Self-Awareness and Motivation - Essay Example

Skill Research Student Name: Student Number: Course Code: Instructor: 29th April, 2013 In the current world of management, personal traits play a very important role in shaping one’s skills as a manager. This is always considered as the best way to create successful endeavours in one’s personal life, at their place of work, and in various social scenarios. Without the capacity to manage one’s own life, it would be futile to try managing a bigger establishment like a business, family or even an event. People who are successful at managing their personal life including family may be entrusted with a bigger responsibility of managing entities like businesses and events. Skills associated with good managers include pragmatism in decision-making, good administrative skills, communication skills, time management and ability to create schedules that run like clock-work, delegation to charges and being able to manage business resources well. Management of resources is a wide term and may include most of the traits noted above like delegating, which is basically management of human resources. Human resources, aside from conventional social capital derived from one’s circle of friends, is the sole driving force behind the success of a company. We can never understate the capacity of a good workforce to bring success to a company. Having mentioned this, there are essential skills that relate to management, which should be possessed by an individual in order to be able to manage business well. In this regard, I took a test to determine my skills. In the process, I included three of my friends who helped me assess my capacities to manage various situations. Liwen, Lawrence and David set out to help by filling in a set of questionnaires that would help them map out my strengths and weaknesses. Strengths and weaknesses help us develop our general capacities to work in or with different situations and environments. It would be great to point out at the onset that skills identified with successful managing have evolved from what they used to be before globalization. While pre-globalization periods needed managers with basic administration skills, the current age may need more than that. I have already mentioned skills identified with successful managing and leadership. However, having mentioned that the current business situation is quite dynamic, there is need to identify more skills that a manager may need to succeed as a good leader in the current set up. More businesses are employing aggressive tactics that need to be countered with even better ones. Prof. Kamble points out that a manager’s attitude may influence the behaviour of his charges. For instance, when he displays the right attitude, the employees may look up to him as a mentor. This is itself is a great leadership skill. Secondly, with good mentorship from the manager, employees may change their behaviour to more suitable ones that mirror the business in positive light. This clearly shows that ability to mentor employees is a great skill and may be responsible for creating a ripple effect in the company for the better. Javadin et al (2010) identify skills of the managers in Mellat Bank in Tehran, Iran as having been behind the success the whole bank enjoys. This is a sure way of noting the contribution of personal strengths towards bettering other people’s skills. An analysis of the management in the Mellat Bank proves that though management skills are great, leadership is a different aspect altogether. Leadership skills may be taught, but the greatest skill in leadership is either in-born or is achieved over a relatively long period in management positions. As such, we can take leadership to be a management skill on its own. After having looked into skills that make up for a successful manager and leader, I chose to look into self awareness as a skill. As described before, I have taken time out to study the extent to which my interactions affect my self-awareness. And as mentioned, three of my friends helped me to come up with a more concise analysis of the traits that I identify with as my strong management skills. After an assessment of the results from the three of them, I realized a score that averaged 19, which shows, at least according to them, that I have got a fair grip of my self-awareness in terms personal and not a bad one at 24 for others. Self awareness relates to how much one knows their own strong attributes, not to forget the weak ones. More often than not, we find ourselves in situations where we engage in actions that we may not be able to avoid, simply because we understand our nature. It is in this context that I seek to find out how I may point out my weaknesses. For instance, I have the habit of procrastinating. When we are assignments which should be done within five days, I find myself waiting for the last minute to start rushing over it so that I can admit it on time. Secondly, I am not sure what will motivate me to improve and maybe change this habit. Admitting to these traits is difficult, yet finding ways of going past them is even more difficult. Another instance of a weakness I have is when I cannot find enough motivation to handle my assignment fast and cover it within a given schedule. More often than not, I find myself lagging behind in terms of coverage of my work, yet all these should be covered within stipulated time. Lastly, I tend to be more inclined to self preservation. An instance in this is an example that features mostly when I board a bus or train for a long distance journey. I would not wish to let an elderly person have my seat as I feel that they were aware of the distance to be covered yet went ahead and boarded a full train. I would like to do away with such thoughts that just demonstrate my need for self preservation. Finally, I would like to have a process of getting over the mentioned weaknesses. The problem is that for a long