{"id":221,"date":"2018-10-07T02:38:32","date_gmt":"2018-10-07T02:38:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/books.twu.ca\/strategic-discoveries\/?post_type=chapter&p=221"},"modified":"2019-01-18T17:44:42","modified_gmt":"2019-01-18T17:44:42","slug":"brittanys-personal-strategic-development-assessement","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/books.twu.ca\/strategic-discoveries\/chapter\/brittanys-personal-strategic-development-assessement\/","title":{"rendered":"Brittany’s Leadership Development Journey: Understanding that YOU matter"},"content":{"raw":"Evaluating Circumstances<\/strong>\r\n\r\nThroughout my life, I \u00a0had significant experiences that \u00a0developed the person I am today. As I was bullied in high school, I did not have a positive high school experience and have spent years feeling low confidence and worthless.\u00a0 Looking back years ago, I remember feeling embarrassed I was a triplet, and all I wanted was for people to accept me for who I was as a person and not label me as one of three who were \u201call the same\u201d. What I learned from my past experience, was I never wanted to treat anyone like I was treated. What I learned from my adverse experience was the \u00a0need and passion to make people feel comforted, loved and secured. Throughout this experience, I \u00a0developed a strong emotional intelligence to allow me to be empathetic, understanding and kind to others in support of \u00a0my strategic leadership competency.\r\n\r\nAnother circumstance I faced in my life is the failure of relationships. In my 20\u2019s, I wanted to be friends with anyone who entered into my life (due to the gap in my High School years), and as a result, I did make a lot of friends. Reflecting back, I was always the one doing nice things for most of them and not receiving the returned effort back. What I learned from my failed relationships is, I did not set up boundaries and did not listen to my inner voice and judgement. Furthermore, I learned to trust my better judgement and choose friends with \u00a0similar values and virtues to me.\r\n\r\nAs a transformational leader, I \u00a0learned we can choose to evaluate circumstances as opportunities or failures. Therefore, I can choose to remember my circumstances as nightmares or circumstances shaping my abilities and strengths. \u00a0Moving forward, my general response to my circumstances in my life \u00a0lead me to be mindful and understand my inner self- core and my values. By reverting back to former memories, it \u00a0allowed me to look at myself from a different perspective and understand past failures are in the past and I have the opportunity to move forward. I have the gift of my values and virtues to develop my future leadership ability.\u00a0 Studies indicate \u00a0\u201cvalues give us our sense of purpose. On a leadership level, when we align with our values on a daily basis, we have more energy and feel more fulfilled because we are leading from what\u2019s important to us. When we don\u2019t align with our values, we feel less authentic and become demotivated about our daily lives, which reflects in our leadership\u201d (Loehr, 2014).\r\n\r\nTo optimize my strategic leadership ability, I believe I need to consider my values and my relationships and define what is important and what will make me my anticipated best self.\u00a0 I must surround myself with people who are similar to my virtues and values and make me a stronger transformational leader.\r\n\r\nMy Stressors<\/strong>\r\n\r\nMy current lifestyle is very busy and I am learning (gradually), I need to slow down. I prioritize too many things in my life and often feel bogged down. I am a different person in different environments. At work, I am highly motivated by being productive, seeing results, working in teams and showing results to my Manager. My Managers\u2019 trust in my abilities allows me to be motivated and energetic in my workplace. However, I realize the more energetic\/positive I portray myself, I am setting a bar dangerous to my health and my well-being causing me to be burnt out. \u00a0I realize when I get home from work, I am literally exhausted and my humble self comes into play. I feel like my energy is drained but I still have the energy to answer the phone and have my family vent to me, because I know I am a \u201clistening ear\u201d \u00a0\u00a0providing helpful advice. Therefore, I \u00a0\u00a0analyzed myself in three different ways:<\/strong>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Brittany at work<\/strong><\/td>\r\nBrittany at home with husband<\/strong><\/td>\r\nBrittany with family and friends<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Traits:<\/strong> \u00a0 energetic, hardworking, results-driven, team player\r\n\r\nRealities:<\/strong> \u00a0 Allows herself to say \u201cyes\u201d to too many things, overextends her help to others, \u00a0 and doesn\u2019t take lunch breaks very often. Stays late\/doesn\u2019t account for the \u00a0time or tells Manager<\/td>\r\nTraits:<\/strong> \u00a0 tired, drained, overworked, emotional, love for her husband and is \u00a0 appreciative of his efforts in helping\/supporting her school and work \u00a0 schedule\r\n\r\nRealities:<\/strong> \u00a0 Will not give up, hopeful, believes in good karma<\/td>\r\nTraits<\/strong>: \u00a0 Listening ear, genuine, communicative, makes social plans, reaches out, makes \u00a0 people feel good.\r\n\r\nRealities:<\/strong> \u00a0 is more of a giver than a receiver, sometimes is \u201ctaken advantage of\u201d<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\nMy Stressors in my Personal Life<\/strong>\r\n\r\nIn my personal life, I get stressed easily.\u00a0 It is challenging to play my roles as a student, working professional, wife, daughter and sister and to feel accomplished and balanced in all these roles.