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In reviewing my assessment results I am more creative in my thinking then I am analytical. These results identify with my personality well. When I’m making decisions it seems as though I tend to use the investment approach the most. I have to agree with the skill assessments findings in that I do tend to be a very competitive person meeting challenges head on. If I am not challenged either mentally or personally I do not feel the drive to achieve my goal in solving a problem. I scored the second highest in the imagination approach. I am a risk taker and feel that I am pretty creative when presented with any situation. I like to push the envelope and try to experiment with different options that might not have been considered. Thirdly I scored in the improvement approach. I do like to look things and begin to question how they could be improved. For example if something catches my eye such as the layout of a store I will begin to imagine how they could better sell their merchandise with a couple tweaks in their floor plans. I will identify problematic areas and think about how I would do things differently and how they might be more efficient. The final approach I scored the least amount in was the incubation approach. I can see how this approach would be my lowest as this encourages teamwork and I tend to be more competitive. I feel as though I do enjoy working on a team, however I find as I am working with others I use this opportunities to provide many alternatives or solutions from my point of view. Although I am competitive I really do enjoy working with others because it gives me an opportunity to see things from other’s points of views. All of these approaches are very useful and depending on the situation depends on the one I will use.

I chose the following words when completing the assessment survey: good-natured, helpful, determined, sociable, understanding, observant, open-minded, curious, impulsive and energetic. Some opposite words would be bad-natured, helpless, undetermined, antisocial, incomprehensive, oblivious, close-minded, cautious and lazy.

I usually use the investment approach and the opposite of this is the improvement approach. If I tried to approach problems more from the improvement approach I can see some benefits such as more time to brainstorm and review alternatives in order to develop improvements to a problem. However I do not see enough benefits from using this approach to drastically change my thinking processes unless the problem calls for improvements.  The improvement approach encourages oneself to be better where the investment approach encourages to be first. Being first is not always the desired outcome so somewhere in between the two is probably the best approach depending on the situation at hand. I also usually approach problems with the imagination approach and the opposite of this is the incubation approach. I believe the imagination is the better approach overall because I feel it can be used in any circumstance. However incubation can be very valuable in any situation as well because it encompasses outlooks from others which could be more successful in the long run. Again if addressing issues somewhere in the middle I believe is the best alternatives will arise, in that the imagination approach encourages new ideas where as the incubation encourages sustainability.

A520.2.6.RB_McNerneyLeighAnn

After assessing my time management skills I am in need of many improvements even though I am already practicing many efficient skills. Some of my skills are that I am a very organized person and create to do lists that are number by priority. I am great at multitasking and always meet my deadlines. I use any free time I have to be productive and tend to break up larger projects so that I can always have a fresh outlook. I usually try to attack my busier work in the morning right after a nice coffee with my phone on silent.

Although I have many efficient strategies I am still very inefficient as time is my greatest stressor. I am in need of many improvements in my current approach in managing time if I want to become a successful manager, as the textbook explains this can be a manager’s greatest source of stress. After reading about efficient and effective time management I have learned an effective way of managing time is to keep a calendar or to do list which I currently do. Using these resources has helped me throughout my life stay on track and get the things I need to accomplish, however I have realized that I tend to focus more on urgent matters rather than the important ones. I also learned that I tend to procrastinate spending too much time in “never never land” temporarily relieving my stress.

After learning the difference between what is important and what is urgent I have began to reevaluate my current to dos. Becoming more aware of my core values has helped me become more aware of my actions I take when addressing an issues at hand. I have a problem saying “no” to people and usually like to please others instead of pleasing myself. This is a tendency I need to continue to work on as I still to this day find myself thinking “no”. but not actually saying it aloud to people. This is also why I focus more on what is urgent whether it be to others, or me and not on what I find important. If I could address the important issues I feel I would greatly reduce my stresses I am faced with everyday.

Since reading the chapter in Developing Management Skills I have become more aware of some of my flaws and ways to improve them. One way I am going to improve is to become more of a selective reader. Before reading about efficient time management I always thought reading every word on the page was better, however in managing my time I have learned to be more of a selective reader when the sources are not of great importance.  I have also decided to procrastinate less by setting smaller goals to enable myself to feel small wins. I feel this will help eliminate some of the overwhelming feelings I get when I know I have a major project to accomplish while in return also motivate me as I accomplish these smaller tasks. I will also learn to say “no” if the issue at hand doesn’t seem important to me.

