Communication
Strengths:
I am quite lacking in the communication department. If the information is in order, I can correctly present information in an adequate style, which I feel is important to being a manager. Furthermore, I can pick up on subtle body language and determine whether or not someone fully understands what I am saying, which I also feel is important since often times people pretend to understand something they don’t understand just to avoid asking for clarification repeatedly. I have no problems with slowing down and repeating myself in different words, which is sometimes necessary. I feel I’m very appropriate while working, and always present myself and communicate in a work-safe manner. According to the Diversity Awareness Assessment, I always feel comfortable with the way I act around women and minorities, and this is necessary, not just for managers, but for all work environments. I think communication is a very important part of management. It is possibly one of the most important skills an effective manager can possess. Managers need to be a liaison between groups, and must communicate many upper-level decisions to employees. Not only that, but miscommunication can result in inefficiencies in productivity; misunderstandings can result in incorrect procedure or policy implementation, so a manager must be clear and concise.
Weaknesses:
Communication has been difficult for me. When I was a child, I am told I was quite a chatterbox, but as I aged I became more quiet, shy, and self-reserved. While I have definitely overcome that, and have broken out of my shell tremendously, there still is a lot of work that needs to be done. First and foremost, my speech tends to be muffled and spoken too fast, and people are often clueless as to what I say. This is not as much as a problem while I speaking in public, so perhaps I could merely always ‘pretend’ I am giving a presentation while talking, and learn to slow down my speech and articulate in order to improve comprehension of those who listen to me. Furthermore, the Diversity Awareness Assessment seems to indicate that I am a bit unaware of diversity. For instance, I do not step in to break up cliques, which is something necessary to promote a healthy workplace, and I do not speak up for minorities when I hear sexist or racist jokes, although I do not hear them often. However, I do believe this is something I could definitely work on to become a better manager and hopefully run an efficient firm.
Teamwork
Strengths:
I sense the value in teamwork. I think this is a very important strength, for if one doesn’t see that teamwork is important to success, it will be neglected. I often enjoyed working in groups, because you can accomplish so much more than you can individually, and it is often so much more fun to work in groups. Managers must stress teamwork, and must be able to motivate people to want to work together. Teamwork is very important and working with others builds important relationships that will be valuable in the future, for the company. I work well in teams, so long as the work is fairly doled out to each member and I am not given more than my fair share. The Are you a team player assessment informed me that group communication and motivation were my best strengths, despite the low group percentage I got.
Weaknesses:
The Are You A Team Player Assessment informs me that I am only 43.5% ready for teamwork. I would agree with this. While I feel teamwork is important, and I work well in teams, I do not work well managing teams or being a team leader (yet!) I believe it could be traced back to grade school, when teachers would say get into groups, and I’d pray she would start numbering people off because I was usually too shy to ask to be in others groups since I wasn’t very popular. However, I have overcome this, but I still am a bit skeptic of team leaders, since in the past work has been doled out in uneven portions, and in my history some people tend to be slackers, which force me and others who care to pick up their slack and do more work in order to get a better job than they would have otherwise done. However, I believe these sorts of people wont necessarily get jobs (or at least keep them), so it wont be as much of a problem in efficient companies. The Are you a team player assessment informed me that group goals and accepting negative feedback without getting defensive are two of my biggest weaknesses, and I would agree with this. I tend to be defensive in the face of criticism, and also things like working over time to get the job done, and doing more work than given to me are difficult for me to do, when I just want to get home and have free time at the end of the day. These are important things I should work on should I wish to become a manager.
Self-Management
Strengths:
I thought the Personal Values Assessment was the most interesting test, since the results were measurable and very applicable. I have found I am fairly well rounded, save for a few areas. After assessing the amount of time and effort I put in my top three values, I find it to be fairly inconsistent, sadly. However, what I value on the test is indeed what I value in life. For instance, family are number one, and I feel this to be very important, followed by social, which is number 2, and this is true as well. Spiritual would be number one for me, but there was a question on meditation, and I tend to not meditate on spiritual things, I rather pray and reflect on it, and this can be done at any time so I did not attribute a high score to it. I would say professional and financial was next, and I find these to be very important—they are the definition of success to me, although this may be a very immature way of thinking, but for now they are my largest goals.
Weaknesses:
Using the Personal Values Assessment to evaluate my efforts was disappointing; I saw how little time I spend on spiritual. Although I consider myself Christian, I do not go to church and I violate many of the Bible’s teachings. However, I feel that in the future when things have settled down I will find a church and reconnect with God. Right now things are hectic; my family is going through a divorce, and I believe this is one of the reasons I put family as so high. While I always feel family is important, recently I have been spending more time with my family because it feels like the family is falling apart, and I want to do everything in my power to keep the family strong. Social is another weakness of mine since I am a bit of an introvert. I love to go out and meet people, but sometimes I prefer staying in for the night, or staying in comfortable territory rather than venturing out. Another weakness of mine is community. I put very low scores for community, because right now I don’t feel the need to give back. I suppose I feel as though I don’t have enough to effectively give back yet, and also the idea just doesn’t really appeal to me (at the moment anyways). I guess I may be too selfish, which is something I should definitely work on.
Leadership
Strengths:
The Leadership Style Assessment indicated that I had a strong leadership concern for task. I feel this is very necessary for managers, since the most important task for a manager to complete is to get as high profits as possible. I understand the necessity for employees to be self-reliant and not depend on management, and I feel I answered questions correctly in this manner. However, I recognize that too much rigidity or too much lenience can have an effect on profits. Also, I am a member of the national society for leadership and success, which teaches you many important traits to become a good leader, and I feel this helped increase my leadership potential. We heard lectures from many leaders and also learned leadership techniques, as well as networked, and this will most definitely help me in my future endeavors as a leader.
