Visualizing my Values

I recently took part in an emotional intelligence assessment tool designed by 6 Seconds to help me determine my emotional intelligence strengths and weaknesses. The test was relatively painless, and I found that I have strengths in the following areas of Emotional Intelligence:

• Exercise Intrinsic Motivation - I have internal drive and motivation that moves me forward.
• Exercise Optimism - I believe that my efforts now can influence what happens in the future.
• Pursue Noble Goals - I am goal-oriented - my long-term goals shape my decisions and actions.

I think I already intuitively knew that I had some of these strengths, and it was helpful to have them validated and emphasized. It is easier to benefit from something if you can name and focus on it.

Creating My Personal Compass
I followed up on my results with with Tracey Austin, an extremely well-credentialed, experienced coach at Franklin University. In our coaching session, he suggested that I create an image that shows my "True North Star," something that helps me to maintain focus on what is truly important to me. I decided to call it my Personal Compass. 

My Personal Compass for a successful life.

Explaining the Compass
I am not completely satisfied with it, but I think the "compass" above captures most of what is important to me. My purpose is to achieve success, the inner circle. I define success as godliness and the aspiration to become godly. Godliness in action is obedience to God and service to the people around me. I certainly do not assert that I am a godly person, but I try to work toward that ideal - I do all I can to live the life of a follower of Christ.

The middle circle indicates the four areas of my life in which success is critical: myself, my family, my church, and my employer. I have set standards of living for each of these areas, and I constantly set goals and work toward success in each. I believe that if I am diligent and true to these priorities, they will point me to a successful, happy life.

The outer circle represents my values, or the means through which success should be achieved. To be successful, I endeavor to dream and envision my desired future, I work hard to reach my goals, persist in my efforts, achieve successes, create opportunities for myself and others, believe in God and in myself, serve the people around me, and always have fun in my work.

I think the image captures my values and priorities - I will probably adjust it as time goes on. At some point, I'll frame the image in my office so that I can refer to it daily. Thanks to 6 Seconds and to Tracey for helping me become more self-aware and move forward in my goals!

Team "Ice Breaker" - Affirming Strengths

I recently attended a day-long retreat with the my coworkers, members of the Department of Social and Natural Sciences at Franklin University. To begin the retreat, the facilitator did an "ice-breaker" activity that I thought was well-conceived and motivating. I'll describe the list below and share what happened for me in the activity.

The Activity: Identifying Peer Strengths
In this activity, each member of the group takes a turn receiving feedback from their peers for one minute. When it is your turn, all other members of the group share a strength or positive characteristic that they have noticed in the individual. This goes on for one minute, and the individual writes down all of the comments from their peers.

This kind of activity is unique and important because it takes what is called an "appreciative" stance - it focuses on what is working, on the positive characteristics of an individual or group, their strengths. I have done similar activities before, and I very often come away from the activity feeling energized and affirmed.

My Strengths
According to my coworkers at Franklin, the following are my own strengths and positive characteristics. I'll write them out as I wrote them during the session. They might not be totally cohesive, but you will hopefully get a feel for the strength of the exercise:

• Resilient
• Funny, friendly
• Positive
• Creative, solution-finder
• Persistent
• Flexible
• Adaptive to changing environment
• Student-centered
• Organized
• Articulate
• Forward-thinking
• Warm/welcoming, friendly
• Not antagonistic
• Hard working
• Thoughtful
• Good whistler*

My Thoughts on the Experience
This was a good way to reaffirm some of the things that I might do well. It helped me see how I am perceived by my peers, somewhat, and helped me to recognize some of the things that I didn't realize I was good at.

Of course, to move forward successfully, we must also address, manage and correct our weaknesses and problems. However, in my experience, by focusing most of my energy on the positive and on the things that I do well, I achieve a more positive identity and am able to move forward using what comes more naturally to me.

I definitely recommend trying this activity out at a team meeting - it is a good way to help reset the focus of the organization, particularly when a spirit of negativity or criticism may be pervasive.

* This comment was made by my coworker whose office is next to mine. I hope I am a good whistler, mainly because I do find myself whistling often during the day. Actually, I once had a college roommate who was angry because I would whistle in the morning as I prepared for classes while he was still asleep. If you are reading, former roommate, I apologize.