Importance of Self-Awareness - Essay Example

Running header: Learning for Business Success 2 Student’s Name: Name of Institution: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Date of Submission: Introduction This paper is a section of my reflective journal. Here I present my experience with 4BU006: Learning for Business Success. My Progress Against My Action Plan The most important component of my action plan was to utilize time. Unfortunately, I realized that my plan left so much time unaccounted for. For instance, in one particular week I discovered that I had a time balance of 40 hours. This was more than one and a half days of unaccounted-for time. This was poor time management. I believe this was partly attributable to my nature of ‘over-brainstorming’. When I am given a task, I don’t get straight to it. Instead, I take time to think it over before setting down to work. Although this ‘slow contemplation’ is positive, I realize now that I don’t have unlimited time for unchecked ‘slowness’. This has especially been a great liability in urgent assignments. Another failure against my original action plan has been to do with group work. It has always taken me some time to warm up to and feel comfortable around people I have not always interacted with directly. This ‘aloof’ side of me worked against me in the initial stages of group work. Luckily, I realized early enough that this was not helping, so I have had to adjust quickly if I was going to gain from the group work. My New Action Plan It is clear that my initial plan is not working. I realize that I’m not getting the best that I should be able to get in my studies. But it is clear that poor time management and inadequate knowledge about myself, self-awareness, are part of the problem. As I have mentioned above, as some critics of Belbin’s theory, I have noticed that I don’t fit in any one particular team role. Instead, I seem to have a number of these team attributes. My plan on this is to discover which one is my strongest and nurture it above the rest. But I can only make this discovery by putting each in practice in real group situations and study how people respond. But I am also open to the possibility that each of these attributes may be valuable at different times and in different situations or circumstances. This would then require that I find a way to reconcile them so they can all work for me at different times. To deal with this, I have been working on a ‘personal’ model that seems to be working so far. Depending on the urgency of a task, I get on with work and think as I go. This is not a deviation from Brockbank & McGill’s (1998) five dimensions of reflection. I have only shortened the time. Infact, I have realized that this method even has more advantages. One, I see the problem even more clearly as I interact with it one-on-one. Two, in the end, I don’t have to do many drafts. I arrive at a satisfactory work in about the second time. So far, this technique has been experimental. But it seems good enough to work with. Other Things I Have Learnt in Class I have learnt many other things in the course of this module. Not only have I learnt these things as independent concepts but also their interrelatedness. For instance, I have come to see the centrality of time management to team work, problem solving, and reflection. De Bono proposes what he refers to ‘six thinking hats’. These are basically stages that the mind goes through in the process of finding a solution to a problem. But it must be emphasizes that there is no limitless time. Perhaps the whole of this process can best be summarized as ‘reflection’. Daudelin (1996) defines reflection as the process where one steps back from a situation to consider and ponder carefully and persistently what it, the experience, really meant to him/her. This is not only important in the sense that it makes one consider different options for problem solving, but also check the efficacy of the proposed problem solving tool and technique. Group work is one such a problem-context. A group consists of different people who may have different ideas on different matters. It is not only the place of the group leader, but all the members to consider and debate on the various proposals and consider the one with better solution that the rest. This involves: investigating images and metaphors; recognize assumptions of situations and people; interrogate familiar situations; listen to other views; and take a broader view. All these must be carried out with time in mind. No particular process should be given more than necessary time. Additional Resources, Theory and Evidence Between the 14th and 24th weeks, I learnt a lot of other things. One of them is ‘creativity’. Creativity is basically defined as a mental characteristic that enhances one’s ability to think beyond the normal situation. It therefore facilitates various innovative approaches to tasks. It is further noted that one is both naturally endowed with it. However, one must nurture it to grow. There are mainly four methods by which one can develop his/her creativity: brainstorming, mind-mapping, metaphors, attribute listing and daydreaming. These are based on the four-quadrant Hermann model to explain brain dominance, Herman explains the process of creativity (Herman 2003). There is also the study on negotiation skills. This involves bringing at a consensus two people with conflicting interests. While some people are good at negotiating and bringing different voices together, others are because they are self-indulgent. Reflective Blog Week 14 and15 The classes in the 14th and 15th weeks have been on Teamworking and Time Management respectively. On Team working, I learnt the types and benefits of teamwork. But besides that I learnt about the stages of team development and I started