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When I first completed the REFLECT Assessment at the beginning of the semester I was fairly shocked by some of the results. Obviously I knew that I wouldn't get perfect scores in each and every category that REFLECT measures, but I did expect better results in a number of them. For example, I believe that I rate pretty high in terms of drive and interpersonal intuition; however, REFLECT rates them as two of my worst categories. In order to hopefully improve upon my results I decided to implement action plans, based on the actions that REFLECT recommends you take to improve. The three areas that I chose as areas to implement action plans for improvement were strategic vision, drive, and collaboration. All of these categories were ones that I ranked lowest in, and while I knew it wouldn't be easy, they were areas that I was willing to attempt to improve at.
The first category that I created an action plan for was the category of strategic vision. My score for strategic vision fell on the far left of the spectrum, which suggests that I pay more attention to short-term goals versus long-term, and while I understand the need for strategic plans, I tend to focus more on day-to-day issues and short term success. The details of the report go on to state that perhaps I only am concerned with current issues. The action tab in REFLECT offers the idea of stopping letting the fear of being wrong from preventing oneself from developing a vision for the future. Upon reading this it really resonated with me. Some of the analysis that REFLECT gave made me a little skeptical, like how it told me that I only challenge the status quo when I'm sure that I'll be right, but this seemed like a really great idea and something that would likely help me if I was able to improve at it. Reflecting on this made me realize that in some cases I have great ideas and plans but am too worried about whether or not they'll succeed to actually implement them. Im some cases I was holding myself back due to the fear of failure, and if I continued to do that I would not succeed in the way I wanted to. Thus, in order to do this I began a concerted effort at not allowing the idea of being wrong to prevent me from developing a vision for the future. In order to do this I worked to develop a plan for my life after college. I began talking with some career coaches at the Smith School and some family connections who are in the field of business. I also began to strengthen my LinkedIn profile and applying for internships in the fields that I am interested in. It was difficult to take the first steps and schedule a meeting with the career coach due to the fact that it wasn't something that I would normally do, but once I had done that and seen that it would help me everything else became a lot easier. I suppose that the reason I was hesitant to meet with the career coaches up until now was a fear of them not taking me seriously or telling me something that I didn't want to hear, combined with a stubbornness that I always know the best way to do something. In our meeting I was taught how to better utilize HireSmith as a tool to my advantage and pointed in the right direction of how to end up with a career where I will be happy. I was also given some tips on how to strengthen my LinkedIn profile to make myself a more appealing candidate to potential employers. In all I found the meeting to be extremely helpful and felt that it provided exactly the jumpstart that I needed in order to begin my strategic planning for a career. It also helped me get over the fear of being wrong or failing because it made me realize that nearly everyone that graduates from the Smith School gets hired, and with a GPA and extracurriculars as good as mine I shouldn't worry so much about failing to secure a job, even if it isn't my first choice. Additionally, I learned from this the importance and benefits of planning ahead. I tend to be someone who comes up with plans on the fly for the most part, and this life change made me realize that perhaps that isn't the best way to do things all the time.
The second REFLECT area that I created an action plan for improvement in was the area of drive. As I said before, I personally thought that drive was an area that I would rate fairly well in; however according to REFLECT I rated quite low. My score in drive was also to the extreme left of the spectrum, which indicates that I am an excellent team player and support the goals of the team over my own, and that I prefer to act as an individual contributor while someone else leads to team. REFLECT goes on further to explain that I likely attribute success to the team versus myself. In the action tab, one suggested action for me is to stop waiting for others to give me tasks, and instead take the lead on projects, which can help the team overall. For a while now, I have worked off and on at trying to become more independent and self-directed. Over the summer I worked in retail and one of the things my boss would say to me at our weekly meetings was that I did a great job at nearly everything I did, but I would be an even better all-around employee if I was able to complete more tasks without express instruction, and instead went out and did what needed to be done without being told. Clearly, my REFLECT results only further reinforced this notion, and helped me to become more serious about improving my drive. In order to put my action plan into practice, I worked to be the leader in a number of group projects in multiple different courses over the course of the semester. The most notable of these was the Everest Simulation. During my group's first run-through of the simulation I acted as the group leader, albeit in a more hands-off manner, only making sure everyone was on the same page and things like that. Unfortunately we performed poorly on this and ended up re-doing it a few days later. During our second run-through I took a much more hands-on approach as leader and suggested that we record all unique and shared information on the whiteboard so that everyone can see it and we are able to piece together what the best plan of action is. I then went on to be the one facilitating discussion and recording the information on the board, as well as asking everyone questions to clarify what they needed to do. I found that this was extremely helpful, and our score reflected it as well, improving from a 44% to a 94%. In other group projects in my information systems and accounting classes I took similar roles as the leader of the group and found it to be beneficial to everyone as well. In taking these steps I certainly improved my drive and showed myself that I can be extremely effective as the leader of a group. In the future I plan on continuing to do these things, as well as working harder to be more self-directed and not waiting for the instructions of my boss to complete a task that needs to be done.