\u00a0 The way I handle stress is eating, drinking and scheduling too many commitments I think will make me happy, but in reality it can get overwhelming. As a result, I get tired and frustrated and often lose sight of my inner self because my busy life takes over any personal time and doesn\u2019t allow me to self-reflect.\r\n\r\nMy stressors in my Professional Life<\/strong>\r\n\r\nIn my working career, I like to be the person to depend on to get things done, because it makes me feel valued. \u00a0At work, I do not want to be seen as stressed, so I hide my stress. My Manager once told me, \u201cnever let anyone see you cry\u201d, and his words \u00a0encouraged \u00a0me to stay and be strong at work. \u00a0I am very results and goal orientated at work and always fill up my calendar with tasks to help achieve the results of my goals. I often work through lunch and will check my email over the weekend to see if I can stay ahead.\u00a0 At work, I wear a mask- a mask of the go to HR person and the energetic worker bee. Studies indicate \u00b4masking is a process where \u00a0an individual changes or \"masks\" their natural personality to conform to social pressures\u201d (Wikipedia, 2017). As a transformational leader, I feel like I am changing in my professional life. I once stressed about people liking \u00a0me or thinking I was smart but now what stresses me is the worry of not accomplishing everything I am expected to accomplish. When I leave work, this is when I unleash stress and vent to my husband and sisters or I try and keep it inside which is not healthy either.\r\n\r\nMy Plan to Strengthen and Change my Life<\/strong>\r\n\r\nAs there are 168 hours in one week, it is important to stay on balance and understand the fine line of saying no and to retain calmness, protect my values and to be happy. I know I need to take more care of myself and need to set personal boundaries and not feel guilty if I say no.\u00a0 Additionally, I need to refocus my energy to lift my inner core and spirit.\u00a0 I need to go for more walks, and exercise as well. In regards to my personal life, I need to assess the time spent with my friends and family and \u00a0not lose sight that personal time is just as important.\r\n\r\nIn regards to my professional career, I realize I am constantly trying to please and accomplish my goals I set on my own, but I need to consider is my current job providing me happiness and am I utilizing all my skill potential? As I understand, the capability to release talent emerges out of how leaders see people and their potential and how they interact with those they lead.\u00a0 Studies show \u201cin an economy where competitive edge relies on the employee skills and knowledge, today\u2019s leaders must know to help individuals unleash their talents and understand what motivates them, what matters most to them and what their strongest abilities are\u201d (Franklin Covey, n.d., p. 1).\u00a0 Currently, I am not acknowledging what is motivating me and what my strongest abilities are; I am simply trying to achieve results to my employer. Moving forward, I need to assess my personal worth and what my strengths and capabilities are and if my current position aligns with it.\r\n\r\nUnderstanding my Strengths and Weaknesses In Order To Move Ahead<\/strong>\r\n\r\nMy strengths of being kind and hardworking and weaknesses of being firm and having challenges to say no may hinder my future leadership credibility. As a transformational leader, I have a strong ability to persevere and to build relationships with people, but I must look and analyze how I portray myself in front of others. For example, if I am continually building relationships with others around me, I may be foreseen as \u201ctoo nice\u201d or the person who will not say \u201cno\u201d. By knowing what my vices are and understanding the characteristics of being respected, I need to practice my self-awareness of my strengths and weaknesses. As a transformational leader, I must analyze what is working well and what is not in my professional and personal life to help shape my future credibility and my character.\r\n\r\nBy strategically planning, envisioning my future, prioritizing my time efficiently, promoting synergy and taking care of myself are all progressive elements to help me to become a stronger servant and transformational leader.\r\n\r\nMy Personal Mission, Vision and Values<\/strong>\r\n\r\nPersonal Vision:<\/strong>\u00a0 Passionate for building and retaining relationships around me. Be true to yourself, build your credibility by being authentic and do not give up. Work hard and listen to yourself.\r\n\r\nPersonal Mission:<\/strong> To fulfill personal and professional accomplishments in life\r\n\r\nMy Positions:<\/strong> Human Resources Professional, Supervisor, Wife, Daughter, Sister and Friend. In each role, I take initiative and perseverance\r\n\r\nMy Gifts:<\/strong> Authenticity, dependable, reliable being a listening ear, seeking and receiving results through my professional and personal life. Working hard- can do attitude and does not give up.\r\n\r\nMy Desires:<\/strong> To find true happiness, to be healthy inside and out and to live my values\r\n\r\nThroughout my leadership path, I \u00a0\u00a0learned I have eight values and virtues: making a difference and influencing change, empathy, achievement, dependability courage, authenticity, persistence and generosity.<\/em>\r\n\r\nMy values and virtues are continually a progress in action and am trying to pertain them in my professional and personal life. \u00a0I have learned values and virtues shape my leadership behavior. Values are so powerful and can stem from me being a little girl and are still alive inside my adulthood. I have discovered I highly admire people who encompass courage, genuine humility and competence.\r\n\r\nMy Strategic Drivers to move ahead<\/strong>\r\n\r\nHughes et al (2014\u00a0) indicate \u201cstrategic drivers are called key success factors\u201d (p. 26). The following strategic drivers will support my strategic thinking and my strategic leadership capabilities.\r\n