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Reflective Journal Entry Pro-Forma

What are the core skills? The core skills are the important skills that must be developed by every individual that will help in the development of the working of the person in their life. The core skills help in the understanding of various tasks and give a great knowledge about the tasks that are being taken up by the person ( Anderson 2016 ). The core skills help in the understanding of the strengths that we possess. Core skills are important in understanding the issues and resolving them with the use of the skills. The core skills help in the development of the way we live. These skills help us to learn something new every day. The core skills are the areas that are being focused by various schools as it helps the person to develop in their life ( King and Lawley 2016 ). The core skills have been considered as the important skills that will be helpful to a child in their future; hence; schools are including the core skills in the curriculum. The core skills are very important that helps a person to develop. It has been identified that the following core skills are important to lead a better life. The skills are Public Speaking, Negotiation & Assertiveness and Conflict resolution. Public speaking is a great skill that every individual must develop that will help in the development of confidence and self-esteem of a person ( Chollet et al. 2015 ). It has been observed that people tend to have stage fear. Stage fear is a great issue and resolving it requires practice that will help in resolving the issue. However, it has been found that resolving stage fear is a very big deal; often, people fail to resolve stage fear. The process of settling issues is known as negotiation. It is the way wherein issues are being solved by compromising and agreeing on a topic to solve the dispute and avoid arguments. There are various stages of negotiation. Developing this skill will be very helpful as it will resolve issues. Apart from that, this skill helps the person to develop various other interpersonal skills like communication, building rapport, decision-making as well as assertiveness ( Ting‐Toomey 2015 ). Conflict resolution is a skill that helps in taking charge as a leader. Developing this quality help in resolving several issues ( Kuzio 2017 ). The conflict resolution helps in the development of the assertiveness of a person. The assertive skill is the skill that provides the person to develop self-confidence and understand the needs that will help in negotiation or conflict resolution. These skills are a very important aspect that helps in the development of the person. The skills provide the person with the abilities to handle various situations.
Why is the core skills important?The cores skills help in the improvement of the personality that we hold in. Every individual must understand their core skills. The core skills help in the development of the person we are allowing us to compete with the core skills. The core skills help in the development of the competition among us ( King and Lawley 2016 ). The schools find the core skills as an important aspect of development that will help in the enhancement of the process of working of the person. The core skills are considered as important factors that will help in the development of the child as people are not aware of the core skills. It has been noticed by Arnold ( 2018 ), that core skill remains unnoticed. These are a few important skills that help in the development of the person; however, people hardly value their skills. The core skills act in moulding the character of a person. For instance, the public speaking skill requires good communication skill; listening skill as well must have good confidence. Hence, the core skills ensure that it enhances various other skills. Hence, the core skills are the important skills that help in the development of the person. The following are some of the reasons that the core skills above mention are important:Facilitating strategic development: It is important while working in an organisation that the strategies must be developed. Developing core skills helps in the facilitation of strategic development ( Niles et al. 2015 ). The public speaking skill, negotitaion skill or the conflict resolution skill help in the development of the confidence. Encouraging innovation: When the core skills are being developed, it also helps in encouraging innovation ( Brett and Thompson 2016 ). Core skills help in increasing the creativity of the person. Hence, with the increase in creativity, there will be increased in innovation. Adaptability: This is the quality that is developed with the development of the core skills. These skills make the person work in various situation and gets adapted to the situation. Sustainability: When developing the core values, it ensures that there will be other skills that will be developed. These skills, when developed, will help in restoring the skills throughout their life. Competency: The prime reason for developing the core skills are it helps in the competitive nature of the person ( Omura, Maguire, Levett-Jones and Stone 2016). It helps the person to take up challenges and ensures that they execute the task smoothly.
