ASSIGNMENT COVER PAGE

SURNAME: SAUL DAVID BAKER INITIALS: SB

STUDENT NUMBER: 21907250

CONTACT NUMBER: +258 84 301 8559

PROGRAMME NAME: PERSONAL MASTERY

MODULE: STUDY BLOCK 1

FACILITATOR: FREDELENE ELIE

DUE DATE: 13 JUNE 2017

NUMBER OF PAGES: 13

CERTIFICATION
I certify the content of the assignment to be my own and original work and that all sources
have been accurately reported and acknowledged, and that this document has not
previously been submitted in its entirety or in part at any educational establishment.
I hereby also confirm that I have read and understand the contents of the USB-ED policy on
Academic Integrity: The Prevention and Handling of Plagiarism (as per Annexure D).

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Introduction

Ideal-self will conjure insights of various topics; personal mastery, emotional

intelligence, and learning agenda.

The one week class study has revealed a lot of my real-self. I have never
had time to think over to my emotions and impact they have to the current
position, HSE Assistant Manager. Fundamental to the assignment is the
trust I will build by understand my real-self which is the determinant factor to
ideal-self.

The assignment has also explored views from different people, mostly my
colleagues at the workplace, for their feedback on my behaviour. Feedback
from colleagues will be compared with my own understanding and reflection
to come up with a better understanding of my real-self. Areas for
improvement will be identified and action plan developed thereof.
Strategies, timeframe as well supporting structure for learning agenda will
be determined by the nature of the identified goal to be achieved.
My Ideal-self

My vision is to assist Tongaat Hulett-Açucareira de Moçambique – Factory

Department attain and maintain NOSA 5 stars & ISO 14001:2015
Certification in the next two years. I would like to be remembered for having
implemented the systems and uplift structures that will be knowledgeably
support the system in my absence. Currently I have a Degree in
Environmental Management & Human Developed majored in Ecotourism,
SAMTRAC (Safety Management Training Course), ISO 14001:2004
Training Certificate and other relevant documents for the vision. Wishes are
not horses to be ridden by beggars. The past tells me that I have made
some achievements in life. My first challenging position was to become a
Senior Shift Supervisor. In 2005, I was promoted to Process Senior
supervisor, being the first Mozambican to become a supervisor, after TH
bought Mafambisse Mill. The other three shifts were overseen by foreign
expatriates expect mine, however the performance was commendable.

In relation to the ideal-self, the class study has enlightened me of personal

mastery and emotional Intelligence which are the key factors the objectives.
It is said people with high emotional intelligence always succeed. Tongaat
Hulett – Açucareira de Moçambique, is comprised of different ethnics due to
civil war 1978-1992. People fled from different parts of Mafambisse
surrounding to seek refuge. When the war was over, people remained in the
area and got employed in TH. This transforms to diversity of culture, beliefs
and religion. How I master myself determines the success of the vision.

In trying to respond to the query, I have come with the following emotional
intelligence that will assist to accomplish the ideal-self (Goleman, D. 2006).

My first emotion intelligence is self awareness. Awareness is defined as an

understanding of the surrounding/environment of oneself. Emotions are said
to be information sent to the body. They cannot be ignored. It depends on
how one responds to it. The response might be destructive or constructive
based on the consequence. I will use this tool to manage myself whilst
understanding the type of emotion that has been triggered and then choose
the adequate response.

The second emotional intelligence is self regulation or control. According to

Goleman, the more flexible a person, the more committed and accountable
a is. When a person is responsible and accountable, he or she does not
throw blame to another person. The decision making is not influenced by
emotions. “A fish stinks from the head down”- a Turkish proverb that points
to leadership as the main cause of failure to achieve vision of an
organization. Therefore, responsibility and accountability cannot be
overlooked. Self regulation will enhance me consider attentively when
making decisions; decisions that are made without being influenced by
emotions.

The next emotional intelligence is motivation. During the class study block
1, I learnt many ways how people can be motivated. Among the motivations
criteria are celebrating achievements, a pat on the shoulder, recognition by
word “thank you”, on task completion just to mention a few. When a person
is motivated, the desire to contribute and participate is high. Implementation
of systems requires people. And if they are not motivated, definitely the
vision cannot be achieved. Using motivation as emotional intelligence will
assist me in influencing people to contribute and participate in the project at
full length.

The fourth emotional intelligence is empathy. The need to treat each other
fairly at workplace is very important. People make mistakes and it is human;
how we correct them has a lot to say. Based on the offence, showing
empathy in conflict resolution is necessary as a leader – becoming a coach
hence influencing team building. Peoples in the team feel valued and
protected. More and above; it motivates and enhance alignment to vision of
the team. I have chosen this emotional intelligence because, as a leader
working with people, I expect conflicts. Empathy will assist me play fairly
based on the degree of the offence.

