored initiatives.

Chris has just received instructions from the J ustus directors to manage a project researching, planning

and delivering a large programme of management development in the UK, Europe, Australia andSingapore (regional headquarters of a multi-national conglomerate supplying oil and oil-based products).

The programmes must cover all the generic managerial functions, but the team are expected to network

widely to ensure sufficient coverage, including membership criteria of all the major professional

institutions as may be appropriate the customer.

The month is J une, and the workload of Chriss team is already excessive, with each member delivering

training events solidly until October. There is also the additional problem of three of the team taking two

weeks holiday each, between the end of J une and the end of September.

A quick calculation tells Chris that the initial research is likely to take three months. The planning phase,

which might commence before the research is completed, will take another three months. Programme

delivery must commence towards the end of J anuary of the following year and is likely to continue for upto three years, or until each region is capable of delivering all or parts of the programme themselves.

Further issues to consider are: the development of regional delivery staff, different cultures, various

legislation and codes of practice, local politics (large and small p), differing views of what management is

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Thinking about your own approach to delegation, and what you are learning, how do you think

Chriss team will respond? What contributions is Chris likely to reasonably expect from the

individual members? Would you have handled it differently? If so, how? What areas should she

delegate and to whom? How should she move forward from here, having made her immediate

decision? Use the form on the next page to help you.

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The customer understands that sub-contracting will be necessary and an agreement has already been

made for Chris to do so, with whom, covering what stages and when she considers it to be appropriate.

However, the results are fully Chriss responsibility and she will be accountable to both senior

management and the customer for them.

Chris decides to hold a meeting explaining the situation to her staff and, at the same time, telling them

that she will be taking full responsibility until the immediate holiday period is over. She tells them that

she does not expect any contributions from them until October. In the meantime, she asks them for anyideas they might have. She sets them a deadline for this feedback as the end of J une.


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Control your time

By managing your time, you are taking control. This control is not only influenced by yourpersonal attributes, but also by factors like:

the nature of your job can you make the more reactive side of your job proactive byplanning for such eventualities?

the culture of the organisation if it is bureaucratic, can you make room for personalinitiative within the culture?

your physical surroundings if you work in an open-plan environment, can you arrange

time when you will not be disturbed?

Control interruptions by making it clear when you welcome consultation with others, andwhen you require uninterrupted time to complete an activity. Being available for other peopleat all times might sound like the hallmark of an effective manager, but it can waste a lot oftime. Constant availability means constant interruptions. Interruptions are distractions anddistractions prevent you from doing what you choose to do. Once you have been distracted,you may need to spend time building up your concentration again.

Interruptions and distractions may be self-generated or part of your working environment. Bywhatever means they arise, you will only deal with them if you change your attitude towards

them. Saying no on occasions will improve your:

effectiveness

efficiency

well-being.

As far as possible, you should also discourage drop-in visitors when you need to concentrateon what you are doing.

Let people know that you do priority work at specific times. Learn how to say no not just to

others, but to yourself as well. Try saying Im really busy doing priority tasks/dealing with anemergency. Could I come back to you?, I would love to take on that task but unfortunately itwould mean my schedule slipping or What is your top priority?

R Review your acti on pl anas a result of Activities 5 and 6.

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Organ i se your self by:

screening telephone calls (where possible)

having messages taken during your priority time

being brief when making telephone calls limit polite chat and be assertive!

dealing with mail at specific times, then handling it only once.

It i s di ffi cult t o avoid emergencies, but you can al low for t hem by:

allocating contingency time in your daily schedule

reviewing your schedule to ensure that your objectives will still be met

ensuring that you learn from any mistakes.

Constant demands from senior staff can be a problem (for example, unrealistic deadlines, orone project dropped for another). Be assertive! Make them aware of the consequences on your

workload.

Keep your objectives in mind and do not indulge in, or allow others to indulge in, digressions.

Handle paper once only (as far as possible); when dealing with paper, decide immediately torespond, refer, file or destroy.

Activity 7: Minimising interruptionsAnalyse the kinds of interruptions and unnecessary d igressions common to y our da ily

experiences and identify ways in which you can control your time better. Use the form on

the next page to help you.

A

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Time wasting

There are various reasons why people waste time, you will need to identify for yourself whatyour particular weakness(es) is/are. Time wasters can be grouped into:

doubters who do not believe in their ability to do the job

perfectionists who set themselves impossibly high standards and then fail to achievethem

rebels who want to show their control over themselves, others and the situation, by

constantly firefighting and working to last-minute deadlines (often working excessivelylong hours in the process)

socialisers who involve themselves in gossip, extended lunch hours, constant teabreaks, etc.

