Character
and Competency Strengths Reflection
Ahneka
Valdois
Azusa
Pacific University
A Picture of my Leadership Assets
According to Gallup’s Strengthfinders
inventory, there are four main domains of leadership: executing, influencing,
relationship building and strategic thinking. Four of my top strengths are in
the strategic thinking category: strategic, futuristic, ideation and
intellection (Rath & Conchie, 2009). I have known in a general way that my
strengths lay in this domain. One of my reasons for beginning my Ph.D. was the
belief that having such a degree would give me more opportunity to use these
strengths. I have learned over the years that having a natural ability to think
abstractly and strategically does not automatically give one an audience or
allow one to operate in such a capacity on a team. One must have a degree to
prove one’s competence. Although I have
struggled to understand and use my strengths as a leader, I believe that I am
increasingly well-positioned to contribute those strengths to my institution.
According to Myers-Briggs personality
typing, I have a fairly unusual personality. INFJs make up less than one
percent of the population (“INFJ,” 2017). The acronym INFJ stands for
Introverted, Intuitive, Feeler, and Judger, meaning I am introverted, I tend to
focus on abstract ideas and the future, I care about feelings and people more
than rules or logic, and I am decisive. According to Drenth (2014), my
strongest function is introverted intuition, which is the ability to see
connections between abstract ideas and an orientation towards the future. This
description matches my futuristic and ideation strengths.
INFJ’s also tend to be very idealistic.
They have a desire to bring harmony in the world because of their second
strongest function, extroverted feeling. This characteristic manifests in my
restorative strength. The third strongest function of an INFJ is introverted
thinking, which is the ability to think logically and analytically, coinciding
with my strategic and intellection strengths (Drenth, 2014). Because I am
strongly introverted, my introverted functions (which operate inwardly) are
stronger than average compared to my extroverted tendency (feeling) which is
outwardly focused. The unusual nature of my strengths has created some
difficulties for me as I have tried to find ways to contribute.
According to the VIA Inventory of
Strengths (formally known as the Values in Action Inventory), my values also
align strongly with my strengths. Three of my strongest values (creativity,
judgement and perspective) belong to the wisdom and knowledge classification
and two (gratitude and spirituality) belong to the transcendence classification
(“Do you know,” 2016). Both of these classifications are concerned with
exploring and analyzing the larger picture and making connections, which are
also my strengths according to Strengthfinders and as an INFJ personality in
the Myers-Briggs typology.
Having such consistent and similar
strengths could be considered an asset. Rath (2007) definitely emphasizes the
importance of knowing one’s strengths and capitalizing on them. According to
Rath, strengths are actually the multiplication of talents and effort. “Talent”
is the more accurate word for the top strengths: strategic, restorative,
futuristic, ideation, and intellection. Rath states that we must develop our
talents into strengths through finding ways to exercise and contribute our
strengths. Throughout my life, I have not found this to be a straightforward practice,
even though I have always been enthusiastic about growing as a person.
Many of my strengths have a shadow side of
being unable to connect with people or actualize my visions. Because of my lack
of strengths in other leadership domains, I struggled to find energy to finish
my undergraduate degree. Part of my struggle stemmed from the unfocused nature
of ideation. In college, I found it very hard to settle on a major and even
found that the college culture constrained my desire to explore with its choice
of major and structured four-year plan. Because of seemingly meaningless
“hoops” that I felt like I was asked to jump through, I even became quite
disillusioned by higher education at one point. It took experiencing other
environments for me to realize that my strengths lay within education. Now I
believe that my restorative strength motivates me to work in higher education
to help other students avoid the struggles that I had.