Lastly but not least is the social skills or engagement with other employees
as emotional intelligence. Social skill defines how interactive some people
find themselves. People with high emotional intelligence in social skills are
good team players. One of the examples of social skills can be eloquence in
communication. It is instrumental to get the results desired (Mazhura, M.
2014: xxvii). As I look forward to my ideal-self, I look forward to using this
skill to the intended purpose.

My real-self
 According to Mazhura, self awareness is the ability to know your weakness,
tendencies and your emotions and triggers of emotions. Becoming aware of
oneself is not easy. We sometime observe people with a high qualification
with behaviours which cannot tolerated. When we become aware of
ourselves, our purpose, objectives and vision, we easily succeed. We learn
how to do away with negative emotions. We also learn how to respond to
the environment. During the class study, when the facilitator introduced the
topic of emotions, I was taken back to reflect my real-self and noted of my
emotions. Analysed and weighed as per reflection, some of these
personalities or emotions have a negative impact to effectiveness and some
have positive impact as a leader. The table below is a summary of my ideal-
self identified during the class study:

Table 1: Personalities and impacts

Personalities Impact

Fear for making mistakes Hinders effectiveness

Impatient /hasty Hinders effectiveness

MBTI personalities Some assist and some hinder; details in the

(extroversion, sensing, text.
thinking and judging)
I have fear of making mistakes. During the studies facilitators asked
questions several times. I often hesitated to raise my hand and answer.
Sometimes I had to think hard and hard before I could do so. I thought I
would be seen stupid in the class in case I give a wrong answer. Being a
leader, this will hinder effectives of the project. I might not share my ideas
with others, because of fear of making mistakes. The benefit of sharing
ideas lies in correction of the plan or strategy before implemented.

The other behaviour observed is lack of patience or doing things in a hasty

manner. A lot of mistakes are made when a person lacks patience. A
patient dog eats the fattest bone. I believe patience comes with listening,
understanding and reasoning. On several occasions, my wife told me that I
lack patience. This was confirmed at study class where I, more than often, I
interrupted my colleagues on trying to give my opinion regardless the
housekeeping rules “one person at a time”. In life I have had decision made
that ended in causing prejudice to some people due to lack of patience. I
have to learn to do away with this personality because it will hinder
effectiveness proposed journey.

Other personality preferences were displayed by the interpretation of

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The MBTI interpretive report assists in
understanding the eight dimension of human comparison. Extraversion or
intuition based on how a person focuses his attention sensing or intuition on
taking information, thinking or feeling when making decision and finally
judging or feeling when looking around the environment.

I am an extrovert. As the facilitator explained about the extroverts, I did not

doubt. That was really me. One of the characters of extrovert person is
being interested in the work they do. They also focus the outside world and
get in touch with the outer world. Experiences from the past clearly define
me in this aspect. When we were launching a Safety Awareness Campaign
in September 2017, I played a great role; coordinating different groups and
making sure all prerequisites for the event were intact. I spent sleepless
nights until the event was over. I behaved as I owned the event. This gives
confidence to explore with the vision.

I take information in a sensing manner. This kind of personality trust facts,

details and logical analysis to achieve the objectives. Changes are
accepted with a need to; otherwise the preference is to stay. While it
enhances achieve objectives with less mistakes, I consider it as time
consuming character in case the agenda in question does not require
details. On the hand I salute myself for the perfection of work I am assigned
to by my line manager. So I will have to manage myself to ensure I bring it
to fulcrum.

When making decision, I chose to think other than to feel. The MBTI shows
that I do shift from thinking to feeling. When I am with my teammates, I
make decision based on the objectives. I really get bored when ideas are
imposed even with my line manager. When dealing with sensitive cases
which may culminate in suspension or dismissal of an individual, the
decision making is based on feeling. I reason with the person and take into
consideration of the degree of consequence. I sometime tend to wear their
shoes. I believe this sort of decision making will assist me in managing
conflicts. Managers should always be consistent when dealing with
conflicts. Consistence is achieved by following procedures however; the
moderators like personal behaviour, commitment just a few should not be
overlooked.

The way how I deal with the outer world demonstrates that I am extensively
judgemental, thus scoring 18/30 on the MBTI. With judging I tend to be
organized and orderly and make decision quickly. I am not flexible with the
changes but I accepted them when well analysed and need proven. I like
planning and getting a contingency plan in case things fail. When doing
activities, I like keeping many running and get them under control.
Sometimes I don’t mind getting interrupted as long as there is a plan.
Considering each day is another day, having many activities running at the
same time will create unnecessary pressure. I have decided to relook this
area to ensure activities are determined by priority.

The MBTI together with the in-class activities have given me a picture of my
real-self. It has given me a clue as to what characters or behaviours I need
to dysfunction in order to achieve the real-self. “Management is an art and
science”, (Templar, R. 2015: xiii). It is an art because of there are inborn
qualities of passion; and a science because it can be acquired through
learning of theoretical models and observation.

