Essay: Self growth reflective essay (emotional intelligence, communication, empowering)

Introduction
There are many external aspects growth within success but one’s ability to develop from within is much more valuable. Great leaders understand that in order to govern others, they must first be able to govern themselves. I believe that there are many factors that an individual must address in regard to their perspective to reach their full potential, by doing so enhances their ability of influencing others to be that much more significant. Despite the success that an individual may be experiencing, there are certain things that may be hidden behind success that are left unable to progress or unable to be part of the success we are experiencing.
Emotional Intelligence
Self-awareness and self-acceptance are the essentials for psychological health, personal growth, and the ability to know and accept others. I believe that self-awareness reaches many different aspects of our lives and its importance extends beyond limitations. Our self-concept is the embodiment of how we treat ourselves; the perspective of oneself will the reason why we do things for ourselves and why we don’t.
Affective leaders convey high levels of emotional intelligence, their ability to govern themselves is the initial objective before governing others. Through realizing the importance of this concept, I came to an understanding that in order to continue to grow and succeed I need to secure a healthy perspective of myself. I need to assure myself that it is important to appreciate the differences that every individual portrays, and that these differences are what shapes us into the individuals we are.
I’ve learned that to be an influential leader an individual must possess a healthy perspective of themselves, and that positive self-concept of themselves will project onto others. Throughout many experiences there are moments where I’ve realized that I need to appreciate that my abilities are always a work in process and that although it may not be at a potential I would like, it is something I believe will continue to develop.
Communicating Supportively
Supportive communication is a way of communicating with others that enhances interpersonal relationships. This type of communication provides a way for two colleagues to work together to respond to problematic situations that may arise without harming the relationship between the two. Communicating supportively is a very important practice to integrate into working environments and even into personal situations. Dr. Abdulaziz A. Bubshait and Gulam Farooq emphasize on the importance of people; without people there will not be a project in the first place.
This way of communication is important to the growth of any situation that involves human interaction. Many organizations and institutions make it an important process to teach people how to communicate with others in situations where teamwork is apparent. In experiences in the past, supportive communication has generally been brought up in many different ways; this includes positive and negative situations. If done properly, supportive communication can bring out the best work ethics the reside in people and if done incorrectly it may arise many disagreements; inability to cooperate and may potentially lead to the failure of a department until steps are taken to integrate better communication.
I’ve tried to integrate better communication when speaking with my teammates and it dramatically improves team chemistry. Speaking to them in a way that outlines the problem and at the same time retain interpersonal relationships has made it so that we are more cooperative when finding a solution. Supportive communication not only benefits your ability to work well with others but it is also an important way to speak to people who are part of our personal lives.
Empowering and Engaging Others
According to David Whetten and Kim Cameron, empowering others means to provide people with freedom and to successfully influence them do that what they want to do instead of pushing them to do what you want them to do. Empowerment engages employees by giving them the ability to makes decisions and to develop an intrinsic motivation to their work.
Affective leaders are aware of their ability to influence those around them and aware of the fact that the power they have over others can be used inappropriately. The ability to govern others is not something to take lightly, subordinates are inclined to listen, and this may potentially guide the perspective they have of their surroundings. This reciprocates into working environments and productivity of employees. If the process of empowering employees of an organization is done correctly this will have a long-term benefit to the overall growth of that organization. Empowered employees will not only do the work they are provided to do, they will be fully engaged with their assignments, thus, making the outcome of their work to be nothing less than thorough.
This concept of empowering and engaging others is very important to me because it has helped me face many predicaments that I have come in contact with. In past experiences, I’ve always questioned my ability to succeed in certain areas of my life that I would try to put effort into. Although, the promising influence that I have received by great leaders has given me the ability to keep moving forward and to realize that the only way for failure to occur is if I discontinue my efforts. According to Manuel London and James W. Smither, self-development assumes that people are capable of monitoring their behaviors and are capable of addressing which behaviours and outcomes will help them succeed the most. The correlation between self-development and empowerment are heavily influenced by each other; without empowerment there is no sense of determination and without self-development there is no sense of will.
What Will I Do Differently?
There are many unique pieces of important information that I will take from this class and throughout educating myself with such information, the topic of an individual’s sensitive line is something that really interests me. I consider my sensitive line a feature of myself that greatly impedes my growth and as well as my ability to learn. I believe that an individual’s ability to improve their sensitive line not only enhances their leadership skills but improves important relationships apart from colleagues.
In order to improve my ability to be more open-minded, I will begin to take a proactive approach instead of being reactive and attempt to stop myself from switching into a defensive position when receiving any criticism that may have the potential to educate me. I will take steps in providing myself ways to listen more empathetically and to be more understanding. Although I may disagree with a statement that is said about me, it is possible to learn from what was said or to become self-aware to a point that I am confident that it does not define the kind of person that I truly am.