Module I: Professional Competence

Professional competence is the ability to perform the duties of one's profession to an acceptable quality. These is a skill one acquires by going through training in the relevant filled and participate in activities that promotes one's ability to be a competent professional. Such activities include mentorship, career development forums and coaching which provides different experiences to learn from.

Component of Competence

Knowledge: Awareness Skill: ability to do a taskAttitude: way of thinking

- Self awareness- Self Promotion & Presentation, - Self confidence- Skills- Performance

Coping with uncertainty,

Replace expectations with plans.

Prepare for different possibilities. Become a feeling observer. Get confident about your coping and adapting skills. Utilize stress reduction techniques preemptively. Focus on what you can control. Practice mindfulness.

Handling criticism and interruptions

Post-pone your reaction

Another trick is to wait 24 hours before you respond. When we first receive criticism it’s normal for this to trigger a whole host of emotions including anger, sadness and defensiveness and so it’s best to let these emotions settle before you respond. You’ll find that the criticism won’t look half as bad the next day, once you’ve had some time for it to sink in. Plus, you will be able to approach the whole situation in a much more rational manner.

Check in on your ego

When we are criticized our ego naturally takes a beating. It’s important to check in and identify if you really believe that the criticism is unfounded or if you are just fueling an innate desire to be right. We all like to be right – but at times we do need a little direction from others who know better. So criticism can be a great opportunity to keep your ego in check and accept that at times, we are not right about everything and we have much to learn from others.

Change the way you view criticism

What we forget is that often, when people criticize us they are simply trying to help. What I’ve noticed when examining many, many, successful people from entrepreneurs and business people, through to successful home-makers is that they don’t view criticism as a bad thing – in-fact they view it simply as feedback to help them move forward.

If you can try and adopt this habit then you will be one step ahead of most people on the planet! If you think about it – without criticism how could we improve our behavior? In-fact it’s a necessary part of personal growth – and something that we need to embrace instead of avoid.

Refrain from over-analysis and take action

It can be easy to get lost in the quagmire of why you have been criticized, instead of actively trying to do something about it. The best approach to take is to spend as little time obsessing about the personality of whoever is criticizing you and to focus on the facts. The sooner you take action and start to try out various solutions, the sooner you will lose that nagging feeling in the pitt of your stomach that you did something wrong or aren’t good enough. The great thing about taking action is that it empowers us and moves us forward.

Use criticism to hone your problem solving skills

Instead of viewing criticism as a negative thing, you can choose to use it as a means of improving your ability to come up with solutions. Try to refrain from focusing on the fact that you have been criticized and turn your attention to finding as many solutions as possible to fix the problem. This will see you progressing both in a career aspect as-well as via your own personal growth. We may not be able to change the things that happen to us – and the people who criticize us, we do however always have the power to respond in a way that empowers us and aids our journey of self-discovery and personal development.

Managing difficult people

if you're a manager, then you know what it is to have a problem employee and are probably also familiar with how difficult he or she is to handle. It can be perplexing because no matter what you do, he or she doesn't seem to improve. In fact, more often than not, the situation becomes worse.

I can't tell you how many managers have told me that they wished they hadn't wasted their valuable time, energy and resources trying to make bad employees into good ones or turn destructive behavior into its constructive counterpart. They talk about the aggravation and frustration that takes its toll only to end up in the same place every time: the employee has to go. Overwhelmingly they say they walked away from the situation having learned the hard way that people don't change because someone else wants them to, even if it is their boss and even if they cognitively know that the end of their employment could be near. Rather, it is usually a case that proves true the old adage that people only change if - and when - they want to.

Most commonly, managers become overly focused on the employee with the performance and/or attitude problem and then expend an inordinate amount of effort trying to "fix" them. We think that by taking disciplinary action, creating performance development plans and engaging in corrective counseling, we will be able to instill incentives in employees that in turn move them forward. Not so. Instead, managers end up chasing their tails, spinning their wheels and banging their heads against the wall, all for naught, most of the time. Despite what we think, we do not have the power we need to intrinsically influence folks at the level necessary, no matter how intricate and well thought out our systems may be.

That being said, there are ways to handle problem employees that reduce the stress, minimize their taxing effect, expedite the process and contain the collateral damage they tend to create. All we need to do is flip it. Flip the focus. Flip the strategy. Stop trying to change people and start trying to create an opportunity for them to change themselves, should they decide it is in their best interest to do so. This way business continues as usual while the problem employee makes a choice as to whether he or she wants to jump on board - or off.   It's clean and easy without all the hassle. You don't waste your time, can invest it in matters more apt to produce a positive

return and have a new system in place that fosters a healthy, low-maintenance, low-drama environment, which is better for everyone involved including the business itself.

So first, paint a picture that illustrates what you expect and communicate it to the employee.

Second, be crystal clear about what is acceptable and what is not and stress in specific, no uncertain terms which behaviors will not be tolerated.

And third, explain what will happen when and if the next infraction or incident occurs.  Then do your own thing and give him or her space to sink or swim.

Finally, the only way this works is if you follow through on what you say. If you don't, the wrong message is a mixed message and the situation becomes worse than before.