Five elements LLP Personal reflections
Andrew Kemp
Throughout the duration of the first summer semester of 2013 at Okanagan College, I have been challenged by Organizational Behaviour (BUAD 262) to learn both the course material on top of learning about myself. Through “Active Learning” exercises, “Learning About Yourself” exercises and interactions with my classmates I have been able to establish a number of key skills and attitudes that will allow me to thrive in the workplace of today: leadership skills, communication skills and a strong work ethic.
I believe that the core of my leadership skills lies in from what Strengthquest demonstrated to be one of my greatest strengths; empathy. My ability to remain empathic under numerous circumstances has always given me a clearer view of how people like to be treated, what people expect in difficult scenarios and what people expect from me. Leaders in today’s workplace must be able to see both sides of a situation or problem and react accordingly, instead of simply acting upon what seems to be the obvious choice at first. |
Leaders also need to strive for win-win solutions when dealing with conflict and since my conflict-handling style, demonstrated by the “Learning About Yourself” exercise on page 222 of Fundamentals of Organizational Behaviour (Fourth Edition), is problem solving, I feel confident in being able to find the best solution to problems that arise if I find myself in a position of leadership.
Another one of my key skills, also defined by my Top five strengths in Strengthquest, was my communication skills. Being a person to never shy away from social situations or public speaking has given me the ability to communicate my opinions and feelings clearly to those around me, enhancing the sending of my messages in the Communication Process Model and reducing noise that would otherwise distort the encoding of the messages. Clear communication with co-workers, bosses and subordinates in today’s workplace is vital when trying to define tasks at hand.
The final key skill that I believe I have that will allow me to thrive in today’s workplace is my ability to work hard and go above and beyond the expectations of any task I undertake. When I begin working on an important work or school-related task, I usually don’t ask myself “how can I get this done in as little time as possible” but “how can I get this done to the best of my ability in the time given.” While both positions have their merits under certain scenarios, I always strive for excellence and completeness in my work over speed, because I believe the work an individual puts forward is a reflection of the individual themself. My Stengthquest also supports the idea that I am a hard worker because one of my top five was “achiever”, which is defined by a constant need to accomplish tasks well. Having a strong work ethic is vital to both employees and managers of companies because if employees do not work hard, it is unlikely that they will get work done in a timely manner, while if managers do not work hard, it is unlikely that employees will be motivated to work efficiently because the manager is not leading by example.
Another one of my key skills, also defined by my Top five strengths in Strengthquest, was my communication skills. Being a person to never shy away from social situations or public speaking has given me the ability to communicate my opinions and feelings clearly to those around me, enhancing the sending of my messages in the Communication Process Model and reducing noise that would otherwise distort the encoding of the messages. Clear communication with co-workers, bosses and subordinates in today’s workplace is vital when trying to define tasks at hand.
The final key skill that I believe I have that will allow me to thrive in today’s workplace is my ability to work hard and go above and beyond the expectations of any task I undertake. When I begin working on an important work or school-related task, I usually don’t ask myself “how can I get this done in as little time as possible” but “how can I get this done to the best of my ability in the time given.” While both positions have their merits under certain scenarios, I always strive for excellence and completeness in my work over speed, because I believe the work an individual puts forward is a reflection of the individual themself. My Stengthquest also supports the idea that I am a hard worker because one of my top five was “achiever”, which is defined by a constant need to accomplish tasks well. Having a strong work ethic is vital to both employees and managers of companies because if employees do not work hard, it is unlikely that they will get work done in a timely manner, while if managers do not work hard, it is unlikely that employees will be motivated to work efficiently because the manager is not leading by example.
Jenna Richardson
My strengths as an individual include that I’m hard-working, optimistic, task-oriented, and a people-pleaser. For my Strengthquest results, my top five strength descriptions and strengths at a glance included positivity, responsibility, focus, harmony, and empathy. These strengths coincide with the strengths that I identified first. Optimism and positivity go hand in hand, while hard-working and focus do as well. My conflict handling style turned out to be compromising which also relates to my strengths. I think I like to please people so I will give up something if it means pleasing the other party, which relates to compromising.
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Tianyi Zhang
In this summer, I take OB course. We have a five-member group and learn how to run a team, learn together, and improve ourselves. Everyone find their own ability in this group. English is my second language, so my leader helps me a lots. I am tried to do my best and ask what I should improve. I set my goal and to achieve. I learn from the OB book that a manager should know the clear goal and attain. Also, I follow my leader’s order and compliance to group decision. Good team should have good member to support their work and idea. We communicate with each other and make sure everyone’s idea is same. In addition, I create group empowerment. Giving group member motivation and encourage them to finish project. I suppose to give them a good job satisfaction and comfortable environment.
