Personal Development Plan Via Skill Audit

1. Introduction:

Employers always looking for unique Employees who take the responsibility for their learning and
development needs to gain the personal and professional skills needed to support the strategic
direction of an organization. Learners can achieve this through analyzing their current skills and
preparing and implementing a personal development plan.

Orascom Construction Limited is a leading global engineering and construction contractor primarily
focused on infrastructure, industrial and high-end commercial projects in the Middle East, North
Africa, the United States, and the Pacific Rim for public and private clients. The Group also develops
and invests in infrastructure opportunities.

Orascom Construction has grown from a small family-run construction business into a global
engineering and construction contractor with projects and investments around the world.

2. Task 1 (Skills review)

To produce evidence for AC. 1.1 and AC. 1.2.

2.1 Ac 1.1 Use appropriate methods to evaluate personal skills required to achieve strategic goals.

The purpose of this Assignment is to assess and figure out my personal and professional skills by using
the methods and techniques to assess the development of my own skills to support the achievement
of strategic direction, which shall allow appropriate opportunities for carrying out my responsibilities
simultaneously and in-line with the achieving of my Company’s strategic goals.

I’m currently working as Tendering Contracts Engineer in Orascom Construction Limited Company in
the Tendering Department, one of my major tasks is handling Commercial, Technical and Financial
proposals for the project which the company is involved in, conducting reviews and considering legal
and technical aspects of contract award & administration. I’m also responsible for preparing and
drafting the commercial bids and tenders, estimating the costs of the projects and ensuring that the
costs are controlled. From the typical day’s duties are reviews the bids, conduct negotiations with the
clients or the customers, build and maintain relationships with suppliers in order to secure positive,
constructive and cost effective commercial agreements for the Company, monitor the performance of
service providers on a regular basis.

Moreover, from the big parcels of my job responsibilities are the time management and the
communication skills, as the Tender or Bids submissions are always related to due dates and how we
deal with the clients or the customers, which reflect my company’s reputation in the market, whereas,
Orascom as mentioned hereinabove is a leading Engineering, Procurement and Construction
Contractor, which target large, complex and demanding projects in the region.

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 MY COMPANY’S VISION:
Our vision is to be the preferred construction and facilities partner for our clients and to be recognized
as the contractor of choice for large, complex and demanding construction projects in North Africa
and the Middle East. We are committed to delivering quality work and products, safely and on
schedule. A company that our clients want work with, our customers can rely on and our employees
are proud to work for. A company with an open mind ready to embrace new opportunities and driven
to deliver exceptional value.

MY COMPANY’S STRATEGY:
Our strategy is guided by keys pillars with the aim of maintaining our market leadership, expanding
our geographic footprint and delivering top and bottom line growth to maximize shareholder value.

1) Strategic Market and Geographic Expansion as an EPC Contractor

Our aims to expand our market presence as an EPC contractor in our core markets in MENA and
the US through several avenues, namely strengthening activities in our key infrastructure and
industrial sectors, selective pursuit of well-funded projects where we hold a competitive edge and
capitalizing on our proven financing track record across various sectors.

2) Establish and Leverage Strategic Partnerships and JVS

The Group has maintained an active strategy of working in partnership with industry leaders to
complement and expand its capabilities. Historically, these relationships have enabled us to
participate in some of MENA’s largest construction projects and maintain a strong market
position. OCL’s 50% investment in the BESIX Group is a clear example of this strategy being put to
action, where both companies have pursued opportunities and participated in projects beyond
each other’s core competencies. The Group will further deploy this strategy and leverage its
MENA relationships in its effort to expand its US foothold. Additionally, we always consider
strategic tuck-in acquisitions that enhance our core competencies and add valuable human
resources to our construction team as was the case with our acquisition of The Weitz Company in
2012.

3) Commitment to Excellence
It is our firm belief that behind every successful company is a continued commitment to quality,
safety, the environment and ethical business practices. At OCL, maintaining a safe and healthy
workplace for all our employees and putting our expertise to work for the benefit of our clients,
our partners and the communities in which we operate is at the heart of how we do business. That
is why at OCL we choose to implement global best practice when it comes to safety standards,
training and development.

