Completion schedule
During the course, I am anticipating to learn several aspects relating to foundations of business success. They include describing the strategies of business success, setting up business objectives to align them with the vision and mission of the business, identifying the requirements of a successful business, developing competent negotiation skills, communication skills in business, and explaining the business scope. Additionally, I intend to learn other basic requirements like public speaking skills, conflict resolution mechanisms, and technical skills.
To achieve the set objectives of the course, it is necessary to have a mission, that is, know the purpose why I am learning these concepts. I will document all the objectives that I need to achieve in the course of the program and devise the best ways to achieve them that are effective, specific, business driven, and timely (Mpaata, Basemera & Rulangaranga, 2016). I will identify reputable sources that talks about the subject. Some of the sources that I will use include academic journals, reading books about the subject, identifying websites that have been published by reputable organizations about the subject and are non-biased. I will access the journals via google scholar, JSTOR, and LexisNexis. For the books I will access them from the local library. To measure if I have met the set objectives I will establish metrics for success such as having a checklist that will help me gauge if I have accomplished the objectives. In addition, I will record everything that I learn and compare them with the objectives that I had documented earlier.
1st fortnight: Describing the strategies of business success
2nd fortnight: Identifying the requirements of a successful business
3rd fortnight: Developing competent negotiation, public speaking, conflict resolution, and communication skills in business
4th fortnight: Determining the scope of a successful business
5th fortnight: Conflict resolution mechanisms in business
I will employ the use of “what I know,” “what I want to know,” and “what I have learned” (KWL) assessment technique to gauge what I have learned. This is a formative assessment that will help me know if I have gained enough information regarding the subject (Dyer & Steele, 2014). What I know will help me assess if I have enough information by setting some questions regarding the subject. If I score more that 90% this will show that I have sufficient knowledge on the unit. What I want to know will gauge me on the questions that I did not answer and will require me to read more. What I have learnt will help me gauge if I can put into practice what I know. In order to prove that I have sufficient knowledge in this subject I will do online test regarding the various units identified above that offer certifications upon completion. The certificates will prove that I passed the tests and have enough information.
Networking Task
I will attend the annual business professionals international conference. This is because this is a densely-packed and most relevant networking opportunity that will be of benefit to a business professional like me. I will experience new and greater knowledge that will benefits me and I can apply it in business management (McGinty, 2011, p. 137). Many people will attend the meet-up since it is an international conference and will attract many prominent business people like Russel Simmons, Mary-Kate Olsen, David Geffen, Tina Davis and many others.
In the course of the conference I want to get to meet and exchange ideas and new information with other experts. The conference will give me a platform to learn from the best and well-performing business personalities. Attending such a conference with experienced, talented, and self-made business speakers gives me a chance to learn what they did wrong and right to be where they are (Konsti-Laakso, Pihkala & Kraus, 2012, p. 99). I will promote myself by sharing my business cards and having one on one conversation with other business personalities and sharing the current business trends around the world. In addition, having vast knowledge about business aspects gives people the urge to want to talk to you more and more. As such, it is important to equip myself with boatloads of business cards and business ideas.
In any business, confidence and trust are very crucial attributes. Showing people that I have relevant and sufficient information about a particular business phenomenon will help me gain more confidence with the people I converse with. Additionally, it is important for me to be consistent in my behavior and depict seriousness and reliability (Li, 2013, p. 262). This will help me gain trust from the people I will interact with during the conference.
The networking strategies that I used include: Know my goals- this strategy is very important because it helped me know why I was attending the conference (Jackson, 2012, p. 42). It is important to identify the people who are going to help me achieve my goals. Focus on relationship building- this is one of the most effective strategy because it shows the people that you are more interested in who they are and not what you want from them. This helped me get greater insights about the people I interacted with because they found it easy to share their experience with me and I was able to learn a lot of things from them. Be ready to learn- this strategy was very helpful to me because it made me to always have the mindset to learn new things.
During the conversation I had with the different people, I paid attention to details and seek clarification on matters that were not clear. Consistency, reliability, and relevance were the strategies that I used to gain confidence and trust from the people I interacted with. These strategies were very effective and worked for me. Some of the positive networking skills that I observed includes use of positive language, listening and asking questions, creating power contacts, developing follow up plans by sharing contacts, and people took time to interact (Kramer, 2012, p. 313). During the conference, the organizers could have organized for a round table discussion among the participants to allow them connect and share ideas. This could have made the conference more involving and interesting. I was able to share information on the strategies to have a successful business and how to convincingly negotiate with customers and suppliers.
Some of the ways that I will use to follow up and maintain the contacts that I made include reaching out on social media, schedule regular check-ins, planning small get-togethers, showing gratitude, sharing my talents with them, regularly updating my contact list, and giving them space. Some of the skills that I shared with the people at the conference include public speaking skills, conflict resolution techniques, communication skills, and negotiation skills. Sharing these skills improved my confidence in my abilities to execute the tasks associated with such skills. I was able to share my experience at Kaplan Business School with my contacts and many of them seem to be very interested in visiting the school. I would recommend that we organize a business forum at KBS and invite them to have a session with the students and share their experience and some ideas that could be of great help to the students.
During the conference I was able to learn a lot of things like how to interact with clients and share your ideas or information about the products being offered and convinced them within a short time. Furthermore, I discovered that business requires patience, persistence, and confidence because these are the important factors that foster a successful business (Delaney, 2013, p. 97). I can share this skills and knowledge with other students through open discussions and debates. The conference was very useful to me and helped me in achieving my goals by giving me a platform to share the things I have learnt regarding foundations of business success.
Some of the issues that I faced in the course of completing the contract include:
Money- I did not have enough money to prepare and print the business cards. As such, the cards were insufficient and I was not able to share them with some of my contacts.
Time- during the conference, I had limited time to share and interact with the participants because the conference was for three days. I was not able to meet the target of interacting with 100 people during the conference. Because of the limited time I was only able to interact with 79 people.
Trying to do it alone- dong it alone was fast but I missed a lot of important aspects such as preparing well and having the best business dress code.
Poor marketing- I was not able to market myself well because I had insufficient marketing skills which are very crucial when selling my skills.
However, in the coming meeting I will have to try involve other people when preparing for such events and ensure that I have enough resources that will help me achieve my goals and surpass them.
Reference List
Delaney, D. (2013). New Business Networking. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, pp.97-98.
Dyer, T. and Steele, J. (2014). Assessing What Your Students Know, Want to Know, and Learned. [online] Faculty Focus | Higher Ed Teaching & Learning. Available at: https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/educational-assessment/assessing-students-know-want-know-learned/ [Accessed 5 Sep. 2018].
Jackson, accounting. (2012). Five secrets to success in business strategy. Journal of Business Strategy, 33(2), pp.30-54.
Konsti-Laakso, S., Pihkala, T. and Kraus, S. (2012). Facilitating SME Innovation Capability through Business Networking. Creativity and Innovation Management, 21(1), pp.93-105.
Kramer, E. (2012). 101 successful networking strategies. Boston, MA: Course Technology Cengage Learning, pp.310-317.
Li, C. (2013). Seven Success Factors of Social Business Strategy. Wiley, pp.250-271.
McGinty, R. (2011). Networking Strategies For Professionals. Journal of Business & Economics Research (JBER), 3(9), pp.124-201.
Mpaata, E., Basemera, M. and Rulangaranga, D. (2016). Insurance awareness and business success. International Journal Of Management And Economics Invention.
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