I chose the activity of accomplishing "Build New Manager Level Skills" certificate course because I found the weaknesses in my leadership such as the domain of communication and relationship building. Through self-reflection and input from my colleagues, I found out that I failed to ensure that my expectations were clear enough, my team members’ performance agreement reflects, and my team members felt adequately supported by me. I consider that the class will help me deal with these shortcomings by providing useful tools and knowledge in the area of directed leadership, advancing relations, and cooperating with the team members.

More than theoretical knowledge that I have received from the course literature, I have what I have learned from completing the task. The course gave me valuable methods and theories for leading my team. During this process, I understand that genuinity and empathy are essential factors of leadership, communication and connection to the team, thus trust and rapport follow. I learned how to handle communication and relationship-building in a more flexible way, also the application of the skills to overcome challenges or conflicts which occurred in the team.

The essence of the course is that it triggered a huge leap forward in my leadership and self-confidence. The effectiveness of communicating goals as well as feedback that is constructive and relationships that are strong with team members, resulted in the development of the skills necessary. The assessment of the course was with the students acknowledging that the strategies designed to improve communication, morale and productivity have been implemented. The group members from other subjects felt that there was an improvement in their communication and productivity. Furthermore, I mastered those capabilities that I did not imagine to be my personal strength, for example, the capacity to adapt my leadership style to different people and work environment, and the ability to deal with unpleasant communication professionally.

Through a retrospective of the course, I come to realization that notwithstanding the fact that I acquire some of the important skills, I still have a goal to further develop them. Likewise, I learned that in order to be a better-rounded employee, I need to constantly work on my conflict resolution abilities and to develop a better appreciation of workplace diversity and inclusivity. Onwards, I promise to approach every critical juncture as an avenue to better my leadership skills further. I cannot stress enough the role my ePortfolio has played in this undertaking.