A520.2.6.RB_LloydPayneDamien

A520.2.6.RB - Time Management This is an ePortfolio item Prepare a Blogger entry by reflecting on the following: Assess your time management skills. Evaluate how these skills have increased your locus of control. Identify three new areas in which improved time management skills would reduce stress. Add an action plan to integrate these to your daily routine. There is a lot going on in my life right now. Work isn't the thing that keeps me busy - it's all the stuff I took on to enhance my life that is producing the "time stressors' - learning the guitar, selling the house, moving home, everything associated with the kids after school program and taking on a busy masters with all its associated new learning (including brains, blogs and rubrics!). If anyone was in need of time management it is me. Essentially my time management skills were horrible.  I have 6 alarms on my I-phone, which I set for work - morning wake up, when to leave for work, showtime, take-off time and occasionally when to make the weather call.; and this was about everything I knew about time management. And then I read Chapter 2 of Developing management skills which not only set out what 'time stressors' were, but gave me practical answers to making them go away.  I've learnt that the most crucial phrase in the whole chapter is this one: "One of the most difficult and yet crucially important decisions you must make in managing time effectively is determining what is important and what is urgent" (Whetten & Cameron, 2011).  So what do I do now? Here's the plan: 1) I sort out what is important (stuff that produces a result or valued end) and stuff that is urgent.  Though my sons basketball practice may not seem important, it is because it is important to him. Being there at his basketball practice now is important to me. (he's only 8). When he is 15 he won't want me there anyway! Getting the blog and the discussions done on time during the week is important, we hope that this doesn't shift into the urgent category. 2) Make sure I minimize the unimportant and non-urgent. Who needs another level on angry birds right now for example? I believe that by implementing some methods of time management; I have begun to change my Locus of Control from 'external' to 'internal' - in other words I am starting to feel as time passes that I am indeed more in control of the things that are happening in my life. That being said, there is always room for improvement, but these three new areas in which I am going to focus will reduce the stress they produce as I focus on their time management: 1) Masters degree - putting aside exact blocks of time every day day in which to solely concentrate on the modules. (6-9pm for example). For this I'll use Google calender via my I-phone and easily accessible, it will send reminders in SMS form to keep me on schedule. Encapsulated within this will be management of the number of things I do in one day - making sure my day is not over scheduled. 2) Making a list of things that I need to accomplish that day. I will uses the tasks app on my phone to keep a record. 3) Reach closure on one thing each day - weather this be a module or practicing the guitar, something needs to e accomplished every day. This can also be accomplished using the tasks app.

A520.2.3.RB_LloydPayneDamien

Conflict Resolution.

Use your blog to describe an example of a successful conflict resolution that you have either witnessed or participated in.

• What was the conflict?
• What role did you play?
• Who were the other participants in the negotiation?
• What was the result?

Can you see any room for improvement to how the conflict was handled.

In the early part of 2001 I took a job as Head of Sales and Customer Service for Pickfords - the UK's largest home and corporate moving company. Part of the job description had me responsible for many representatives who were in the field giving quotes and securing business from people who wanted to move their belongings. It is important to note here that I had no experience at all in the moving business, nor in management but I had 5 years as a successful salesman under my belt.

I took to my role well, I was liked by the staff, all except one - who we will call Tom. Tom had been with Pickfords for over 10 years, and spent all of that time in the field. He had a vast knowledge of the moving business, and he really fancied himself as the best salesman Pickfords (and maybe even the world!) had ever seen. So much so that Tom had also applied internally for the role of Head of Sales, but was not given it.  Pickfords had decided that if they increased their diversity of perspective by employing sales people from outside their field, they could grow the business in a ever competitive market.  

Unfortunately, while Tom talked a great game, an actual study of his figures did not show anything significantly better than any of the other reps. Conflict arose when Tom discovered that his boss (me) seemed to know what he was doing in the sales area and also knew that Tom wasn't as good as he made sure everyone thought. Tom decided that if he could cast doubt on my credentials to hold a post as his boss, the spotlight would be permanently turned away from him.

Initially I took the role of an accommodating approach to the conflict resolution, after all I was the new guy, and once Tom saw me in action I was sure he would come round just as the others did. But it was counter-productive. Tom used the situation to bolster his own standing (albeit based on very shaky figures) while I failed to make headway with him in helping him improve or look at things differently from the way he had always done things.

Finally it came to setting goals for the coming sales year. There were no other participants in the discussion, but I had a boss to report the result to, and Tom had to come out of the conflict and not lose face.  In these lengthy discussions Tom became ill at ease as I changed my style to collaborating.  From his point of view, he should be sitting where I was.  From my point of view, he needed humility lessons or the sales figures to back it up.  I let Tom negotiate his own targets in that meeting - naturally Tom went completely overboard with his estimations for the coming year, but we negotiated a figure that was actually not only obtainable with hard work, but good for his reputation if he succeeded.  Tom was happy, because he saw that I had confidence that he could do it, and he thought he could, and that I assured him I would help him get there if he asked.

I was happy because I could already see the outcome. I did not have to compromise any principles, nor was I the taskmaster. I had told Tom that his attitude had to change, he agreed, especially when I showed him how much better off as a commissioned rep he would be rather than a salaried boss, and that the bonus he would receive for making target would be good. 

