Part II
Chosen Toolkit is MCI
Having filled out the MCI questionnaire, which is developed to help improve performance across a spectrum of personal and managerial competencies, I realize a few key things. According to the results, I score poorly on self-assurance and resilience, but I have a relatively average to high score with regard to communication and teamwork. I realize that being in a new culture, the tendency to be aware of myself is relatively high compared to when I was in my native China. I believe this has been a consequence of a desperate desire to adjust quickly to a new language, society, way of doing things and culture. I must have developed this sharpened ability because I wanted to fit in, since the only way I could know that I was fitting is by listening to myself when I talk or do things, listening to other people and constantly reflecting on my experiences, with a view of improving on them. While I may have developed this skill as an adaptation to my environment, it is a lucky coincidence that it is an extremely important quality for developing management competency. This awareness helps to recognize the personal development opportunities and taking advantage of them. I believe it will be difficult to become a manager if I am unable to manage myself effectively.
According to the Management Charter Initiative, self-management should include demonstration of resilience in the attainment of personal goals, of appropriate levels of persuasion or influence and creative networks. To begin with, I believe I have done relatively well in all these areas, mostly by accident. Having arrived in a new culture, I was forced to conform, create new friendships, social and personal networks, which were necessary for a healthy social and learning life in this country. While I may have developed these competencies by accident, I believe I can apply them as a manager, especially whenever I deal with new organizational culture, culturally diverse colleagues, and work environments. The exposure that I have had studying is very beneficial to me, especially since management practice in the modern worlds is faced by globalization, which means that every manager needs to have cross-cultural skills in order to be effective.
I have an acceptable score in communication. I notice that I have problems communicating as well as with the manner in which people communicate with me. This was a major problem, especially at the outset. For instance, when people did not understand what I said due to my language problems, I found that they almost invariably made signs. While they were mostly being helpful (and I unconsciously did the same in communicating too), I found such gestures personally disrespectful. I have, however, learned from this experience that communication, and especially cross-cultural communication goes beyond language. In order to be effective, one needs to inculcate meaningful gestures. This is the key to overcoming language problems, which are quite common in the globalized world. I have also come to develop an appreciation for written communication, more than oral communication in these environments. I have come to realize that most oral communication is full of slang and street language that many people outside a specific context can understand. However, people are more careful to use formal and easily understandable language when writing. This is why I have come to love reading as a way of developing my language skills that are simply immersing myself in a new culture. If I should find myself in a similarly different cultural environment, written communication will most certainly take precedence over oral communication.
Part III
After reading and reflecting on Chris Rose’s book, I have come realize several personal strengths and weaknesses. To begin with, I believe my greatest strength is emotional intelligence. This is the ability to understand and discriminate among my own emotions while at once using this awareness to guide both my behaviour and thought. I believe I have this ability, and it has been very important in helping me adjust to a culturally different environment and connect with other people on an emotional level. According to Goleman, (2004), emotional intelligence comprises of five important aspects. These include self-regulation, social skill, motivation, empathy, and self-awareness. Effectively, self-awareness is only one aspect of a package of abilities that I have and can use to get ahead in my management career. With these skills, I am not only a manager, but also a leader and a person.
Secondly, I believe that this experience has helped me understand that I am good at cross-cultural communication. Of course, I did not realize I had it, but on reflection, I realize that I have adjusted relatively well and quickly in a very different culture and using a different language with relative effectiveness. I have mastered the art of communicating with very little language ability, which I find to be very important in the modern world of business. With globalization, the world’s markets have opened up (both the supply chain and the consumer market), which in turn means that in order to survive, managers need this competency. Lastly, I believe I have adjusted relatively well to a major change in my life. Change management is another strength that I think has been instrumental to my new life, and would even be more important in the future.
My self-analysis also reveals that I am especially weak in social interaction, management of stressful situations and perhaps even most importantly, I have little self-confidence when completing difficult tasks. It is understandable that I have poor social interaction skills, especially since I am in a new culture, but I need to overcome this weakness with time. I also need to believe in myself and my ability more. Management and leadership mean encountering new and difficult situations at all times, which is why my poor confidence in my abilities could prove to my disadvantage as a manager. Lastly, I also need to learn to be resilient in very stressful situations. I tend to be very uncomfortable when I am in an environment that I cannot control. This means that I would find it relatively difficult to cope in tough managerial experiences. As such, this self-assessment has shown that I need to take more risks and become more comfortable with uncertainty (Northhouse, 2007; Bolden & Gosling, 2006).
References
Bolden, R., & Gosling, J. (2006). Leadership Competencies: Time to Change the Tune? SAGE Publications: leadership 2; 147.
Chris, R. (2011). Self Awareness and Personal Development written. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Goleman, D. (2004). What Makes a Leader? Harvard Business Review, http://hbr.org/2004/01/what-makes-a-leader/ar/1.
Goodnough, K. (2006). Enhancing Pedagogical Content knowledge Through Self-study: An Exploration of Problem-based Learning. Teaching in Higher Education Vol11, No.3, 301-318.
Northhouse, P. G. (2007). Leadership: Theory and Practice. New York: SAGE.
