Emotional Intelligence and Self-Awareness - Essay Example

June 15, 2016

Self-Awareness Assessment and Results

Introduction

People go through various stages of growth and development. In the process, advances in knowledge and skills are acquired through the years. At some point in time, it would be beneficial for an individual to take stock of one’s set of skills and competencies through a series of self-assessment examinations which have been designed to determine personality (openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness, extraversion, and neuroticism), leadership traits and styles, temperament, emotional and cultural intelligence, as well as other essential qualities that would assist in performing tasks in current and future endeavors. In this regard, the current paper aims to present results of self-assessment tests to identify strengths and weaknesses as an employee, team member, and a leader. The main points that are intended to be responded to include: what are the things that I do which I would bring to the workplace that would differentiate me from others, both in terms of advantages and disadvantages. After identification, the implications of this in terms of personal and professional goals, as well as plans for continued self-improvement would also be presented.

Strengths/Weaknesses

My own personal assessment of knowledge, skills, and core competencies that would make me an effective and excellent individual, to assume the role of an employee, a team member, as well as a leader are discussed in more depth, as follows:

• As an employee

Although I have never had an experience working on a part-time or full-time basis, I strongly believe that my educational background and life experiences have enabled the development of the following strengths: time management skills, people skills (being always willing to help and being sensitive of the needs of others), self-discipline in assuming the right conduct and behavior as prescribed in the work setting, good work ethics (following the policies and procedures, as well as rules and regulations), good interpersonal and teambuilding skills, effective communication skills, and respect for diversity.

On the other hand, I acknowledge that there are weaknesses that still need to be developed. These are: problem-solving skills, leadership skills, decision-making skills, conflict resolution skills, as well as the ability to manage change and stress in the work setting. Further, although I have respect for diversity (cultural, ethnic, age, gender, religion, disability), I still need to make improvements in terms of cultural awareness of business practices that are normally observed from people from other cultural orientation.

• As a team member

My strengths as a team member are acknowledged to be diverse. These strengths include: good interpersonal skills, willingness to establish good working relationships with members of the team, observance of the team’s goals and adherence to the performance of delegated tasks within the defined time frames, and good communication skills that facilitate understanding, cohesiveness and camaraderie.

On the other hand, the weaknesses as a team member as acknowledged as follows: tendency to be too inquisitive and persistent to clarify matters to the point of becoming regarded as importunate. I also have the tendency to be overbearing since I want to be sure that assigned tasks are being performed by all members in the most effective manner and within the defined schedule.

• As a leader

My various academic projects with group members have given me the opportunity to be assigned as the leader. As such, I realized that I possess the following leadership strengths: assuming a democratic leadership style, being flexible and accommodating, monitoring compliance or delegated tasks to ensure that members progress according to schedule, good communication skills, good listening skills, and skills of introspection (or being able to discern what is to be done and how to do it with the role assigned to me).

In contrast, the weaknesses as a leader are hereby affirmed: need to be more sociable so that I could solicit more information from the followers regarding comments, suggestions, insights or sentiments of assigned tasks. In addition, I believe I need to develop conflict resolution and problem-solving skills since my experience did not provide enough involvement to participate and be actively involved in situation that require the applications of these skills set.

Self- and other-assessments

• Keirsey Temperament

My score in the Keirsey Temperament test is INFJ which stands for Introversion, Feeling, and Judgement. According to the results, which I also confirm as correct, I am really an introverted person which preference to feeling, as contrasted to thinking. I use my sense of affection as I get to interact with others. In addition, I have tendencies to make decisions (judgement) in an immediate or early manner as I believe that I need to select choices or informed decisions immediately to resolve problems or pending concerns.

• “Big-5” inventory

The Big 5 inventory or personality assessment provided information on my views about openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness, extraversion, and neuroticism. The results of the tests revealed that I exhibited significantly high scores (75) in the area of self-consciousness (neuroticism), liberalism with a score of 87 under openness to experience, a score of 78 in dutifulness under conscientiousness, and a score of 70 in activity level for extraversion. The scores are an indication that I think highly of what others have to say; yet, I generated average scores for neuroticism, openness, consciousness, and low score in extraversion which confirms my tendency to be shy and somewhat reclusive.