The third and final area of the REFLECT skills that I created and implemented an action plan in order to improve was the area of collaboration. Even before completing the REFLECT Assessment I had a hunch that collaboration would be one of the areas that I would rate weakest in. When it comes to getting work done I greatly prefer working by myself to working in a group because I know that I will not get distracted as easily, I will complete the work and make sure that it is of high quality, and I will get any and all work done when it needs to be. I prefer not to rely on others as much because I have found that I can't always count on group mates to do all of this like I can count on myself. Unsurprisingly, my REFLECT results were on the extreme left of the spectrum, suggesting that I prefer one-on-one work to team interactions and that while I am an effective team contributor, I may miss out on team functions at times. They also go on to posit that I prefer solving problems on my own as opposed to with others and that I prefer environments where individual contribution is valued. I fully agree with all of these statements and definitely recognize that collaboration with others is a weakness of mine. In order to improve on this key skill, REFLECT suggests that I reach out to my colleagues more when I need to solve a problem. At first, I was highly reluctant to change anything about my willingness to collaborate with others; however, it is indubitably an extremely important skill both in school and work, and one that I struggle in, so I ultimately elected to make a change. In order to do so I planned to do exactly what REFLECT suggested, as well as showing an increased willingness to work in groups in general. The first steps I took in accomplishing this were to form study groups with some of my friends in the same classes as me, and getting together with them on a weekly basis in order to complete the homework together and talk over any questions we might have about things going on in the course. I figured that this was a good way to start trusting groups more and, in addition, was an effective way to ensure that I better understood the material. In implementing this I began to realize that in some cases working in groups can be beneficial. It is important to consider who is in the group though. For example, my study group for Accounting II consist of myself and three friends who are also taking the course. All of us are very academically driven and care a lot about our grades, meaning we attend every class and complete the homework in a timely manner and make sure that we understand the material. As a result, our group meeting are extremely productive and greatly benefit all of us. My study group that I created for my marketing class, on the other hand, consists of people who don't take school quite as seriously and as a result our meetings tended to veer off course to topics that didn't have much to do with the class, which resulted in us not accomplishing all that much. This made me realize that perhaps it is unfair to make the general statement that I don't like working in groups, but instead that I don't like working in groups that aren't productive because I would be able to do much more in the same amount of time.