Tom, forever the self publicist, told anyone who would listen about his new targets and how he was going to be number one again that coming year. The reality soon hit though when not only did he fall behind, but other reps were doing better using new techniques and tricks from outside the company. By the time Tom asked for help, there was not enough time to change his figures for the better. He was exposed, realized his folly and learnt it was better to work with the boss than to constantly fight him.

There was room for improvement in the way it was handled. My shortcoming was in precise management and leadership training.  I think allowing the use of accommodation initially was a mistake. Tom's problems should have been resolved immediately. He was clearly not feeling valued. At the same time I felt rather than successfully negotiate a real peace, and change Tom's heart and mind, what I did was give him enough rope to hang himself.  It brought the results required, and it may be with Tom's inability to be anything other than uncompromising, meant that this was the only real way to a successful outcome.

A520.1.6.RB_LloydPayneDamien

This is an ePortfolio item

Describe how your level of self-awareness has changed since you began your MSLD program with respect to the "Five Core Aspects of Self-Awareness" (p. 63). I believe my self awareness has already increased by 100% just by discovering that there were five Core Aspects of Self Awareness! Although I was familiar with phrases such as "empathy", "personal values" and "moral judgement" i was totally oblivious to the fact that many scholars had studied this and worked out exactly how to use this to the best effect in the workplace. Of course, applying this to the work situation will take some time and practice, but I'm eager to do so and expand on it to make the managing process easier and smoother.  The five core aspects (emotional Intelligence, core self evaluation, values, cognitive style and attitudes toward change) testing has also given me a base line with which to compare - which I have already done so.  Interestingly, being aware of the aspects has already improved the score - especially in the empathy area (though given it's not so hard to improve on a zero!). However, I intend to rerun the test several times in the future and keep comparing the results. I believe I already have a good set of values and that these are easily identifiable. Culturally they may be different from the people that I will be working with - mainly stemming from the fact that I adopted the values of a British Citizen.  But as George Bernard Shaw once wrote "America and Britain are two great nations separated by a common language".  I firmly believe that language is really the only barrier, and not a big one at that, despite reading that "in an American culture, people are handicapped by an external locus of control" (Whetten, Cameron, 2011) I have a strong feeling of self worth - my life so far has been one where I have shaped my destiny through my actions, but my emotional diagnosis (empathy) is something that I am now very aware that I need to train and work on. Do I need to improve? - Sure, who doesn't.  What I have specifically become aware of though is where to focus that improvement.

A520.1.2.RB_LloydPayneDamien

Prepare a Blogger entry by reflecting on the following questions regarding your overall experience with the self-awareness surveys: What do you notice in your results? How much of this rang true for you? What did you see that you were expecting in the results? What were the surprises? How will you make use of this information? This was a very interesting set of data for me for several reasons.  First, I am and have been brought up as an resident of the United Kingdom, and am attempting to make it as a manager in the USA.  Secondly, I have had a career in management without being given formal training or learning through a course like this why self awareness is so important to becoming an effective manager. I also found that I had pre-conceived notions about how my scores would turn out - and to my surprise, this was not always confirmed.  Having grown up in a very competitive family (I have 5 brothers) and then essentially emigrating so that the family influence is now non-existent I imagined that while I believed in myself, I was also not very empathetic. What I noticed in my results was this. My emotional Intelligence score placed me firmly in the third quartile.  Although I didn't expect to rank here - and was surprised that I did (i was expecting to be in a lower score), it indicated that I had more ability to understand emotional cues and maybe manage them.  Clearly there is room to help develop my emotional intelligence and this is a particular area I will look forward to working on.  I feel that this area in particular is going to shape my sucess as a manager more than any other. In the Cognitive Style assessment my results indicated a planning style.  What interested me here was this is where I wanted to be, and thought that I should be,  but  was convinced that the results would show that I was not.  I was somewhat surprised (and pleased) to be reaffirmed here.  What really rang true here was that the author states that a planning style tends to favor careers "in information science and research fields" (Whetten, Cameron, 2011). When I was deciding on my undergraduate degree I wanted to pursue Theology. In my present career I am firmly in operations - again something those with a planning style feel comfortable with. My Tolerance of Ambiguity score placed me in the bottom quartile.  Although I know that I do not cope well with unpredictable change and constant flux, my current job as a helicopter pilot does involve a complex, information overloaded environment and is certainly a complex one.  What did ring true here though was that I am not easily distracted and can concentrate on single tasks well.  I scored highest in the complexity score of the three, also reflecting this. In the Locus of control I scored a 7 - indicating an external locus of control. I found this very surprising as it indicates that I do not feel in control of my own destiny. This was something I was not expecting.  Having completely changed careers later in life, retrained in a different career and in a short time become successful at it, one couldn't really believe I wasn't in control of my own destiny.  Clearly this is something I will have to work on. It will be interesting to see how this changes after working the questions again at the end of the course. Core self-evaluation - with a score of 3.6 i was placed in the second quartile - more to work on! Much of this may stem from not having family interaction since emigration that has meant less self regard enforcement from them. Overall I am positive that with work these skills will point out to me how to become a good manager.  My work certainly can be diverse, and contain many different cultural backgrounds and international diversity.  I look forward to the challenge.