Welcome to

The Finance & Management

Business School
Highfields
Certificate in
Business
Administration
Level 1
Managing and
improving
personal
performance and
development
 • If an employee knows how and where they fit into an organisation it gives
them a greater understanding of how the organisation works, and it also
helps them understand the objectives of the organisation and department,
How your role as well as their personal objectives.
• Every member of staff likes to feel they have an important role to play
fits in the team within an organisation, if this is promoted and encouraged it can help with
morale, productivity, staff sickness and retention.
Nobody is perfect

• Even the best and most efficient of teams

will have ways they could improve. Industry
is always changing; new technology will
change the way we work or new legislation
will changes rules within our sectors.
Improving Personal
Performance

What is the purpose of continuously

improving own performance?
• It helps you to achieve personal goals
• You can exceed your limitations
• It motivates you to achieve more
• Ensures you are always working to the
correct standards
• Can help to progress your career
• Increases job satisfaction
• Helps the business to achieve more
• Can help to improve team relationships
 Benefits of knowing where you belong in the team

Benefits to the individual Benefits to the team Benefits to the organisation

Clear individual objectives Contribute to team objectives Improvements in business
Motivation Team/staff morale performance

Morale Staff retention

 Ways of improving your own performance
• Plan your working day – this will help you to see
what needs doing and become more efficient.
• Videos, webinars and articles – this will help you
stay up to date with any changes in the industry
• Shadow a colleague – You may find new ways of
doing things or learn new tasks. Gives you the
opportunity to ask questions.
• Stay up to date with industry news– this can help
you to develop new knowledge on things that
may change.
• Undertake training and courses – You will
develop new skills and knowledge. This can then
lead to greater opportunities in the workplace like
a new role.
• Take on feedback from others - Formal and
informal feedback can help you improve. This can
show what you are doing well as well as what you
could improve on.
Feedback
One of the best ways of finding out how, and in what ways you
can improve your performance is to seek out and use feedback.
There are various methods you can use to gain feedback and find
out what you need to learn in order to improve your
performance at work (identify your own learning needs).
Feedback can be formal, like an appraisal, or it can be informal.
You can receive feedback in general conversations with
colleagues or customers.
Feedback will let you know about you:
• Existing work standards, knowledge and skills.
• Areas of improvement regarding your knowledge and skills
Self reflection
• You are normally your own biggest critic.
• This means you will already know areas
where you need to improve.
• By making a list of your strengths and
weaknesses, you can reflect on how you can
become a stronger member of the team
Gap analysis
• Another method of identifying areas to improve is to
carry out a gap analysis.
• By looking at your job description, or any performance
indicators you might have, and looking for either gaps
or weak areas, you can make a list of where you need
more support.
• If you can confidently tick every item on the job
description, why not look at the job description for
the next step in your career path? This way you can
get ready for a promotion or taking on extra
responsibility.
Using your training needs analysis to make a plan
• You can use feedback, self reflection and gap analysis to help you create a personal development plan
• By addressing your weaknesses, or building on your strengths you will be become more productive, a better team
members, and ultimately, someone who can progress within their careers.
Personal
development plan
• A personal development plan will help to
keep you on target to achieving your goals.
• By referring back to it regularly, it will help
motivate you and keep you progressing
towards the improvements you want to
make.
 Other people and your plan

Sometimes your line

By discussing your
manager or mentor They might suggest
plan with your line
will help you with actions or courses
manager, they can
your personal that will helps you
guide and support
development plan to reach company
you through the
support your standards or prepare
improvements you
progression within for promotion.
want to make.
the company.
 • A personal development plan is an action plan designed to improve
knowledge and abilities.

My Strengths •Nobody likes looking at the areas they

• Start by reflecting on your
want to improve about themselves, but
current situation and where without an honest account of the skills,
you hope to be in the future. It • Think about the skills, knowledge knowledge or experiences you still need
could be a new job, gain a and experience you already have to get to reach your goal, it is hard to put
qualification or learn a new skill that can help you achieve your goal. together a plan. It could be that you
need a qualification, or it could be a soft
It could be past jobs or qualifications skill that you need to concentrate on,
to include on a CV or it could be a like timekeeping.
softer skill like confidence or
attention to detail.

