Cross-Blog Attention

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Some things might still appear here, but the bulk of my energies are on Xanga.

Net Etiquette

The Internet is something that I've grown up with all my life and is often my preferred method of communication with a lot of friends. At work, though, it plays a far lesser role at my current job since our office has only a few people and most employees work out in the field. Nonetheless, as an office and field person myself, I see the abuse and potential abuse of the technology on a daily basis.

In fact, at my job last year for a University, I saw the effect of web surfing, e-mailing, and instant messaging on the workforce there and the corresponding productivity. As a supervisor, it was fine line since many times, people in the office were volunteering their time or staying after their normal work hours to finish homework or wait until a meeting. Still, it does not negate the fact that such activities can be distracting to others and tax the resources of the network and computing services, especially with a limited number of available computers.

A couple of times, office policies were considered and some were put into place. When someone is on the clock, using instant messenger is inappropriate in a single-location office setting like my past work environment. While potentially useful for conferencing, especially with global contacts, it is out of place when all the employees are within the same series of rooms. E-mail can be a sensitive topic, but it is often quite clear what pertains to work and what can be saved for another time.

Perhaps the most cut-and-dried category is personal web surfing since it is so easy seen by others on the screen. For an organization that served the public and often had students and faculty members stopping by, it was an issue that was clearly dealt with as something inappropriate for work times. During evening hours when the office was used for hanging out, it was a different story, but it was made clear to all users of the office that it was necessary to project a professional appearance.

Finally, when not everyone has access to a computer or when printing capacity is limited, a policy was put in place that the most critical tasks were to be put ahead of less important tasks and especially any kind of personal computer use. In an environment where not every computer has all the software or all the hardware available, it is simply necessary to budget these resources wisely.

Self Analysis III

Tool Selected: What’s My Emotional Intelligence Score?

The emotional intelligence test measures the ability of people to deal with the world around them, handling their emotions and interacting with the world in a healthy way. This test by Daniel Goleman was published in his book on Emotional Intelligence. Almost 10 years later, he wrote Primal Leadership, but he wrote this book on EI out of a response almost to the world’s love of the IQ test when he felt that it greatly missed many characteristics of people that relate critically to their overall success in this world.

Bringing this topic to what was discussed in class; we discussed the role of different intelligences in groups and the importance of balancing technical strengths with interpersonal strengths to form resilient teams that could best handle challenges facing the team. This kind of corporate awareness of personalities is a key development as companies move away from strictly IQ or knowledge-based metrics of individuals to metrics that strive to capture other elements of intelligence.

Analysis of Self

My score placed me a point below what Goleman determined as a “high” emotional intelligence. Like the other tests, this result comes as no surprise to me. In fact, I would venture to guess that my score has leapt dramatically in the last two years as events in my life have brought about a tremendous amount of awareness of the surrounding world and later a growth in my own self-awareness. These factors together have developed my emotional intelligence, yet I realize how much there is still to grow.

Action Plan

In an interview with Daniel Goleman, the editors of Inc. Magazine ask the following question and receive his reply:

Inc. : You've found that emotional abilities can be learned. Does this mean we can all work on what you call our "emotional competencies" and get better at them?
Goleman: And even beyond that. Follow-up studies--five years later--show not only that those improvements hold up over time on the job, but that people also start to improve on their own in new areas as well.

Stepping directly from his point, my SMART goals are as follows:

• Write weekly in a journal on the topic of personal development, noting specifically non-technical aspects such as interpersonal skills, communication skills, and sensitivity. Periodically review past entries to monitor progress.
• Read at least one book on the topic this year by Daniel Goleman and post a review on Amazon.com by December 31^st.

Sources

Goleman, Daniel, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, New York: Bantam Books, 1995.

This book sparked a worldwide discussion of emotional intelligence in the business world and soon led to conferences on the topic.

Ibid, Working with Emotional Intelligence, New York: Bantam Books, 1998.

Goleman followed up his 78-week bestseller with this book to answer many of the questions that arose following the release of his first book and provides many tools in an applied sense.

“Open Books Management,” Inc. Staff, Inc. Magazine, August 1999, http://www.inc.com/magazine/19990801/827.html.

This article discusses both of Goleman’s books and includes the interview quoted above between the staff and Goleman.

Self Analysis II

Tool Selected: Am I a Type-A?

