Homework #3 ,,My development story

My development story started at Acord Plus private school of English where management was very low
on teachers. I had some acquaintances there and they recommended me to the HR as a good candidate for
an eventual English teacher position, as I was attending the college at an English department and spent
two years in California.
During the first month I felt great about the new job and I believe I quickly jumped from D1 level to D3
or D4 as I was very confident about what I was doing and felt like Im performing very well. The
following month happened to be much more challenging. The management gave me one more group,
which by the way was an advanced level group. Preparing the lesson for two groups simultaneously
wasnt easy, taking into account that I was attending college as well. During this period I started to feel
desperate as I understood that I havent been performing as good as I was expected. (so this is where D2
steps in) The advanced group turned out to be a bitter task for a beginner, as I had to be very careful on
my speech, pronunciation as well as on my grammar. The group was good so I felt responsible to
demonstrate that theres a professional in front of them. There was nothing as stressful as running for the
first time ever the course of advanced English.
I was so disappointed that I was counting every single minute until the end of the course. The worst part
was that I couldnt tell management this issue as they would have considered that Im not a good teacher
or the task is too tough for me.
At the time when I thought theres no way it could be worse the management gave me three groups. So I
was waking up at 6:30 am and coming home at 11 or 11:30 thus studying for university and preparing
these three lessons during the night or on the bus.
It was a hell of a month so I couldnt sustain more and went to the management with a request to give me
one or maximum two groups a month. They agreed so I continued teaching one or two groups.
As time passed I got my confidence back, I started to perform much better within advanced groups as I
absorbed that necessary experience. After half a year I became fully professional with any kind of groups
I learned tips and tricks of teaching and presenting the subject. I was happy about the job, as students
started to obtain very good results. It was a signal for me that its my merit and that my hard work is not
in vain. This is where I got back on track on the D3 or D4 level.
The management had a mentor leadership style, which was not appropriate for a beginner. Their biggest
mistake was that they unleashed a huge load of work on a newbie(despite the fact that I had lectures at the
university at that time as well), they also gave me an advanced group at the very beginning which wiped
out all my confidence.

Oleg Andreev

Homework #2 Feedback

For this task I chose my course-mate Naila Aghayeva. After the feedback session we both
understood that we have Problem-Solving skill as we like to provide solutions, manage the
situations at hand and see the possible opportunities and means that you can remove a specific
obstacle that hinders the possibility to achieve a result. Both of us can effectively resolve
complex problems that require substantial, in-depth analysis, we can quickly identify key issues
and find ways to condense large amounts of information into a useful form as well as
anticipates the consequences of difficult situations.

1) What was the hardest part, if any?

The hardest part was to go into some quite personal questions about previous or current job
experience, we both had to be very careful when providing feedback in order not to make
the feedback personal but lets say technical, regarding a behavior.
2) What you liked?
I liked that theoretical elements concerning feedback turned out to be very true and practical.
In this manner I confirmed the necessity to be as specific as possible as when I was giving a
more general feedback about her communication or leadership as a whole, she couldnt
really perceive the right way my idea, so we have to be very specific.
3) What was the most useful take-away?
For me the most useful take away was that you have to know
how to receive a feedback and to know how to react when someones expresses his/her
opinion regarding my behavior or specific skill, I have to turn off my emotions and think of
it as a technical element and not something personal.
Also I improved my constructive critique tolerance, as I understood that a negative feedback
is also fruitful tool in human resources management.

Oleg Andreev
Homework #1 Competences for a new hire

No

Position

Competence

Definition

Basic levels
(proficiency
level) 1-5
5/5

Teacher of
Biology

Stress Tolerance Deals calmly and

effectively with high
stress situations (for
example, tight
deadlines, hostile
individuals,
emergency situations,
dangerous situations

IT
Helpdesk

Communication

Expresses
information (for
example, ideas or
facts) to individuals
or groups effectively,
taking into account
the audience and
nature of the
information (for
example, technical,
sensitive,
controversial); makes
clear and convincing
oral presentations;
listens to others,
attends to nonverbal
cues, and responds
appropriately.