My Areas for
Self reflection
Improvement
Personal Development Plans
Achievement
Timeframe
•Now you know the areas you
want to improve, you can make
•Everyone needs help from time
to time in achieving their goals.
Criteria
a list of actions that can help •Give yourself a deadline for Support might be from your •Knowing when you have
you achieve your goal. For when to start the action and workplace or tutor, or it could achieved you goal can be as
example, sign up to a course or when you want to finish it. This be resources such as books or difficult as starting it. Having a
volunteer in the sector you want helps you keep a track of your websites that help you reach clearly defined goal with a way
to work in. progress towards your goal. your goal. of measuring your success is
vital to letting yourself move on
to bigger and better goals.

Actions Support
Setting achievable goals
• When you have made your plan, you need to make sure you have set achievable goals and SMART targets.
 • Specific (simple, sensible, significant).
• Measurable (meaningful, motivating).
• Attainable (agreed, achievable).
SMART Targets • Relevant (reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based).
• Time bound (time-based, time limited, time/cost limited, timely, time-
sensitive).
Specific
• Your goal should be clear and specific, otherwise you won't be
able to focus your efforts or feel truly motivated to achieve it.
When drafting your goal, try to answer the five "W" questions:
• What do I want to accomplish?
• Why is this goal important?
• Who is involved?
• Where is it located?
• Which resources or limits are involved?
Measurable
It's important to have measurable goals, so that you can
track your progress and stay motivated. Assessing progress
helps you to stay focused, meet your deadlines, and feel
the excitement of getting closer to achieving your goal.
A measurable goal should address questions such as:
• How much?
• How many?
• How will I know when it is accomplished?
Attainable
• Your objective also needs to be reasonable and
achievable to be effective.
• Simply put, it must stretch your capabilities but still
stay feasible. When you establish an attainable
objective, you might be able to determine formerly
neglected opportunities or resources that can carry
you nearer to it.
Relevant
This action has to do with making sure that your goal
makes a difference to you, and that it also lines up
with other appropriate objectives.
A relevant goal can answer “yes” to these questions:
• Does this seem rewarding?
• Is this the correct time?
Time-bound
• Every objective needs to have a deadline, to ensure that you have
a due date to concentrate on and something to pursue. This
component of the SMART goal criteria assists to avoid day-to-day
duties from getting priority over your longer-term objectives.
• A time-bound goal will typically answer these questions:
• When?
• What can I do 6 months from now?
• What can I do 6 weeks from now?
• What can I do right now?
Team Goals and Individual Goals
• Within a business, there are normally lots of different goals or targets set by the
company to drive productivity and growth.
• These are sometimes called key performance indicators or KPI’s
• KPI’s help to monitor the performance of teams and individuals within the company.
Team Goals
• Teams might have goals such as the completion
of a project or to hit a certain sales figure.
• There are lots of metaphors for team goals, like
being part of the “bigger picture or “paddling in
the same direction”. They all relate to people
working together to achieve something that
could not be achieved by one person on their
own.
Individual Goals
• Individual goals also might include sales figures
or deadlines, but they are personal to the
individual.
• They make sure everyone is accountable for their
own performance so that as a team everyone
can achieve.
How to Find Your Career Path
• Think about your career path
and what opportunities are
available for you.
• Every sector will have different
paths and options. You need to
think about which is the right path
for you.
 • There are a range of places you can find out about the industry, and the
training and career paths available.
Finding out • You could talk to your line manager or HR department about internal
opportunities.
about • Agencies, jobs centres, websites and forums are great sources of
opportunities information about career pathways
• Colleges and training providers will have information on courses and will
also give you guidance to help you make your plans for your next steps.
 • This is the end of the introduction.
End of Chapter • Answer the questions in this section before moving on to
choose your next chapter.