DB Post
Self-awareness – 9/10. I am in touch with my strengths and failings.
Self-regulation – 6/10. A low score in the self-control section drops this from 9/10.
Self-motivation – 6/10 My personality type is fairly relaxed and this is reflected by my lack of drive and optimism in light of setbacks.
Social awareness – 5/10. Whilst I score very highly on empathy, the other skills listed do not warrant a high result.
Social skills – 8/10. I score relatively highly in each of these, the lowest score coming from Collaboration and cooperation as I prefer to work autonomously.
Despite some of the low results listed above, how we see ourselves and how others see us may differ dramatically. It is this contrast which often causes difficulty with communication styles (Mayer et al, 2008).
References
Mayer, John D., Richard D. Roberts, and Sigal G. Barsade. “Human abilities: Emotional intelligence.” Annu. Rev. Psychol. 59 (2008): 507-536.
I gave myself an average emotional intelligence rating of 6/10. I gave myself marks of between 6-8 for self-regulation, self-motivation, and social skills and for self-awareness and social awareness I gave myself marks of 4 and 5 respectively. Whilst I am an enthusiastic worker, flexible and adaptable, encouraging towards others and able to manage others and lead, I have low self esteem which leads to me questioning my decisions. Self and social awareness are two traits that I definitely need to improve upon and this is actually one of the reasons I returned to study.
Goleman (1998) explained that emotional intelligence was the ability to recognize and manage ones own feelings as well as others; this is certainly a very important aspect of today’s ever changing and diversifying workforce.
Goleman, D. 2001. Working with Emotional Intelligence, Bantam Books, New York.
DB Response
Mia-Ann,
Thanks for your honest appraisal. Do you think that your low self esteem could be age related? Have you noticed any change in your self esteem from when you were in your tweens through to now? I ask because studies show that as we age, our confidence grows, our self esteem increases and our abilities increase (Robins & Trzesniewski, 2005). Whilst I do not know your age, I believe that as we mature, our level of competence does improve.
References
Robins, Richard W., and Kali H. Trzesniewski. “Self-esteem development across the lifespan.” Current Directions in Psychological Science 14.3 (2005): 158-162.
December @ University 