How competent are you currently?The core skills help us to understand the competency quality of the person. It helps in the development of the competition and helps us be more competent. The core skills help me to develop my core skills ( King and Lawley 2016 ). However, in judging my core skills, I have developed a survey that helped me to analyse my core skills [ Refer to Appendix ]. There are core skills that can help in the development of the competency of the person. The development of the public speaking skill, negotiation and conflict resolution help me to develop as a leader and take stand in a different situation. I have prepared a questionnaire that will help in the development of the core skills and understand my competency level of mine. The questionnaire helped me to understand the areas where I must develop. It is feedback that I have obtained from my peer and tutor, who are the best people to judge my competency level. According to their reviews, I can conclude that I am quite competent. However, few also mentioned about my negative qualities that helped me to understand the areas that I need to develop. The answer that I have received is almost honest replies. According to my tutors, I have a good competitive nature, but sometimes for the competition, I become revengeful and ensure that I obtain the target that I desired. They have also mentioned about my strengths that are being patient in situations where I must be clam and take a decision. This is one of the strength that makes me different from all the coworkers. Moreover, the tutor mentioned that I have also helped them in working it an urgent task.There is a great development observed from the measurement of the surveys that there is a good quality of public speaking ( Fells and Sheer 2019 ). The negotiation quality is a great quality that helps me to deal with various kinds of people. It is a quality that is not developed by every people. People need to be flexible to negotiate with others ( Zhu and Carless 2018). The negotiation skill helps in the development of the assertiveness; my peers were mentioning this. It fact, it a quality that helps in developing the conflict resolution skill ( Barsky 2016 ). Hence, these qualities help in the development of the person I am.
Can you identify any contradiction or allowable weakness from your analysis?Identification of the core values helps in the identification of the strengths and weakness of the person ( Tsen, Shapiro and Ashley 2017 ). The questionnaire helped in the understanding of my strengths as well as weaknesses. From the survey, it has been clear that I become very revengeful when it comes to meeting targets that is a very bad quality that can lead to anger issues, I am calm at situations; however, sometimes I become very angry, and there is an outburst of anger. Anger can make a simple situation difficult to handle ( Baxter 2016 ). I am overpowering and an outspoken person. The overpowering nature of me is often not accepted by various people as they do not like to be dominated. Hence, it is important to be understanding in various situations; the outspoken nature leads to difficulties in relationships. Often people get offended with my words. Hence, being outspoken is good nature, but one must understand the situation and speak up ( Boromisza-Habashi, Hughes and Malkowski 2016 ). I am a straight forward person and speak up for things that are not ethical. Hence, people do have issues as I speak up. Speaking up and taking a stand for my duties is fine, I should understand that there may be reasons that the tutors take steps against my peer. In such a situation, I must understand the reason for changing my peer. Hence, these qualities can lead to various unwanted situations. Thus, I should understand my weaknesses and try to work out in my features that may be harmful to people.
How will these skills help me in future?The core values help in being competent and help in the development of the person. It helps the person to be smart enough to handle the issues that will help the person in future. The core values help to be a great leader and develop qualities that will help to stand out among peers. The prime reason to develop the core values is to be confident and develop qualities that will be helpful in the development as a person. The following are the ways the skills will be helpful in the future:Decision-making: The core values help in decision-making quality of a person. With the quality of public speaking, a person will be able to make a decision ( Carlbring et al. 2017 ). It will help in making a decision as well as understand the view of the people to whom the decision will be imposed. A person who can make a decision will also negotiate conflict and make a decision wherein both the parties will agree. Handling clients: It is a difficult task; however, a person who have the skills of negotiation ha the ability to handle clients. This quality will be essential when working in the corporate industry ( Waterhouse,  Keast and Koppenjan 2016 ). It is one of the most important factors that help in the development of the leader in an organisation.The primary tool for recruiting: While an organisation will be hiring its employees the primary things that the organisation ensures is the core skills. It helps in competing with various people working in the same organisation ( Vandergoot, Sarris, Kirby and Ward 2018 ). The core skills help the person to be confident and take up responsibilities in an organisation.Communication: Communication is an important aspect that helps in the development of the way of delivery of speech or projects wherein the person may represent the organisation ( King and Lawley 2016 ). With great communication skill, a person can deliver a public speech. Communication is an integral part of core skills that are being impacted with the core skills.Leadership quality: The core skills are being taken up by various people for the development of leadership qualities ( Waithaka, Moore-Austin and Gitimu 2015 ). Core skills provide the person with confidence and self-esteem that helps in the development as a leader. Developing leadership qualities will be a great help as it will help the person to be recruited in an organisation. Diversity in the personality of the person: The core values make a person develop as a complete person with variation in characters ( Rojot 2016 ). Hence, core skills are an important aspect to be developed by every individual.

