Feedbacks

Feedbacks, when properly provided are great tools to drive significant professional growth. I was lucky to  work for seven years in P&G where career development is in it's core values and this is shown on public statistics that seven out of ten P&G managers started as interns in the company. So in P&G providing feedback is critical and the WDP (Work and Development Plan) is one of the most important processes in the company, tracked by Human Resources and updated on a quarterly and annual basis.

To turn this session of the blog even more complete, I would like to share a part of my feedbacks from two of my last three years as a Manager at P&G as well as provide a reflection upon the feedbacks I received from my colleagues in the MBA.

Basically, my professional background and my personal life helped me develop and shape a strong sense of leadership and responsibility. I was raised by my mother and my sister, without my father so since from my childhood I developed a sense of being "the man of the house" and felt responsible for the security and well being of my family, and thus this permeated into my professional life. This is shown on Adesola's and Martin feedbacks, as well as on P&G's evaluation where they highlight the sense of responsibility and balance over my team and deliverables.
On the other hand, having this as a much strong characteristic has it's negative aspects. As I always felt to be the responsible or the "the man of the house", whenever I don't feel safe or don't have a strong and trustworthy leadership, I tend to take control of activities and manipulate situations in order to feel comfortable that things will be delivered with quality and time, specially when there is time constraint. 
In the audio recording of Strength and Weaknesses discussion, it is clear that all team members but Adesola agree with the way I was taking over the leadership of projects as both of them as Introverts do not wish to lead projects and Adessola who has a very high tendence to dominate situations, doesn't have the tools to lead, plan, organize ora  structure activities, and therefore thinks I tend to manipulate and control every situation.
Indeed people sometimes can feel attacked or controlled, but the real intentions under my actions are to make things happen. I do not cope with authoritarian/dictatorship leadership styles, and to transmit my messages with a more softer and democratic tone, I must work this opportunity out to generate more good will for my "followers" without convincing or manipulating people all the time.

Feedback from Martin:

“Daniel is a goal oriented manager who shows an extraordinary high level of Team work. He also is very prone to make the team communications much easier. This means that the interactions inside the group and between the module leaders are always crystal clear. Since the first day, his role was to organize the team, making sure that every member of the team have clear and concise information of the tasks and activities to do. Thanks to him I had a very easy approach to the master, not missing any date or any relevant information but also thank to him we got our work in schedule. On the other hand he is easygoing person, who is always ready to help and share knowledge. Work with him, is having fun and learn at the same time.”

Feedback from Adesola:

"Daniel is indeed a great asset to MLK team because of his warmth, drive and special ability to structure and manage projects. He is always full of energy, very dependable and has persistently demonstrated his ability to take responsibilities very seriously. Daniel has strength in influencing his environment when chairing meetings and leading discussion.

However, making consistent conscious efforts to see things objectively, especially from other’s perspectives would enable Daniel to avoid being manipulative or controlling. "

Feedback from Nayef:


Daniel with people:

As an extrovert Daniel is a very out going and friendly person. he likes to enjoy his time in almost everything he does. He shares happy moment with the rest of the team and he certainly supports others through difficult times and shows sympathy. Daniel appreciates friendship and surely pay a great deal of attention to peoples feelings. i personally feel that in Daniels eyes; a good relationship with people is based on trust, respect, support.

Daniel on the job: 

He is very intelligent and intuitive, always pushes the team forward, like to act on plans and stick to them. when it comes to deliverables and getting things done, Daniel would be the deadline keeper. he contributes greatly to the teams final outcome through constructive feedback, support, and assistance whenever needed. whenever we come across an obstacle his views would be much valued and listened to, in many situations he will makes more than one suggestion and through it at the table for discussion. on top of that, Daniel is a very diplomatic individual he will always take into account other views and support the most agreed on opinion. 