5/5

Human
Resources
Specialist

Performance
Management

Knowledge of
performance
management
concepts, principles,
and practices related
to planning,
monitoring, rating,
and rewarding
employee
performance.

5/5

Questions asked

1. What situations make you

nervous? Give me an
example. What did you do?
2. What conditions make
you work less well?
3. When did you last lose
your temper? Describe the
reasons
4. When in the last year
have you been most upset
with someone else?
1.Tell me about a situation
where your communication
skills made a difference to a
situation?
2. Describe a time when you
had to win someone over,
who was reluctant or
unresponsive.
3. Give me an example
where your listening skills
proved crucial to an
outcome
4. What type of writing
have you done? Give
examples? What makes you
think that you are good at
it?
5. How do you prepare for
an important meeting?
1.Tell me about a situation
where you have had to
manage the performance of
a team or individual through
a particular situation?
2. What were your
objectives?
3. Tell me about a project in
which you had to monitor
people's performance?
4. How do you assess the

capabilities of people?

Oleg Andreev
Homework #1 Competences for a new hire (part II)
No
1

Competence
Stress Tolerance

Communication

Low(0)
Keeps
functioning
effectively during periods
of on-going low intensity
stress
Maintains focus during
situations involving limited
stress

Refrains
from
impulsive behavior
Remains focused on
task despite distractions
Keeps own emotions
from
interfering
with
stressful situations
Seeks to balance work
responsibilities
and
personal
life
responsibilities

Average(1)
Maintains composure in
highly
stressful
and
difficult situations
Adapts to prolonged
stress.by modifying work
methods
Redirects own or own
teams efforts in response
to changed circumstances
to ensure effective problem
solving
Confronts the issue, not
the person
Maintains
sound
judgment and decision
making despite on-going
stressful situations
Controls
strong
emotions or other stressful
responses and takes action
to respond constructively
to the source of the
problem
Recognizes personal
limits for workload and
negotiates adjustments to
minimize the effects of
stress, while still ensuring
appropriate
levels
of
productivity
Appropriately expresses
Refrains
from
ones own opinion
immediate judgment and
Listens closely to the criticism of others ideas
message being delivered
delivering criticism in a

Strong(2)
Develops and applies
stress reduction strategies to
cope with long exposure to
stressful situations Stays
calm and focused under
extremely
stressful
circumstances

Makes
thoughtful
decisions evaluating the
situation objectively even
under severe stress
Takes specific action to
mediate between conflicting
individuals or parties
Demonstrates behaviors
that help others remain
calm, focused and energized
during periods of extreme
stress
Maintains composure
and shows self-control in
the face of significant
challenges
Suspends judgment and
thinks before acting

Identifies
and
consistently models ways of
releasing or limiting stress
Creates a climate that
promotes the free flow of
communication in own
team,
department
and

 Waits until the speaker

has ended the intended
message before responding
Accurately reports
mistakes,
errors,
and
unintended
outcomes
without glossing over what
went wrong

Performance
Management

Takes action to clarify

goals and objectives for the
team if there is uncertainty
around
performance
expectations
Continually examines
own and teams actions to
assess whether they are in
line with team objectives
Monitors the progress
of the team toward the
accomplishment
of
performance expectations;
gives timely, constructive,
actionable feedback
Makes plans to facilitate
progress
towards
objectives.
Implement performance
improvement
process
where necessary
Defines tasks and
activities of team members

way that demonstrates

sensitivity to the feelings
others
Stands firm when
presenting own ideas yet is
flexible in listening to and
accepting others input
Helps the other person
to vent anger and negative
emotions
Encourages the open
expression of dissent and
contrary viewpoints

