Self-Assessment

Self-assessment is important. When we can take an honest look at ourselves we can reflect on decisions and the results of those decisions. I try to do self-assessments regularly and often find things that I can work on.

We were assigned a self-assessment survey for our Leadership Communication course. I was interested to see if my results would vary depending on the time of day and the type of day that I had. I assumed the results would vary.

The first time I took the survey was in the afternoon of a busy and hectic day. I scored low in self awareness (12) and high in balanced processing (16). I wasn’t surprised as I felt defeated by that time.

The last time I took the survey was at the end of today. I had a productive day and felt positive in regards to how my day went. I scored high in each area (16) other than relational transparency, which was a 14.

Self awareness could be described as taking time to look at your motives and putting them in check. When you have honest self awareness, you can more effectively lead others. I do believe that without constant self awareness, you will lose sight of your teams’ goals.

Balanced processing would be when you are able to be open minded and appreciate each bit of information. I have learned the importance of this throughout my career. There have been many times where I thought I had the right answer but when I stopped to listen to others, I learned that there are sometimes better right answers.

Internalized moral perspective was one of the more interesting topics to me. It is when you know and follow your morals and values. They are unshakable. I struggled with this growing up, I just wanted to be liked. Now that I am older and have experienced highs and lows, I am able to stay true to myself. I am the one that has to live with me for the rest of my life, so I may as well be happy with who I am.

Relational transparency is taking responsibility for your actions. Reading through this section made me think of a particular leader I currently have who is very much a people pleaser. He does whatever it takes to make people happy to their face, but will blame issues on that same person if it means making himself look good. It is frustrating to work with leaders like this. However, if there is one thing I have learned from working for him it is that I do not want to lead in the way he does.