Unit One: Self Assessments

Sarah Kibler

OGL 482: Pro-Seminar II

Dr. Lawhorn

October 24th, 2021

 Section One:

I found both Kuder Assessments interesting and helpful; I usually find inventories and

personality tests to be enlightening and informative. While I was taking the Kuder assessments I

tried to look deeper into the questions and found that a lot of them seemed to blatantly lean one

way or another: “would you prefer home renovations or analyzing cells in a science lab?”; this

was interested and difficult because I realized that I’d rather do neither.

The Kuder Career Interests Assessment showed my interests from highest to lowest as

Investigative, Social, and Conventional; the code looking like: I/S/C. Overall I feel that the code

describing my results is fairly accurate and I relate to what I scored highest in. Within the work I

do, I notice I do tend to like fact finding and investigating types of projects and I know that I do

find value in established rules and procedures. According to my results I also have high interest

in social, I think that this is true, the Kuder Career Interests Assessment states that “social

includes activities that include working to inform, develop, heal, and teach other people.

Confident in developing and growing human relationships. Solves problems through empathy,

helping others to succeed, and seeking mutuality”. I would not quite say that I am very confident

in developing and developing relationships but looking at the description I value supporting

others and helping people succeed.

Personally, I think that interest-based assessments can be very useful for people at all points in

their careers, especially in the early stages. I think that these types of tests can help people look

inside and learn more about what makes them tick and what is meaningful to them. I have taken

some personality tests previously as well as other tests that have analyzed my learning style and

leadership styles, I’ve always taken something bit of information away from them that helped me

understand myself a little bit better. I think that people should take tests like these frequently and
use the test results across points in their careers especially if they aren’t feeling fulfilled by the

position that they are currently in.

Section Two

The results from the Kuder Skills Confidence Assessment were like my results from the Career

Interests Assessment other than my highest skill confidence landing as Artistic instead of

Investigative. I would say that this is highly accurate as I am very comfortable working with my

own artistic abilities and very much enjoy the ability to be creative. Looking at my progress for

my e-portfolio so far, I would say that my Artistic ability has been something that I showcased

with the photos I chose. The other two skills I scored highly in were Social and Conventional; I

feel that these skills are accurate as well because I notice I care a lot about the people that I work

with and their wellbeing and success. The artifacts I uploaded to my e-portfolio have a handful

of examples of how I value and appreciate the people I work alongside.

My Work Values Rankings I agree with as well; my highest value landed in Co-Workers with

my second highest being in Lifestyle.

In my opinion, skill-based assessments can possibly be used for people to reevaluate their

interests and skills; I know that I may not have had the same results I received today if I had

taken this assessment ten years ago. People change immensely throughout their lives, what better

reason to take assessments throughout to see how you’ve changed, and if you have, how you can

adjust so you can find more fulfilment. Skill-based assessments can also be used for someone to

gauge how the skills they have may change throughout their lives as they grow.

Section Three

The Motivation and Career Anchors Assessment was a helpful inventory to take; I learned that

my primary anchor is a “sense of service”, and my secondary anchor is “life-style integration”. I

feel that the results I got are accurate as I find myself very happy when I can assist someone at

work or anticipate their needs. The Motivation and Career Anchors Assessment states that

“People with a service anchor are characterized as being principally motivated by dedicating

their work and sometimes their lives in the service of others. This dedication may take the form

of working in a position in which they can directly serve others as counselors, physicians,

therapists, nurses, or in the other helping or supportive occupations and professions”

My lowest scoring anchor was Entrepreneurial Creativity, and this also seems spot on; according

to the Motivation and Career Anchors Assessment, “a person with an entrepreneurial anchor has

a strong need to create a new business, the motivation to overcome obstacles, the willingness,

and courage to run risks, and the desire for personal gain and recognition for what is

accomplished”. I have a desire to overcome obstacles, however not necessarily for personal gain

or recognition; in fact, I prefer to do my work behind the scenes if I can.

The career anchors instrument was insightful to me in the sense that it showed me, on paper,

what I value regarding work and my career. I feel that my primary career anchor being a “sense

of service” is highly accurate as I run an office and provide on site support for the executive team

and the CEO of my company. I think that this assessment is intuitive, and I was challenged to

think about how I rated the battery of questions.

