When reflecting back on my efforts in creating my PDP, I came to the realization that I will need to do a lot more to prepare myself for life after school than to simply attend classes for 17 months. This assignment is a great tool that I plan to use throughout my entire MBA journey, and without laying out my goals the way I did, I doubt all of my tasks would simply get completed. I also learned that I am not marketing myself enough in order to land that perfect job after school. My PDP discusses this point in great detail, and explains that I need to slow down my day and spend more quality time with people. Not only would this improve my social capital, but it is simply the right thing to do. Time management was another lesson learned from this assignment. The PDP was not a difficult subject matter because it was simply me on paper, but the thought processes and detail was very time-consuming. I have never been the type of student to work on a project a little bit at a time, but with the size of this project and the fact I am a full time working professional this is necessary to complete a project of this size.
Our team research brought about a lot of research that we needed to incorporate into a single paper, which was challenging at first. However, once we learned each others writing styles and meshed them together, we were able to find a happy median. What I found interesting on our external environmental research was in regards to the AIDS research. It was surprising that when plotting out the AIDS cases on a local, national, and global level that it was somewhat difficult to find emerging patterns at the local level. One would think that the biggest cities would have a large percentage of HIV cases, but this was not always the case. Also, there is no distinct local pattern of improvement with the actual cases of AIDS. The result of this point is just as random as the demographics of the cases themselves.
At my job, I plan to challenge myself by looking at projects and tasks on a more wholistic approach. I scored low on the C and D quadrant's, so now I have some guidance on what I need to work on at my place of work. I also learned that I am weaker in the areas of brainstorming and some of the project manager characteristics that I strive to be better at. My current career does not challenge me enough in these parts of whole-brain thinking, but having said that I will not be in my current position forever. While completing this PDP, I realized that even though I am not being challenged currently with tasks and projects that require this line of thinking that I am eventually going to need to apply these traits down the road in my career.
Wisdom is not defined as how much one can learn, but rather the experience one can gain. A person can read all of the books in the world and be knowledgeable in many aspects of life, but until that persons actually applies what they have learned and seeks to learn from each situation than true wisdom won't be achieved.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Friday, March 9, 2007
GRAD 702- Reflections on Module 4 Concepts
While preparing and working on the team's metaphor, I was reminded that a learning experience can also be fun at the same time. My group and I had a great time preparing for this assignment, and it made us loosen up a bit and get to know each other even more. I believe that friendships were built as well, and ideas began to flow a bit more easily than in times past. I also learned that by using a metaphor, it is sometimes easier for the audience to understand concepts by using this form of communication rather than simply standing in front of a group and discussing the concept in a more dry sense. Audience interaction and attention is obviously key to get one's point across, and I feel that our team was able to accomplish that by simply having a little fun while learning something at the same time.
At this stage in my career, I feel that I am stuck at a manger level by telling people how to do things and when to do them. I believe much of this stems from the fact that I work for "Corporate America" where I have very little discretion on how to "mix things up". They expect everything to run and operate a certain way, and diverting from the regimen is sometimes unacceptable. However, my strive to be a true leader of my organization is not halted because I am already pursuing some of the action items in my PDP by training with my national sales manager to think outside of the box and prepare my career for the next level.
I felt that my first meeting with my coach last week went VERY well. My coach is also my branch manager, and she was an easy choice to ask to be my coach since she was so quick to earn my respect at the office. She was able to take the rough draft of my PDP and help me to expand my viewpoints that were somewhat narrow at first. I was struggling by simply looking at the next six months versus the full 17-month picture, and she gave me a lot of great pointers to look at more of a long term approach. Also, we were able to lay more of a structured game plan of what we expect out of each other in the next 16 months and how this relationship will be beneficial for the both of us. (it's not all about me!)
I felt that week four's assignments brought the class at a point where our hard work is being applied and that our last three weeks of preparation is being used at many different levels. The last of the assessments in 702 (LPI and Project Manager Card Sort) further proved to me that there are strong definite trends to my line of thinking and my overall personality, and this helped me to formulate some of my summaries in the PDP. These assignments helped my flow in the paper, and helped me to manage all of these tests to discover trends that I didn't see before. In particular, the LPI sparked my curiosity on how other people perceive my leadership. Since I scored lower than I would have hoped for, I plan to talk with my coach (AKA manager) on how she feels about these results, and what I can do to improve my leadership qualities.
At this stage in my career, I feel that I am stuck at a manger level by telling people how to do things and when to do them. I believe much of this stems from the fact that I work for "Corporate America" where I have very little discretion on how to "mix things up". They expect everything to run and operate a certain way, and diverting from the regimen is sometimes unacceptable. However, my strive to be a true leader of my organization is not halted because I am already pursuing some of the action items in my PDP by training with my national sales manager to think outside of the box and prepare my career for the next level.
I felt that my first meeting with my coach last week went VERY well. My coach is also my branch manager, and she was an easy choice to ask to be my coach since she was so quick to earn my respect at the office. She was able to take the rough draft of my PDP and help me to expand my viewpoints that were somewhat narrow at first. I was struggling by simply looking at the next six months versus the full 17-month picture, and she gave me a lot of great pointers to look at more of a long term approach. Also, we were able to lay more of a structured game plan of what we expect out of each other in the next 16 months and how this relationship will be beneficial for the both of us. (it's not all about me!)
I felt that week four's assignments brought the class at a point where our hard work is being applied and that our last three weeks of preparation is being used at many different levels. The last of the assessments in 702 (LPI and Project Manager Card Sort) further proved to me that there are strong definite trends to my line of thinking and my overall personality, and this helped me to formulate some of my summaries in the PDP. These assignments helped my flow in the paper, and helped me to manage all of these tests to discover trends that I didn't see before. In particular, the LPI sparked my curiosity on how other people perceive my leadership. Since I scored lower than I would have hoped for, I plan to talk with my coach (AKA manager) on how she feels about these results, and what I can do to improve my leadership qualities.
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