5.4.6 Adapt your strategy to overcome difficulties
Often plans run into difficulties because of unforeseen problems or changing circumstances. For example you may be running over your deadlines, the resources or support available to you may have changed, or your personal circumstances may have changed. Plans are only a means to an end, however. If you run into difficulties, take some time to think about what effect these difficulties are having on your plans, and what changes you may need to make to your overall strategy to achieve the outcomes you are aiming for.
Time out
Use your Skills File to record any difficulties or changes in circumstances, how they affect you and what you intend to do about them.
Activity: Monitoring your progress
For this activity you will need to print the Skills Sheet, ‘Monitoring your progress’.
On the Skills Sheet briefly summarise and reflect critically on your progress in developing your IT skills by considering:
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what methods and techniques you used to help you prepare and use IT to achieve your goals;
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what feedback, help or advice you requested and received on your performance in using IT;
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what decisions and choices you made about the approach, methods and techniques you used, as you worked on your IT skills and how effective were your choices in working towards your goals;
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Now that you have used the key skills approach and worked through the three-stage framework for improvement, briefly justifying any changes you made.
Refer to the figure below for an example of a completed Skills Sheet for this stage of the key skills framework.