Alerts
appropriate
parties upon the discovery
of potential problems,
ensures no surprises
Defines
roles
and
responsibilities of team
members
Sets measurable and
achievable
performance
expectations for team
members that align with
department and university
objectives
Delegates assignments
appropriately, ensuring that
the individual has the skills
and competencies to get
the job done
Provides appropriate
guidance and support for
delegated tasks
Pushes responsibility
back to team members
(rather than taking charge)
if they have the capability
to accomplish something
Conducts productive
performance
feedback
discussions, giving team
members necessary focus,
guidance, and direction
Holds team members
responsible
for
the
attainment of established
performance expectations;
deals effectively with poor

university
Communicates
effectively
across
all
functions and levels of the
university
Is sensitive to individual
or group communication
patterns and works to
overcome
dysfunctional
behavior, if necessary

Ensures that faculty /

departmental goals and
objectives are aligned
with UCTs strategy

Focuses
own
department
on
the
accomplishment of key
objectives
Ensures commitment
to and application of the
performance
feedback
process throughout the
department/university

performance
Recognizes and rewards
successful behaviours and
results within policy

Homework # 4 Strategy
Acord Plus goal is to offer optimal conditions for the students to get maximum results. We
know that the best school of foreign languages Acord Plus is the most suitable way to learn
English, French, Spanish, Russian and many other languages.
At the same time The School takes seriously the need for external
Engagement, recognizing the strong track record and further potential of Modern Languages
research in regard to opportunities for Knowledge Exchange and engagement with the core
goal to provide best service available on the market. We feel committed to provide best
learning facilities as well as native speakers as our astonishing teachers staff.
1. How is it being communicated and implemented?
The strategy is communicated to the new hires at the job interview as well as on the
orientation week
Twice a year the company has a general meeting where the strategy is being explained
and stressed.
Also the companys logo includes key elements of the strategy, all the marketing objects
bear the strategy sign/goals(pens, small flags, notebooks etc)
2. What improvements would you suggest?
I would suggest to seek for new ways to achieve the strategy goals as well as add some
more practical goals which could be perceived and felt better by the employees.
I would also suggest to organize a team building due to the fact that it strengthens
relations between employees and management

Homework # 5 ,,Process of Change

The process of change where I was involved as a member of the company happened at my
previous job at Acord Plus Private School of English.
The top management decided to switch to a completely new marketing strategy where all the
teachers and managers had to be involved.
New marketing strategy included:
1. New improved website with facebook plugin and direct online contact with every
teacher.
2. Facebook page
3. YouTube ads/Google search ads/
4. Facebook shares three times a day of relevant content on a special teacher facebook
profile
5. Friend requests to all students and photo tags when taking pictures with the group
6. Likes of every shared relevant content by the other teachers or managers
The need of change of the marketing strategy indeed came as a result of these three factors
described in Beckhard-Harris change model. Therefore, specific conditions have to be met in
order for the change to occur.
These conditions are:
1. Dissatisfaction (D) with the current state (of whatever the focus of change might be),
and,
2. A clear and shared Vision (V) of a preferred future
3. An acceptable First Steps (F) Roadmap to achieving the Vision, and the product of D x V
x F is greater than the existing Resistance (R) to change among those whose support is
required for successful implementation.
Dissatisfaction occurred when new competitors entered the market and slowly started to take
over the client base. The top management had to act fast and smart. They hired a consulting
company that developed a good marketing plan in order to keep business on track.
The Vision was shaped by the need to get the companys customer base back and be
competitive on the market as well as improve profits as a result of a better service

The first steps occurred the board management set up a meeting in order to come up with a
decision of future development which has been followed by the decision to hire business
consultancy company.
Resistance was quite high, however as the formula of change possibility shows D*V*F>
resistance has to be lower than the common value of other three elements.
To adapt and implement the new strategy, as a teacher was pretty difficult as we (the
teachers) didnt perceive the marketing as our job obligation and didnt see how it makes a
difference. However, the management was very strict about the new policy and were
enforcing the new facebook rules.
At first it was weird and I was sometimes forgetting to post content and perform all this job
on facebook but management supplied their bonus system with add-ons to the salary if you
perform job on facebook with commitment.
After two months of implementation of new strategy and of bonus system we(the teachers)
became accustomed with marketing part of the job and even found self-posting software.
In the end companys approach turned out to be very successful and now its one of the
leading schools on the market.