Ways to avoid unnecessary time wasting:

accept that you do it everyone does at times

recognise when you do it for example, you may only waste time in certain situations,usually in an area of weakness

recognise why you do it for example, a fear of failure may make you waste time

get going if you do nothing, you achieve nothing

make the second thing you do each day the thing you least want to do difficult orboring tasks are easier to tackle once you have achieved something

make a commitment if you make a promise to someone else, you may motivate yourselfand avoid the time-wasting trap.

R Review your acti on pl anusing your greater understanding of delegation and time control.

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Outcomes achieved through CPD

Have you:

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Monitored your current use of time? How have you done this?

Clarified your goals and objectives? How have you done this?

Used different ways to prioritise your goals and objectives? How have you done this?


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R Review your acti on pl anWhat further development activities do you need to plan so that you manage your

time better?

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Estimated the duration of tasks and activities? How have you done this?

Planned how to deal with the unexpected? How have you done this?

Used methods to plan your time and say no positively? How have you done this?


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Work under pressure, not stress

Introduction and anticipated outcomes through CPD

For modern managers, the identification and management of stress is vital to effectiveperformance. This section will help you to understand the causes of stress and manage themeffectively. It will help ensure that you develop the knowledge, skills and abilities you need tobecome competent in dealing with stress.

The following outcomes have been identified for you to use as measures of your progress. Youmay wish to change or add to these outcomes yourself, especially whilst your understanding ofthe CPD process develops as you gain in confidence and competence with more practice.

The outcomes you will seek to achieve whilst working through this section are to:

1. Ident i fy the causes of st ress in your own si tuat ion;

recognising the signs of stress and analysing the symptoms to determine the causes.

2. Take the action requi red to reduce the causes of stress.

When stress becomes distress

Stress is a problem for many people and whilst we are all stimulated when working underpressure, when stress becomes distress our physiological and psychological wellbeing cancome under threat.

We need to become aware of the symptoms of stress in ourselves and others. The effects ofstress are always negative; the difficulty is in recognising the symptoms for what they are. We

need to become familiar with the notion of stress before we can begin to understand thesymptoms and then how to deal with the root cause.

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Negative effects of stress occur when:

the degree of stress is greater than the ability to cope (which will vary from personto person)

warning signs are unrecognised and therefore unheeded

coping strategies are inadequate.

The signs of stress

Because people are different and they behave differently according to their personality, lifeexperiences, cultural background and individual expectations, it is inevitable that they willdisplay different characteristics when they are suffering from stress.

You may find that you are exhibiting some symptoms of stress yourself:

quick temper, taking it out on others

frequent sick leave and/or lateness

lack of concentration, motivation, commitment

excesses in smoking, eating or drinking

frequent working of long hours (some people will make it obvious, whilst others quietlytake work home because they fear failure)

nervousness, shaking, unexplained sweating

constantly in a hurry, talking fast, sometimes incoherently

taking on too much, trying to do several things at the same time

inability to relax

indecision, arbitrary decision taking, rushing to judgement

overcritical, blaming others for own shortcomings

defensive, offensive, aggressive

obsessive/possessive

avoidance of issues, overreaction, over-emotional

abusing company property/systems, sabotage in extreme cases.

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The list seems endless, and because everyone behaves differently, the diagnosis of stresssymptoms becomes very difficult. It is also a very sensitive issue for many people who mightfeel that to experience and show signs of stress is unprofessional and a serious weakness.

What is even worse is that you might not even know you are suffering from stress. Itsometimes requires the intervention of a third party to point out that the behaviours you areexhibiting could be proof that your stress levels have increased.

You must first understand that the weakness lies in denying the potential and reality of stressand not in suffering from it. Once you accept the existence of stress, you can then takemeasures to reduce its effects.

Activity 1: Your stress symptomsTake a few days to examine your own b ehaviour in relat ion to the possibility of

exhibiting signs of stress. Use the form on t he next pa ge to help you.