After assessing my current time management I have learned that although I currently posses many skills in efficiently managing my time I am still very far from managing it efficiently. In order to become a better leader one day I need to develop better strategies now. From now on I will prioritize each goal according to its importance to me and not others. I will then break the goal down into smaller goals to reinforce myself with small wins along the way. When urgent matters arise I will not jump to resolve them instead incorporate them within my current to dos according to their importance to me. Finally I will continue becoming more aware of my core values. These skills will take practice however the end result will be a better outlook on life with a better way in managing my time reducing my level of stress.

A520.2.3.RB_McNerneyLeighAnn

In my first year at my current place of employment I was involved in a conflict with another co-worker within my department. We are a small group of about nine and we work very closely together. We were a sharing a suite comfortably with a lot of privacy from all of the other departments, however top management decided it would be best to move us out onto the main floor with the other departments. This was not something our department was in favor of as we were very content in our personal suite, but the move was made. When we were in the process of being arranged into our new spots our Director was open to any suggestions on where we would like to be placed. I requested that I would be moved away from one of my co-workers as I felt she was a distraction. He granted my request by placing me exactly where I wanted to be which was next to a quieter co-worker.

The conflict happened when another co-worker, who was sitting next to my distracting co-worker, realized she wanted the space I requested. Switching her spots would defeat the whole purpose of where I requested to be placed. My co-worker began to cause a disruption, as we were all unpacking making comments about how unhappy she was. She thought my space would be a better fit for her because the air conditioner would not blow on her as much, but she never actually asked me to move. While I was at lunch that day the same co-worker continued complaining about how unhappy she was and then made a commotion that caused top management to come and see what was going on. Once they saw her crying they were trying to calm her down and asked what they could do for her. That is when she replied she wanted them to move my space so that she could have it. Since I was not there to defend myself another co-worker stepped in to say they needed to wait until I was back before making the move as they needed to have my side of the story. My Director was then notified of the disruption my co-worker was causing.

Once I returned from lunch my Director let me know what had happened while I was out and asked me if I wanted to move. I explained I was happy with my spot especially since I had requested it in the first place because of the distractions I was having before when seated next to certain people in our group. He respected my decision and then decided that I would be allowed to stay in my spot and they would work on getting a deflector for the air conditioning vent. This was a way for both of us to win. As time went by the co-worker continued causing a commotion and soon she affected others because the extra air was blowing harder on them so they too began to want their Directors to order them deflectors. This continued on and finally I realized that she was not going to be happy until she moved to my spot even though the air was blowing the exactly same. I finally went to my Director and requested to switch spots with her, but I also requested the distraction move with her.

In the end my quieter co-worker and I were moved and my distraction and problematic co-worker were also moved. My Director was very grateful for my decision to switch as this had been going on far too long. He negotiated with me and I felt there was a “win win” in this outcome. I was able to make my co-worker happy by letting her have my spot and he was able to make me happy by moving my distraction as well. I can see room for improvement in this situation, but only because I feel my co-worker was causing the commotion because she is the type to do this when she isn’t getting her way. She tends to pitch fits and “stir the pot” at any chance she can. I believe that my Director could have addressed this on going issue she has with this situation by bringing her down and really getting the root of her problem, but instead the issue at hand was resolved, which was moving her because she was unhappy. I tried to make the best of this situation by using it as an opportunity to show my Director that I can be a team player working to establish a common goal of a successful department.

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My level of self-awareness has changed in many ways since I began my MSLD program in all aspect of my emotional intelligence, attitude toward change, cognitive style, values and core self-evaluation. When I started this program I thought I had a pretty good idea of myself however as I continue through this program I am constantly finding new ways in which I need improvement.

My emotional intelligence is pretty good according to the assessment survey I participated in and I find this to be accurate. I have always had the ability to be in touch with my emotions; however it wasn’t until I began my quest to become a leader that I became aware of how important this skill is in effectively leading. In order to be a good leader you have to be able to get in touch with your followers in a deeper more meaningful way. You will not successfully lead if others cannot relate or connect with you. It is important to be aware of not only your emotions but that of those around you. If you are not able to be open and empathetic people will think you are cold in my opinion. That is why I have begun to become more aware of dealing with my emotions. Having control over them will help me become a better leader.

