SAIL

by Lori Lawson

Upon taking the Myers-Briggs test for class last week, I couldn’t help to question its reliability. Though we addressed the problem of having a different answer based on your mood while taking the test, I still couldn’t help but to think that there is more room for error. As I carefully read the questions and filled out the bubbles, it hit me – am I choosing these answers because it is what I want to be or is it because of who I am currently?

Having an idea of how the test works from taking it before, I knew I had certain results in mind that I valued over others. Due to this, I spent almost the entire test battling with myself to rid myself of the internal bias that threatened to skew my results. This struggle between reality and wishful thinking brought to mind a point I made in class several weeks ago: do people aim for positions and responsibilities that they know they are capable of at the time or do they aim for who they want to do or to be in the future?

The Threat

The botched restoration attempt can be seen above on the right, with the original and deteriorated versions appearing to the left.

Clearly this possibility of a person using their personal development goal as an immediate task poses a great threat to the functionality of a group. For a example, take someone who has recently resolved to be more organized. While they have begun to keep an agenda and start filing away their important documents, it is clear that organization is not yet ingrained into their being. The problem comes when this person obtains a position such as secretary, which involves innate organizational skills. In this case, the person based their action off of who they want to be and not who they already are.

While this action is clearly not malicious in intent, it is sill detrimental to the efficiency and effectiveness of the group as another person may have been much better suited for the jobs and much more likely to be elected if this person had not been competing against them. Perhaps a good comparison is the recent attempt by an elderly church member to restore the “ecce homo” fresco in a church in a Northeastern Spanish village. (The full story can be found here.) Her intentions were clearly to help her community, but the end result is a tragedy for art lovers and historians everywhere. Now, imagine if someone who had great skill in art restoration had appointed himself or herself to the same task.

The Solution

Perhaps one of the most important steps in the formation of a group that will be working towards a common goal, or even an individual preparing to volunteer for a certain task or run for a certain appointment, is this step of self-assessment. By not only knowing, but also accepting our individual strengths and weaknesses, we put ourselves in a much better place to perform a task effectively and efficiently.

As hard as it may be, you must force yourself to be realistic. Yes, you can certainly intend to get a job done, but should you be taking that higher risk or failure, especially when others are involved? Just remember, it isn’t that you aren’t valuable – it’s what unique value you bring to the table.

Have you ever put yourself in a position far exceeding your skill level because you wanted to be good at it? Was the risk worth it? Tell me in a comment!

This entry was posted on October 15, 2012 at 3:48 pm and is filed under LCE LLC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.