BIOLOGY TEACHING ORGANISATION

PERSONAL ACHIEVEMENT RECORD
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PERSONAL AND INTERPERSONAL SKILLS
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Check the list below. Use the links to find the resources. When you have attained those skills, record them in "MY PAR"

Personal skills and achievements (click for guidance)

• Evaulate your achievements at University
• Evaluate your other achievements and activities
• Evaluate what you have learnt about yourself

Interpersonal skills: (click for guidance)

• How to work in a team
• How to lead a team
• Negotiation, diplomacy, assertiveness

You will also need:

• to assess your particular strengths and weaknesses in interpersonal relations

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RESOURCES:

Personal skills and achievements

If you look at the questions asked on job application forms of major employers, you will see the sorts of qualities that these people are looking for. Essentially, it all boils down to this: they want people who know themselves, have thought about their strengths and weaknesses, and have used all opportunities to develop their specific talents and range of experiences.

So, our advice is:

• Monitor your progress at every stage of your academic studies. Think about what you have done well and what could be improved. Then make a realistic plan to improve your weaker areas.

• Think about your non-academic activities - your role in clubs or societies, what you have tried to organise, your role as a class representative or member of a committee, etc. These are all highly valued by employers.

• Think about the skills you have learned in part-time jobs, etc. - the times when you had to exercise tact and diplomacy (throwing someone out of the bar!) or had to take the initiative to deal with a difficult situation

We strongly advise you to write these things down on MY PAR, because the act of doing this is an indication that you are thinking about your personal skills and development.

Interpersonal skills

Team work and interpersonal skills are highly valued by employers. They are difficult to teach formally, especially in universities, where the emphasis must necessarily be on personal achievement. However, you will develop these skills in several ways:

• In Group projects in the course Environmental & Community Biology 1h. Here we ask you to work as a member of a group of 5 or 6 students to investigate a specific topic and then to submit the results as a web site. You will see examples on the course home page (see link above). We mark each project as a whole, so all members of a group receive the same mark. But we also give each group the opportunity to vary the mark for individual students - some might be marked up by the group, but only if the other group members are prepared to be marked down. That's an interesting exercise in team work and group decision-making! Click here to see how these groups develop and assign roles to individual members in the first tutorial of this course.

• The tutorials associated with most courses provide opportunities for group interaction. Try to make good use of these - make sure that you attend and contribute to the discussions.

• Field courses provide ideal opportunities for group interaction and "bonding".

• The Insight into Management course provides excellent training in the development of team skills. You should think seriously about attending this course (in vacation time).

• Your Honours year (often involving a short residential period at Firbush Point Field Centre on Loch Tay) involves a great deal of interaction between students (and staff), providing ideal opportunities to develop your interpersonal skills.

• Your extramural activities, including roles in Societies, your work experience, and participation in staff-student liaison committees, etc., will help you to develop many interpersonal skills.

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Environmental & Community Biology 1h. Tutorial on Group relationships

Introduction

We all belong to groups of one sort or another. Sometimes membership is by choice, but often it is imposed upon us. In any case, in order for a group to be successful we have to behave in certain ways. We need to recognise one another’s strengths and weaknesses, and "pull together" to get the most out of the group. You have been assigned to a Group Project which will require members to work cohesively, as a group, over the next 3 months in deciding a study topic, in allocating responsibilities, in gathering information and in preparing and presenting a professional report.

Objectives

You should:

· -appreciate the necessity of teamwork in tackling the Group Project.

· -explore the advantages as well as the disadvantages of working in groups.

· -establish lines of communication among members, and delegate responsibilities.

· -arrive at a ranking order of Project proposals to submit for consideration.

· -consider a basic process to assist in group maintenance.

· -better understand the stages in group and task development.

1. Advantages and disadvantages of working in groups.

Assignment 1 (6 minutes)

In your Project groups, construct two lists of what your group considers to be the 3 most important advantages and the 3 most important disadvantages of working in groups.

Suggest a key common element for each list.

Other suggestions :

2. What makes an effective work group?

The following characteristics have been identified, by research of groups across a wide range of employment and social situations, as those which most contribute to group success:

-members are committed to the group and fully participate in the group effort.

-members work as a team, see themselves as part of a team and all work towards a common goal.

-members talk to each other frequently and exchange advice and information.

-the group contains the skills and tools necessary to achieve the group’s goals.

The key to good group work is that group members use each other’s strengths and tolerate each other’s weaknesses. It is no different for the Group Project than for the group that produced a successful advertising campaign for Levi’s jeans!

3. Group processes

Simple organisational and operational processes or structures may be adopted to help smooth the running of a group, especially in its infancy. Determining the skills and interests of the group members will help in deciding what type of project will be appropriate and will also give clues about what group roles and responsibilities might be adopted by which members.

However, two structures which require to be set up immediately are:

1) a contact list in order that members can communicate with each other.

2) a skeleton committee crew - the bare minimum to start with is a convenor and/or secretary to call and record the first meeting, and a treasurer to record expenses.

Assignment 2 (15 minutes)

In each Project group, members should introduce themselves in turn, giving a contact point, address and/or telephone number by which they can be easily reached. Every group member should take note of all the contact points. Now elect a temporary secretary, whose job will be to record further group information and decisions. If there are missing members it would be an idea to leave a copy of the group contact points at the BTO Building .

Members should now indicate in turn their skills and/or interests which the group secretary should record. The following skills or resources should be recorded: computer skills, availability of a car, artistic/design skills (useful for presentations), debating or public speaking skills. It is suggested that discussing group roles and group tasks might be left till the next group meeting.

Assignment 3 (20 minutes)

The remaining time should be devoted to deciding a Project ranking order for submitting to the BTO on the Selection form. Use the attached table to help decide the ranking order.

CHECKLISTS

References:

Belbin, R.M.(1981) Management Teams: Why They Succeed or Fail, Heinemann, London

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