Developing Yourself and Others

I currently work for Tactical Solutions representing a growing Milk brand in the UK, A2 Milk. A2 Milk offers an easy to digest milk alternative that is the only natural milk type in the category. Our challenge is to educate staff and customers in store about our brand and why they should choose our milk over Soya, Goats and Lactofree options out there and the benefits we offer consumers such as being the only natural milk that IBS sufferers can digest amongst others. My role is to lead a Southern based field sales team to drive sales across the Tesco and Morrisons estate whilst ensuring they have the right knowledge and tools in order to complete the task in hand. I need to complete accompaniments with each of the team members in the first part of my job.

Other roles within my remit are to manage our client(A2) and the expectations they have from the team, highlight the challenges as well as the opportunities there are out in the field to ensure we can maximise our sales potential. I also manage the account side of this and have to work to A2’s budget of spend for completing the required calls via my own field sales team as well as a sub team that can consist of up to 40 different members of staff. My final role within the process is to process sales reports in order to highlight sales progress around the country, a process that is very time consuming.

AC 1.1
I have identified a team member who wishes to develop his skill set in order to drive his ambition of becoming a Regional Manager within the company so my first job was to clarify what learning styles we both have so we can structure Simon’s development and assist my ever growing workload. At first we completed a self assessment of ourselves to see where we felt our strengths and weaknesses were. This showed that we both had strengths in setting standards and objectives, whilst also identifying that some of Simon’s weaknesses were strengths of mine that we could incorporate into a Personal Development Plan. I made good use of the Honey & Mumford Learning styles questionnaire, which is based on the learning cycle of Kolb.

The outcome of this questionnaire shows that I have a Reflective approach, however I do also possess I high level of being an Activist and Pragmatist and this often leads me to actively searching for new and efficient ways of completing my job without delegating this out. I do like to reflect back on work that I have completed and assessing the positives and opportunities that come from me actively trying new ideas that I brainstorm and put into practice. Simon also comes out as being a Reflector; however this also identified Simon as being a Theorist also, which my weakest quality in this test was, giving me an opportunity to share my ideas and reflect on Simon’s theory approach and develop these without the need for being so active, ensuring I take a step back and not react so much to ideas that do not have a tried and tested approach to them and can assess the options before putting them in place.

AC 1.2
After identifying our learning styles, highlighted in AC 1.1, we then conducted a simple SWOT analysis to see where could identify our development needs – Lee –
Strengths
Weaknesses

Setting standards and setting objectives within job description Giving constructive feedback
Creative thinking and identifying other options
Past history of coaching staff members into Management positions Strong communication skills – 1-2-1/Phone/Email

Looking after yourself
Delegating tasks out to other team members
Opportunities

Threats
Coaching staff to complete additional tasks to assist development Challenge staff to push their own development, push for promotion

Work load increasing to an unmanageable level
No other team member can complete reports when I am on holiday

Simon –
Strengths
Weaknesses

Previous management experience
High standard of work expected
Not very familiar with the technological programmes used such as Excel and PowerPoint Creative thinking

Opportunities

Threats
Developing technological knowledge, familiarise self to Excel and PowerPoint techniques Develop creative thinking by identifying other possible ways of working

Not very technological, lots of training needed

By using the SWOT analysis we can see the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats from both parties and from this we can identify potential barriers for both people and look at how these barriers can be overcome. AC 1.3

By completing this SWOT analysis the potential barriers for myself in to delegate more tasks to Simon, however this will mean that I will need to give close support on how to improve Simon’s skills using Excel and PowerPoint in order to give him the necessary knowledge and tools in which for Simon to develop these and take the workload from me. In order to provide Simon the required level of knowledge an initial day of training will need to be undertaken between Simon and myself in order to overcome this and will then ensure that once Simon has the skill set needed to take this on, develop this himself and allow Simon to get more creative with the responsibilities he can begin to undertake. Further training will be provided by ensuring Simon attends further training provided by Tactical Solutions to its managers on Excel and PowerPoint. By doing this it will assist me in becoming more of a delegator to Simon whilst using my strengths in coaching Simon and help him become competent in using technological programmes and becoming a more creative thinker to help evolve the reports he will be completing, ensuring these remain informative and relative to our objectives that are set by A2.

AC 1.4
As aforementioned in AC 1.3 we will complete a full day or active training where I can coach Simon simple techniques that will give him the required skill set whilst following this up on a four weekly basis in a one to one meeting where we can complete further SWOT analysis on Simon’s learning and development and ensure Simon receives all the support needed to continue this development. We will also look to enrol Simon onto the next Excel and PowerPoint courses provided by Tactical Solutions to ensure Simon continues to develop his knowledge and with this identifying different ways of creating reports and showcasing to A2. I will ensure this is discussed with my manager and have my coaching and delegation objectives are added to my Personal Development Plan and reviewed during our one to one’s, with me showcasing how I have assisted Simon’s learning and development, with Simon providing feedback to my manager prior to our reviews.

AC 2.1
As aforementioned in AC 1.4 I will ensure that a Personal Development Plan and enrolment to the specific training courses is in place for Simon to ensure clear objectives are set to ensure Simon receives the right amount of support in the learning and development of the areas highlighted, also making him accountable to continue this learning on his own and spark his creative thinking. My role will be highlighted in full to my manager and share Simon’s PDP to ensure that I drive my side on this agreement and give the necessary support to Simon.

AC 2.2
As aforementioned in AC 2.1 Simon will be enrolled into the next training program to assist his development and will solidify his key learning’s from our one to one coaching meetings as well as gaining further knowledge. We will also log what we have covered during our training meetings, with a document summarising what Simon has learnt and has this as a reference point anytime he feels he needs to refresh his knowledge. I will seek for a mentor from Senior Management in order to learn about their approach to working, training and development as well as how they delegate out to their peers, ensuring that the workload is evenly distributed throughout their team. This will assist in furthering my creative mind and find new and improved ways of working by gaining inspiration from them.

AC 2.3
(Simon’s Personal Development Plan attached separately)

AC 2.4
Following the implementation of Simon’s PDP we will continue our one to one meetings in order to review what development has been achieved during the four week period. Simon will need to provide a log and show evidence of his development against all objectives we have outlined and update his PDP in accordance to our agreements and ensure that Simon’s developments continue positively and we can always evolve his development, providing further skills and enhancing his knowledge across the entire channel and how it’s run so he can run the channel in my absence and potentially achieve promotion should I continue my development and achieve the promotion that I will be working towards. I will follow the same procedures with my manager following my meetings with Simon, showcasing how Simon has developed and how I have assisted him in doing so.

I will provide the required evidence that will help me to update my PDP to ensure that my learning and development can be documented and highlighted come I have used techniques such as a SWOT analysis as well as the Honey and Mumford assessment in order to identify what learning techniques I can use with others within the business that progress and provide the correct training that will help team members GROW into more rounded team members that can carry out additional tasks and help the team run more effectively together because Together Everyone Achieves More(our TEAM motto).