BM562-Consultancy in Practice Assignment Sample

Task 1 - Enhancing Career Growth Through Project-Based Learning

Which skills have developed and/or enhanced as a result of the project?

I can identify the skills I have improved or gained while working as a team to address a business problem by thinking back on my experience. I may have improved or developed the following abilities:

• Collaboration: Working in a team requires me to effectively cooperate with people, share ideas and perspectives, and communicate clearly and straightforwardly (Steiber, 2021). Through the project, I have improved my ability to collaborate with others, learning to pay attention to others, take into account other viewpoints, and come to a consensus.
• Problem-solving: To find the source of the company's problem and create a solution, the project probably required me to use my problem-solving abilities (Gursansky, 2020). I also learned to recognize patterns and trends, improved my ability to think critically and analytically, and gained expertise in creating and testing solutions.
• Time management: A task with a deadline calls for efficient time management abilities. I now know how to organize my workload, prioritize my activities, and set reasonable deadlines (Fan, 2019).
• Communication: Working as a team requires effective communication. I improved my capacity to communicate orally and in writing clearly and efficiently (Lawson, et.al, 2019). Additionally, I developed my ability to modify my communication style to fit the needs of various audiences and increased my proficiency in conveying complicated material.
• Adaptability: It's possible that the project needed me to adjust to new information or unanticipated difficulties. I have also improved my capacity for adaptability, remaining composed under duress, and changing my approach when necessary.

What do you know now that you didn’t know at the start of the process?

According to what I know about similar initiatives, there are a few things I might have discovered along the way that I was unaware of at the beginning:

• Industry-specific knowledge: It is possible that focusing on a business issue required me to gain a deeper grasp of the sector where the client works (Noy, et.al, 2019). For instance, I might have discovered the difficulties the sector suffers, the rules that must be followed, or new trends.
• Technical skills: To complete the assignment, I might have needed to pick up new technological abilities. For instance, I might have picked up novel programming languages, data analysis methods, or software tools.
• Interpersonal skills: Having the chance to work in groups can help you improve your interpersonal abilities (Choi, 2021). For instance, I might have gained knowledge on how to give and accept criticism, negotiate and settle disputes, or interact with team members and stakeholders more effectively.
• Project management: My ability to oversee a project from beginning to end may have improved as a result of the project. I might have discovered how to schedule projects, keep track of progress, and handle resources, for instance.
• The client's business: I may have gained a stronger comprehension of the customer's business during the project, including their objectives, difficulties, and procedures. I might have learned more about the client's priorities, working style, and desired outcomes from a solution.

To what extent has your level of confidence improved?

I can state with confidence that my sense of confidence has greatly increased after giving my project-related experience and the abilities I acquired some thought. When the team first started working on a project, particularly if it was in a field I was less experienced in, I could have initially doubted my ability to contribute. My degree of confidence, though, grew as I worked with my coworkers and learned more about the issue at hand.

I acquired experience working on complicated challenges and effectively articulating my ideas through the procedure of figuring out the source of the company's problem, creating and testing various solutions, and then providing the results to the client (Chen, 2021). My confidence in my capacity to handle comparable issues in the future has increased as a result of this experience.

Additionally, I was able to gain knowledge from my teammates and take advantage of their experience by working as a team. Observing how much my team members loved and appreciated my contributions gave me even more confidence and pushed me to assume more responsibility for the project. I felt accomplished and like my talents and abilities had been validated after hearing the client's compliments for the grade of our effort and the effect of our solution.

How could you use your learning in your future career?

As I consider the abilities and information I have gained through working on this task, I can think of several ways I may apply what I have learned in the following settings:

• Problem-solving skills: To complete the project, I had to use my problem-solving abilities to find the source of the company's issue and create a solution (Araiza-Alba, et.al, 2021). I've gained skills in critical thinking and analysis from this experience that I can use to tackle comparable issues in my future profession.
• Collaboration skills: My ability to collaborate, including effective communication, cooperation, and conflict resolution, has improved because of my teamwork experiences. These abilities are crucial in numerous places of work, and I can use them to collaborate with coworkers and stakeholders more successfully.
• Industry-specific knowledge: I had the chance to acquire more about the client's industry's issues, legislative needs, and burgeoning trends thanks to the assignment. I can use this information to become more knowledgeable and productive in my future employment in that sector.
• Technical skills: I might have had to pick up new technical abilities for the job, such as utilizing software applications, programming languages, or statistical procedures (Akhtar, et.al, 2019). I can use these abilities to raise my technical competency and value as an employee because they are very valuable in many workplaces.
• Project management skills: Leading a project from beginning to end, including task planning, organization, and monitoring, may have been something I learned from working on the project. I can use my experience to manage similar initiatives more skillfully in the future.