time, I have wanted to ascertain my progress in such a journey of self evaluation. I also would like to know if and when I change completely. Roessler & Eilan (2003) affirm that this is the most difficult task in becoming self aware – the fact that overcoming your weakness is a little difficult if not taken as a process. They further advice that individuals who find themselves in such situations should not be too obsessed in wanting to get over them, but rather take it as a learning experience. Therefore, the actualization of self awareness may only be achieved if patience is applied. The foremost theory on self awareness arises from the fact that an individual is moulded by the society. However, it is always one’s consciousness that would beg them to ask who they actually are since most people in the society perceive them through the kind of interactions and encounters. Consequently, when a person takes an audit of his whole character as moulded by the society, they may just find more about themselves that lies inside them than what the society thinks of them or projects them to be. Self awareness therefore helps one to discover other traits that may be more important in their life as reported by Burkitt (2008). An example of such traits may be a talent. The society is largely responsible for helping an individual become a better person. However, when assessing the kind of parenting I have experienced with my parents, I realize that this may be the cause of my being a little too laid back. My parents are very keen on my work and always take their time to look into my progress. To an extent, this gives me an impression that whatever they say about what I should do is right. As such, I do not get motivated to push myself in achieving what my parents do not touch on. As a result, this may be responsible for my habits of procrastinating and slackening when I should not. As part of the larger Chinese society, I feel like the society itself has shaped my thoughts through my parent’s actions. In certain instances, the development of one’s awareness occurs through learning from other people. This needs a lot of open-mindedness. Tijan (2012) posits that for one to develop his awareness further, he has to take into account those that he is tasked to work with. It would be great for me to note that I became more aware of my strengths and weaknesses when my friends Liwen, Lawrence and David informed me of them through the questionnaire they filled. This enhances further traits that increase one’s leadership capacities. It is prudent to note that through open-mindedness, one learns to listen and accept other people’s opinions. In my experience, most of the time self-awareness comes about as a result of studying how I interact with other people around me. My reactions form a basic recipe of what I consider my strengths and weaknesses. For instance, I could point out that as a member of the so-called generation Y, my actions may be swift, thoughts fast and zeal to create new things through my innovativeness unrivalled by most of those from the older generations. These strong points do not come without responsibilities. For instance, while I am fast at decision making, my decisions may not have benefitted from afterthought as compared to those from the older generation, who take their time to decide on matters that are critical. Secondly, the theory that a self-discrepancy is likely to lead to weaknesses holds. However, my case may not really arise out of any self-discrepancy as Phillips and Silvia (2005) put it. While most people resort to practising things that may widely be seen as weaknesses as a result of feeling inadequate, I find that most of my weaknesses arise from some sort of aloofness, which as I had noted before, may be due to my parent’s approving of everything I do. Therefore, my weakness does not arise out of certain self-discrepancies. It is normal to find emotional intelligence as a fact that influences our actions. It is in line with this that our self esteem is affected. When a person with low self esteem finds themselves in a situation that requires a high emotional intelligence, their character is likely to take a beating, thus making them act in a certain unpleasant way. In my situation, I find it difficult to start the journey of trying to change myself into a more responsible person. However, Diamond (2010) clearly outlines guidelines through which one may encounter change of character. In all she sums the first major step towards realizing change as recognizing that you have a problem, which I have. The second step, however, creates uncertainty in me. She alleges that showing up to counter the problem is critical in overcoming it. My motivation towards such an exploit seems to be at the lowest level currently. Looking back at my task to run an event and the consequent failure to make it the success that I wanted it to be, I realize that I have learnt further from experience. In using the event to gauge my response to situations, I find that my conscious mind actually tells me something may be wrong at some point. This ability to discern between wrong and right is very critical in trying to improve one. And like William (2013) advices, it is better to use experiences and coaching from professionals to try and correct situations when your mind informs you that you have done something wrong thus gone through failure. He further reiterates that trying to blame yourself for failure is okay, so long as you don’t obsess over it. In essence, when I look at what my friends suggested over my skills, the realization that I may need professional help does not register strongly. However, if I could persist in trying to follow the advices as envisaged by the theories stated, I could better myself by far. The instances at which I find it necessary to change are so many, which means that I take cognisance that there is actually something that is wrong. As advised further, this