To: Dr.

McManus
From: Maggie Sattler
Subject: Self Evaluation Assignment
Date: 21 November 2019

Hello Dr. McManus,

I hope this message finds you well. Below I have completed my self-evaluation assignment for
your review.

Section 1: self-evaluation based on Drucker’s “Managing Oneself”

Drucker’s writing presented me with many considerations in regard to management. One

question in the text that left me deeply pondering was “are you a reader or a listener?”. In
different areas of my life I see myself possessing both qualities. However, when closely looking
at my interactions, I find that I am much more of a reader. Whether I am in class or in a group
setting, I have a hard time grasping content that is only spoken. I need to read the content for
myself in order to see and process the words and fully understand. Two other questions
presented in the reading that I found particularly interesting to consider were “are you a
decision maker or an adviser?” and “do you prefer stress or structure?”. I think that both of
these can be applied to team and individual tasks. Decision making is a strong weakness of
mine and because of that I am often the adviser of groups. I have a strong sense of rationality
and prefer to guide decisions rather than make them. Additionally, in stressful situations I tend
to shut down and not manage efficiently. Structure and planning definitely guide me in
completing tasks effectively.

With all of this in mind, I think that using the feedback analysis method that Drucker explained
could be a great tool to further improve my strengths. Drucker says that it is important to place
yourself in a position where your strengths are utilized. For me, this means being a mediator in
a group and being the one to plan, organize, and monitor progress. I am a good rule follower
and do well with structure and direct plans that lead to results. I think it would be extremely
beneficial for me to write down expected outcomes after making a decision then later reflect
on the actual results as Drucker recommended. This could also help to bring more strengths to
fruition while improving upon my current strengths. I tend to doubt my own decision making,
but with this type of analysis, I could learn how to make more directed decisions that I can be
confident will lead to meaningful outcomes.

Section 2: self-evaluation based on Understanding Emotional Intelligence and Active Listening

Readings

From a young age, we are all constantly reminded of IQ and the role that it plays in our
educational development. Standardized tests focus on IQ and it is consistently stressed as being
an indicator of our intelligence. As I have grown, I have seen an increased importance
surrounding emotional intelligence. I have realized that emotional intelligence is a crucial part
of one’s success. The reading suggests that if you are unable to understand your own and other
people’s emotions it makes it much harder to work, collaborate, and interact.

In my life, I have found that most of my extracurricular activities require high emotional
intelligence rather than high IQ. As a team member or leader, it is essential to be able to
identify with the emotions of your peers. I serve as the Marketing Chair for IBSAC, and in this
role I have to delegate tasks to my committee members. If I do not take into account their
emotional availability, outside commitments, and strengths it is impossible to accomplish tasks
effectively. Using my emotional intelligence, I have learned how to balance their different work
styles and understand their thoughts and emotions in order to be a strong leader.

The active listening selection brings in another area of management that is vitally important.
The reading explained many barriers to active listening and gave six communication skills for
successful listening. Many of the barriers it described such as time and place and silence as
agreement are aspects I had never considered as being barriers to active listening, causing me
to reflect on my own capabilities. Additionally, the reading explained that the skills for active
listening are not mutually exclusive. For example, paying attention isn’t something you stop
doing when you start holding judgment. The skills also are weighted differently in different
situations. An example of this is that clarifying might take a lot of time in certain instances
whereas gaining clarity in situation could be the quickest and easiest skill to use.

With all of this in mind, I think that my strongest areas of active listening include paying
attention and clarifying. I am successful at giving non-verbal cues to show that I am present and
that my full attention is on the speaker. I am also very thorough by nature and strong at
following up to make sure I am clear on what has been communicated. On the other hand,
areas I could improve include holding back personal judgment and avoiding silence as
agreement. A million ideas race through my mind about the person and their ideas whenever
someone is speaking. However, in these same instances, I am someone who stays quiet and
does not share my thoughts and opinions. I do not like to cause conflict, so my silence can easily
be seen as agreement. The combination of these weaknesses definitely decreases my ability to
actively listen and thus manage effectively. I think that by focusing on accepting several sides to
ideas and “allowing sufficient time to learn, uncover assumptions, and seek clarity-all with an
open mind,” I will be able to turn these weaknesses into stronger areas for myself.

Section 3: self-evaluation based on your participation in the Team Project

In team settings, I am usually not the most assertive member and do not have bold personality.
However, I noticed right at the beginning of this team project that my group was very quiet and
that I was going to have to use my voice in order for us to accomplish the work. This was out of
my comfort zone, but I realized that a different form of leadership was needed for our team to
find success. I am somewhat of a perfectionist and place emphasis on doing things the right
way. In light of this, I found myself doing extra work on the project until I spoke up and took
initiative to delegate the work. Some of my group members were not the most contributing, so
I was often picking up slack in other areas and doing more work because it is not in my
personality to let things slip by or go to the wayside. What I realized was that to be an effective
leader of this team, I needed to be more assertive and set expectations so that everyone was
contributing equally.

In my next team assignment, something that I want to focus on is taking on less and trusting my
group members with more. With this, there comes a balance between doing too much and too
little. This also draws in the communication skills for active listening from the last section in that
in order to trust your group members, you need to understand their communications. By
paying attention, clarifying, summarizing, and then sharing your own thoughts and reactions to
what group members have to say, it is much easier to stay on the same page. I was definitely
more comfortable with the parts of the project that were written because I could visually see
and edit them. When it came to the progress reports, I was less comfortable since these relied
on each member’s individual preparation and delivery. However, I think that a way to control
this is to simply communicate effectively. I sometimes felt that my group members and I
weren’t on the same track. In these situations, we could have easily shared and confirmed our
individual progress to ease uncertainty among the group.

Thank you for taking the time to read through my self-evaluation. If you have any questions
please let me know.

Best,
Maggie