• Emotional Intelligence

My emotional intelligence score is 65 which means that I am one among those who scored high in emotional intelligence. Accordingly, a score of 65, which is within the range of 57 to 75 means that “people with high emotional intelligence generally excel at interpreting, understanding and responding to emotions. They tend to be comfortable with conflict, emotional situations and expressing feelings” . The results seem to coincide with the results of the Keirsey Temperament test which revealed that I am a ‘feeling’ individual more than a ‘thinking’ person. I confirm being more relaxed in an environment where family, relatives, and friends get the chance to share feelings and sentiments; rather be in an academic setting filled with intellectually charged or cognitively assessing individuals.

• Cultural Intelligence (CQS)

As defined, cultural intelligence is “the capability to function effectively in situations

characterized by cultural diversity” .

CQ-Strategy: 21/28 (or 75%)– The score indicates that I have a strong capability to “make sense of inter-cultural experiences (such as making judgments about their own thought processes and those of others) make higher quality decisions and perform at higher levels in multi-cultural work settings” . The trait could be consistent with my high level of conscientiousness and respect for diversity.

CQ-Knowledge: 34/42 (or 81) – The score in an indication that I manifest high “capability to adapt their verbal and nonverbal behavior to fit specific cultural settings have a flexible repertoire of behavioral responses that enhances their task performance in culturally diverse settings” ]

CQ-Motivation: 29/35 (or 83%) – The score signifies that I have innate enthusiasm “in experiencing other cultures and feel confident that they can interact with people who have different cultural backgrounds” . The result implies and confirms to my tendencies for openness to experiences and liberalism.

CQ-Behavior: 31/35 (or 89%)- Is the highest rating I have generated so far, which indicates that I “have a broad repertoire of verbal and nonverbal behavioral capabilities (and) feel better adjusted in situations characterized by cultural diversity” .

All the results indicate that I exhibit high ratings in all cultural intelligent factors, especially highest in behavior, followed by motivation, knowledge, and strategy. The findings imply that I am comfortable to interact with people from various cultural orientations and behave naturally through exemplifying effective verbal, as well as nonverbal communication cues. Moreover, the results were deemed to be consistent with my level of conscientiousness as found from the results of the Big 5 Inventory test.

• Preferred Conflict Handling Style

The results are summarized as follows: Integrating, 14; Obliging, 12; Dominating, 8; Avoiding, 13; and Compromising, 10. These findings indicate that I exhibit preferences for the integrating or problem-solving approach to handle conflicts, followed by avoiding, obliging, and compromising. The low score for dominating means that this is the least conflict handling style that I prefer. The findings are consistent with my personality which is more on being an introvert and thus; prefer to find ways to solve the conflict by identifying the root cause of the problem to conflicting parties, and to assist by finding an appropriate and viable solution that is amenable to the conflicting parties. In addition, avoiding is actually considered as my next preferred conflict handling style since, being an introvert, I would prefer not encountering people or contexts that would put me in a stressful situation.

Personal leadership statement

As a person who highly values diversity of people, I want to be known as a supporter of human rights by respecting varied interests, preferences, ideologies, as well as cultural norms and beliefs. The ability to respect diversity helps me assume a flexible leadership style to match distinctive needs of the subordinates. I believe in harnessing the potentials in people through assessing their drives and purposes in life. I am sure that by exuding my personality, in conjunction with my values and beliefs, I would be sharing the knowledge gained from my field of study, and the skills set, to those who are willing to be enriched by my personal and professional experiences. I am always cognizant of the need to assist in the personal and professional growth of those I get to interact with in the most optimized manner.

Visibility

After having identified my strengths and weaknesses, I affirm that I will apply these strengths and core competencies in my personal and professional pursuit, not only of my growth and development; but more so, the progression of people I get to interact and work with. I am equipped with theoretical frameworks from course modules in my field of study, which is planned to be applied towards assisting others to optimize their potentials. I intend to share strategies to assist others learn more about time management, as well as respect for diversity. In addition, I believe that the best lessons in life could be shared by becoming a role model – acting as a doer and not only a preacher – and ultimately, becoming an inspiring and influential contributor towards the betterment of other people’s well-being.