Attitude toward change is something I struggle with everyday as the world around me is changing every day. I know to be able to be successful I must be open to the changes happening around me. I have always struggled with change as I tend to prefer a more predictable routine from day-to-day; however I have noticed that when change occurs so does learning and I love to learn. My results from the survey indicated that I have a pretty good adaptation of this change. I have an internal locus of control and my tolerance is pretty average. In the beginning of this course much like emotional intelligence I was aware of my acceptance of change and had a pretty good understanding of the importance of accepting change; however it was until I began my career as a Financial Aid Advisor and the MSLD program that the true importance of this adaptation became clear. After reviewing scholarly articles in my previous class I have learned that in order to stay on top you must be on the cutting edge of technology. This requires research as well as critical thinking.

Cognitively I could use some improvements in all the areas and this will take work. Before this program I had no idea what my cognitive abilities were. I learned that there are styles called knowing, planning and creating. I scored the lowest in creating which came to a shock because I have never viewed myself as someone to prefer data, facts and details. After reading more about this area I learned more about myself and the importance of being more aware of these attributes. As a psychology major and free thinker scoring the lowest in creating made me second guess my decisions throughout life thus far. I learned that I tend to challenge things unless sufficient evidence is provided to me, and I also take my time in making decisions because I want proof. These are all good qualities, but they put me in a different category than I expected. I see now why having the ability to do all of these will be necessary in order to lead effectively. I think a leader will need to be well-rounded in order to identify with all personalities he or she may be confronted with.

Values were always important to me but it was not until this class that I realized all the different aspect a value truly has. There are some values that are based off of how someone is raised, their maturity level, their culture etc. No matter what someone’s values are in order to be effective one must be able to not only identify their own values, but of others as well. This will help develop more respect and better understanding of why someone might feel one way or the other. This program has demonstrated very well that I will encounter people of all walks of life and I will need to be able to get along with everyone to a certain professional degree. I have also learned that my current maturity level in more of a conformist and in order to become fully matured I will need to experience more to develop internal principles to base my decisions off of.

Finally this program has not only taught me the importance of having a positive core self-evaluation but that I need to improve my core self-evaluation if I want to succeed as a leader. I currently need to work on my self-esteem which I have struggled with for the past 13 years. I was in a mentally abusive relationship for 10 years as I started dating the guy when I was only 14 years old. I was very young and naïve and allowed him to tell me how to live my life based off of his expectations. He delegated of who I should be based on his opinions. He degraded me and prevented me from being able to comfortable being myself. I finally was able to break away from the violent relationship however the damage had been done. I now have a difficult time believing in myself and find it hard to find a lot of positives in myself, and when I do I have a hard time being confident. This program has provided me with an understanding that in order to lead affectively I must not only be confident and believe in myself, but I must also be able to instill this in others. In my opinion you must practice what you preach to others in order to be successful in conveying your message. This is why I have to improve my overall self-evaluation not only for myself, but for my future follower’s well-being.

So far I am only 3 classes into this program and I have already seen the true importance of having a good level of emotional intelligence, attitude toward change, cognitive style, values and core self-evaluation. In order to improve each of these characteristics I will need to practice and change my outlook on some things. In the end to be successful leader I must possess each of these qualities.

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After completing the Diagnostic Survey For Scale Self-Awareness I noticed most of my results were exactly what I either expected or was not surprised to learn about myself. My results for emotional intelligence were that I am aware of what’s going on inside emotionally, I’m aware of alternative points of view, that I confront issues not in the presence of those affected and show emotional control. These results were not surprising to me at all however I was little caught off guard when learning I rely on others to get the hint. After learning this I realized it was a complete fact in that I do tend to think people will get the hint and when they do not I tend to get very irritated.  From now on I am going to be better at communicating my thoughts so that I do not run into this obstacle as often.

In reviewing my level of empathy towards others I was not shocked to learn that I am capable of recognizing different emotions without letting them get carried away, I am sensitive to other’s feelings and also to their possible emotional issues. I find these to be very accurate as I am usually very good at reading people and adjusting to their moods, or in helping them cope when distressed. I find this quality to be a key characteristic in myself.

