Personal Learning

In life, we all have faced many situations and have reacted in ways that hold true to who we are. We tend to have a rough understanding of our behaviour but generally tend to not delve deep into that thought. It is an area if worked upon properly can lead us to great insights about ourselves and help us be in control of our actions. It can also act as a checklist of things we are good at and the skills and behaviour we need to work on based on what we plan on doing in our lives ahead. Since, I as a future manager will be working with a variety of people, it is very important that I am aware of my strengths and weaknesses while also being able to understand the meaning of different behaviours seen in an organisation in order to better manage people. I would now like to reflect on my experiences at the Personal Growth Lab and at my workplace and try linking them with the concepts learned in Organisational Behaviour in order to understand myself better and set personal goals at areas I feel I need to work on.

Learning Style

Using the Kolb’s Model which categorizes learning style preference as a product of grasping experience- watch or do- and transforming experience- think or feel, we can understand our learning style. My learning style is a mixture of reflective observation and abstract conceptualization, i.e.

• through watching others involved in the experience and reflecting on what happens, and
• through gaining new information by thinking, analysing, or planning

This combination of learning preferences is categorized as Diverging learning style. Since every learning type has its own benefits it is essential to try and incorporate other ways of learning to be more effective. A lot of activities at PG Lab required us to come up with solutions to a given problem scenario. Different people approached the problem differently some experimenting with every idea that came to their mind while others would only go ahead with an approach after it made logical sense to them. While some tasks like putting the ball in the basket from the tub required a certain kind of learning other tasks like crossing the river required another kind. I believe it is essential to be open to all learning types as gives us a wide horizon and ways to expand our learning and understanding of a situation.

Knowing myself

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator indicates that I am an ambivert(X), intuitive(D), feeling(H), and perceiving(M). There are different personality traits assigned to each combination of the indicators. I am somebody who is an ambivert, a mix of an introvert and an extrovert. I generally do not prefer to be the leader of a group but rather prefer to make sure that everybody on board is in line with the objective. I have an imaginative take on problems and focus on ideas than follow the information. I also tend to decide on the basis of values of what or who I believe is important and have a tendency to go with the flow, maintaining flexibility and respond to things as they arise. While I am at peace with these traits of mine, I feel the life of a manager would require me to work on certain other traits. I would need to work on my communication skills while also attempting to be more participative as networking is a major skill a manager needs to possess. While I can work well with people around me, I need to be assertive and a leader when the situation demands for it. At SPJIMR there will be many opportunities where I will get to practice and work on these traits. All along I plan to be true to who I am inside.