Recommendation: 

Based on my observations, i can see Daniel a potential leader to the team, as he enjoys good leadership skill, however i don't think Daniel realizes that or maybe he is hesitant to make it obvious. Taking the driver seat and pushing the team forward might in some cases require more strictness or practice of authority i.e. whenever a team member gets off track or some task is slipping away "some one" needs to stand up and say "thats wrong and it should have been done it otherwise" i certainly learned from Daniel through out our learning experiences (professionalism, accurate, the desire to win)

Extra:
P&G FEEDBACKS

2010 - Sales Manager 

Top 3 Strengths used to drive results (Pinpoint behaviors using Success Drivers as a guide)
Strengths	Strengths		Strengths
1. Power of People – Leads-Engages/ Enable	Branch Manager and Supervisors compromised and focused to achieve the vision to become an “A Initiatives Execution Machine” à Oniz PR recognized by the company à Power of You – CBD Sales Convention´09		Daniel should engage and enable CBD and customers to deliver best results in Hair care category considering that we have a new brand this year- Head &Shoulders.
2. Power of Agility – In touch- Turns insights into Action	Starship launch to Independent Drug on JAS´09 at Catarata Falls. 30 Customers bought their pipeline volume to participate on the event. Pantene BUS + Sampling + Feature on the 2 biggest Drug Chains on the state and 5 Local Modern Retails turned out on 8 incremental msu´s and all time sell out record for Pantene. à Pantene Drug – 131 vs. YA à Pantene NMR – 262 vs. YA		Daniel should leverage his ability and help CBD to understand the Hair care businesses and turn insights/ plans into action. As a consequence, best sell out, share and distribution results. Tracking will be critical for success.
3. Power of Agility - Operational Discipline- Focus on Results	Overall results: 112 YA volume 126 YA Value (Distributors sell out) TOP accounts: 133 YA 100% cities covered in PR Weekly Tracking and follow up with Sales supervisors		Daniel should guarantee that Hair care plans are robust and right implemented, delivering strong growth in every channel.
Development Area
The one thing the individual can improve which will have the most significant positive impact on their results?		What actions will the individual and manager take to strengthen this area?
Power of mind – analyze information and solve problems. Daniel has a challenge in this FY to develop his ability in deeply analysis of informations and creat action plans out of them in addition to current trade plans. He has the responsibility to engage, implement and track hair care plans and present constantly and consistent analysis of results and identify whether it is on track or new measures must be taken		Clearly understand all processes managed by the MS&P role to optimize time and deliver category targets for FY1011. Develop strong and easy trackings to guarantee right implementation and best results.

OVERALL STATEMENT:

On FY0910, Daniel achieved strong results and exceeds expectations most of the time; as a consequence he was promoted on September´09. Daniel closed this FY growing 112 vs. YA,14% NOS ahead of Volume, with 5 out of 10 categories growing ahead of HFS Channel (Hair Care 238, Oral Care 155, Personal Care 148, Laundry 112 and Disposables 104). NOS growing share 78% and 100% growing distribution in HFS area VI. Part of the growth came from the integration of Nissei, one of the most important Drug Chains on Nielsen A VI to the distributor base, adding 50 incremental msus on due to a strong promotional Calendar and in-store actions that Daniel leads (i.e. Pantene Bus, Pampers Cultural Campaign on September´09).

On distribution, Daniel demonstrate his focus on results, delivering 100% coverage on 399 cities for 8 consecutive months, with activation reaching 8830 stores, growing 160 vs. YA and Minimum Mix with 112 vs. JFM´10 objective covering over 590 stores with 30 or more P&G sku´s. Daniel achieved these results by leading a consistent tracking of major targets with weekly Monday calls to deploy status/objectives with the branch manager and all supervisors.

Daniel also led the organization to be 6 times the first Distributor Executing A initiatives, being recognized by the company as an “A Initiatives Execution Machine—fast and furious”.

And finally, to build capabilities on distributor’s organization, Daniel led the CBD College I for the Branch manager, 7 supervisors and 9 top retail sales reps with a 36 hours course containing TOP CBD College I topics. This training resulted in a significant evolution on second sales force performance that deliver strong results on TOP accounts 133vs YA sales and Daniel was strongly recognized as an enabler for that team.

