Week 2 Reflections: Who am I?
Welcome back! In last week’s blog, I reflected on how much (or little) we appreciate individual stories within collective systems. For those who missed it, I would recommend watching Chimamanda Adichie’s TED talk centred around The Danger of a Single Story, where she explores an angle of this topic further.
On one of my exploratory journeys…keep looking and you’ll see something different each time. Now imagine the image is me!
Nerd nation here I come
Today I would like to talk about one of the ways that I (and by extension, we) can build self-awareness and use our unique characteristics to interact with and impact the world around us. That is, through assessments. Yes, you read that correctly.
Soft skills assessments and personality tests commonly appear in conversations about recruitment where there is an ongoing debate about whether or not they can accurately and equitably assess a candidate’s fit to a given role. Moving away from applications within formal structures, personality tests and skills assessments can be fun to engage with without an agenda other than just getting to know yourself better.
I have engaged with a number of personality tests and soft skills assessments which have helped me better understand a) the things that matter to me, b) how my brain is wired and c) what skills I should look to develop further. Below I share some key observations and reflections from my results. I hope to use these to support my journey at EFI and beyond.
Side note 1: Although my personal journey has played an important part in shaping who I am today- I am going to shift away from describing who I am in terms of what is ‘visible’ to the world. Rather- as inspired by a few of the texts I have read this week that have (whether implicitly or explicitly) suggesting a need for deeper analysis for deeper topics- I hope to explore some of the underlying factors and patterns that may be less obvious.
Side note 2: Whilst working through my readings for the upcoming Exclusion and Inequality sessions, I paid some attention to the chosen structure and style of each author when portraying inequalities to different audiences. Today I’m going to attempt to apply one of these- starting with an overview, followed by the why, the what and the how. Wish me luck!
Why is this important?
Self-awareness allows us to better understand the drivers behind our thoughts, feelings, behaviours and actions that arise as a result of our experiences through life. In a 2021 article focused on future skills, McKinsey partners uncover 56 foundational skills across four sub-sections (cognitive, interpersonal, self-leadership and digital) that they believe will help citizens thrive in the future of work. Perhaps it is intuitive that self-awareness and self-management made the cut… particularly in a world that is ever-changing and thus one of the only constants seems to be our existence. Arguably, if we do not know who we are on an individual level, our impact on the world (whether positive or negative) is more likely to be passive rather than active.
Earl Kelley’s article The Significance of Being Unique offers a perspective on why each of us being different adds value to society on different levels, if embraced in the right way. Worth noting, is that whilst we are all different in multiple ways focusing on our similarities can perhaps help with initial integration and the bridging of inclusion gaps. A tool that I have found helpful in the past is the Johari Window model which can be used as a starting point to help us understand key differences between how we perceive ourselves versus how we are perceived by others.
Who do the assessments say I am?
I have split the below into three broad categories based on their ‘why’:
- The things that matter to you make a difference (purpose, values, drivers and anchors)
Top resources: I found that a mix of the Myers Briggs personality test, applying lessons from Jennifer Holloway’s personal branding book and composing my own values wheel were most helpful for this exercise.
Key reflections: I am an intentional be-er (yes, I made this phrase up)! You will find me in places where I can explore (and by extension learn new things), add value, embrace the power of the people and create sustainable outcomes
- My brain is different to yours; a reflection on the way we are wired
Top resources: Myers Briggs personality test and Insights Discovery
Key reflections: I found my Myers Briggs personality type to be closer to my subconscious profile on my Insights Discovery results. My conscious profile seemed to portray a more realistic reflection of ‘Maryam at work’. Interesting. Another key reflection for me was that I like simplicity but I work with complexity… I am a contextual (and intuitive) learner and like to put pictures together. I am an empath that likes to think about how complex feelings can be synergised to create sustainable outcomes. I like structure…but not too much. Just enough to stay on the same page/ have a goal/set a direction whilst I explore new spaces.
Interestingly, my Insights Discovery profile recognises me as a creative. This is someone who can change between opposite energy types with little effort. I think much of this is shaped by my environment and circumstances but it does come in handy, particularly when moving countries (!)
- Taking the approach of building your strengths whilst managing development areas can help with progress
Top resources: soft skills circle (shared by JB), feedback from people who have experienced me in diverse settings, competency examples
Key reflections: These exercises have been great in helping me capture my blind spots! I love learning new things so I will be challenging myself to courses and skillsets that are perhaps a bit different to what I have engaged with in the past. However, this doesn’t mean that I want to focus on my ‘weaknesses’. If anything, I’d like to develop my weaknesses (such as attention to detail) just enough for them to not stand in the way. I am more excited about making my strengths stronger! Let’s see how it goes.
If anyone would like links to any of the aforementioned resources, please let me know!
A final note/food for thought
This weeks’ food for thought is about social conditioning. In a world where many of us are educated in similar ways, and formulas for success or frameworks (whether visible or invisible) are set up for us at a young age as to what works and what doesn’t- does self-awareness and our ability to impact the world in a unique way become more or less likely?
I recently watched a Ted talk on creative limits. Often, we talk about ‘thinking outside the box’ when it comes to creativity and innovation but this Ted talk proposed a slightly different approach that is perhaps more in line with the situations, we are likely to find ourselves in today. That is, inspiring creativity because of the box (or due to a set of restrictions/limitations that exist). For example: Twitter restricting it’s character count gave rise to the hashtag. I’d love to hear your reflections! 🙂
I love this post Maryam! Some of my favorite self-assessment tools have actually been the ones that also show how I work with other types of people. I think the one I did was actually done as a group – so the results shows your individual strengths and areas for growth and then showed you in relation to the other members’ skills and areas for growth. “Inspiring creativity because of the box” is really interesting – do you happen to have the link to the Ted Talk you watched please?
Thanks for sharing your reflections Darcie! I love the idea of taking a self-assessment as a group. I’ve done something similar before using the Johari Window model.. do you remember the one you took?
Yes of course, I hope you enjoy- here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xWa3Ok2e94
Maryam, I am both impressed and intimidated by how much self-reflection you have the stomach for. I tend to… well… not. Although I love reading about other people’s reflections and insights into themselves because I find people fascinating. But I guess I prefer to have just enough of a shallow understanding of my own motivations and abilities to get by (and so I don’t sign up for anything that I completely can’t handle).
I’m drawn to the insight you took away from the Ted Talk, though: “inspiring creativity because of the box (or due to a set of restrictions/limitations that exist).” I feel like I’ve run into this a lot over the years both personally (trying to start up a company using minimal resources which forces one to get really creative both in resource usage as well as forming outside partnerships) to what I see around me (because of China’s strict censorship laws, there is a lot of creativity that happens with language and forms of communication on Chinese social media platforms to attempt to circumvent censorship rules). So I definitely find a lot that resonates in this idea.
Theresa, thanks for sharing! Self-reflection was a daunting task for me at first too. I was fortunate enough to come across a coach through the workplace that helped me find methods that worked for me. Definitely a process!
I’d love to hear more about how creativity has manifested for you in these situations i.e. what it has looked and felt like! Perhaps a conversation for us to pick up offline 🙂