This last few months at work there has been some “leadership” training. Part of the training was doing an ESCI Survey which is an emotional and social competency inventory survey. I found the feedback from the survey really useful but was disappointed in some of the results. I’m not going to dig into the specifics now however as an outcome one of the things I’m wanting to do is review my progress in the areas it highlighted.
Today I want to cover threee things:
- Being confident based on what you know and move forward
- Being able to persuade or convince others to gain support for an agenda
- Showing emotions to my manager
Being confident based on what you know and move forward
Sometimes I struggle around confidence to act. I need to get feedback from others that it is the right thing. Good feedback I got from Mike my line manager is that there is no perfect outcome, the best is progress. Sometimes in seeking the perfect outcome I stop progress by investigating too long. Making the best of what we have with the information right now is a better way. Being optimistic about this and enjoying the ambiguity is something I need to get more comfortable with.
Being able to persuade or convince others to gain support for an agenda
I struggle to convince others of my agenda. I’m aware that I sometimes don’t push as hard as others in getting a great outcome. I need to stop “devaluing” my input. Often I end by saying that’s just my opinion. That degrades what I have to share. If someone is uncertain I need to encourage them more. I need to develop skills around encouraging people and getting the desired outcome that I still feel are ethical. I have a concern of coming across as a sales person or pushing my will onto others. If my intentions are good I should not have this concern.
Showing emotions to my manager
My manager, Mike is not picking up the emotion’s I’m experiencing at work.
He’s rated me low on the following questions.
- Being able to describe underlying reasons for own feelings
- Being aware of own feelings
- Describe own feelings
I know that I’m an emotionally tempered person, I struggle to get excited. I may even see this as unprofessional. In my personal life often in a group environment I have a dull energyless response if I’m not comfortable with the group. Once I’m comfortable it is a different story.
I was not always this way, when I was younger I believe I expressed more emotions in how things impacted me. I wish I understood why I’m not as emotional as I was before.