Week 2 - Personal and interpersonal development

This week has been focussed around personal and interpersonal development.  We started by completing a DiSC personality profile to determine what our natural (most comfortable) personality type was (although needless to say people are normally a combination of the four types and can perform in a different category when necessary).

The types are: (from wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DISC_assessment)

• Dominance: People who score high in the intensity of the "D" styles factor are very active in dealing with problems and challenges, while low "D" scores are people who want to do more research before committing to a decision. High "D" people are described as demanding, forceful, egocentric, strong willed, driving, determined, ambitious, aggressive, and pioneering. Low D scores describe those who are conservative, low keyed, cooperative, calculating, undemanding, cautious, mild, agreeable, modest and peaceful.
• Influence: People with high "I" scores influence others through talking and activity and tend to be emotional. They are described as convincing, magnetic, political, enthusiastic, persuasive, warm, demonstrative, trusting, and optimistic. Those with low "I" scores influence more by data and facts, and not with feelings. They are described as reflective, factual, calculating, skeptical, logical, suspicious, matter of fact, pessimistic, and critical.
• Steadiness: People with high "S" styles scores want a steady pace, security, and do not like sudden change. High "S" individuals are calm, relaxed, patient, possessive, predictable, deliberate, stable, consistent, and tend to be unemotional and poker faced. Low "S" intensity scores are those who like change and variety. People with low "S" scores are described as restless, demonstrative, impatient, eager, or even impulsive.
• Conscientious: People with high "C" styles adhere to rules, regulations, and structure. They like to do quality work and do it right the first time. High "C" people are careful, cautious, exacting, neat, systematic, diplomatic, accurate, and tactful. Those with low "C" scores challenge the rules and want independence and are described as self-willed, stubborn, opinionated, unsystematic, arbitrary, and careless with details.

I came out as expected that in a work environment people expect me to be D/C and naturally I am C/S.

We then built on this to look into how we can identify what our strengths are, and how we can ensure that we develop them and use them.  And also how we can go about setting goals and targets and putting in place strategies to achieve them.

We then went on to look at conflict resolution.  Particularly in a ship environment, when you are forced to live so closely with so many people, it is easy to conflict to arise.  However, if conflict is not dealt with the the right manner, it can be very destructive and lead to poor performance, hurt, and difficulties.  I found it really interesting to look at the importance of conflict resolution and strategies to deal with it.

Overall, it has been a really productive week for addressing things which I have not been so skilled at doing in the past and learning how to develop these skills so that they can be used in the future.