While I made great strides in improving in the areas of strategic vision, drive, and collaboration this semester, there is still a great deal of work for me to do to improve in these areas and in others. In my opinion, which was then backed up by the results of my REFLECT Assessment, collaboration was the area that I could use the most improvement in. Improving my collaboration skills would not only help me to do better in group environments in school, but also is a key skill that many employers look for. The improvements that I made in this area over the course of the semester will help me be a better group member in any and all environments and will help to ensure that in the future I do not miss out on any group functions and am seen as approachable and supportive in team settings. Additionally, I plan on continuing to improve in this important category by creating study groups in future courses and meeting with them weekly in order to ensure that all of us better understand the material. I also plan on trying to become better at managing groups that include different types of people, as that is a very important skill to have in the workplace. Before taking the REFLECT Assessment I viewed drive as a personal area of strength; however, REFLECT identified that as a weakness for me. Part of this was a result of my misunderstanding of the concept of drive. I thought that it referred to a willingness to continue a task even when it gets difficult, much like perseverance, or the desire to succeed, but instead it more refers to the ability to direct oneself or a team without needing instruction for yourself. Knowing the true definition I likely would've rated myself lower, knowing what my boss said to me over the summer and considering that I prefer clear, delineated instruction before attempting a task. My work to improve on my drive as defined by REFLECT over the course of the semester undoubtedly paid dividends, and I was even able to see some immediate results in the form of my improved Everest Simulation scores. I plan on continuing to work on this because, as my boss told me, becoming better at being self-directed would make me an even better employee. It is also a skill that employers look for, as they would rather have someone who goes out and identifies problems and comes up with solutions for them on their own than someone they have to coddle and provide with instructions each and every step of the way. Finally, the strides I took to improve my creative vision not only benefitted me in that important area, but also were productive in helping me plan out what I want to do in terms of a career. Strategic vision is a vital skill to have in business due to the fact that one must have the ability to discern whether their actions will help or hurt both in the short and long term. A company that focuses only on day-to-day issues will have an extremely difficult time succeeding in the long-run, and similarly an employee who only focuses on small-scale issues will not be as successful as one who is able to balance out short-term and long-term strategic goals. Working to improve in this area also showed me the importance of planning ahead as opposed to doing things spontaneously. While spontaneity may be good in some cases, it is also very important to know when and how to plan things out in advance. The insights that I gained into career search as a result of my method implementing my action plan to improve my strategic vision were also equally as invaluable, as I was able to walk away with a clearer plan for my future.
Another key takeaway that I got from preparing and implementing my action plans for the three skills in the way that I did was the fact that chipping away at a seemingly insurmountable problem is the best way to get results. When I first took the REFLECT Assessment and saw how many categories I had all the way on the far left hand side of their respective spectrums I was overwhelmed. Upon reading the descriptions I began to realize that many of the categories had positives and negatives of being on the extreme left, but in any case the results weren't what I was hoping for. Attempting to improve at each of the categories at once would have been an impossible task to accomplish and likely would've resulting in me giving up and seeing no noticeable improvement in any of them. Selecting three categories and creating and implementing specific action plans in order to improve on them was a highly effective way of working at it. I was able to notice improvement in each of the three categories by the end of the semester, and at no point felt overwhelmed by changing too much. As a result I plan on selecting two or three areas to improve in for next semester and implementing similar action plans to do so. I also intend to bring this approach into other aspects of my life. For example, when I am assigned a large project I will plan out what I need to do and attack it a little bit at a time.
The first category that I created an action plan for was the category of strategic vision. My score for strategic vision fell on the far left of the spectrum, which suggests that I pay more attention to short-term goals versus long-term, and while I understand the need for strategic plans, I tend to focus more on day-to-day issues and short term success. The details of the report go on to state that perhaps I only am concerned with current issues. The action tab in REFLECT offers the idea of stopping letting the fear of being wrong from preventing oneself from developing a vision for the future. Upon reading this it really resonated with me. Some of the analysis that REFLECT gave made me a little skeptical, like how it told me that I only challenge the status quo when I'm sure that I'll be right, but this seemed like a really great idea and something that would likely help me if I was able to improve at it. Reflecting on this made me realize that in some cases I have great ideas and plans but am too worried about whether or not they'll succeed to actually implement them. Im some cases I was holding myself back due to the fear of failure, and if I continued to do that I would not succeed in the way I wanted to. Thus, in order to do this I began a concerted effort at not allowing the idea of being wrong to prevent me from developing a vision for the future. In order to do this I worked to develop a plan for my life after college. I began talking with some career coaches at the Smith School and some family connections who are in the field of business. I also began to strengthen my LinkedIn profile and applying for internships in the fields that I am interested in. It was difficult to take the first steps and schedule a meeting with the career coach due to the fact that it wasn't something that I would normally do, but once I had done that and seen that it would help me everything else became a lot easier. I suppose that the reason I was hesitant to meet with the career coaches up until now was a fear of them not taking me seriously or telling me something that I didn't want to hear, combined with a stubbornness that I always know the best way to do something. In our meeting I was taught how to better utilize HireSmith as a tool to my advantage and pointed in the right direction of how to end up with a career where I will be happy. I was also given some tips on how to strengthen my LinkedIn profile to make myself a more appealing candidate to potential employers. In all I found the meeting to be extremely helpful and felt that it provided exactly the jumpstart that I needed in order to begin my strategic planning for a career. It also helped me get over the fear of being wrong or failing because it made me realize that nearly everyone that graduates from the Smith School gets hired, and with a GPA and extracurriculars as good as mine I shouldn't worry so much about failing to secure a job, even if it isn't my first choice. Additionally, I learned from this the importance and benefits of planning ahead. I tend to be someone who comes up with plans on the fly for the most part, and this life change made me realize that perhaps that isn't the best way to do things all the time.