If only two personalities existed, this tool would be indispensable in distinguishing the two. It operates on the assumption that two basic personalities do exist, the Type-A and the Type-B. According to the test results, people who “are always moving, walking, and eating rapidly” or “strive to do two or more things at once” are considered Type-A personalities. The reverse, Type-B personalities, feel the opposite about this frantic approach to life. The tool itself comes from a scale printed in the Journal of Chronic Diseases.

As discussed in class, group dynamics relate closely to the personalities of the group. In an effort to best balance membership, it is important to consider personalities, and the Type-A/B split is a useful one. Having too many Type-A personalities may result in a flurry of activity without a methodical undertone that many Type-B personalities tend to provide.

Analysis of Self

According to the analysis, my score of 102 placed me as having an A- personality type. The scale does not “value” personalities as being better than one another, rather it gives a warning that Type-A people should observe the “tendency to focus on quantity over quality.” This score does not surprise me in the least since I have found myself to possess these traits described by the test. In fact, in the book, The Wisdom of the Enneagram: The Complete Guide to Psychological and Spiritual Growth for the Nine Personality Types, my personality type was 3, The Achiever.

The effect is that many times, I find myself trying to do too much and racing around at the last minute to take care of the things to which I have committed. This can indeed lead to quantity over quality.

Action Plan

As a result, my action plan to address these concerns includes the following goals:

• Each week, complete one project for work or school at least one full day before it is due.
• Since Type-A people have a higher rate of heart disease (Counihan, 2003) and I have a family history of heart disease, I will consciously monitor my cholesterol intake and exercise at the YMCA for one hour twice each week, despite my physically involving job.
• To keep from overload, I will invoke a 24-hour consideration period to contemplate whether a new opportunity or position is worth the time it would consume.

Journal of Chronic Diseases, June 1969, R.W Bortner, "Short Rating Scale as a Potential Measure of Pattern A Behavior," pp. 87-91.

This was the source for the self-assessment test.

Riso, Don Richard and Hudson, Russ. The Wisdom of the Enneagram : The Complete Guide to Psychological and Spiritual Growth for the Nine Personality Types. 1999. Bantam.

This book provides tests and analyses for the nine personality types they identified. Again, I’m a 3, the achiever.

Psychosomatic Medicine, July 2003. Peter Counihan, MD, preventive cardiologist, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

This study found that Type-A personalities are more likely to suffer from heart disease than the public at-large and recommended exercise to reduce stress.

Self Analysis I

Tool Selected: How Good Am I At Building and Leading a Team?

This leadership self-analysis tool examines how you would organize and interact with a team as a leader. Many of the questions related to an individual’s sense of organization and depth of addressing fundamental leadership tasks in a group. To this end, the questions ask what you would do to connect with the group and engage them as a team. The second half of the questions related to results and what kinds of approaches you would take to make things happen.

The topic of team work has played a prominent role in our classroom discussion this semester, particularly the Manager’s Hot Seat exercise where we analyzed a meeting that suffered from a number of commonly seen problems in today’s workforce. In the tool, a measurement of the leader’s “team work aptitude” is noticeable as it queries whether the leader is communicating with the team members, motivating them, and actively seeking feedback.

Analysis of Self

The score I received was a 90, placing me in the upper end of the second quartile. On the whole, I felt this was a fair representation of my abilities as a leader, but I also noted some kinds of leaders that this test favored. For example, one of the questions asked if you articulate a clear, exciting, passionate vision of/for the team. I believe that there are excellent leaders that would shy away from doing something like that. In Good to Great, Jim Collins writes about companies that focused first on getting the right people on the bus before figuring out where the bus is going.

To shrink that down to a team or meeting level, versus and entire corporate management team, the principle still seems to apply. Get the right people in the room then facilitate a discussion that will lead to a clear vision that the team members will buy into, an attitude that I share.

Personally, I realize that I am a very young leader and have a lot to develop. While seeking feedback is a strength of mine, an unhealthy habit of mine is trying to do tasks myself. Simply recognizing this has already helped me in sharing tasks, responsibility, and authority.

With regard to feedback, my experience is that it relates partly to a fear of mine – that of leading and striking out in a direction only to look back and see no one is coming along. To hedge against this, my tendency is to constantly ask how people are doing and what they are up for. Sometimes, though, I have found that I need to escape this fear and require people to do things they may not want to do, regardless of how I may be viewed in the process.

As we saw in class, there are many different ways to crack the leadership nut. My own style is just that – my way of leading. At the same time, covering the fundamentals is critical. Beyond that, there is plenty of variation witnessed among effective leaders, often relating to personality.

