Leadership Academy

Recently I was accepted into the Leadership Academy here at work. It is sponsored by the Provost's office here at University of Idaho. Apparently they only take one employee from our division, so I am so honored to be included. I'm really excited because I'll get to meet a lot more of my fellow employees, currently my office is located in a building that is way off on the edge of campus so I don't have much contact with the rest of campus other than by email. Also, since I work in HR I don't really have much to do with students other than the two work study students I supervise. I tend to forget that the reason we are all here is for the students. Our leadership academy retreat quickly reminded that the student are why we are here.

I've also learned a few things about myself. We had to take this assessment that let us know what our strengths were, in the context of this particular evaluation anyway. Here were mine:

Context: People who are especially talented in the Context theme enjoy thinking about the past. They understand the present by researching its history.

Ideation: People who are especially talented in the Ideation theme are fascinated by ideas. They are able to find connections between seemingly disparate phenomena.

Activator: People who are especially talented in the Activator theme can make things happen by turning thoughts into action. They are often impatient. (I don't think I realized that I may often be impatient?)

Adaptability: People who are especially talented in the Adaptability theme prefer to “go with the flow.” They tend to be “now” people who take things as they come and discover the future one day at a time.

Learner: People who are especially talented in the Learner theme have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve. In particular, the process of learning, rather than the outcome, excites them.

I'm still learning how to apply this knowledge and I'm trying to decide if they are really accurate, but it gives me somewhere to start.