The critical evaluation supported with examples

I had the chance to expand my knowledge and skills in a variety of areas while working on a task for a customer, which had a big impact on my development both personally and professionally. My ability to solve problems is one illustration of this. Our team was entrusted with solving a challenging business issue that involved data analysis, pattern recognition, and the creation of a customized solution for the customer. This method forced me to think critically and creatively, as well as to take into account many viewpoints and potential answers.

Another illustration is the improvement of my teamwork abilities. I had to listen intently, communicate clearly, and work cooperatively with my teammates while I was in a team (Kry?ci?ski, et.al, 2019). For instance, we frequently had to work together to combine our disparate ideas into a unified and successful answer, which helped us develop confidence in and esteem for one another's skills. Additionally, the project gave me the chance to learn about the sector specifically. This required looking into gaining knowledge about the client's sector of the market, including its difficulties, possibilities, and trends. I was able to provide a more specialized and successful solution as a result of developing a deeper grasp of the client's needs.

Last but not least, working on the project gave me experience in project management from beginning to end. Planning and organizing activities, keeping tabs on progress, and handling resources were all part of this. My project management abilities, which are crucial in many jobs, were able to grow as a result of this experience.

Task 2

Three skills gaps or areas where consider that further development would be useful

I have recognized three areas that, after giving my project experience some thought, I believe need further work if I want to succeed in my professional life.

1. Leadership skills: I had the chance to work with my teammates, but I was not given the chance to take the project in charge. In the future, I think that improving my leadership abilities will be essential for me to advance in my work. This might entail assuming a larger role in upcoming initiatives, looking for mentorship opportunities, and improving my interpersonal and communication abilities.
2. Technical skills: Although the project gave me the chance to hone certain technical skills, I am aware that I still have a lot to learn. I would particularly like to improve my knowledge of software tools used in my area as well as data analysis and visualization. I intend to do this by looking for further training options and doing independent research.
3. Business acumen: As I obtained some understanding of the sector in which the customer operates, I think there is still a lot I do not know about the larger business environment (Makhele, 2019). I intend to read widely about business-related subjects, go to industry events, and look for business leaders to mentor me to sharpen my business acumen.

Propose a plan of action for filling these gaps/developing these areas.

References

Akhtar, P., Frynas, J.G., Mellahi, K. and Ullah, S., 2019. Big data?savvy teams' skills, big data?driven actions, and business performance. British Journal of Management, 30(2), pp.252-271.

Araiza-Alba, P., Keane, T., Chen, W.S. and Kaufman, J., 2021. Immersive virtual reality as a tool to learn problem-solving skills. Computers & Education, 164, p.104121.

Chen, H. and Ye, H., 2021, July. The Effect of Capital Structure on Business Financial Performance–Based on the Moderating Role of Managerial Confidence Level. In The 2021 12th International Conference on E-business, Management and Economics (pp. 329-335).

Choi, S., Slaubaugh, M. and Tian, X., 2021. Integrating learning interpersonal skills through team-based learning (TBL) in a management course. Journal of Education for Business, 96(8), pp.498-509.

Fan, H. and Ling, H., 2019. Siamese cascaded region proposal networks for real-time visual tracking. In Proceedings of the IEEE/CVF conference on computer vision and pattern recognition (pp. 7952-7961).

Gursansky, D. and Harvey, J., 2020. Case management: Policy, practice and professional business. Routledge.

Kry?ci?ski, W., Keskar, N.S., McCann, B., Xiong, C. and Socher, R., 2019. Neural text summarization: A critical evaluation. arXiv preprint arXiv:1908.08960.

Lawson, C., Gill, R., Feekery, A. and Witsel, M., 2019. Communication skills for business professionals. Cambridge University Press.

Makhele, L. and Barnard, B., 2019. The Development of Entrepreneurs: Business Acumen and Stratup Skills (Doctoral dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management).

Noy, N., Gao, Y., Jain, A., Narayanan, A., Patterson, A. and Taylor, J., 2019. Industry-scale Knowledge Graphs: Lessons and Challenges: Five diverse technology companies show how it’s done. Queue, 17(2), pp.48-75.

Penovich, P., Glauser, T., Becker, D., Patel, A.D., Sirven, J., Long, L., Stern, J., Dixon-Salazar, T., Carrazana, E. and Rabinowicz, A.L., 2021. Recommendations for the development of acute seizure action plans (ASAPs) from an expert panel. Epilepsy & Behavior, 123, p.108264.

Steiber, A. and Alänge, S., 2021. Corporate-startup collaboration: effects on large firms' business transformation. European Journal of Innovation Management, 24(2), pp.235-257.