A641.8.3.RB - Personal Balance Sheet

“Being an authentic leader is . . . . part of a journey of personal growth we take throughout our lives–in the challenges we face, the individuals we encounter, and our ability to adapt and affect change. Personal growth develops you as a leader and motivates you to strive for excellence and not mediocrity” (Dowden, 2015, para. 10).  Personal development is a critical part of becoming an effective leader. A leader has to continuously challenge themself to be more authentic, more genuine, and more compassionate. There are many tools available for personal and leadership development such as self assessments, 360-degree assessments, leadership blindspot assessments, and emotional intelligence assessments (Schiavone, 2018).  McKee, Boyatzis, and Johnston (2008) suggested that creating a personal balance sheet is a good way to take stock of personal assets and liabilities. The book, Becoming a Resonant Leader: Develop Your Emotional Intelligence, Renew Your Relationships, Sustain Your Effectiveness, provides an exercise that outlines the process of creating a personal balance sheet (p. 150).

The first section of the Personal Balance Sheet exercise stated that I was to write down my strengths and weaknesses.  I made a short list of my strengths: I am diligent, compassionate, caring, a good listener, willing to help out anybody in need, and firm in my convictions.  However, my weaknesses include that I am uncomfortable with confrontation and conflict, I often am not a great communicator, I have a hard time speaking my mind especially when my point of view is unpopular or different, and I get bored fairly easily.

The next section of the exercise is about potential strengths and weaknesses I want to change.  My potential strengths, things I could do better if I focus on them or make a conscious effort to improve them, include: the potential to be a great coach and a great leader; with a little effort and going outside my comfort zone I am comfortable with people and quickly able to build relationships; and with focused attention I can read people’s emotions fairly well.  Weaknesses that I want to change include all of those I listed in the previous section: I want to become more comfortable expressing my opinion even when it conflicts with the opinions of others, I want to be able to communicate my thoughts, ideas, and feelings even when they go against what others might think and feel.  

When I got to the section about enduring dispositions I actually listed the fact that I get bored easily as an enduring disposition that supports me, despite having it listed as a weakness.  The reason I believe that it supports me is that when I do get bored find creative ways to keep myself engaged. Boredom moves me to action. That is one of the reasons I am taking courses currently; I started getting bored with my job, and I found that learning makes me feel that I am still developing in some way, even when my job is no longer exciting.  So, I consider the fact that I bored easily as an enduring disposition that supports me.  

The primary enduring disposition that sometimes gets in my way is what I have mentioned before, my non-confrontational personality.  I have been that way for as long as I can remember. I think it is a combination of a non-confrontational personality and total respect for others.  I respect others’ opinions so much that sometimes I feel I am showing disrespect by offering my opposing viewpoint. This has harmed me at times when I have failed to make suggestions or propose ideas during brainstorming sessions.  However, I feel that over the last few years I have become much more comfortable expressing myself, but I still have a long way to go.

I think one of the keys that has helped me to change and become more willing to express myself and share my opinions has been visualization.  As I have imagined and visualized the behaviors I want to turn into habits it has helped me to change my behaviors. “Recent neuroscience has revealed that when we imagine ourselves doing a particular habit it activates many of the same regions in our brain as when we are physically doing that same habit. This is strong evidence that mental visualization can be a useful way to condition ourselves toward new and more desirable behaviors” (Handel, 2011, para. 6).

As I continue to make intentional efforts to turn my weaknesses into strengths the principles of intentional change theory (ICT) will be key.  ICT includes five stages, or discoverie: imagining the ideal self, recognizing the real self, planning the learning agenda, practicing and experimenting with the new behaviors, and creating or identifying relationships that will support the change (Boyatzis and McKee, 2005).  Through this process I can turn my weaknesses into strengths and develop greater balance in my personal balance sheet.

References

Dowden, R. (2015, May 20). Effective Leadership is About Personal Growth. Retrieved from https://blogs.stthom.edu/cameron/effective-leadership-is-about-personal-growth/

Handel, S. (2011, November 8). How to Change Habits with 20 Minutes of Visualization. Retrieved from https://www.theemotionmachine.com/how-to-change-habits-with-20-minutes-of-visualization/

McKee, A., Boyatzis, R. E., & Johnston, F. (2008). Becoming a Resonant Leader: Develop Your Emotional Intelligence, Renew Your Relationships, Sustain Your Effectiveness (1st ed.). Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press.

Schiavone, J. (2018, May 15). 10 Leadership Tools and Activities for Developing Your Leadership Skills. Retrieved from https://eml.usc.edu/blog/leadership-tools




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