SMART goals, action steps, and evaluation plan

The starting point for determining behavioral goals for self-improvement is the self-assessment of weaknesses that were explicitly identified in the portion above.

Five (“SMART”) behavioral goals for self-improvement

• Goal Statement: Develop problem-solving skills by exposing myself to different problem situations (in formal education or real life experiences) from now on.
• Action steps. Be cognizant of different problem-solving approaches that could be applied in different contexts.
  • Deadlines. Ongoing. Continually evolving.
  • Required resources. Academic references, real life problem situations.
  • People involved. Me, educators, classmates, family members, relatives and friends.
  • Evaluation plan. When several problems that were encountered have been solved through a structure approach that was learned, then, it means that I have developed problem-solving skills.

• Goal Statement: Develop leadership skills by attending course modules with theories on leadership before the end of the academic school year 2016-2017.
• Action steps. Determine course modules with leadership theories to be secured from academic adviser.
  • Deadlines. Academic school year 2017
  • Required resources. Course curriculum and syllabus
  • People involved. Academic adviser, administrative staff, me
  • Evaluation plan. Preparation of a checklist of possible course modules to be enrolled in and assessing whether I have enrolled in these courses at the end of the academic school year 2017.

• Goal Statement: Learn about change management theories by determining courses that include this by the end of the current school year and even in the next academic school years until graduation date.
• Action steps. Read authoritative sources on change management and be exposed in actual life experiences on effective management of change in various contexts.
  • Deadlines. Ongoing and continuing.
  • Required resources. Academic references, real life experiences, best practices.
  • People involved. Educators, change practitioners, me.
  • Evaluation plan. Use the checklist on personal and professional development to determine what courses I enrolled to in order to increase knowledge and skills on change management.

• Goal Statement: Develop personality, especially becoming more extrovert, to improve social skills starting now.
• Action steps. Start attending social meetings, extra-curricular activities, and local community programs through volunteering efforts.
  • Deadlines. Ongoing and continuing.
  • Required resources. Social, extra-curricular, and community events.
  • People involved. Family, relatives, friends, and me.
  • Evaluation plan. Feedback from family, relatives, and friends regarding one’s social skills on a continuing basis.

• Goal Statement: Develop verbal and non-verbal communication, especially when communicating with people from different cultural orientations starting now.
• Action steps. Read authoritative materials on verbal and non-verbal communication cues, attend courses teaching communication theories especially focusing on cross-cultural practices.
  • Deadlines. Ongoing and continuing.
  • Required resources. Authoritative sources, educators, cross cultural communication experts
  • People involved. Educators, people from diverse cultures, me.
  • Evaluation plan. Use the checklist on personal and professional development to determine what courses I enrolled to in order to increase knowledge and skills on communication across cultures.

Conclusion

In retrospect, the self-awareness assessment was significantly instrumental in enhancing awareness of my strengths and weaknesses, as well as other personality aspects that would help in my professional career. I realized how I have developed through years of education and interpersonal relationships with people from different cultures. The identification of weaknesses enabled me to focus on these aspects which need to be improved. Moreover, explicitly stating behavioral goals with deadlines, resources needed, people to be involved and an evaluation plan to monitor my progress towards the attainment of goals enabled the development of strategies which would be effective in reaching my objectives.

In sum, the answer to the following questions are as follows: ‘What things do you bring to the workplace that differentiate you from others, both in terms of advantages and disadvantages?’ I would definitely bring my strengths and intend to share them with colleagues and followers, so that they too, would learn to develop these strengths and skills set which would help them excel in the work setting. Moreover, even though I am on the road to working on the identified weaknesses, I know that by working with others, I would learn from their personal and professional experiences. As such, the sharing of experiences could be opportunities for learning and for personal development and growth. Finally, the implications of this is that I am now more cognizant of areas that need to be corrected or improved, as well as the strategies that are to provide guidelines and directions to facilitate the achievement of the behavioral goals for self-improvement. The exercise is indeed, a worthy and equally rewarding learning experience.