2011 - Hair Care Trade Marketing Manager

Strength or Opportunity Area	Actions by Individual	Actions by Manager
Top 3 Strengths to be used to drive results ( Pinpoint behaviors using Success Drivers as a guide)
Thinks and acts decisively- Analyzes information and solves problems. When entered on the MOT, there was no detail by customer to take timely decisions for business needs. Daniel pro-actively brought information onto a friendly/precision format to drive business results, as example Summer plan tracking, HFS One Page and daily tracking, gathering all sorts of information and sources, helping to build the organization	On Summer plan the category had a lot of on time plans due to a scenario change, In order to track results, and guarantee visibility by customer, Daniel created a robust tracking that helped deliver the program, achieving ever sell in Record with 985msus on October10. Daniel also developed Daily Tracking by customer/channel, adding Best Estimates, sell out and inventory on the same report, helping top processes on MOT such as JBP, S&OP, Pre-Demand and daily business needs. Finally, he helped build the HFS one page with huge detail by customer that improoved HFS KBD´s	Continue developing this strength by tanking even more precise and timely decisions.
Operates with discipline- Focuses on Results. Daniel is always available to discuss learn and execute, acting with sense of urgency, focusing on bottom line results and CBD Field needs to drive category growth.	Daniel worked hard to deliver initiatives and objectives, as an example on H&S initiative; he managed to build plans to drive great volume and visibility during pipe line period on stores, especially on MR, over delivering in 9 months important targets such as Volume, Distribution and Extra Points.	This is very critical for CBD especially in a MS&P roll to be always focused on what’s drive the business.
Innovates and Reapplies- Creates. Daniel helped building the organization by turning regular data into insightful and simple information for new hires, CBD field and second sales force. He also led CBD National Meeting and QBP´s presentations on both FYs developing strong and efficient communication to help CBD meet objectives.	Lead 5 on boarding’s for new hires with category trainings and Communication Skills (achieving highest overall ratings on 3 out of 5 sessions), developed interactive trainings for 2nd sales force executed on 12 customers across channels (pharmacist, wholesalers, Decs and Distributors)  and created strong Persuasive Sells for CBD on H&S launch, Summerplan, and SAMBA initiatives.	Daniel will have new interns to train and considering our organization very new, he should invest his time to develop the organization.
The one thing the individual can improve which will have the most significant positive impact on their results
In Touch- Focus Externally. Even though Daniel created strong relationships with CBD, due to a lot of internal processes, the biggest opportunities relies on the field, therefore he must understand the business by being closer to TOP customers.	Develop stronger tools to track KDBs on a weekly/monthly bases to create more opportunities to be closer to the business, building capabilities on customers.	Create weekly/monthly check points with top priorities to leverage time and planning on the MOT.

OVERALL STATEMENT:

In FY 10/11 Daniel exceeded expectations in the Hair care MS&P role, delivering excellent results in Pantene 148 Vol. IYA, H&S 119 Index vs. booklet and 9pts ND in HFS. Being results driven, he made a big difference on a dynamic and competitive scenario presented on last FY, Daniel managed to create a robust tracking to penetrate every customer detail to make sure P&G and Customers objectives would be met after government published the Medida Provisoria. This tracking helped delivering summer plan results, achieving ever record sell in with 985msus (Oct10).

With this fortress, Daniel also developed robust tracking by customer/channel with sell out, activation, mix minimum, shelving and inventory data, helping top processes on MOT such as JBP, S&OP, Pre-Demand and daily business needs and being benchmarked by other MOTs.

He is very in touch with CBD field organization which he enjoys great collaboration and understanding, for instance in H&S launch, Daniel got the teams together along with Channel MOTs to develop a very strong visibility plan with tunnels, isles and displays that was executed across channels and ensured all customers would succeed with the launch. And finally, he developed a strong conceptual sell, that over delivered by 2x estimated pipeline in OND, even with a lot of supply issues during the launch, he kept focused on finding creative solutions for each customer to make sure objectives would be surpassed.

Daniel still have a strong challenge with Pantene, as we are in a very competitive environment, responsible for delivering another year of +30% growth in Pantene and consolidate H&S launch.

Belbin Team Role

In this post I will reflect upon the outcomes of a questionnaire based on the BELBIN Team Role. This is one of the tools that helped me identify and evaluate myself as an individual inside a group. Before the reflection, I would like to add that in the last couple of days I have been restless on observing myself during interactions with my team on the MBA, as well as reminding myself as a Leader back in Procter&Gamble in Brazil. It has been quite an intense learning experience.

Although the original Belbin Test is a little expensive, myself and the group took a similar test based on the same criteria as Belbin. I will provide the connections (team roles) beside the roles of this free test as the following example: Explorer - Belbin: Resource Investigator

Being able to look inside yourself and analyze your deepest aspects is an amazing exercise. Sometimes the revealed truth can hurt so much that some individuals tend to hide it from themselves or even disengage from the exercise. I recognize that as an observational kind of person, I tend to place more focus on others than on my own, but as an ESFJ, my feelings makes me somehow aware of my own behavior. 