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Joginder Sidhu
As an individual, I consider myself as a really good learner and able to adapt really quickly according to situation, which make me really different from everyone else. For my strengths quest result and similar exercises done in other courses I have figured out my strengths are self manager, motivation/drive and number proficiency. I think, self managing and motivation qualities are interrelated to each other. Because internal motivation acts as fuel, that encourages me to take control of the situation and manages everything. Among those qualities, I think number proficiency is the most important in my carrier. Because I am graduating from accounting this semester, number proficiency strength will be helpful in achieving career goals.
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Personal Reflection Strengths in the Workplace
To summarize all of the group members’ key skills and attitudes that will allow them to thrive in today’s workplace, we have decided to relate our strengths to where they would be most valueable in an actual company; our theoretical company, Five Elements LLP.
Because Jenna demonstrates strengths in the areas of positivity, optimism, empathy and is an all-round people-pleaser, our group feels that Jenna would perfectly fill the role of the leading human resources representative for the company. The way she always seeks positive outcomes in every scenario and her abilities to always see the best in people while remaining empathetic would allow her to excel in this position.
Joginder has an uncanny ability to self-manage himself while completing tasks and when this ability pairs with his strong drive and motivation for success and his proficiency with logic and numbers, it is clear that he would be an ideal candidate for the Comptroller or Chief Audit Executive of Five Elements LLP. Joginder’s proficiency with numbers stems from his effective analytical, problem solving and decision making skills that would be key in this position and his strong motivation to succeed would likely be a driving factor during the busy tax season where accounting teams regularly have to put in long hours.
Although Tianyi does not necessarily seek a position in upper management of a company, he has always prided himself on his ability to follow directions and comply to predetermined standards. He is also very goal-oriented and enjoys empowering those around him so everyone can work together to accomplish exceptional amounts of work. For these reasons, Tianyi would fit perfectly into the position of a Five Elements LLP Branch Manager. By empowering his employees and demonstrating consistent adherence to company goals and visions through leadership and hard work, Tianyi would fit easily into this role.
Because Andrew enjoys interacting with customers and employees, demonstrates strong leadership skills and constantly strives towards going above and beyond goals, Andrew would fit in well as the Chief Executive Officer of Five Elements LLP. His creativity, charisma and social skills would likely also do him well in the field of public relations because he enjoys meeting clients/customers, forming relationships and is confident in his abilities to deal with conflict if such situations arise. Andrew’s use of empathy as a leader would also come into play if problems arose with employees, as he would be able to judge their actions not just by his own perspective, but by getting a feel for what the rest of the company’s employees feel as well.
To summarize all of the group members’ key skills and attitudes that will allow them to thrive in today’s workplace, we have decided to relate our strengths to where they would be most valueable in an actual company; our theoretical company, Five Elements LLP.
Because Jenna demonstrates strengths in the areas of positivity, optimism, empathy and is an all-round people-pleaser, our group feels that Jenna would perfectly fill the role of the leading human resources representative for the company. The way she always seeks positive outcomes in every scenario and her abilities to always see the best in people while remaining empathetic would allow her to excel in this position.
Joginder has an uncanny ability to self-manage himself while completing tasks and when this ability pairs with his strong drive and motivation for success and his proficiency with logic and numbers, it is clear that he would be an ideal candidate for the Comptroller or Chief Audit Executive of Five Elements LLP. Joginder’s proficiency with numbers stems from his effective analytical, problem solving and decision making skills that would be key in this position and his strong motivation to succeed would likely be a driving factor during the busy tax season where accounting teams regularly have to put in long hours.
Although Tianyi does not necessarily seek a position in upper management of a company, he has always prided himself on his ability to follow directions and comply to predetermined standards. He is also very goal-oriented and enjoys empowering those around him so everyone can work together to accomplish exceptional amounts of work. For these reasons, Tianyi would fit perfectly into the position of a Five Elements LLP Branch Manager. By empowering his employees and demonstrating consistent adherence to company goals and visions through leadership and hard work, Tianyi would fit easily into this role.
Because Andrew enjoys interacting with customers and employees, demonstrates strong leadership skills and constantly strives towards going above and beyond goals, Andrew would fit in well as the Chief Executive Officer of Five Elements LLP. His creativity, charisma and social skills would likely also do him well in the field of public relations because he enjoys meeting clients/customers, forming relationships and is confident in his abilities to deal with conflict if such situations arise. Andrew’s use of empathy as a leader would also come into play if problems arose with employees, as he would be able to judge their actions not just by his own perspective, but by getting a feel for what the rest of the company’s employees feel as well.