Section Four

Throughout the variety of different assessments I’ve taken, for my own interest and for my

progress throughout my degree in organizational leadership I feel that I have learned about how I

operate in work environments and what I find fulfilling work. I appreciate taking assessments

about work styles and personalities because each time, I feel that I can dig deep and learn more

about how I operate and learn how to describe how I work.

I completed one new assessment for this project called the DiSC Personality Test. With the DiSC

Personality Test, I learned that my dominant personality type is Steadiness; according to DiSC

steadiness looks like this: “You are tenacious and determined to follow a course of action - to

achieve objectives. You are a clear thinker. You have an inner need to be objective and

analytical. You like to pursue a definite course of action. You respond to logic rather than

emotion. You are likely to be particularly good at handling challenging technical assignments” .

This assessment, as well as others like it, help me learn more about how to identify and describe

my own actions and preferences as well as how it might affect me in life and in my career. I find

assessments like these helpful in the way they increase my knowledge about myself and how I

behave within life and situations pertaining to my career.

For OGL 360 I completed a Leadership Practices Inventory Assessment that helped to reinforce

some ideas I had about my leadership abilities as well as show me where I was lacking. Before I

completed the assessment, I had known I was an empathetic person, sometimes to a fault, and the

LPI pointed out being an empath as a strength of mine. A weakness the LPI pointed out was that

I have a hard time taking constructive criticism and tend to take criticism personally. I had

completed the LPI in spring of 2021, slowly becoming comfortable in my new role at Design

Pickle and had a coupled opportunities for constructive criticism to happen in the moment,

however it ended up being brought up later in a one-on-one meeting. I, at the time, was more

conditioned to instant feedback, or in the moment coaching from my time spent at Starbucks, and

it took some time not receiving feedback in that way for me to appreciate it and not take it

personally.
In spring of 2019 I completed a Work Style Patterns Inventory from the McFletcher Corporation

for BIS 340 which helped me identify what characteristics I have while at work. According to

the Work Style Patterns Inventory, I tend to lean into being a guardian w/ worker, which means

that I typically enjoy helping others accomplish their goals while encouraging them and

protective sometimes. When I took this inventory, I was still supervising at Starbucks and would

frequently attempt to shield my baristas from angry or upset customers.

While I didn’t mention this assessment above, the Kolb Learning Style Inventory Assessment

was one of the most helpful assessments I have taken so far. I learned from the Kolb Assessment

that I am an “experiencing” learner, which means I learn far better by doing versus other

methods of learning. When I got the “experiencing” result it clicked in my head immediately and

helped me understand why in certain situations, learning hasn’t clicked for my until I was able to

do it. I remember when I was initially hired at Starbucks and dreaded the training workbook and

readings attempting to teach me how to operate an espresso machine, once I was able to get on

the floor and physically make drinks, I felt like I was learning much better.
 Citations

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Retrieved October 24, 2021, from https://journey.kuder.com/my-assessments/career-

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Disc personality test: Take this free disc profile assessment at 123test.com. 123test. (n.d.).

Retrieved October 25, 2021, from https://www.123test.com/disc-personality-

test/id=fELGQ7O3ANQSK9P&version=.

Discover your full work potential. WorkStyle Alignment – Discover Your Full Work Potential.

(n.d.). Retrieved October 25, 2021, from https://workstylealignment.com/.

Kolb Learning Style Inventory (LSI). Home. (n.d.). Retrieved October 25, 2021, from

https://learningfromexperience.com/themes/kolb-learning-style-inventory-lsi/.

The leadership challenge®. Leadership Challenge - lpileadershippracticesinventory. (n.d.).

Retrieved October 25, 2021, from

https://www.leadershipchallenge.com/lpileadershippracticesinventory?

gclid=Cj0KCQjwiNSLBhCPARIsAKNS4_cSVtOO_0EC0uPZFWNWnY8_j-

x_JVAle2iu0U3KpspaQgsSlRlX0EUaApM_EALw_wcB#assessment.