My Belbin test outcome was quite interesting, with aspects that I started to pay attention to and others that I was well aware that I was missing, or did not play that role.  So please find bellow the analysis including facts related to my own professional experience as well as some other from my MBA group. 

Explorer 17% - Belbin: Resource Investigator           Being an explorer is somehow complimentary with my Extroverted personality. I am always interested in new things and approaches, as well as different points of view over the same situations. Being an explorer is the channel that enhances some of my team player characteristic which is the communication or communicating new ideas to the team. My background as a Salesman and  Sales Manager helped me investigate numerous aspects and create persuasive selling to meet either individual or group objectives based on my own findings.  As a criticism over this resource, I might loose enthusiasm quite quickly if something does not fit my needs, and, sometimes I get over optimistic over my own point of view. 

Team player 17% - Belbin: Team Worker

As I found out on my DISC personality test previously commented, being a Team Player is one of my main fortress. I feel great on a team environment, specially because I am well aware that my presence provides steadiness and balance as I foster for harmony with a diplomatic approach on a team environment. On the other hand, being over caring and promoting balance sometimes makes me avoid conflict even when it is necessary. Therefore this must be weighted and observed as I develop myself as a follower or Leader. A very fresh and practical example of this characteristic is that I was chosen by the Team to be our Class Representative, as well as call meetings with Course Leaders to deal with our difficulty in some occasions. I am also looking forward to change to the Sports Industry due to my identification with Teams, specially when it comes down to sports, a unique activity that generates a great sense of achievement either on individual or group sports.

Innovator 14% - Belbin: Pant

I have a very imaginative and free mind. I am always making free associations from inputs I get from everything I capture, specially from observing random people, and they are likely to be very original. I enjoy creating new solutions with a creative perspective. For instance, we had a globalization project that was supposed to be presented on a A1 paper. Since our group wanted to add more content than it would fit in the page, I had the idea to make sliding cards from the back of the sheet, providing an innovative way to present more detailed information in case the examinator wanted more information on a specific topic. This characteristic sometimes play against the my team player role, as the more imaginative I get, I tend to isolate myself to give proper shape to my ideas.

Chairman 14% - Belbin: Coordinator

On the first group task we had on the Residential Weekend we had to decide in three minutes who would be appointed Chief Finance Officer and the CEO. It did not mind being that figure, but I do recognize that somehow it would bring me more confidence do develop a team identity with my colleagues. Indeed all three of them pointed me as the CEO and Martin as CFO. This was also reinforced a trace of leadership as I was already the class representative. A chairman possesses strong coordination role and places a lot of effort and emphasis to keep the team together. I also recognize that sometimes this behavior can be misunderstood, as a chairman often tries to implement procedures and rules over tasks. This indeed happened with our team after our first group assignment (as previously mentioned on the topic MLK loading), where it was clear we needed a direction to execute our group assignments. I called a meeting where the outcome was a election of Project Managers for each subject. This procedure was suggested by myself and helped the group deliver a merit grade on the following assignment.

On the same analysis I also want to talk about my lowest scores and better understand my opportunities as a Team player.

Analyst 6% - Belbin: Monitor-Evaluator

As per my Personality type ESFJ - I am rather a FEELING type of person than a THINKING, so my decisions are most likely to be taken based on my gut feelings rather than evaluating pros and cons over the same situation. I usually tend to act first and than think about the outcomes, whereas in a group environment a more prudent and democratic approach, taking in consideration inputs from others is more appropriated. Also Analysts tend to be perceived as unemotional or rational, and this also does not talk about me. I have a great opportunity to transfer the balance I provide to the group to my decision taking process, analyzing more sources and coming up with outcomes agreeable with all group members.

Executive 6% - Belbin: Implementer

The implementer is also an organizer. I have high engaging and envisioning skills but I do understand I have a clear opportunity to better organize myself. Although I tend to plan every step, it takes even greater discipline to sustain your focus to achieve all the proposed objectives. Implementers are great disciplined and pragmatist.

Bibliography

IMAGES:

Belbin. (2012). Belbin Team Roles. (B. Associates, Producer) Retrieved from BELBIN: http://www.belbin.com/rte.asp?id=8

123test. (2012). 