The second REFLECT area that I created an action plan for improvement in was the area of drive. As I said before, I personally thought that drive was an area that I would rate fairly well in; however according to REFLECT I rated quite low. My score in drive was also to the extreme left of the spectrum, which indicates that I am an excellent team player and support the goals of the team over my own, and that I prefer to act as an individual contributor while someone else leads to team. REFLECT goes on further to explain that I likely attribute success to the team versus myself. In the action tab, one suggested action for me is to stop waiting for others to give me tasks, and instead take the lead on projects, which can help the team overall. For a while now, I have worked off and on at trying to become more independent and self-directed. Over the summer I worked in retail and one of the things my boss would say to me at our weekly meetings was that I did a great job at nearly everything I did, but I would be an even better all-around employee if I was able to complete more tasks without express instruction, and instead went out and did what needed to be done without being told. Clearly, my REFLECT results only further reinforced this notion, and helped me to become more serious about improving my drive. In order to put my action plan into practice, I worked to be the leader in a number of group projects in multiple different courses over the course of the semester. The most notable of these was the Everest Simulation. During my group's first run-through of the simulation I acted as the group leader, albeit in a more hands-off manner, only making sure everyone was on the same page and things like that. Unfortunately we performed poorly on this and ended up re-doing it a few days later. During our second run-through I took a much more hands-on approach as leader and suggested that we record all unique and shared information on the whiteboard so that everyone can see it and we are able to piece together what the best plan of action is. I then went on to be the one facilitating discussion and recording the information on the board, as well as asking everyone questions to clarify what they needed to do. I found that this was extremely helpful, and our score reflected it as well, improving from a 44% to a 94%. In other group projects in my information systems and accounting classes I took similar roles as the leader of the group and found it to be beneficial to everyone as well. In taking these steps I certainly improved my drive and showed myself that I can be extremely effective as the leader of a group. In the future I plan on continuing to do these things, as well as working harder to be more self-directed and not waiting for the instructions of my boss to complete a task that needs to be done.
The third and final area of the REFLECT skills that I created and implemented an action plan in order to improve was the area of collaboration. Even before completing the REFLECT Assessment I had a hunch that collaboration would be one of the areas that I would rate weakest in. When it comes to getting work done I greatly prefer working by myself to working in a group because I know that I will not get distracted as easily, I will complete the work and make sure that it is of high quality, and I will get any and all work done when it needs to be. I prefer not to rely on others as much because I have found that I can't always count on group mates to do all of this like I can count on myself. Unsurprisingly, my REFLECT results were on the extreme left of the spectrum, suggesting that I prefer one-on-one work to team interactions and that while I am an effective team contributor, I may miss out on team functions at times. They also go on to posit that I prefer solving problems on my own as opposed to with others and that I prefer environments where individual contribution is valued. I fully agree with all of these statements and definitely recognize that collaboration with others is a weakness of mine. In order to improve on this key skill, REFLECT suggests that I reach out to my colleagues more when I need to solve a problem. At first, I was highly reluctant to change anything about my willingness to collaborate with others; however, it is indubitably an extremely important skill both in school and work, and one that I struggle in, so I ultimately elected to make a change. In order to do so I planned to do exactly what REFLECT suggested, as well as showing an increased willingness to work in groups in general. The first steps I took in accomplishing this were to form study groups with some of my friends in the same classes as me, and getting together with them on a weekly basis in order to complete the homework together and talk over any questions we might have about things going on in the course. I figured that this was a good way to start trusting groups more and, in addition, was an effective way to ensure that I better understood the material. In implementing this I began to realize that in some cases working in groups can be beneficial. It is important to consider who is in the group though. For example, my study group for Accounting II consist of myself and three friends who are also taking the course. All of us are very academically driven and care a lot about our grades, meaning we attend every class and complete the homework in a timely manner and make sure that we understand the material. As a result, our group meeting are extremely productive and greatly benefit all of us. My study group that I created for my marketing class, on the other hand, consists of people who don't take school quite as seriously and as a result our meetings tended to veer off course to topics that didn't have much to do with the class, which resulted in us not accomplishing all that much. This made me realize that perhaps it is unfair to make the general statement that I don't like working in groups, but instead that I don't like working in groups that aren't productive because I would be able to do much more in the same amount of time.