4) Delivering Shareholder Value

Since its establishment in the 1950s, the Group has remained committed to creating shareholder
value at every stage of its ambitious journey of becoming a leading private sector contractor and
an incubator of high-value industrial businesses. This unwavering commitment is at the core of our
strategy and is instilled in our management and founding shareholders who continue to propel the
Group into the next phase of its sustainable growth trajectory.

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 My career goal is to become the Contracts Manager in my company, hence, my plan is to develop my
personal and professional skills to allow me to be a candidate for the promotion of a strategic
managerial vacancy which is Contracts Manager.
Currently I am studying MBA in order to acquire the necessary tools and experience required to
manage a large-scale business, starting as Contracts Manager and working my way up. I am working
on developing some skills which could allow me to be upgraded to the managerial level and also to be
inline and fulfill the purpose of my company mission and vision which will reflect on the corporate
development in return.

Contracts Manager is one of the crucial strategic managerial positions in my company, who supports
the company’s strategic goals by oversee projects from the start through to completion, ensuring that
work is completed on time and within its budget. The major required personal skills to be
incorporated in the Contracts Manager are negotiations skills, time management, communication
skills, problem solving, flexibility and customer satisfaction.

Skills required to achieve my company’s strategic goals:

 Personal Leadership and Management skills:

Negotiations skills.
Time Management.
Business Knowledge.
Communication Skills.
Problem-solving.
Multi-tasking.
Customer satisfaction.
Respect work ethics.
Business Management.
Delegation.

 Professional Skills:
Good knowledge of Construction Business.
Business Management.
Contracts Management awareness.
FIDIC Contracts knowledge.
Risk Management.
Job Target achievement.
Computer skills.
Legal awareness.
Technical writing skills.
Legal writing skills.
Reading comprehension skills.
Verbal and written language skills.

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 2.2 Ac.2. Use appropriate methods (e.g. SWOT) to evaluate personal skills and assess professional
skills required to support the strategic direction of your organization:

Using SWOT analysis as incorporated in Appendix (1) to this Assignment, helped me to analyze my
strengths and weakness as well as my opportunities and threats that I can have or face in my
career path, this analysis led me to focus on my strengths and how to develop them and on the
other hand to minimize my weakness and threats in achieving my goals and finding other
opportunities.

3. Task 2 (Skills Audits)

3.1 To produce evidence for A.C.2.1: Arrange to complete the skill audit form attached using the
instruction in the first page.

Skills audit form as incorporated in “Appendix 2” is built in accordance to my experience as

Contracts Manager in Orascom Construction, to assess the required currently and long term
strategic skills, in order to review my own skills against current and future requirements by my
company to identifying the appropriate way for carrying out my development plan to fulfill
effectively all skills required now and in future. The following skill audit is based on my experience
as an Office Manager in Orascom Construction.

Skills needed to be developed as per the result of the Skill Audit form as per Appendix 2:
 Recruit, select and keep colleagues
 Build and manage team.
 Help team members address problems affecting their performance
 Reduce and manage conflict

3.2 To produce evidence for A.C.2.1: Apply appropriate techniques to identify your preferred
learning style.

After going through the different learning styles for identifying the preferred one for developing
skills, the appropriate learning style for me is the VAK/VARK model.

After taking out the exercise, the flowing scores show me the weights:
 Kinesthetic: 41%
 Visual: 31%
 Auditory: 28%

According to the above mentioned learning style, my best learning style shall be with descending
order of Kinesthetic, Visual then Auditory.

Whereas, Kinesthetic is the learning style, in which the learning shall be carried out by practicing
rather than by reading or using materials or watching videos. This type of learning used by people
who are more practical, this people can be called Doers.

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 Whereas, Visual is for the people with a strong visual preference for learning like using or seeing
charts, graphs, diagrams or videos and implement their comments or notes on it.