to understand that some of the difficulties I have witnessed in group projects are natural, especially the ‘storming’ stage. I have also understood why a group I once belonged performed poorly in presentation. I remember that we divided sections of our assignment amongst ourselves. Each of us prepared and presented his and her section. As it were, that had not been a team, but a group of ‘individuals’. The professor must have sensed it, as I did, in the fragmented presentation. We did not work on a common objective. But there should always be a proper allocation of time for everything. Conflict must be handled properly so it does not waste so much of personal and group time. Week 16 and 17 Problem solving works hand-in-hand with decision making. Gardner (1993) regards the ability to solve problems as intelligence. Like I have mentioned, I usually take so much time brainstorming before I get to drafting. Unfortunately, when I finally realize time is running out, my problems grow even more complicated. Now I have realized that I normally get a clearer picture when dealing with a visual work, e.g. a draft. Now I prefer to do my brainstorming on paper and work on the draft as I seek my solution. The IT topic was a guide on online material relevant for my studies. Through it I have found invaluable material that will really boost my studies and knowledge in general. Week 18 and 19 Reviewing Literature involves critical thinking that helps formulate the right questions. Critical reading and thinking help assess the strengths of class literature, their applicability and the relevance of presented evidence (Horn 2008). It is only on these that logical judgment and valid decision can be made. The internet provides a large number of materials. Through some of the skills I have learnt here, I am able to pick the right material and save much time. Negotiating generally means reconciling different people and viewpoints to arrive at a common objective. This involves both persuasion and finding a compromise. Negotiation skills are especially valuable in group work. However, one should note that negotiation does not mean accepting everyone and everything. It means making everyone and thought matter, even as you logically and respectfully discard those that are irrelevant. I will keep this in mind in the coming group works. Week 20 and 21 With LBS headed towards its final lap, the Final IT session conducted in week 20 has been a platform to get students’ feedback on PebblePad to help the school improve the module. It has also been meant for students to get direct feedback from their IT tutors. For me, feedback is an important tool by which to assess myself and achieve self-awareness. My plan is to keep seeking feedbacks from not only my tutors (even in other classes), but also my peers, in groups or not. My strongest points would be part of what makes up my Creativity, week 21. Through feedback, I can know my creativity, as well as how to improve them. Week 22 and 23 Attending this class has been of great importance to me. Most importantly, I have become conscious about myself and how I can use that to boost myself as a person and a student, as well as my career. This consciousness has helped me notice the limitations of my initial aloofness. Initially I did not think it mattered. But now, for what Robert and Caspi (2002) simply refers to as ‘contingencies’, I do. Indeed, my self-consciousness is my biggest strength. Upon it, rests my self-marketing. Besides, how would I market what I do not know? Now I can draw a more accurate personal profile and CV. Week 24 This week I have been reflecting on the significance of this class. The whole of this Reflective Blog has been my personal reflection on myself in relation to this class, my peers and all other people with whom I interact. This is part of my reflective journal, which according to Riley-Douchet & Wilson (2008), is one of the three steps to attaining self-awareness. Conclusion The most important lesson I have taken with me is the one on ‘self-awareness’. I am now conscious of myself and trying to find a way to use this ‘self’ to help both my academic and future career development. This is the key foundation upon which I am going to build ‘me’. I have a clearer view of where I am going and what I want. Attaining my ‘self awareness’ is my primary action plan. Bibliography Daaudelin, M. (1996). Learning From Experience Through Reflection. De Bono, E. (1999). Six Thinking Hats. Back Bay Books Education. Buckingham: SRHE & Open University Press. Hermann, N. (2000). The Theory Behind the HBDI and the Whole Brain Technology, of Self-Information. Retrieved 2 March 2012 from http://cogprints.org/2485/ Brockbank, A. & McGill, I., (1998). Facilitating Reflective Learning in Higher Organizational Dynamics, American Management Association. 24(3), pp.36-48 Personality Development: Striking a Balance Between Continuity and Change in Personality Traits Across the Life Course. University of Illinois: Champaign. Retrieved 2 March 2012 from http://internal.psychology.illinois.edu/~broberts/cumulative%20continuity%20cha pter.pdf Gardner, H., 1993. Multiple Intelligences: The Theory in Practice. New York: basic Books. Horn, R., 2008. The Business Skills Handbook. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Riley-Douchet, C. & Wilson, S. (2008). A Three-Step Method of Self-Reflection Using Reflective Journal Writing. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 25(5), pp.964– 968 Roberts, B. W. & Caspi, A. (2002). The Cumulative Continuity Model of Self-Consciousness, and Self-Knowledge: An Hypothesis. New Ideas in Psychology, 8(3), pp. 337–356. The HBDI Accreditation Process. Hermann International. Retrieved 2 March 2012 from http://www.incitestrategiesinc.com/docs/TheTheoryBehindHBDI.pdf.1-3 Morin, Read More