My level of maturity is between a stage 3 and 4 on the classification of moral judgment. This level is called conventional or conformity and it shows I tend to find moral values that reside in duty, maintaining social contracts and keeping commitments. These results are extremely accurate as I pride myself in being a loyal and committed person in all aspects of my life. I do tend to follow the laws and norms of society and I am extremely concerned with other’s feelings, which was pointed in out in the empathy portion of the survey. I know myself to be a very trustworthy and reliable person. I find that when I talk to people that I know very well or have just met in the elevator they will disclose personal information with me without me prying for it. I believe it is due to my openness to others and reputation of “being good on my word”. I see that I still have some growing to do in my maturity level, as I have not yet reached the postconventional stage. I am going to try to develop better internal principles, however this will take some time because it involves more life experience.

The results regarding the cognitive indicator did produce the most shocking indications regarding my knowing, planning and creating style. Knowing I scored above the mean which indicated I emphasize facts details and data. I need proof or evidence in order to problem solve or make a decision. I find this to be very accurate, as I tend to challenge anything until I can find it to be valid or true. Planning style scores showed they were also above the mean. This is also very accurate as well. I am inclined more towards things that are planned, structured and preparation was involved. I do like clearness and stick to a predictable routine. Where the shock factor lies is the low score in creating style. I was below the mean in this style and I am completely shocked by this because my undergrad degree is in psychology and I enjoy being spontaneous. I will need to improve my creating style by being more open to other possibilities and more interactive.

I have an internal locus of control that was not surprising at all. I hold true to my belief that I am the reason for my own success. This is something I am very passionate about. People who believe others are the cause of their success or failures will never go as far as they could if they believed in themselves. Meaning if someone finds himself or herself to be unhappy and base it off circumstances they will never get anywhere, but those who use the circumstance to get somewhere will become successful in their endeavors. I believe we are contingent of our own actions. Tolerance of ambiguity results provided me with a better understanding of my novelty, complexity and insolubility. I scored right on the mean on novelty and complexity however my insolubility was lower. This indicates I need to improve my ability to tolerate problems that are difficult to solve. I will need to develop better strategies to become a better problem solver by maybe thinking outside the box to come up with other solutions.

Finally my overall core self-evaluation indicated I am right below the mean. This indicates I will need to improve my self-esteem and self-efficiency as I already have a good awareness of emotional intelligence and demonstrate good locus of control. These results are very accurate. I do tend to have a lower self-esteem and could use more motivation regarding certain aspects of my life. I found it very surprising that people with higher levels of core self-evaluation suffer less headaches and backaches. These are the two symptoms I suffer from the most, as I have chronic head and backaches.

Over all I was please with my results and I know there is a lot of growth that will need to happen in order to become a successful manager. Going forward I will use these results to start becoming more aware of different scenarios in which I could be more spontaneous or think outside the box. Hopefully by the end of this class I will have improved the areas that I need to work on the most.

Whetten, D.A., & Cameron K.S. (2011). Developing Management Skills (8th ed.).

Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. 

9.4 Course Reflection

When I signed up for this course, Leadership Foundations in Research, I was intimidated from the very beginning. I was almost 9 months pregnant and I knew I would be challenged with more obstacles than normal since I was due to have her in the middle of the course. However, I continued to push myself through so that I would not allow myself to give up. I was too afraid I would continue to find more excuses down the road as to why I did not “need” my Masters degree; this was going to be only my second class.

On the first day of the class I was reading over the syllabus and I about had a nervous breakdown. I was not only going to be challenged with having a baby during class, but I was also going to be required to perform tasks that required me to do extensive research as well as learn the technology required to submit the assignments.  I am not “tech savvy” so everything required me to ask for help from someone. Once I got the hang of it I was able to continue as I normally would in any other class.

Now that we are in the final days of this class I have to say I have become an all around better student as well as critical thinker. In the beginning we were asked to define critical thinking and I was not able to grasp the meaning and truly understand what it is to think critically, however after many long nights of researching and studying I have improved my overall understanding. To think critically you are digging deeper than you would to just think about something. I have learned to process information as a system of thinking rather than just approaching it as a body of information. I have also learned a wonderful technique of using the SEE-I approach. I use this technique in everything I do!
To think critically you must think about the question from all aspects, not jumping to conclusions and pay close attention to all the details in order to formulate a well-rounded thought. To start the thinking process you should reflect on the thought from your own point of view and try to figure out why you think the way you do. Reflection to me is the key to thinking critically. It challenges the mind to ask yourself questions that you would have never thought of if you just thought regularly.

