Achieving and Maintaining Individual Excellence

So many parts of management, supervision, and leadership involve the individual's personal traits. Those committed to superior performance and work quality not only develop skills while on the job, but also strive to change their personal behaviors to reflect their professional position. Skills developed in an individual's personal life can greatly benefit their job performance, however, success means different things to different people (Starling, 2009). Some may see monetary wealth as a sign of success, while other may view helping as many individuals in need as possible success. A self-assessment of the author's current position, desired position, personal driving and restraining forces was completed on the following points: managing the environment, planning and program design, organizational design, human resources development, supervision, financial management, information systems, program evaluation, leadership, and organizational change. The author will also evaluate the effect of Peter Senge's Five Disciplines based on skills and areas that need development.
The author is currently employed as a Habilitation Technician, providing one-on-one daily services to a client with mental retardation, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, and mood disorder. This is a lower-level position in the field of social service assistants and technicians. The desired state of the author's professional life would be employment in the same or a similar section of the human services field, although at a higher professional level. Consideration has been given to pursuing employment in advocacy, mediation, case management, and mental health qualified evaluation. Components that may help or hinder achievement of the desired state are driving and restraining forces. These components reflect triggering mechanisms that can ensure success: Passion, belief, strategy, clarity of values, energy, bonding power, and mastery of communication (Starling, 2009).
Personal driving forces aid change "or make it more likely to occur" (Lewis, Packard, & Lewis, 2007, p. 268). The author has experience managing resources in small environment, such as for an individual client or for a household. Experience in collaborating in with a treatment team to develop care plans for an individual is also a strength possessed. In addition to collaborating with the client's predefined treatment team, the author also manages other external human resources for an individual client. Working under minimal supervision tends to produce more work efficiency for the author, although there is experience in supervising small groups of 10 to 15 employees. The author possesses skills in resource acquisition, budgeting, and savings in personal finances. Good computer and software skills are also possessed, including many common software applications. In current employment the author performs annual treatment plan evaluations with a treatment team for an individual client. The author also possesses a good educational background in each of the above topics.
Restraining forces "are points of resistance or things getting in the way of change" (Lewis, Packard, & Lewis, 2007, p. 268). In the human services field, traits such as apathy or hostility can be detrimental to achieving desired goals (Accel-Team, 2010). After self- assessment the author found that although many strengths or driving forces do exist, there are also many restraining forces impeding the way to the desired state. Lack of experience in managing, supervising, or leading large groups of individuals is a setback. In line with this point, the author has also only organized small scale projects and care plans, and has no experience in planning or designing programs that affect more than one to two individuals. The author has no experience in organizational design in any form. No experience in professional human resources development involving large groups or financial management of the like is possessed. While the author's general computer skills are well-developed, knowledge of specialized programs used in certain fields is lacking. There is also no experience in operating any type of specialized equipment to work in the human services field. Experience is also lacking in evaluation of large-scale programs.
Peter Senge's Five Disciplines of a learning organization are shared vision, personal mastery, mental models, team learning, and systems thinking (Lewis, Packard, & Lewis, 2007). Shared vision implies that all employees are able to express their personal visions and come to an agreement on a vision that benefits both the individual and the organization (Society for Organizational Learning, n.d.). The vision of most human services organizations includes providing the best quality care to as many clients as possible. The author's vision as a human services worker falls into accordance with this generalized vision, which is part of the author's current employer's vision statement. Personal mastery involves growth through learning to clarify what is important to the individual and the reality of the situations that will be faced. Continued education is a strong belief of the author, and experience based in a sound educational background is inherently better-rounded than others. Learning from the research and experiences of others through higher education allows the worker to avoid errors and practice with more effectiveness. Assessing mental models involves identify underlying assumptions, biases, and stereotypes the individual has towards a situation and making necessary adjustments to ensure fair treatment of clients. Mental models reflect how we feel the world works, and may limit our behavior and actions unless brought into the open and rectified (Arango, 1998). Mental models are developed over time and may vary depending on the clientele served, co-workers, and personal situations (Arango, 1998). The author currently works with a family with extremely different religious views than herself. This situation forced the author to reassess her feelings about her own religious beliefs and how she felt towards those practicing other religions. While the author remains faithful in her own beliefs, she has developed respect and knowledge from working in a diverse environment. Team learning involves working collaboratively with others about complex issues to develop solutions that are favorable to all parties involved. Team members must eliminate bias from their work inside the team and learn to respect the differences of each team member and how those differences benefit the team's performance (Society for Organizational Learning, n.d.). Systems' thinking brings the other four disciplines together. Systems thinking "involves seeing interrelationships, going beyond blame for current conditions, and looking for fundamental rather than symptomatic solutions" (Lewis, Packard, & Lewis, 2007, p. 289). Systems' thinking in area the author feels she needs further education, training, and development in due to limited experience. Systems' thinking is a behavior that comes with education combined with experience, while combining shared vision, personal mastery of team members, and assessment of mental models to achieve.
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References
Accel-Team. (2010). Force field analysis. Accel-Team development. Retrieved May 31, 2010, from http://www.accel-team.com/techniques/force_field_analysis.html
Arango, J.B. (1998). Mental models. Algodones Associates, Inc. Retrieved June 1, 2010, from http://www.algodonesassociates.com/planning/Mental%20models.pdf
Lewis, J., Packard, T., & Lewis, M. (2007). Management of human service programs. Available from the University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.
Society for Organizational Learning. (n.d.). The five disciplines of organizational learning. Retrieved May 31, 2010, from http://www.solonline.org/organizational_overview/
Starling, L. (2009). The driving force: Achieving personal success. Articlesbase. Retrieved June 1, 2010, from http://www.articlesbase.com/motivational-articles/the-driving-force-achieving-personal-success-1420499.html