by Roselle Pendergast, Head Editor, INALJ Minnesota
How to Make Yourself More Valuable by Being Self-Aware
“If you want to be more valuable to the organization, know who you are. Self-awareness breeds people who are more easily managed.”
There are many different ways to become more valuable, such as taking classes on the side to increase your knowledge in new topics or changing your work availability to assist with special projects. But by being self-aware of yourself, you become more capable of knowing what you can handle and what you can improve to make yourself more valuable as a person that will be a great asset to the organization.
While reading the Sunday paper, I came across a good article that discussed the use of self-assessments, such as the Myers Briggs test or a DiSC assessment. “Assessments help you know where you’re going to be out of your comfort zone, and do it in a way that makes you feel OK. The better you are at that, the more you’re able to lead your own life.”
I’ve heard and have used the Myers Briggs test. It’s basically a “psychometric questionnaire designed to measure psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions.” It tests for four pairs of dichotomies, extraversion – introversion, sensing – intuition, thinking – feeling, and judging – perception. Here’s a free self-assessment test provided by the Myers & Briggs Foundation.
Do What You Are by Paul D. Tieger and Barbara Barron-Tieger is a great book that uses the Myers Briggs personality test to help you discover what parts of your personality makes you a good fit for certain job fields. Small side story, my mom bought me this book way back in 2001 after I graduated from high school and couldn’t decide if I wanted to go to college or just work. Let me tell you, it was rather revealing.
Another self-assessment test is called DiSC assessment. It’s a behavior “assessment tool based on the DISC theory of psychologist William Martson. Martson’s theory centers around four different personality traits: Dominance, Inducement, Submission, and Compliance.” Companies more commonly use it as a “way to screen potential employees, with the thought that a certain personality type would be better or worse in certain jobs or positions.”
You can take a free DiSC assessment at PeopleKeys.com, it’ll give you a brief summary of your results. If you want more detail, you’ll, of course, have to pay for it. Or you can try Anthony Robbins’ DiSC test that is free and has a very detailed report that will be emailed to you after you complete the test.
Go forth and assess one’s self! Be a valuable asset by being self-aware!