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

My name is Oleg Andreev, Im in room dining manager at ,,Seacrets Jamaica USA Caribbean
restaurant. At Seacrets we are proud of our best quality food and brilliant customer service.
Recently I have been noticing Mike, a new bingo hire bartender being nervous and sometimes
even aggressive. Also the waiters were complaining that Mike for some reason works slower
than usual. I decided to have a 1:1 and get a feedback.
I invited mike to my office and started to ask him how is he doing and if theres something
wrong. Mike said that everythings alright, then I asked if theres something I can do for him, he
said no, everythings fine. Then I put the question straight forward and told him that the company
is affected by his performance and that Seacrets is a team where we can trust each other and that
Seacrets appreciates and takes care of every single employee.
After
this intervention Mike confessed that the other waiters for some reason do not split the tips with
him by saying that new hires arent getting any tips which is contrary to the companys policy. I
was shocked by the events and after one more 1:1 with every waiter we had at in room dining I
discovered that it was the chiefs waiter idea to save some extra tips for himself, as a result the
chief waiter was fired in accordance with labor law. Mike continued bartending and soon I
noticed that Mike is being committed and involved into the companys goal and that hes fast and
friendly with all the staff.
1) What was the hardest part, if any?
The hardest part was to find the right questions and the correct approach in order to
understand what was the problem as Mike didnt want to share his negative experience.
2) What you liked?
I liked that trust has been established and that I managed to solve the issue.
3) What was the most useful take-away?
The company improved its performance and quality of service as well as got rid of the
wrong employee.

Oleg Andreev
Homework #1 Competences for a new hire

No

Position

Competence

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

Oleg Andreev

Definition

Basic levels
(proficiency
level) 1-5
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?

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.