Assignment 3: Personal and professional development reflection COM10011: Learning and Communicating for Innovative Business Practice <Student name and number>
The purpose of this paper is to reflect on my experience in using the innovation frameworks and how this experience has influenced the development of my personal and professional branding. The attributes which will be addressed are; personal vision, core values, personal goals, strong points and areas of expertise. Whilst undertaking the unit 'Learning and Communicating for Innovative Business Practice' through Swinburne Online, I have been provided with the opportunity and tools required to reflect upon both my personal and professional branding. In Assessment 1B I revealed my personal vision, to achieve a fulfilling and successful career at an executive level whilst maintaining a healthy and satisfying personal and family life. I have allowed myself to be open to all concepts and possibilities presented to me throughout this unit by employing the Beginner's Mind technique for, "in the beginner's mind there are many possibilities" (Suzuki 1970, p.1). This technique, along with the innovation frameworks, enabled me to dissolve my preconceptions of what my personal vision should be, as before the unit I had merely focused on my immediate vision of completing a degree. I am now able to refocus, thus acquiring a sharper personal vision which encompasses both my personal and professional life, which not only holds true today, but also prepares me to move forwards. Maxwell quotes the Commander in Chief of U.S Special Operations Command, Peter J. Schoomaker, who states, "Everything but our core values are on the table; we have to be ready to change anything but those values to get the job done" (Maxwell 2001, p.68). My core values are, by their very nature, the rock on which I have built my life. They have been formed over my lifetime and thus, by definition, have not changed in the space of a few weeks of undertaking this unit. This does not <Student name and number> 2
mean, however, that I have not taken the time to reflect on them and test them against the values that are often promoted by large organisations. At the beginning of the unit I undertook the Personal Values Assessment Survey (Barrett Values Centre 2017) for Assessment 1B and identified my core values as being; Integrity, Respect, Compassion, Optimism, Trust and Perseverance. When looking at the mission statement of large successful companies like Microsoft, which places emphasis on some values akin to my own, it becomes apparent that the success of the company is due to the hard work of the company to follow their core values and fulfil both their vision and mission statement. It is this knowledge that reaffirms my belief in my own core values and that has enabled me to stay motivated, focused and on course whenever challenges arise. Initially, when I first set my personal goals, I realised that they were purely visionary, looking far into the future. Having read more about the principles of S.M.A.R.T. goals used