Weaknesses:
According to the Leadership Style Assessment, my scores in leadership concern for people was lower than it probably should have been. I feel this came from my core beliefs: people are (within reason) secondary to profits. That’s not to say I don’t believe people should be rewarded for increasing profits; I believe were I to become a manager, I would have the philosophy that people can only get as much out of a company as they put int. This philosophy would ensure people give their best effort, and would help minimize profit losses since we wouldn’t reward people for messing around. That being said, I feel it is in a manager’s best interest to do everything in his or her power to ensure people are happy and content, and as a result those employees should give their best effort. For that reason, I believe my focus on leadership attitude towards task is not a problem, since it is in my nature to believe people should be rewarded for their efforts, not for their lack thereof.
Conceptual Skills
Strengths:
I always thought myself to be competent in emotional intelligence, but the Emotional Intelligence Assessment seemed to think otherwise. I scored in the bottom quartile, with a score of 24. However, I believe I was thinking in general; after re-reading several answers I believe I would not have answered the same, had the quiz specified I was to answer as though I were in a work atmosphere. I feel my strengths come from my ability to realize when someone else is right—although it may take me a day or so to come to it. However, even if I am in a heated argument, a part of me always knows when I am in the wrong, and if I have no good argument of my own and my opponent makes sense, I would concede and admit they are right. I feel it is important to know when you are incorrect, since building off an incorrect statement can be detrimental to a company. Managers should be humble, and this is something I recognize my need to become. Although I do not think I am arrogant, I do feel I could use a nice serving of humble pie from time to time. Therefore, I think my greatest strength in emotional intelligence is my ability to oftentimes look at myself from a 3rd person point of view and assess myself as impartial as I possibly can.
Weaknesses:
I feel one of my weaknesses is my short temper. It is not always so short, but sometimes I don’t deal with it in a proper manner. The Emotional Intelligence Assessment informed me that I could take things personally when I shouldn’t, and I really think this test, along with a renewed mindset, will help me overcome it. This sort of thing is very detrimental to efficient managers, and I should really change my mind in order to make myself well rounded. Another weakness of mine is my inability to confront people on their emotions. If I have a problem I will confront someone on it in a professional manner, but if someone is feeling under the weather, sometimes I will not try my hardest to confront him or her on it. For instance, if they say, “I don’t want to talk about it,” I will drop it right away, because I respect the fact they don’t want to talk about it. I feel an efficient manager would want to be more helpful, and this is something else I should try to work on.
Professionalism
Strengths:
I feel that I am fairly professional. In the Are you self-empowered assessment, I got a 12, which I feel is lower than I deserved, although after reading the analysis of my score it sounds spot on. The analysis mentioned I tried hard, which I feel is true. Somewhere along the line, I picked up a decent work ethic. For instance, while there may be a temptation to slack off under no supervision while at work, I always feel the need to do my job, because I feel it’s better to work at a relaxed pace than to not do my job—I don’t like getting paid for nothing. I think this is very important, not just for managers but also for all jobs. I also try to take the initiative in some situations, and ill usually do things I can easily do while at my work, even if it’s not in my job description. I like helping out people as much as possible and I get pride in helping them achieve a goal. Therefore, I think my pride in my work and my self-motivation are two of my greatest strengths that contribute to professionalism.
Weaknesses:
The Are you self-empowered assessment also said my negative attitude may prevent me from getting involved in productive projects. While I don’t necessarily agree it prevents me from being productive, I do feel my attitude has been negative recently, but a while back I had the epiphany that people do live genuinely happy lives, and this greatly helped alleviate my negative attitude. Ever since, I have been far more positive, for the most part. I never thought of myself as a pessimist, but somewhere along the line I grew into that mode of thinking. This is something I want to change most, not just for my job, but also because statistically, pessimists live shorter lives than optimists. In addition to mentioning a negative attitude, the Are you self-empowered assessment indicated that there are situations where I look to others to take care of my problems. This is often true if the problem is too difficult for me to care to do, or if I have no idea of how to begin to tackle it. I think the biggest change I could do here is a nice dose of extra initiative. This would do wonders, and I would become more of a problem-seeker rather than a problem-solver, which is the single greatest thing a manager could hope to become (and employees as well!) It is my goal to become a “take-charge person”, who sees the world as my oyster!
Conclusion
College has been life changing. I went on several internal trips for self-discovery during times of emotional hardships, and each time I have emerged a bit stronger. I am definitely not the person I want to become yet, but I still have that person in sight, which I feel is important. I have come to realize that attitude is far more important than I give credit, and I will become an optimist through constant self-reassessment, and reflection upon how I act during the day. This self-assessment has led me to realize I do not allocate my time efficiently to the things I care about most, and I should re-evaluate how I spend my time. Management 5 taught me many things. While I do not have direct aspirations to become a manager, the lessons I learned will help me, no matter which field I attempt to enter. For instance, I learned public speaking was very important, and once school presentations are over, public speaking will still be a necessary skill. I will hone my public speaking skills, by playing the guitar more in front of people, since it helps remove the jitters felt by me when I speak in groups; I worry about messing up or acting a fool, and the sooner I get these ideas out of my head, the sooner I can go on to bigger and better things. Overall, college has been a great place to help give me an idea of who I want to become, and where I want to go, but I am by no means finished developing as a human. I’m in no rush to get there, for I find all the fun lies in getting to my goals.