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Although I have only completed one course while
working on the MSLD program, I have recognized that my self-awareness has
increased in various ways. Self-awareness is defined as “a knowledge of
one’s own personality and individuality.” (Whetton and Cameron, 2016). In
other words, self-awareness is concerned with how well I know myself; not the
mental image that I hold of the ideal me, but how well I know the real
me! They suggest that there are five core aspects of self-awareness and
define them as core self-evaluation, values, emotional intelligence, attitudes
toward change, and cognitive style. One personality attribute related to
the aspect of core self-evaluation is openness. Openness is “the extent
to which people… are open to new ideas as opposed to being rigid or dogmatic”
(Whetton and Cameron, 2016). One aspect of self-awareness is emotional
intelligence. In fact as previously mentioned, emotional intelligence is
one of the five core aspects of self-awareness. “Emotional
intelligence refers to the ability to diagnose, understand, and manage
emotional cues (Whetton and Cameron, 2016).”
In the past I have been rigid and unbending
regarding my ideas, opinions and beliefs. I used to hold the belief that
my thinking was the correct way of thinking. I remember one occasion a few
years ago that I got annoyed at a coworker when he changed the channel on the
TV in the pilot’s lounge from the news channel that I preferred to a news
channel with a different viewpoint. Last fall I took a course in which we
learned, studied, discussed, applied, and practiced critical thinking.
Learning how to think critically has really helped me to widen my
perspective and be able to see and understand why others might have opinions
that differ from my own. Critical thinking has helped me improve my
openness and emotional intelligence greatly. In a witty way Paul (Nosich,
2012) said “Critical thinking is thinking about your thinking, while you’re thinking,
in order to make your thinking better.” Throughout the time that we were
learning about critical thinking I was thinking about my thinking! I
began to recognize that I regularly made assumptions, limited issues to my
personal point of view, and sometimes did not even take into account all of the
available information. As I have gained life experience, and by studying
critical thinking, I have become much more open to different points of view,
and I feel that I can now understand a little better why others see things the
way they do.
I have noticed that others have reacted
positively to my increased openness and emotional intelligence. In one of
my roles as a leader I have several other leaders that I oversee. For a
period of time I sensed some friction between one of the leaders and I.
We finally met to discuss a few issues, and we were able to openly
discuss the source of the friction. She told me that she felt that I did
not understand her point of view and said that she felt unsupported by me.
As a result I decided to begin holding brief individual monthly meetings
with each of the leaders that I oversee. The purpose is to help me
understand their individual point of view better, and for me to provide support
and encouragement. As I began holding these meetings I began to see and
understand much better some of the issues and difficulties they were each
dealing with. I began to have greater openness and emotional
intelligence. Some of these leaders have even commented that they
appreciate the support that I give them.
References
Nosich, G. M. (2012) Learning
to think things through: A guide to critical thinking across the curriculum
(4th edition). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Whetton, D. A. & Cameron, K. S. (2016). Developing
management skills 9th ed. Boston, MA: Pearson.
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