Blog Post #3
Who did you interview? What did you learn from your interviews? Be sure to share two or three recurring themes from the interviews.
The three people that I interviewed were an old coworker from a high school job, a coworker from a college job, and a good friend. I really enjoyed getting feedback from all of them, as I had never really done so before. I learned from my co-worker from high school that although I was often shy and timid, she saw leadership qualities in me from a young age. I really appreciated her insight as she has known me since I was 14 years old. I feel as though my leadership abilities did not come to surface until I came to college, so the fact that she recognized them years prior to that really shocked me. One of my co-workers from college talked about how no matter the situation that I am in, I always tend to check on how others are doing throughout any moments of leadership, as many of my leadership opportunities have taken place as an event planner. Another interviewee said that I know not only when to step down and give someone else the reins, but I also give them the proper guidance that they may need. One of the most prominent recurring themes from my interviews was that everyone seemed to agree that I stay calm no matter how hectic any situations may be. Thinking back to situations that I have worked with each one of these individuals, rather it be executing a Thanksgiving dinner for 200 people or managing a staff of 20 people in a busy kitchen, I enjoyed the fact that each interviewee found that I stay calm, and after their feedback, I definitely see it as one of my strengths that I had never considered before.
Which self assessment did you take? What were your results? What did you learn? Do you agree or disagree with your results? Please explain.
I decided to take the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths. My five highest strengths were fairness, teamwork,honesty, judgement and kindness. My five lowest strengths were love of learning, spirituality, self-regulation, appreciation of beauty and excellence, and love. I learned that and came to a realization that there are many adjectives to describe ones strengths. Some happen to be used more often than others, but this specific test had a ride range of options that I may have never considered to use before while describing ones strengths (ie zest or prudence). It’s not that I disagree with the end results that I was given, however I do not think that this was a valuable test to truly find my strengths. What bothered me the most were the multiple questions regarding religion, and as a non-religious person, I found it troubling that this is now considered one of my “weaknesses”, if you will, just because I do not find religion a necessity in my life. I also truly do not believe that the questions were balanced or fair in their wording. As a future educator, having “love of learning” as the last description on my results was kind of troubling. I quickly realized that most of the questions regarding education or learning were always based on treading, and because reading and comprehension have been difficult for my since a young age, it is not a task I enjoy, but I don’t think that that fact alone can determine whether or not I have the love of learning.