I have also struggled, sometimes with the
unusual and mysterious quality of my strengths. Most people cannot seem to
relate to my experience of having those strengths, and they may even doubt that
I have them. I often get the impression that they believe that these strengths
should be more profoundly positive. Having my strengths idealized means that I
am tend to fall short of others’ expectations. Others often seem to
misunderstand my approach to life and, not understanding, pressure me to change
to fit in. This value of fitting in is a strong and natural value for many
people but generally a rather exhausting, futile undertaking for me. Yet, I
have a strong desire for harmony with other people, so I try my best,
especially to please people whom I really cared about, such as my parents. This
battle has often been lengthy and time-consuming, and I having to learn when to
give it up.
It takes a lot of effort to position
oneself as a strategic thinker in a leadership team, and over the years, I fell
into the habit of staying in the background and keeping my thoughts to myself.
The few times that I made an exception seemed to end badly, causing me to doubt
myself and wonder if I really had anything to contribute. Another part of my
trouble has been my unwillingness to use my restorative strength. This strength
is my only strength that is not in the strategic thinking leadership domain. It
is in the executing domain of leadership and therefore tends to be more
externally focused, but it is also a strength that can be threatening or seem
negative to others because it focuses on the problem (Rath, 2007). For a long
time, I struggled with the fear of alienating others by pointing out the
problems. It was easier for me to try to change myself or my environment rather
than to try to challenge the way leaders were operating, not least because I
did not have the credentials to be perceived as qualified to understand the
problem. I turned my restorative strength inward and made it my life project to
renovate myself.
There is some value to self-renovation,
but even self-reflection and internal change begin to deliver diminishing
returns after a while. I can become very self-absorbed and disconnected from
people. Because I tended to discount my insights into others’ lives, I have
often left them to solve their problems on their own. Also, because the shadow
side of restorative tends to be a high level of self-criticism, my efforts have
often led to low self-esteem and self-doubt.
It has only been recently that I have been
challenged to believe in myself and in my strengths and stand up for the
insights that I have naturally. I live in a fairly close knit community of
foreigners in China. Sometimes the pressure of coping with the intimate
environment in a strange place creates conflict among members. One day, a
faculty member sent an anonymous email detailing and criticizing an event that
had happened in our community dining room. During one meal, I was discussing
this email with another teacher, lamenting the fact that a teacher would
believe that such a tactic was a productive way to solve problems. Another
teacher sitting at the table noted that I might not be a part of the problem,
but I was not part of the solution either. His words stuck with me, and I was
convicted that I need to use my restorative strength to help our community grow
and find harmony.
This process is very daunting to me
because, with my restorative strength, I can easily recognize my own potential
for error, but I believe that I can never really contribute fully as a leader
until I stop worrying about what other people think and stand by my vision. I
do not think I would have the courage to do this without my faith that God will
guide me and that He honors those who are willing to take a risk to use the
gifts that he has given them.
It is difficult to be different, but it is
also a unique opportunity. I think my challenge, going forward, is to help
others to see and appreciate the unique understanding that I can bring to a
situation. I also need to learn, as Rath (2007) advised, to find and build
alliances with people whose strengths compliment mine. I cannot be the executor,
the influencer or even the relationship builder on a leadership team without
significant effort. Recognizing this state of affairs and finding people whom I
can work with is a matter of valuing and respecting strengths that are
different from mine and helping others to learn how to value what I can contribute.
Recently, I have been working with such a team am very much enjoying my
opportunity to learn from them.
References
Do
You Know Your 24 Character Strengths? (2016). VIA Institute of Character. Retrieved from http://www.viacharacter.org/www/Character-Strengths/VIA-Classification
Drenth,
A. J. (2014). The 16 Personality Types:
Profiles, Theory, & Type Development [Kindle edition]. Retrieved from
http://www.amazon.com/
INFJ
Personality (“The advocate”). (2017). 16
Personalities. Retrieved from https://www.16personalities.com/infj-personality
Rath,
T. (2007). Strengths Finder 2.0. New
York: Gallup Press.
Rath,
T., & Conchie, B. (2009). Finding Your Leadership Strengths. Gallup Management Journal, 12-2008, 73.
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