Artifact: Microsoft Competency Wheel Assignment 

 

Cindy Patterson, CETPA CTO Mentor Candidate

 

The individual development plan that I created from the Microsoft Competency Wheel identifies 3 areas that I intend to improve over the course of the next year.  It includes a resource plan and an action plan for each area.  As I worked through and contemplated each of the core competencies it helped me better frame and articulate weaknesses or areas I could improve.  The competency wheel represents the attributes, behaviors, area of knowledge, skills and abilities for successful job performance ("Microsoft Competency Wheel", 2015)

Identifying and discussing ones weaknesses is an exercise in de-privatization which requires trust and collaboration.  I discussed my perceptions and choices with my Director and Mentor as well as completing the questionnaire provided for each area.  After rating myself and recording my status and goal, I chose actions and materials from the lists provided on the Microsoft website and recorded those in the matrix.  The overall categories of competencies are: individual excellence, courage, operating skills, organizational skills, strategic skills, and results.  The three areas that I chose are Organizational Agility, Developing Others, and Time Management.

 

Organizational Agility

Knowledgeable about how organizations work; gets things done both through formal and informal channels; effectively maneuvers through complex political situations.

The area for organizational agility that drew my attention was the Level 4 expert description: “Is actively sought after in order to provide guidance and assistance in dealing with complex political situations.”  This does not describe me at present.  I understand organizational culture and can work within it, but I admire those in my organization that are actively sought out whenever a cross functional team is formed. I hope by focusing on this area with a specific plan that I too will be sought out for cross functional projects.  Perhaps I have the nature of an introvert as I was an INTJ (introversion, intuitive, thinking, judging) when we took the Myers-Briggs personality type test.  But that is just my leaning; I feel I can learn to be more outgoing and extroverted.  Working closely with a mentor during this program will help me learn these skills.

I currently have rated myself as intermediate and hope to move to an advanced level by reading Wake Me When It’s Time to Work: Surviving Meetings, Office Games, and the People Who Love Them.  I also intend to push myself beyond my area of comfort by attending at least 2 Women’s Leadership Network meetings and the CETPA conference.

 

Developing Others

Is a people builder; provides challenging and stretching tasks and assignments; constructs compelling development plans and executes them; pushes direct reports to accept developmental moves.

This was not my first selection however after consulting with my manager and mentor I selected this as an area to improve my skills.  I have managed for 25 years and at first thought that other areas would be a better investment; I have experience developing people.  However, the point is to move and improve my mastery of this topic.  Human resources comprise about 80% of the educational community’s budget.  To be a CTO you have to have mastery of this topic and be aware of all the current tools and techniques available. There are two people in the group I manage that are resistant to change.  If I can improve this skill and help them stretch I could have immediate impact in my work assignment and develop more skills to assist me in preparing to become a CTO.

Based on the assessments I have rated myself at the intermediate level and hope to have achieved the advance level at the end of this plan by reading the book Mentor’s guide and find ways to incorporate key ideas, working with my director and modeling his successful techniques and writing the reviews for my direct reports.

 

Time Management

Uses his or her time effectively and efficiently; concentrates his or her efforts on the most important priorities; adeptly handles several tasks at once.

Everyone can benefit from better time management.  I adequately manage my time now however I will have to become even more skilled to manage the time constraints and competing priorities of a CTO.  I have witnessed my CTO staying at board meetings until late in the evening and then being prepared for an early meeting the next day.  Time management is crucial for a successful CTO.

For time management I have rated myself at the intermediate level with a goal of achieving an advanced level at the end of this plan by reading the book It’s Hard to Make a Difference When You Can’t Find Your Keys: The Seven-Step Path to Becoming Truly Organized, and getting feedback from my direct reports and from my director.

 

Summary

In addition to the resources I have identified in the plan I also can rely on our Talent Management department at Santa Clara County Office of Education to guide me in seminars, books and course work to strengthen these areas.  My Director has agreed to include discussing my progress on this plan as part of our bi-weekly one-one meetings.  We will discuss and assess my progress and adjust plans according. After I have completed my plan I will re-take the assessments to help determine if I have increased my competency and gained the level of mastery I have set as a goal.

While these are my current areas of interest I believe that this competency wheel can be a tool for lifelong learning that I will revisit throughout my career to asses my level of mastery.  From that reassessment I will create new plans to improve my competence.  While this is the beginning of a plan, I believe that completing this plan and being prepared to continue on this journey demonstrates my mastery of the subject and meets the requirements of the Planning Portfolio Assignment.

 

Microsoft Competency Wheel. (2015). Retrieved from http://sppilotco1.microsoft.com/education/en-us/training/competencies/pages/default.aspx#Competencies