A

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Stress as an organisational issue

The culture and structure of the organisation can affect your stress levels, especially if youdont quite fit the existing culture. It might be that you were recruited specifically to assistcultural change rather than that you refuse to conform. The structure, on the other hand,

might be more or less hierarchical than you have experienced:

your responsibilities may clash with perceptions (yours or others)

roles and their interrelationships may not be clearly defined

relationships with colleagues may be strained

your career prospects may be uncertain, especially during periods of change

the job itself may need development but your attempts are frustrated

your own role could have changed and you feel vulnerable

you may have to carry out functions for which you feel unsuited or insufficiently trained

the climate within the organisation may not be conducive to your wellbeing.

Stress costs an organisation in terms of staff coverage, poor performance, sick pay, etc.

Activity 2: Stress and your jobAnalyse your position in relation to the above list and determine whether you might have

such problems within your present job role. Now complete column 3 of Activity 1.

How to reduce the causes of stress

Poor time management can lead to stress and poor performance as well as vice versa. Youmight be crying out for help by claiming that you never have enough time to complete yourtasks and meet your objectives. However, situations invariably appear worse than they reallyare and a positive approach to managing your time can also go a long way to ensuring lowerstress levels.

A

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Assertiveness

It is a common mistake to believe it is only shy and quiet people who need to develop theirassertiveness. In fact, it is relatively simple and straightforward for these people to achievecompared to a defensive/offensive, aggressive individual. There is a fine line between

assertiveness and aggression and it is not easy for this type of person to learn the differencesbetween the two types of behaviour. This kind of behaviour is often the outward expression ofstress symptoms. It is possible for these individuals to harbour feelings of inadequacy, lack ofdevelopment and general lack of security and the only way they seem to be able to cope is byexhibiting aggressiveness in order to overpower the percei ved thr eat.

Activity 3: Stress and assertivenessReview your approach to a ssertiveness apply this act ivity in association with other

people to help reduce the causes of stress. Use the form on the next page to help you.

A

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Working together

The experience of stress by some individuals can affect the general wellbeing of everyone. Ittherefore becomes the responsibility of all to ensure that stress is not experienced by anyonein the group.

Teams or groups of colleagues can work together to:

raise stress awareness

identify and discuss various negative behaviours

identify formal education/training needs

regularly review priorities and workload (one-to-one and group)

use counselling as a preventative measure

use counselling as a cure

delegate upwards, downwards and sideways

participate in establishing objectives

exercise control over the use of time

give and receive responsibility and authority fairly and appropriately

encourage polite interchange and mutual respect eg please, thank you, smile, empathisewith others and understand needs

encourage and be encouraged to meet challenges

exchange ideas and understanding about stress and its causes

say no appropriately and encourage others to do the same

promote participation and exchange of ideas

create a culture of personal responsibility, independence and individual innovation,balanced with openness in seeking and giving help.

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Outcomes achieved through CPD

Have you:

R Review your acti on pl anusing any insights you have gained from this section.

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Identified the causes of stress in your own situation? How have you done this?

Taken the action required to reduce the causes of stress? How have you done this?


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Further action planning

Having progressed through the module, or sections of it, you will now have a clearer idea ofthe fur ther developmentrequired under each of the topic areas. Learning is not once and forall; we develop incrementally and it is never complete.

Your CPD approach will, therefore, have evolved so that you should now find you areconsidering any topic in terms of: the cont i nu i tyof depth of knowledge and understanding; theendlessbreadth of skills and personal qualities; and the need to demonstrate, to yourself andothers, that you are conti nuou sly improving and developi ng your performance. There is alwaysroom to perform better. Whatever your personal situation happens to be, you will need to:

define your objective

identify the action point(s)

decide the date for completion

complete a learning log as you progress.

At the beginning of the module you were asked to look specifically at the first three questionsof the action plan. As you progressed through the module, you were invited to update yourplan as you were introduced to new concepts and approaches.

You are now being asked to look specifically at the final three questions to reinforce the notionof Cont in ui ng Professi onal Development. You may find that you want to revisit the modulesthemselves periodically in order to augment your understanding or gain further insights.Complete your action plan using the questions below:

4. How do you propose to work on the ski l l or ski l ls you have chosen?

Do you need to arrange for any formal training? Would it be useful to talk to colleaguesto get an idea of how they have developed/are developing their skills and how they mayhave overcome any problems?

5. Wha t do you wan t to ach ieve and by when?

How are you going to assess whether you have improved in your chosen skill or skills? Bywhen do you expect to see improvement?

6. How do you know you have got there?

How will you know when you have achieved competence?

Enjoy your future learning . . .


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Cpd Module 01

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