appears to be the biggest step towards reclaiming and redeeming the positive skills and strengths that may improve my management skills. A greater strides, or so it seems, would be if I could achieve a stronger state of motivation. Hansen (2012) is of the opinion that for one to sum up enough motivation, they need to reward any improvement in character. In doing so, the mind is trained to look forward to engaging in challenges so that it may be rewarded. He further states that in rewarding oneself, the mind registers any advances made as victories, and will always apply more effort with bigger advances made in attempts at trying to improve. I believe that this step in developing one’s strengths would work well in my situation as I constantly lack sufficient motivation. It would be great to engage in the challenges without having to think of slowing down due to my bad habits of procrastinating and laziness. It would be a great achievement if I can accomplish this. Based on the current state of my skill, there are three guidelines that I would like to follow. In this, I will also seek the help of my immediate friends in evaluating the advancements I make. First off, in as much as my emotional awareness is okay, I would like to sensitize it more so that I may be able to point out when I may be sliding back to my old habits. The incidences when I feel like not giving up my seat to older persons in a train best suffices as instances when this should come to play. Hinton (2008) thinks that this is a critical step in trying to reduce incidences when one activates their weaknesses. When emotional awareness takes centre-stage and informs me of my intention to indulge in negative actions, it would be easier to stop and focus on doing the rightful thing. Secondly, confidence is a very important virtue that always goes a long way in ensuring that one achieves a goal. In my case, the constant habit of mostly following what my parents approve of may be a sign of low confidence in pursuing self-driven goals. In this respect, I would like to start doing more things that come about as a result of my pushing for them. This may not be achieved easily if I keep trying to abide by the things that my parents approve of only. By trying to do things through my own thoughts, this does not mean that my parents are wrong, neither does it imply that I will be indulging in things that may not be approved of by the wider society, no. I will seek to chart new grounds by engaging in things that may improve my management skills. For instance, I may go out and engage in sports. Lastly, self assurance works in a wonderful way in making one go a certain path. This is an aspect of management that I would also like to pursue further. When I lack motivation and would like to venture further in the journey to improve my management skills, I will seek to self-assure when things seem lacking in motivation. This will go a long way in keeping me on track. There are instances when one feels like they have let themselves down, yet this should not be the case. For instance, when the Christian event failed to live up to my expectations, I needed reassurance that I had not failed, but gained experience. In passing, I should mention the unresolved issues that I will equally pursue in the future. They include getting a second chance at hosting or organizing for an event so that I may be able to re-evaluate myself in accordance to the above-mentioned self improvement tips. Further, I find it refreshing that my friends actually thought that I am quite aware of myself. Having all assigned me an average score of 24 on this self-awareness aspect of management skill, I feel that they might have been a little too compromised by my being their friend. In this respect, I would like to continue evaluating my self-awareness to ascertain whether they may have been wrong. This would be better since they might have gone overboard in awarding me high marks. Finally, having mentioned that I need to improve in several points in my self-awareness, I would like to train myself and improve my other management skills that may improve my self-awareness. It has been mentioned that one of these skills is leadership. A leader and a manager have several differences. While a leader can inspire, a manager may only administer. The other qualities of a leader are also important in making one a better manager than just an average administrator. I will seek to pursue such exploits further. References Burkitt, I 2008, Social Selves: Theories of Self and Society (2nd Ed.), SAGE Publishers: London. Diamond, E 2010, 7 Mindsets to Master Self-Awareness, AuthorHouse: Indiana. Hansen, D 2012, “7 Steps to Increase Self-Awareness and Catapult Your Career”, Forbes.com, viewed 30th April, 2013, http://www.forbes.com/sites/drewhansen/2012/01/24/7-steps-to-increase-self-awareness-and-catapult-your-career/> Hinton, L 2008, The Role of Leader Self-Awareness in Building Trust and Improving Student Learning, ProQuest. Javadin, SRS, Amin, F, Tehrani, M & Ramezani, A 2010, Studying the Relationship between Managerial Skills and Efficiency of Bank Branches, World Applied Sciences Journal, Vol. 11, Issue 2, pp 170 -177, IDOSI Publications. Phillips, AG & Silvia, PJ 2005, “Self-Awareness and the Emotional Consequences of Self-Discrepancies”, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 31, No. 5, pp 703 – 713, SAGE Journals. Prof. Kamble, RR 2011, Managerial Skills for Organizational Performance: An Analytical Study, Indian Systems Research Journal, Vol. 1, Issue 1, pp 23 – 27, Singhad College of Arts and Commerce: Pune. Roessler, J & Eilan, N 2003 (eds), Agency and Self Awareness: Issues in Philosophy and Psychology, Oxford University Press. Tijan, AK 2012, “How Leaders Become Self-Aware”, HBR Blog Network: Harvard Business Review, viewed 29th April, 2013, William, S 2013, Self-Awareness and Skill Development, Wright State University, viewed 30th April, 2013, Read More