QUESTIONNAIRE:

123test Team Roles. Retrieved from 123test Free Pshychological Tests, Serious answers: http://www.123test.com/team-roles-test/

My Personality Tests

I chose two different types of tests to evaluate my own personality: MBTI and DISC.
MBTI due it’s narrowed questions that recall day-to-day activities and take in consideration past experiences.
DISC because it takes in consideration levels of agreements with the statements instead of straight yes/no questions.

ME PERSONALITY RESULT WAS --> ESFJ:
Extroverted, Sensing, Feeling, Judging.

As suggested by Myers, McCaulley, Quenk, & Hammer (1998),  ESFJs are at their best: warm, sympathetic, helpful, cooperative, tactful, down-to-earth, practical, thorough, consistent, organized, enthusiastic, and energetic. They enjoy tradition and security, and will seek stable lives that are rich in contact with friends and family.
Bibliography

The outcome was very similar to what I consider and understand of my own. I researched thru two different sources to get a better picture of my own personality. During this research I found out a couple of remarkable people with the same profile as mine and curiously I personally identified myself with some of Martin Luther King Jr. principles and conduct/behavior as well as share Eleanor Roosevelt’s ideals of freedom and equal rights, both with the same personality profile. 


This result also meets my learning style. According to (Mumford, 1997), my profile is known as the Activist, someone who needs to be involved in new experiences and often get the best out when working with others or teams tasks, leading discussions or solving issues that requires deep understanding. 
As a counterpoint, by having an Extroverted personality added with an Activist learning style, I learn less when I must pay full attention to one source only as a Lecturer or a book. 
This is a strong opportunity that I tend to transform into fortress by the end of my MBA in London where theoretical concepts and critical analysis will be necessary to get the Masters degree.

Indeed I am an extroverted person, and it is shown on the way I interact with people, always full of energy, ready to listen to provide help, and most of the times with a regular sense of humor in everything. In a way, the external world provides me with energy to complete my day to day tasks. I also try to learn from peoples experience and share my own to make my identity clear and to help people understand my point of view. Usually I have friends seeking for my opinion and advice on personal matters.


Being extroverted has positive and negative aspects, and I do recognize that extroverted people can be inconvenient in some situations where you need to  respect people's space and timing, as well as their non extroverted profile. ESFJ's tend to be excessively controlling to fulfill it's necessity for order and guarantee the wellfare of others and also inefficient when working on it's own due to the difficulty of focusing into one single task. I do recognize this characteristics and it takes a step by step approach to reduce such invasive traits. My self awareness is a good cornerstone for this evolution.


In my understanding, my personality was shaped basically due to my father which was by nature very expansive and had a strong presence in whatever situation he was and was dominant personality over groups of people. Secondly, having a Sales background on a very competitive environment, where some of the required traits for that position is to be very communicative and self-confident to develop long lasting relationships with consumers and customers also helped me develop my extroversion.

I also easily talk about my feelings and often write about them. I used to write poems and texts a couple of years ago, and as I grew up, I realized all my writings were based on concrete experiences and what I was feeling by that moment. Also when it comes down to decision making, I often use my feeling or gut feeling rather than thinking on what would be the next steps or outcomes. I tend to act first, think afterwards.


Being sensitive and taking attention to feelings also has negative aspects, as per Keirsey (1998), what makes Providers (ESFJ's personality) the most easy going type is it's extreme sensitivity to feelings for others which in the other hand makes them very aware and sensitive of what others think of them, so in this case any wrong perceptions of an interaction may generate a big misunderstanding.
My name means "God of Justice" and this is particularly shown in my MBTI profile when it states that Sensing People generally give more wight into social implications and consequences above any other logic to make their decisions.

Turning now to how I orient myself to the external world, I base my decisions and impressions on my own values and principles, that is, I use my own judgement, which can be very helpful when I am interacting with people from my own culture, but could be a disaster on a multi-cultural environment. When it comes down to plan further achievements or a simple vocation for example, I indeed plan every step in advance to make sure there will be no surprises during that period. This is, in a way a sense of controlling the situation thru predictability.

When I researched over the DISC personality test I also found out other important aspects. The questionnaire resulted on a high index of Influence and Steadiness. Both traits can be translated into a more sympathetic approach to develop people skills. As I mentioned on previous posts, one of the feedbacks I received from my previous boss in Procter&Gamble was the ability to influence people to have a more focused and "relaxed" approach towards it's duties, as well as provide balance and steadiness to the team even under high pressure situations such as monthly closures.
In my opinion this is a great characteristic, although it also provides some opportunities on the other hand. Whenever I face situations where I have limited boundaries, that is, I cannot exert my influence or control the situation, I tend to get a bit tense and unfulfilled, with a probability to vastly disengage from the task.  This is also a opportunity that I will observe more closely as I develop myself as a Leader in both, professional and personal life.