While I made great strides in improving in the areas of strategic vision, drive, and collaboration this semester, there is still a great deal of work for me to do to improve in these areas and in others. In my opinion, which was then backed up by the results of my REFLECT Assessment, collaboration was the area that I could use the most improvement in. Improving my collaboration skills would not only help me to do better in group environments in school, but also is a key skill that many employers look for. The improvements that I made in this area over the course of the semester will help me be a better group member in any and all environments and will help to ensure that in the future I do not miss out on any group functions and am seen as approachable and supportive in team settings. Additionally, I plan on continuing to improve in this important category by creating study groups in future courses and meeting with them weekly in order to ensure that all of us better understand the material. I also plan on trying to become better at managing groups that include different types of people, as that is a very important skill to have in the workplace. Before taking the REFLECT Assessment I viewed drive as a personal area of strength; however, REFLECT identified that as a weakness for me. Part of this was a result of my misunderstanding of the concept of drive. I thought that it referred to a willingness to continue a task even when it gets difficult, much like perseverance, or the desire to succeed, but instead it more refers to the ability to direct oneself or a team without needing instruction for yourself. Knowing the true definition I likely would've rated myself lower, knowing what my boss said to me over the summer and considering that I prefer clear, delineated instruction before attempting a task. My work to improve on my drive as defined by REFLECT over the course of the semester undoubtedly paid dividends, and I was even able to see some immediate results in the form of my improved Everest Simulation scores. I plan on continuing to work on this because, as my boss told me, becoming better at being self-directed would make me an even better employee. It is also a skill that employers look for, as they would rather have someone who goes out and identifies problems and comes up with solutions for them on their own than someone they have to coddle and provide with instructions each and every step of the way. Finally, the strides I took to improve my creative vision not only benefitted me in that important area, but also were productive in helping me plan out what I want to do in terms of a career. Strategic vision is a vital skill to have in business due to the fact that one must have the ability to discern whether their actions will help or hurt both in the short and long term. A company that focuses only on day-to-day issues will have an extremely difficult time succeeding in the long-run, and similarly an employee who only focuses on small-scale issues will not be as successful as one who is able to balance out short-term and long-term strategic goals. Working to improve in this area also showed me the importance of planning ahead as opposed to doing things spontaneously. While spontaneity may be good in some cases, it is also very important to know when and how to plan things out in advance. The insights that I gained into career search as a result of my method implementing my action plan to improve my strategic vision were also equally as invaluable, as I was able to walk away with a clearer plan for my future.
Another key takeaway that I got from preparing and implementing my action plans for the three skills in the way that I did was the fact that chipping away at a seemingly insurmountable problem is the best way to get results. When I first took the REFLECT Assessment and saw how many categories I had all the way on the far left hand side of their respective spectrums I was overwhelmed. Upon reading the descriptions I began to realize that many of the categories had positives and negatives of being on the extreme left, but in any case the results weren't what I was hoping for. Attempting to improve at each of the categories at once would have been an impossible task to accomplish and likely would've resulting in me giving up and seeing no noticeable improvement in any of them. Selecting three categories and creating and implementing specific action plans in order to improve on them was a highly effective way of working at it. I was able to notice improvement in each of the three categories by the end of the semester, and at no point felt overwhelmed by changing too much. As a result I plan on selecting two or three areas to improve in for next semester and implementing similar action plans to do so. I also intend to bring this approach into other aspects of my life. For example, when I am assigned a large project I will plan out what I need to do and attack it a little bit at a time.