I
found the self-awareness assessment test to be eye opening in some ways, yet
not all shocking in others. There were
some parts of the test that I found to be confusing and difficult to decipher. Other areas I felt there were no right
answers and every decision was a bad decision.
I think this is the case in real life; there will be times that the only
decisions available may not be ones I would like to make. I think the key is to understand my own ideas
and values and know how to make the best decision possible.
The
first test I took was the scale self-awareness test. I scored a 58 on this test, scoring in the
top percentile for self-awareness. I
feel like this is accurate. I tend to
think and focus on my reasons for decisions, what I can do to improve myself,
and how this affects my ability to function at home and work. Sometimes I feel that understanding who I am,
and what my strengths and weaknesses are is not the difficult part. The more difficult part is learning the best
ways to turn my weaknesses into strengths, then doing it. To change one’s self takes dedication and a
lot of effort. If you are not completely
dedicated to this change, it can be easy to go back to the way you used to do
things. Hopefully, as I become more
self-aware I will learn the best ways to know how to change and improve
myself.
In
the emotional intelligence assessment I scored high with an 85. This doesn’t surprise me all that much
either. I feel that I have very little
problem empathizing with others. I would
suggest that my weaknesses do not lie in my emotional intelligence. I can generally control my emotions and have
a pretty good idea of how to deal or help others in need. I find that I usually am aware of my
surrounding and can react in different situations with the correct emotional
response.
The
test that surprised me the most was the cognitive style indicator. Although I scored similar in the knowing,
planning and creating style, I scored highest in knowing style. In the test, Whetten states that, “knowing
style will probably feel more comfortable in accounting, a planning style will probably
feel more comfortable in operations, and a creating style will probably feel
more comfortable in advertising” (Whetten & Cameron, 2011, p.
76) . Although I scored the highest in the knowing
area I feel that accounting would be the worst job for my own personality. I find advertising to be by far the most
interesting career field of the three stated in the book. However, I don’t think I am a particular
creative person and often have to rely on others for their creativity. I like facts and data when answering
questions. I see the need and desire to
think outside the box when coming up with solutions to problems; however, I
find that I often struggle with the creative side of this. I think in reality I lie somewhere in between
the three cognitive styles and find that the outcome of the test is probably
accurate.
Surprisingly,
my lowest scoring test on the assessment was on the tolerance of ambiguity
scale. I scored a 47 on this test putting
me in the bottom quartile. This means
that I have a high tolerance for ambiguity.
This honestly caught me off guard at first, and I had to double check my
answers to make sure I read the questions right. After thinking about it for a while, I
realized the test was accurate. Although
I have a high tolerance for ambiguity, I still get frustrated with it and seek
answers. While these answers may not be
apparent at first I tend to find ways to get to those answers. I think for the most part my high tolerance
for ambiguity comes from my high tolerance for frustrating situations. I tend not to react to bad news, stressful
assignments, or tasks that confuse me. I
have found in my own life that the faster I can understand an assignment the
faster I will be able to accomplish the task.
When I try to take short cuts or get out of work, bad things
happen.
When
I was in high school I worked on remodeling homes. I was installing a toilet and could not get
the pipes to fit right on the threading.
In my own laziness, and rush to get the job done, I jammed the pipe in its
place and put a bunch of putty around the sides of the pipe. Two days later my boss got a phone call from
the owners complaining that the ceiling to their basement was bowing downward
and we needed to come look at it. Upon
arrival, we found out that a great deal of water had leaked from the toilet
causing large amounts of damage to the ceiling and the dry wall. From that point on, I learned to do the job
right the first time; if I don’t understand something I need to just ask.
I
plan to continue to study the information I learned from the self-awareness
surveys and apply it to my self-awareness plan and journal entries. If I can get a better idea of my weaknesses I
can hopefully get a better idea of how to improve in these areas. I can also learn techniques to expand my
knowledge, continue to learn, and make decisions quicker, now that I have a
better understanding of my own knowledge style.
Like I stated earlier, I feel that becoming self-aware is not very
difficult. The difficult part is
learning how to improve on my strengths and then changing the things about
myself I don’t like.
References
Whetten, D. A., & Cameron, K. S. (2011). Developing
Management Skills. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
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