Micah Nystedt’s Professional Persona Narrative

Over the past several years, I have been interacting with others in increasingly professional situations and settings. The
purpose of this document is to reflect upon my professional persona from both my perspective and the perspective of
others to determine where the biggest differences lie. To do so, I compared the results of a self-assessment to those of an
OLCE survey sent out to my professional network which rated me with specific PeopleStyles and Culture Map scores.
After compiling and comparing the data, I have found that those within my professional network view me as more
assertive and problem driven than I view myself. This document will go into further depth on these differences, beginning
with PeopleStyles, then Culture Map, Core Values, and lastly Key Takeaways. It is my hope that this document will
provide you, someone who is directly involved with my professional development, with a better understanding of who I
am and how I am perceived within a professional environment.

PeopleStyles are a demonstration that my efforts to be more assertive

are being perceived by others.
PeopleStyles
Unlike assertiveness, my OLCE responsiveness score
10
Composite Score

was far more reflective of my self-assessment. I believe

5
that one of the driving factors behind this score is my
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 response to stress in group settings. More so than when I
-5
am working individually, I respond to stress within
-10 groups by becoming very task oriented. While this may
Respondent # be beneficial for productivity, it also means I tend to
leave socialization behind. As a result, my
Assertiveness Responsiveness responsiveness in professional settings (which tend to be
stressful) is much lower than it would be in social or
relaxed settings.
Based on the results of my self-assessment, I was
determined to be Analytical, with both an assertiveness
and responsiveness score of -3. Within a professional Culture Map
context, I believed both of these scores to be accurate,
but I wasn’t necessarily happy with them. Culture Map
3
In particular, I have always viewed my lack of 2
assertiveness as a weakness, as I often have trouble 1
0
speaking up or voicing my opinion when I’m not with g
tin ng in
g
in
g
in
g ng in
g
in
g
close friends. ca uati ad ad ci d usti ree dul
i l u e e r
un a rs L D T sa
g he
m Ev Pe Di Sc
m
Within the past year, however, I have begun to step out Co
of my comfort zone in situations that require
assertiveness in an attempt to improve. This has taken Respondent Average Self-Assessment
many different forms, from larger tasks such as
becoming my group’s Marketing leader, to smaller tasks While there were large discrepancies between my
such as trying to speak up in class more often. PeopleStyles scores, the responses from my Culture Map
self-assessment and the responses from my peers were
For this reason, I was surprised by the results of the generally in line with one another. The biggest
OLCE survey. Five of the seven respondents labeled me discrepancies came from my leading, trusting, and
as a Driver, with the two others labeling me as scheduling scores.
Expressive. What’s more is that my average
assertiveness score across all respondents was a 5. When it comes to leading and scheduling, my peers rated
Seeing these results was incredibly reassuring, as they me as more structure oriented. While I began this
semester more in line with my self-assessment results, I
have increasingly found that clear delegation and
deadlines have been beneficial for managing my stress
levels. As a result, if I were to retake my self-assessment
today, I believe my leading and scheduling scores would
more closely resemble the scores I received from my
peers.
When it comes to trusting, however, I believe my self-
assessment score is more accurate than the results from
OLCE. In my opinions, a mix of completing tasks and
spending time together is required to build trust. I have
found that people’s work and social personas can be
very different. As a result, I believe that understanding
both is the key to trust.
This belief isn’t necessarily reflected in a professional
setting, however. As I stated previously, the majority of
my responses came from individuals who have only seen
me in stressful situations. As a result, we rarely get the
chance to see each other’s social personas. This means I
have to rely more heavily on task completion, leading
my OLCE results to lean in that direction.
Core Values
Characteristics Expressed by Peers
er hy ed nt ed er ul rt en al ve nd ed
ad rt in cie nd Solv ectf Sma pok lytic eati Ki niz
Le two erm Effi Mi p S a Cr a benefits, it also results in very little time to interact with
rus et e n l em R es el l An Org
T D Op Prob W others and socialize. Within the context of my future
I consider my core values to be efficiency, integrity, and
kindness. These values were largely instilled in me by
my parents, who have always led by example, so I have
done my best to live my life in accordance with them.
On a larger scale, this often takes the form of donating or
volunteering in my local communities. On a smaller
scale, however, and within professional settings, these
core values manifest themselves through the quality of
my work, the reliability I demonstrate, and the respect I
show others.
In determining how my peers view me and what
characteristics they attribute to me, I compiled the words
they used most frequently to describe me throughout the
semester.
I was pleased to find that the results largely reflected my
own core values. In particular, “trustworthy,” “efficient,”
and “respectful,” were present across multiple responses.
Furthermore, the most frequent word I saw was “leader,”
a role in which efficiency, integrity, and kindness are all
highly valued.
Key Takeaways
The most important insight I received from this project
is that others perceive me as more assertive and problem
driven than I view myself. I would attribute this trend to
two factors.
The first is my conscious effort to be more assertive. As
I discussed in the PeopleStyles section, I am not a
naturally assertive person, and must often force myself
to express my thoughts or opinions to those I am not
close with. Based on the perceptions of my peers,
however, these attempts to assert myself are proving
successful, which is very reassuring and gives me the
courage to branch out even further in the future.
The second factor has to do with the fact that the
majority of responses on my OLCE came from peers
who have only interacted with me in stressful group
settings. Within these settings, my coping mechanism is
to become more assertive and task oriented. As a result,
my OLCE scores may not be representative of how I
behave in less stressful situations.
One last item of note is my low responsiveness score.
While the response to stress I discussed above has its
career aspirations (FBI Special Agent), this lack of
interaction may lead others to view me as cold or
unwelcoming. Moving forward, my growth goal is to
find a balance between my assertiveness and
responsiveness, as I believe they are both essential for a
career in which I help others.
Conclusion
This document explores the difference between how I
perceive my professional persona and how it is
perceived by others. It looks specifically at scores
related to PeopleStyles, Culture Map, and Core Values,
before discussing key takeaways. Most notably, my
peers view me as more of a leader, more assertive, and
more task oriented than I view myself. If you have any
questions or want any more information, please feel free
to reach out to me at micahn@email.arizona.edu.