REFLECTION ON THE CORE SKILLS

The core skills help me to develop as a person. The core skills are the important factors that help in the moulding of my personality. The skills are developed for the betterment of the person we are. The form helped me to understand the values of core skills that will help me to develop in my career.

The core skills that I have developed is public speaking, negotiation & assertive and conflict resolution. The skills are inter-related and are dependent; the skills have made me be a different person. The skills help me to understand what are my strengths and what are my weakness. This helped me to overcome my weaknesses. The following are some of the strengths that have been observed by the survey that I have carried on for identifying my core strengths. I have a great self-confidence that helps me to confront various kinds of people and handle situations that may not be handled easily by others. I have great self-esteem that makes me take a confident decision. I have good patience level that makes me make decisions that will be helpful when working with an organisation. The leadership quality of mine is one of the strengths that help me to be a better leader and handle the team. The weakness that has been observed by me from the survey that has taken place is the outburst of anger. I should have control over my anger, and often I become very revengeful to achieve my target. Hence, from the form, I can conclude that I have various positive as well as negative issues that I need to understand and try to develop that will help me be a better person in future.

The core skills are very important as it helps in developing the person I am. For bringing changes in the weaknesses that I possess, I have developed an action plan that will help me to develop my weaknesses. The chart below helps in the understanding of how I can help in developing my weaknesses and flourish my strengths.

Development areasSpecificMeasurableAttainableRelevantTimely
Anger issuesMeditationConversing with my peer will help me understand the improvement.YesIt can be a big issue when will be in a bigger post like a leader.Within a year.
RevengefulMeditationIt will be visible while working.YesThis will be a big issue when working in the corporate sector.Within 6-7 months
OutspokenSelf-relianceI can feel from the attitude of my peer.YesPeople, often in the workplace can misjudge me.Within 3-4 months

Development plan

(Source: Created by the author)

Reference list

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Arnold, J.K., 2018. Stress to Success: Public Speaking Anxiety and its Relationship to Perceived Leadership.

Barsky, A., 2016. Conflict resolution for the helping professions: Negotiation, mediation, advocacy, facilitation, and restorative justice. Oxford University Press.

Baxter, J. ed., 2016. Speaking out: The female voice in public contexts. Springer.

Boromisza-Habashi, D., Hughes, J.M. and Malkowski, J.A., 2016. Public speaking as cultural ideal: Internationalizing the public speaking curriculum. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 9(1), pp.20-34.

Brett, J. and Thompson, L., 2016. Negotiation. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 136, pp.68-79.

Carlbring, P., Lindner, P., Miloff, A., Fagernäs, S., Andersen, J., Sigeman, M., Furmark, T. and Andersson, G., 2017. In session virtual reality use for public speaking anxiety: A randomized controlled trial. In ISRII 9th Scientific Meeting: Making e/mHealth Impactful in People’s Lives, Berlin, Germany, October 12-14, 2017.

Carlbring, P., Miloff, A., Fagernäs, S., Andersen, J., Sigeman, M., Andersson, G., Furmark, T. and Lindner, P., 2018. Therapist and Internet Administered One-Session Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for Public Speaking Anxiety: A Randomized Controlled Trial. In Anxiety and Depression Conference, Washington DC, USA, April 4-8, 2018.

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Omura, M., Maguire, J., Levett-Jones, T. and Stone, T.E., 2016. Effectiveness of assertive communication training programs for health professionals and students: a systematic review protocol. JBI database of systematic reviews and implementation reports, 14(10), pp.64-71.

Rojot, J., 2016. Negotiation: from theory to practice. Springer.

Ting‐Toomey, S., 2015. Identity negotiation theory. The international encyclopedia of interpersonal communication, pp.1-10.

Tsen, L., Shapiro, J. and Ashley, S., 2017. Conflict resolution. In Surgical quality improvement (pp. 75-83). Springer, Cham.

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Waithaka, A.G., Moore-Austin, S. and Gitimu, P.N., 2015. Influence of Conflict Resolution Training on Conflict Handling Styles of College Students. Research in Higher Education Journal, 28.

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Zhu, Q. and Carless, D., 2018. Dialogue within peer feedback processes: clarification and negotiation of meaning. Higher Education Research & Development, 37(4), pp.883-897.