To conclude, I feel happy to deeply evaluate myself using two different approached and reading thru the results under different perspectives to get a clearer picture of myself as a Human Being.
Being able to to learn a lot more about where and how my decisions and behaviors come from was a great experience and will help me enhance my skills as life goes on.

Keirsey, D. (1998). Please Understand Me (Vol. II). Prometheus Nemesis Book Co.

Mumford, A. (1997). How to manage your learning environment. Peter Honey Publications.

Myers, I. B., McCaulley, M. H., Quenk, N., & Hammer, A. (1998). MBTI Handbook: A Guide to the development and use of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (3rd Edition ed.). Consulting Psychologists Press.

Creativity

During the Residential weekend we also had opportunity to enhance our creativity thru numerous tasks as I posted on previous posts (please refer to MLK Loading Natufit Commercial and Song about group).

But what is Creativity? What makes some people more creative than others? Is it because they are raised in creative environments where they were encouraged to express their creativity? Or it is simply genetical and people are born that way?

Theories and relevant theorists contributed to the development of Creativity such as the Psychoanalytical Theory of Creativity (Freud, Jung, Adler), Mental Illnes Theory of Creativity (Briggs) and the Eyesenk's Theory of Psychoticism.

Personally, I see myself as a very creative person, that captures inputs and insights from the widest ranges of sources and mix them all together to try and find different solutions for old or new problems. I tend to believe that repeated decisions will lead to similar outcomes, so I seek the opposite. The sources that feeds my creativity and pulls the trigger for my mind are observational/visual tools as well as own experiences and day-to-day situations as listening from people's experiences, for example.

I researched for Creativity questionnaires and tests to better understand how I can enhance my learnings from all sorts of situations and take advantage to develop my biggest opportunities.  The one that caught my attention is called Right Brain vs Left Brain on http://www.wherecreativitygoestoschool.com.

In this test I found three major outcomes that really made sense when I look back to my learning style and decision making/solution creation processes. 

* First aspect is that my right part of the brain is the dominant side with 52% of brain activity, which makes me a creative thinker who uses feeling and intuition to gather information. What pulls my trigger when it comes down to retain information is through the use of images and patterns. 

* Second outcome was something that I have always heard from my bosses back in Procter & Gamble: My rationales were never simple/objective, but my excessive complexity always contributed with interesting and different solutions. The test pointed out that my thoughts sometimes may appear illogical and meandering, since I use a lot of free associations to find solutions for issues.

* Third major outcome was that I identified within one of my biggest opportunities, Fantasy Oriented Analysis, a great gift. This low score aligned with other fortress allows me to use reality and creativity to process informations. On the corporate world for instance, it allows me to work with regulations and rules and generate creative solutions at the same time.

On the other hand, I do have a lack of "symbolic" analysis (the lowest score on the left side of the brain) that deals with more abstract issues and requires holistic approaches. 

I have also learnt that I do have the ability to take a step back and look at the whole picture to get a better understanding. My creativity standards help me to visualize the "big picture" first and than work with the pieces from the inside out to re-create it.

I would like to illustrate this example with one of the tasks executed during the residential weekend which was directed to measure the level of creativity within the group.

We were provided with a picture from Philipp Otto Runge called WE THREE and we were free to make any analysis or metaphor over this image.

I took a look on the whole picture and easily created a story from what we were experiencing at that competition on the residential weekend. 

My reasoning was quite direct and constructed from the inside-out.

As per my vision this picture showed MLK group on the right hand side, standing confident and aware of it's leadership position. (by that time, we were already leading the competition). Although we knew we were in good shape, our customers, the market (symbolized by the lady) trusted us, as she was laying on our shoulders and had her hands around us, but we were aware that with a blink of an eye she could betray us with competition (symbolized by the man on the left side), that was taking advantage of our good work, since our business decisions were generating more demand than we could supply. 

