Personal Balance Sheet

A641.8.3.RB

Create a reflection blog that discusses your personal balance sheet that summarizes your assets and liabilities. 

My distinctive strengths (Things I know I do well and strengths that others see in me).

One of the strengths I have consistently relied on in my personal and professional life is my work ethic. I enjoy working through complex issues to find suitable solutions. Within this context, I employ other areas of my strengths such as an analytical thought process, collaboration, and communication. Moreover, genuinely caring for others has help me to develop both working relationships and meaningful relationships.

My potential Strengths (things I could do better or more often if I focused, or things I do well in some situations and could begin to apply more broadly).

I believe that I could do better with maintaining a work/life balance. As I noted above, my work ethic has served as a “double edged sward” in the past. In other words, when I am committed to a task or a project, I have been known to go in at full speed. This has led to me entering the sacrifice syndrome and subsequently dissonance. Although I have established a work/life balance that supports my family obligations, there are times when I need to remind myself to take a step back and keep the big picture in focus. I have learned throughout this course that renewal is key to resonance and longevity. Resonant leaders, according to Boyatzis & McKee (2005), “They give of themselves in the service of the cause, but they also care for themselves, engaging in renewal to ensure they can sustain resonance over time” (p. 2). This has been one of the most important lessons and concepts I have taken away for this course. My aim is to ensure this remains central in my efforts to become a better person and leader.

My Enduring Dispositions that support me (traits, habits, behaviors that I do not want to change and that help me to be successful).

I believe that it is important to leverage traits, habits, and behaviors that have contributed to my growth and success. I also believe it is important to know which one or more (is needed in a given situation). In other words, leaders must have a deep tool bag that they can use in various situations. Thus, I am always on the look out to learn other or new methods, habits, or behaviors that can potentially impact a successful outcome. This curiousness and willingness to live outside of my comfort zone is an enduring disposition I will rely on as I seek to grow personally and professionally.

My weaknesses (things I know I don’t do well and I want to do better).

I enjoy working with others that love what they do and go out of their way to help others and the team. One weakness I have is dealing with those that are single minded and/or are only concerned with their own interests. As a leader, I find that my patience and desire to work with these types of individuals is limited. Furthermore, as a leader I understand that it is their duty to set the conditions for others to succeed, regardless of their personalities or attitudes. Helping them to shift their thinking and improve their performance is essential for all leaders. Thus, with self-awareness and compassion, I believe I could improve my effectiveness with my frame of mind working with all types of people.

Weaknesses I want to Change (things I know I don’t do well and want to change).

As noted above, working with reluctant and self-centered people can be daunting. Learning about the Intentional Change Theory (ICT) in this course has improved my feeling of doing so because it requires the user to work through the five discoveries. Furthermore, it goes beyond coaching for compliance and focuses on coaching with compassion. This process was new to me and I believe that this is the correct approach. Thus, I feel confident and more at ease with the thought of working with others only focused on their own needs/situation.

My enduring dispositions that sometimes get in my way (traits, habits, behaviors that I do not want to change and that sometimes cause me to be less effective).

Having extensively worked with those mainly concerned with their own interests has created a barrier to keep their negativity and destructiveness at bay. At some point, it has extended to others that I may not know very well. This barrier is one habit and behavior I know needs to change. It once served as a protective measure and now served little benefit moving out from a law enforcement field into a professional setting. Having become aware of this barrier and the feelings associated with it has allowed me to have better control behavior. With this awareness and shifting my frame of mind towards other approaches such as the ICT, I believe I can further limit its negative effects and utilize this approach for positive gains.

Reference

Boyatzis, R. & McKee, A. (2005). Resonant Leadership (5^th ed.). Harvard Business Press.