Whereas, the last leaning style is the Auditory, this way of learning is carried out by hearing,
discussions and explanations, and the use of questioning is an important part of a such learning
style.

4. Task 3: Professional Development Plan

4.1 To produce evidence for A.C.3.1: prepare and implement a personal development plan that
meets leadership development Skills identified in the skills audit conducted.

As per Appendix (3) “Professional Development Plan”.

4.2 To produce evidence for 3.2: Use suitable methods to assess the outcomes of a personal
development plan against personal work objectives.

By applying the methods of SMART analysis and Professional Development Plan as incorporated in
Appendix (3), my personal and professional skills shall be assessed.

Being involved in direct discussions with colleagues, team mates, clients or managers, and also by
carrying out surveys or giving feedback forms to the internal/external clients, it helped me in
being more confident in well-knowing of my capabilities and skills, feeling more productive in my
team and helpful to my colleagues, and also gaining new skills.

4.3 To produce evidence for 3.3: evaluate the impact of own learning against the achievement of
strategic goals.

The Evaluation of my developed skills whether personal or professional, has been carried out
through 180 or 360-degree analysis, to measure the impact of it on the achievement of the
strategic goals. The appropriate evaluation method helped in attaching action taken to the final
outcome and expected success.

After carrying out the evaluation and figuring out the productive outcomes, and how much my
personal and professional skills have been developed, and by adjusting or upgrading the
developing plan according the environment or the new situations, the support or productivity
which I have given to my company and Tendering Department as Contract Manager, was realized
well by my direct managers and my company, on the other hand my company’s strategic goals
became pretty-close to be achieved as well my personal and professional goals.

5. References:
 www.orascom.com
 http://vark-learn.com/
 en.wikipedia.org
 www.idea.gov.uk

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  https://empxtrack.com/blog/how-to-easily-conduct-180-or-360-degree-performance-appraisals-
use-hr-tools/

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 6. Appendices:
 Appendix (1) – SWOT Analysis.
 Appendix (2) – Skill Audit form.
 Appendix (3) – Professional Development Plan.

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 Appendix (1) - SWOT Analysis

Strength Weaknesses
 Contracts Knowledge  Human Recourses
 Construction Knowledge Management
 Negotiations skills  Constructing Project Budget

 Communication Skills  Provide Training to others

 Time Management  Promotion Procedures

 Problem Solving Skills  Leadership

 Stress Management
 Business Management

Opportunities Threats
 Getting Promotion  Environmental issues.
 Getting new vacancy  Region or culture crisis
 Preparing MBA  Personal life conflicting
 Developing my personal skills professional life
 Company expansion  Industry fluctuating
 Slower market growth

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 Appendix (2) – Skill Audit form
As per Attachment (1)

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 Appendix (3) – Professional Development Plan
Name Mina Antoine Adieb Latest update February 23, 2017 Review date Every 30 days

Date plan created April 01, 2016 Time span of plan 360 Days Area of practice Each Development
section

Identified
Preferred Learning Measures and
development Actions Required Time Frame
Styles and Weight indicators
area
Recruit, select and Visual: 31%  Studying MBA – HR module. May 01, 2016 Attending interviews
keep colleagues Theoretical  Attending courses relevant to HR To with HR recruiters
recruiting. July 01, 2016
 Reading textbooks with diagrams and
pictures.

Build and manage Kinesthetic 41%  Attend courses and session in During the full Create surveys with
team. Mentoring Leadership. duration of the my subordinates
 Attend meeting with my direct manager CPD Plan
to monitor the way he manages the
team.
 Study and take PMP exam

Help team members Kinesthetic 41%  Attend courses and session in June 01, 2016 A 360 analysis was
address problems Practicing and Leadership. To applied and a good
affecting their Mentoring  Study and take PMP exam. September 01, feedback was
performance 2016 received from my
manager and
Reduce and manage Visual: 31%  Self-study. During the full colleges.
Using 180-degree
conflict. Theoretical  Attend sessions for management. duration of the analysis to get the
 Starting in preparing case studies to CPD Plan feedback after
improve the skills. implementing the
actions.

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