For this week’s blog, we were asked to complete an exercise
that focused on our assets and liabilities. All leaders, even the most iconic
ones all have their strengths and weaknesses. To ensure that we lead as
effective and efficiently as possible, it is important for leaders to know
their strengths and weaknesses. By knowing what we do well and focusing on
areas that need improvement, we can promote further growth. Since I have a
habit of focusing too much on my assets, this exercise was a great opportunity
to breakdown what I do and analyze what areas I could use improvement on.
Personally, I believe my most
distinctive assets is empathy. As an employee and longtime student for the same
university, I am very familiar with the processes and situations that occur
both from the staff and students’ perspective. Specifically, when a student is
going through a tough situation I’ve previously been through, I can immediately
relate and understand how they feel. Often times, I share personal examples to
help explain things from a student’s perspective (speaking in a similar “language”
so it’s easier for them to understand) and also acknowledge that I understand
their situation: which also include emotions. By establishing a connection,
this can promote positive relationships.
A potential strength that I believe
I have is independence and confidence in decision making. As someone who is worried
on stressing people out and making mistakes, I occasionally ask people for
their opinion to check whether my thoughts are on the right track. This used to
be much more frequent during the first year into my current job: as I had
hardly any workplace experience. Now working nearly three years into my job, I
am very familiar with the campus operation and has sharpened my general skills
and knowledge essential in the workplace.
The last portion of the assets section
focused on enduring dispositions that support me. These include traits, habits,
and behaviors that I do not want to change and will help me be successful (Boyatzis
et al., 2008). Personally, I find my ability to control emotions during
stressful situation to be a huge plus to both my personal and professional life.
My whole life lives by the Golden Rule, or the way where we treat others in the
way you want to be treated in the same situation (Putnam, 2006). One of the
main reasons why I joined the leadership program is because I’ve came across
many poor examples of leadership. Every time I experience poor leadership, I
often ask myself, “what good can you get for rolling your eyes and sounding
irritated to your customers? Does that make me, your customers, or your company
feel good?”. When people act in such way, I knew that this would only make
things difficult, so while advisement can be very stressful at times, I try not
to add further stress for both myself, the student, and my university.
Liabilities:
As previously mentioned, I tend to focus
strongly towards my strengths than my weaknesses. However, one weakness that I
have is the ability to resolve conflict. As a naturally friendly and caring
individual, it is very rare to come across situations where ones don’t agree or
are highly dissatisfied. I recall a situation one time where a student made a
mistake and blamed me for not telling her about a university policy. While I
can simply explain what the policy was, hearing the student yell and talking
back shuts me off. I tend to take things too personally, wondering if there was
anything I did wrong and feeling emotionally hurt in general. As conflict can
occur anywhere and anytime, this is also a weakness that I want to change and
improve on. While I don’t want to purposely get into any sticky situations, I
personally believe that having experience and taking the time to respond would
help me overcome this weakness.
The last portion of the liability
section focused on enduring dispositions that sometimes cause me to be less
effective. My response may be a bit odd, but a personal habit I have is that I
sometimes side with my own convenience rather than the person I am interacting
with. While taking phone calls is a primary task as an academic advisor, I usually
try to have students either visit the office in-person or email me due to a
hearing disability. As previously mentioned, I tend to worry about making
mistakes and stressing people because of my mistakes. In fact, the most common
reasons for disputes in my organization is because of my misunderstandings.
While I am fully aware that phone calls are convenient for certain students
(such as they want that “human” interaction or they have restricted schedules),
I usually end up encouraging them to email or visit me in-person. In hope that
they don’t view my request as a way to avoid working with them, I usually explain
that I want to ensure accuracy for the sakes of the student.
References:
McKee, A., Boyatzis, R. E., &
Johnston, F. (2008). Becoming a resonant
leader: Develop your emotional intelligence, renew your relationships, sustain
your effectiveness. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School.
Putnam, M. (2006). Reflections on the
Golden Rule. Global Ethics University. Retrieved
from http://www.globalethicsuniversity.com/articles/thegoldenrule.htm
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