Returning to my strengths and weaknesses, there are two action plans to follow. First, to become a more assertive leader and overcome my youth, I have outlined my SMART goals below:

• Set an example by getting to work on time or early this month.
• Practice 2 training sessions beforehand on Sunday nights in both Spanish and English in front of the mirror.

Second, my other goal is to become a Level 5 leader as described in Good to Great by Jim Collins. This kind of leader embodies the fundamental leadership quality but places the company’s goals above his or her own personal agenda. To achieve this, my goals are as follows:

• Refrain from personal use of the computer and Internet except during the designated break times at my workplace.
• Make a conscious effort to always include a co-worker at meetings with outside vendors and consultants to better distribute information and share decision-making. Note by May 1 the effects of this effort and ways to improve it.

D.A. Whetten and K.S. Cameron, Developing Management Skills, 3rd ed. (New York: HarperCollins, 1995), pp. 534-35.

A Tribute to Christina

My sister Christina turned 12 today! We shared a great family time talking at the table after her birthday dinner about her early moments of life. My mom touching her for a moment before she was wisked away to the NICU to stay in a plastic incubator until after a couple of weeks she could move into a regular hospital room and finally home.

She is an inspiration to live with and an inspiration to so many people that meet her. Never ever letting her physical struggles deter her from doing what she wants, she has a powerful spirit about her that makes me think. I had surgery a couple of times and remember how painful that was. She has had many surgeries relating to her premature birth. In fact, she's preparing for another one now. Recently, she's received Botox to relax her leg muscles then gets the leg casted into a stretched position, a procedure that's very painful for her to go through.

Your courage is motivating and uplifting, and your love of God is humbling. Christina, I love you and thank you for all the lessons you have taught me.

Introspection

Is it because I started blogging that I became more introspective? I've noticed this lately, but I think it's been a long time coming. Going to college encouraged me to think about things I had never thought about before. This week, I had a lot of pillow chatter with some deep questions, and this topic came up several times.

Coming into college, I knew plenty of technical topics and so on, but I really needed to learn about many other aspects of "intelligence." Here's one of them: emotional intelligence. I took this test on Prevention.com. No, I don't visit their often. This is what they told me:

You can cope with some emotional curveballs, but your reserves need bolstering. Physical symptoms such as headaches or stomachaches "are often your body's way of telling you you're on emotional overload," says Ann Webster, PhD, a health psychologist at the Mind/Body Medical Institute at Harvard Medical School.

I can sort of see what they're getting at, but with just a few questions, it's not very complete. Basically, I'm quite imperfect in the area. So I took another test by the HayGroup. I scored a 65 out of 100, whatever that means.

So here's what got me thinking. This is question 8, then the next paragraph is what they say on the answer page. I answered D. I just thought this was interesting in light of a recent conversation and what they recommend for action.

8. A discussion between you and your partner has escalated into a shouting match. You are both upset and in the heat of the argument, start making personal attacks which neither of you really mean. What is the best thing to do?
A. Agree to take a 20-minute break before continuing the discussion.
B. Go silent, regardless of what your partner says.
C. Say you are sorry, and ask your partner to apologize too.
D. Stop for a moment, collect your thoughts, then restate your side of the case as precisely as possible.

8. The shouting match:
The most emotionally intelligent answer is A. In these circumstances, the most appropriate behavior is to take a 20-minute break. As the argument has intensified, so have the physiological responses in your nervous system, to the point at which it will take at least 20 minutes to clear your body of these emotions of anger and arousal. Any other course of action is likely merely to aggravate an already tense and
uncontrolled situation.

[A] 10 Points - Agree to take a 20-minute break before continuing the discussion. [Correct Answer]
[B] 0 Points - Go silent, regardless of what your partner says.
[C] 0 Points - Say you are sorry, and ask your partner to apologize too.
[D] 0 Points - Stop for a moment, collect your thoughts, then restate your side of the case as precisely as possible. [My Answer]

Graphic Designers

Today I feel badly for graphic designers because I can't imagine having to be creative and imaginative every day! Today is one of those days where I don't have a particular drive to make something, do something, go somewhere, etc. When I really need to feel motivated to do homework! At any rate...

The CTL website is in the middle of a redesign, especially in light of the recruiting efforts we're putting on to hire people. The whole effort is closely aligned with our overhauling of the company from the inside out with a tremendous amount of money and effort being invested.

Well, writing this is motivating in and of itself. :) Thanks for reading.