Bibliography

Vancouver, T. A. (n.d.). Where Creativity goes to School. Retrieved from Art institute of Vancouver: http://www.wherecreativitygoestoschool.com/vancouver/left_right/rb_results.pl#Concrete

Critical Incident - Nayef's Natufit Pitch

The objective of this post is to deploy a critical reflection upon an episode of our Residential Weekend, where we shared a common feeling and, as a group, wanted to learn and get the best out of one of the members that until that point was not fully engaged into the activities. I will use the the Learning Cycle Model of Reflection to organize and better expose my ideas.
Bibliography

The residential weekend provided the group the opportunity to get to know each other and spend time together performing a lot of team building activities where every member would have to be exposed and get out of it’s own comfort zone to represent the team.

Since myself and Adesola had already made our share on public speaking activities, Martin and Nayef were the only one’s eligible for the next task, which was to perform a pitch to win rights to explore a new country with the Natufit product. That task would evaluate one’s ability to speak in public with time pressure (within two minutes) and competitor’s, evaluate the group's ability to build the speech and align the messages as well as provide constructive feedback to the speaker after the first attempt.

As appointed on a personality test, Nayef is an Introverted, and was eligible for the task. As Martin and I were fully focused in writing the speech and defining our strategy, I realized that Nayef was not paying attention as he was more concerned about being picked by the staff than being prepared and contributing to fully understand the groups approach for the speech in case he was selected. It was obvious, the facilitator's perceived that and Nayef ended up being picked to perform the pitch. 

Well, the speech came significantly different than what we planned, since Nayef was completely blocked to understand what we were proposing as his fear to be picked took over his mind. I experienced that before and understand his reactions. It was clear that he was not comfortable with the speech because it was not on his words, as well as he was not comfortable with his performance and his competitors watching him perform right beside him.

Although the group had the opportunity to change the speaker for the second trial, we provided Nayef with constructive feedback. During this conversation he explained his frustration with his performance and made it clear that it was affected by his concern for being the one selected to take the pitch.


With that in mind, as a group, we decided that he should do it again, so he could gain extra confidence and perceive that the group not only supported him, but trusted on his capability to do it.
He not only accepted it, but asked us some time off to think on his own strategy and words to take the second trial. Although I did not agree with that exemption from the next task to redo his speech, I was sure that this behavior had a logical explanation and we all agreed to give him the space needed.

According to (Myers, McCaulley, Quenk, & Hammer, 1998) those who prefer introversion prefer to reflect, then act, then reflect again. To rebuild their energy, introverts need quiet time alone, away from activity. And this is exactly what happened, Nayef spent time by himself writing his own words and concentrating for the next trial. 

The dots connected even more after we took personality tests and answered to Kolb's Learning Cycle questionnaires. We found out that not only our personalities but our learning styles were very different and yet complementary to each other.

It does make sense if we take in consideration our great diversity: we all came from different countries and have different professional and personal backgrounds. 

According to (Brainmac, 2011), Adesola is a PRAGMATIC, she's always ready to work and very down to earth, so doesn't matter the task, she likes to go straight to execution and put things in practice. 

Martin and I are ACTIVISTs, we need different and new experiences and deep challenges to keep us motivated and engaged, so we were having a blast during the entire weekend with a wide variety of activities. Nayef, in the other hand is a REFLECTOR and needs to observe the group to form his own perceptions as well as draw his own conclusions over reflection on past experiences.

With that in mind it was obvious that Nayef would not perform as we all expected, including himself, since he did not take a important role during the discussion for the speech (he was not comfortable with the content), it was not written in his own words (reflectors need that) and he was supposed to perform a role-play, which according to Kolb's learning styles, is when reflectors do not get their best out.

To conclude, Nayef took his time off to write down his own speech based on the groups ideas and feedbacks. He spent the next hour by himself quiet for the second trial.
As a result, Nayef had a great performance, which was recognized not only by us, but by members of other teams. Nayef not only felt more confident about his role in the group and completely changed his behavior by participating with more energy on the future tasks, but the whole group thrilled with the feeling of achievement, of being a unit, a team, where supportive behaviour would strengthen our laces up for furthers tasks and assignments.

As a reference for this event, I recorded a video in which Martin is explainig Nayef the structure of the speech that both of us developed during the five minutes we had to write it, when Nayef could not place focus due to his concern to be picked.

Brainmac. (2011, November 24). Learnstyle. Retrieved March 30, 2012, from Brainmac Sports Coach: http://www.brianmac.co.uk/learnstyle.htm

Mumford, A. (1997). How to manage your learning environment. Peter Honey Publications.