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Dec 8, 2015

Week Eight - Reflective Analysis

-       F. Scott Fitzgerald

This is one of those bitter-sweet times…we are almost at the end of our journey for 632, which I am glad to be down to one class soon, but I am so sad that the learning on the subject will formally end. This week, we had the opportunity to complete some reflective analysis. One of my favorite things is the MBTI personality indicator testing. I jumped at the chance to take the one made available on the HumanMetrics website this afternoon.

My results really haven’t changed much over the coursework of MSLD experiences; I am still seen as an “ENJF” which demonstrated that 47% of my personality is based upon extroversion interactions, 9% was based upon intuition, 28% based on my feelings of a person or situation, and 3% based on judgment (Humanmetrics, Inc., 2015). Overall, I have a preference for extroversion, versus introversion, which anyone who knows me, knows this was not a surprise. It also indicated that I have a “…slight preference of Intuition over Sensing” (Humanmetrics, Inc., 2015) and that I have a moderate inclination of feeling over thinking. This was the one area that surprised me more than the others; I do a great deal of decision based analytical thinking, or so I thought, over doing so based on feeling. That is one small example of what I love about taking this kind of time for reflection, which is something I rarely have the opportunity to do.

I think on an annual basis, one thing that I can do is actually make the time to reflect upon not only my leadership style and preferences, but also seek out what areas my team would like me to develop more inclinations towards; that way I am not only actively seeking out 360-degree feedback, but also letting others know that I care about their views and how I impact them on a daily basis. Leadership requires that we are constantly rebalancing our viewpoints, as well as refocusing our frames.

For example, I consider my natural style of leadership to be somewhat a more participative style. I do my best to ask for the input of others to help myself and the team generate a thorough decision making process. In my 632 class, I recently discovered that I like the idea of the portfolio perspective when making decisions. This is because I am analytical in nature, and this method allows for the exploration of “…sets of options…and evaluate the net result of…combinations…” (Hoch et al., 2001, p. 150) rather than only reviewing one option at a time.
By learning to take the best from both worlds, it allows leaders to find the right combination, not the right answer from a group of choices. The challenges I see with this option is that this methodology can be time consuming and never ending; not all decisions have ample time for review, nor can all information be reviewed to find the optimal answer, and the choices may then become an endless wish list. This also reminds me of the need to speak the frame language of others. By learning to strike a chord with the other members needs, I can “align” my message with the frame necessary to gain critical buy-in (Hoch et al., 2001, p. 153).
All in all, I couldn’t be happier to be at the end of the course work for purely selfish reasons, but reflection is one of the most valuable tools I have learned to apply in my personal and professional life going forward. The trick is really going to be to make the conscious effort to carve out dedicated time in which to do so.

Until we blog again!

Reference

Hoch, S. J., Kunreuther, H. C., & Gunther, R. E. (2001). Wharton on Making Decisions. Danvers: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Humanmetrics, Inc. (2015). Humanmetrics Jung Typology Test™. Retrieved December 08, 2015, from Humanmetrics.com: http://www.humanmetrics.com/hr/jtypesresult.aspx?EI=47&SN=-9&TF=-28&JP=3


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