Feedback on my real-self

In striving to achieve my ideal-self, I asked my colleagues to evaluate my

personalities as a leader. The observation was based in three dimensions
as directed by the assignment. The first is what the colleagues observe as
current negative personalities for a manager that they think I should stop.
The second is the current positive personalities for a manager and I should
 continue with and lastly, the behaviours they don’t see in me but are
essentials for a manager. The enquiry was given to both low level
employees and line managers.

The feedback from ten employees issued with enquiry had all three
dimensions as summarised in table 2. Some of the colleagues admired
certain personalities and recommended to continue. Other colleagues
reprimanded me of certain personalities and advised to stop and some
personalities were suggested for me. I agree with colleagues when they say
I am short tempered, too critical on issues, honest, respectful, benevolent,
humble and supportive. I am very aware of these behaviours. Some are
also in line with my MBTI report. I will to do away with being short tempered
and criticizing others as these will not assist on my personal growth.

I do not agree when a colleague says I should support other people’s

objectives even when I see they are not achievable. I feel losing my time;
resources and strength to support a project which I fully acknowledge its
ineffectiveness.

Thought-provoking in terms of communication came as blind spot to me. I

thought I have effective communication with the colleagues. This is very
important. Effective communication enhances achieve what one wants. This is
an area that I need to look at and make a turnaround.

Table 2: Summary of Feedback from colleagues

Stop Continue Start

 Short tempered  Honest  Supporting other

people’s
 Thought-  Respectful objectives
provoking/tactful
 Value people  Right company
 Criticizing others
 Benevolent  Emphatic
communication
 Humble
 Read
 Exemplary management
books
 Supportive
 Good listener

 Develop coaching
skills

 Clear
communication

Learning agenda

In trying to respond to my Ideal-self with comparison of the real-self and, I

have come up with a learning agenda. The learning agenda is intended to
model or dysfunction model negative personalities that are a hindrance to
effectiveness as a leader. In line with VAL self assessment and KOLB’s
learning style results, my preference learning style is visual and pragmatist
respectively. Visual learners have preferences for seeing and observing
things. Having this quality of learning approach, it assists me in reading books
and observing other people’s performance. Pragmatist are said to be people
who try out ideas. They have the benefit of searching new ideas and
implement. The combination of two will assist me search for new ideas,
observe how other people are doing and come up with a decision which is
practical and applicable to resolve identified loophole for my ideal-self. Below
is the action plan for the learning agenda:

Table 3: Learning agenda action plan

Learning agenda Action strategy By when Supporting structure

Short tempered/ Buy/read book with regard 30/07/17 Personal

anger/ stress management and apply
the principals.
Impatient/hasty
30/10/17 HSE Team & My
Get feedback of progress of
wife
performance

Fear for making Request manager for projects 30/07/17 Jorge Cuamba/HSE
mistakes that I will be accountable for. Manager feedback
on the progress
Review the company

Criticizing Promote growth model in all 30/07/17 HSE team

people for grounds
Trainee
mistakes
Review colleagues under 30/10/17
Jorge Cuamba /HSE
mentorship
Manager
Reviews with line manager on
30/11/17
my progress

Communication Review colleagues under Every two HSE team/Trainee

mentorship and HSE team months
Jorge Cuamba HSE
Reviews with line manager on 30/03/18 manager
 my progress

Conclusion

As I was writing the assignment, I came to understand my real-self. The

scores on the Myers-Briggs Step 11 personality preferences and feedback
from colleagues have been very important for identification of hidden
personalities and come up with directives management thereof. I can now
understand why people behave they do. In fact, some do not know their true
self. They have not had time to think of themselves. That now I know my real-
self; I am keen on turning off negative personalities in order to achieve
effectiveness. Surprisingly, VAL and KLOB self assessment learning type will
be used to meet the requirement. The journey has just started and it is not
over. I believe I am equipped with the right information to transform to the
appropriate emotions that will see me climb the ladder. From now onwards, I
will be keen to evaluate my personalities professionally and socially with the
intent to understand the progress and effectiveness of changes.
References:

 Goleman, D. 2006. Emotional Intelligence. Why it can matter more than

IQ. Trade paperback Edition

 Mazhura, M. 2014. Navigating the Rapids and waves of life. Ten lessons
for managing emotions for success. Balboa Press

 Templar, R. 2015. The Rules of management, Pearson Education Limited

Index

Introduction…………………………………………………………………........ 2

My ideal-self……………………………………………………………………... 3

M real-self …………………………………………………………………......... 5

Feedback on my ideal-self …………………………………………………….. 8

Learning agenda ……………………………………………………………….. 10

Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………. 12

References ……………………………………………………………………… 13

Annexure (data raw)