As you reflect you should apply your thought through the elements of reasoning, which are: point of view, purpose, question at issue, assumptions, implications or consequences, information, concepts and conclusions or interpretations. These elements can be applied in no particular order however you should “go around in a circle” when reasoning through your thought.

Next I learned to take my thought and apply it to the seven standards of thinking, these act as a filter to help you reason through your thought a little more in-depth. The seven standards are as follows: clearness, accuracy, importance or relevance, sufficiency, depth, breadth and precision. These were harder for me to understand, however, once we were required to apply each one in a task I was able to grasp what each meant a little better.

After applying your thought through the elements of reasoning and the seven different standards you can then put all of your thoughts together in a process called QEDS which is an acronym that explains how to apply each as a process through the discipline to answer the question. After breaking these processes down we were then able to put them together to write critically.

Now that I am reflecting I feel like everything makes sense. I am not going to pretend I knew what I was doing because I was actually very confused and irritated throughout the assignments. I was frustrated because I did not understand why we were doing them and also because I was challenging myself and this required me to think in ways I had never thought before. This was my ultimate challenge and obstacle, which is why I decided to write my research paper on the obstacles of critical thinking, but ended up approaching this matter from a preventative point of view. I wanted to find out if critical thinking could be easier if it were taught throughout an individual’s life. I do believe in my conclusion of the paper it could be.

As I complete this course I have definitely taken away more positive than negative. My Professor and University has provided me with a tremendous amount of knowledge and support and I have no recommendations to suggest.The topics of this course were very relevant going forward and I will be able to apply these skills throughout my life. I would have maybe planned out this class at a less challenging part of my life. The sleepless nights (homework and baby) have made this more challenging than I have ever imagined, but in challenging myself I have become a better person. I have improved my overall quality of life in every aspect. I am now a mind mapper, blogger and a better critical thinker!

8.3 Good Presentation Design

Conducting a good presentation is the key in successfully getting your message conveyed to your audience. In order to create a successful presentation you must first organize your thoughts. I would recommend creating a rough draft on paper writing down the different points you would like to present and then highlight the major points.

Next you should begin creating the lay out of the power point slides, only if that is the route in which you are choosing to present, as this is route in which I am discussing within this blog. Each layout should follow a similar theme throughout in order to show that the slides are a part of one presentation. In order to distinguish one slide to the next you should break the text up and group thoughts together. Any graphic art displayed should be up-to-date pictures or examples; as this will help keep the audience’s eye from wondering off of your presentation. Using sounds and animation can be a bit overwhelming so I would suggest keeping them to a minimal, however adding in short clips from movies and such keeps the audience on the edge of their seats.

In the organization of the slides I would recommend keeping your ideas one per slide. This will help you keep the audience from being confused and will allow you highlight the main thoughts. Keep your slides simple and free of clutter. Too much text on a page will overwhelm the audience and will prevent them from understanding what your key points are, think about it as “less is more”. If possible always include a personal story or anything that can tie the information you are conveying to something the audience can relate to. This will keep them thinking while you are discussing.

Once you have completed your slides start practicing for the big presentation. This will allow you time to figure out where your difficulties are, in essence in presenting. For example if you find yourself pausing in the wrong spots or find difficulties annunciating certain words you will be able to catch these obstacles before going in front of your audience. As you practice remember to remain calm, keep good eye contact and do not rush. As you go through each slide with your audience do not read word for word, as this will bore your audience. They can read and do not want someone to read to them. Most of the time I can read faster then the presenter can read aloud so I tend to read ahead, and if the presenter will not offer me anything other than straight text I will stop listening all together.

In conclusion always think from your audience’s point of view. If you feel your presentation is boring your audience will too, however if you find yourself excited they will be excited. I have sat through many countless presentations throughout life and only a handful actually captivated me enough to pay attention the entire way through.  Following these recommendations will not make you an amazing presenter, however they might improve your skills!