LSI Conflict Paper

The LSI assignment gave me a chance to see on paper what behavioral and thinking styles I use more of on a daily basis. I have taken many self-assessment surveys in the past, and they all come out very similar. I was selected to the LEAD program at the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2011. This is a program that selects future leaders of the VA.

This program consisted of three weeks of training. Before the first week of training, I had to take the DiSC assessment, which is very similar to the LSI. My results were very similar. During the first week of training, we spent two days discussing the DiSC assessment.My primary “constructive” styles fall into the two o’clock position.

This puts me in the medium range, with the highest portion being in the Self-actualizing section, and the lowest in the Humanistic-encouraging section. My primary “passive/defensive” styles fall into the six o’clock position. I am all over the chart in this category. I am in the high category for Avoidance part. I am in the medium rating for Conventional, and fall into the low category for Dependent and Approval. My primary “aggressive/defensive” styles are in the 10 o’clock position.

I scored a 99 in all four of these categories.The same was true for the DiSC assessment. I was a very strong “D” for Dominant. Personal Conflict Styles Based on the information presented in the survey, it is clear to see that my first primary personal thinking style is my perfectionistic style.

The perfectionistic style measures the degree to which we feel a need to be seen by others as perfect. There is a dramatic difference between the act of perfecting something and the concept of perfectionism. The reason behind this is that I like everything to be perfect. I have a tendency to attach self-worth to accomplishment of tasks.

I have repetitive and ritualistic behavior. One of these tendencies is low self-esteem. I do not agree with this part. I feel I have moderate to high self-esteem. I am very confident in myself. I have a tendency to place excessive demands on myself and others.

I often have a preoccupation with detail that distorts perspective and judgment. I often have an excessive concern with avoiding mistakes. 1 When I am wrong, I do not like to admit it. I have an inability to deal with and express emotions.

Many people think I am OCD. I feel that everything should always be in its place.When it is academic related, work related, or even related to my personal life, I often get frustrated with myself. I know things cannot be perfect all the time, but I still strive for it. My second personal thinking style is that I very competitive. The competitive style measures the need to establish a sense of self-worth by being competing against and comparing ourselves to others.

This is a highly accepted measure of success, but it is often not an effective predictor of achievement in business. I have many of these traits. I often measure myself by winning or losing, and I hate losing. I like recognition and praise from others.

I am very aggressive at times, and my behavior is sometimes considered reckless and I often take risks. I believe in a win-lose attitude, but it often distorts perspective and goals. I have an extreme fear of failure. 1 I see things many times before others do. This gives me an edge over my competition and co-workers. I often go for something without thinking fully.

Others will sit back and analyze details while I already have the task almost complete. My third personal thinking style is power. The power style of thinking is described as a high need for prestige, power and control, status, or influence.People with a high need for power have a strong desire to exert influence over others and most often found in management or leadership positions. This is true, because I always want to be in charge.

I want something done my way, and I take charge to make sure it gets done. I have a lot of the traits of this style. I find myself having a need for power, status, prestige, influence and control. I often dictate others rather than guiding them.

Very often I come off with an aggressive and possibly vengeful attitude. Many think I am narrow minded, and I definitely have a problem with authority. 1 My fourth personal thinking style is oppositional.Oppositional style measures tendency to use the defensive and aggressive strategy of disagreeing with others to seek attention by being critical and cynical. I have a lot of traits from this style.

I have a tendency to look for flaws in everything. I often make others feel uncomfortable, and perceived as having a negative and cynical attitude. I definitely have a sarcastic sense of humor. 1 Impact Styles Planning and organizing go hand and hand with each other. O be able to plan your attack on the project or daily activities you have to have a tentative schedule, outline of the job, and good organization.

I believe that it is important to get the input of the employees involved in the decision process. I believe that it makes the team more cohesive, and feel like they are participating in the way a team should run. I feel that my DiSC assessment reflects a better understanding of my management style. As a “D” my priorities are set for results, actions and challenges.

When I make contributions, I push for results. I show decisiveness, and displays confidence. I convey urgency and speak up about problems. 2 My attitude can often be misunderstood. I can be very blunt at times, and others think I am being rude or unfriendly.

I have a very strong will and my competitiveness may come across as pushy or intimidating. 2 I have a strong fear of failure. If I fail, it makes me feel weak. I also have a strong fear of being taking advantage of. I have been burned in the past by others.

I have a fear of this happening again, and I try to make sure it does not happen at almost all costs. 2 Others can relate to my personality if they know that I am fast-paced and action oriented. If someone wants me to hear them, they need to show confidence in themselves if they want to be heard. People need to minimize small talk and get right to the point.

I don’t like it when people beat around the bush. I am too busy for sugar coating, I want the straight facts. 2 Conflict Styles As much as I hate to admit it, I feel I get my dominating era from my mother. I never thought of it growing up, but as I became an adult, I see it. Everything has to be her way.

I am like that a lot. You often hear that two like people don’t get along. Here is a quote from an article called What Contributes to Personality Clashes “you may unconsciously share a trait with your child and then wonder why you have so much conflict. Remember that two strong-willed people can butt heads like mountain goats.

Two talkers may argue endlessly. Two flighty people may distract each other. ”3 This seems to be true in my case. I can’t stand being around my mother for more than a few hours at a time.

I have no idea how my dad put up with her for almost 40 years. This is probably where I get my power hungry trait from. The first time I remember having a personality clash was in high school. My band director was a person with similar traits, and I hated him. How did I deal with this? I became a smart ass. I would always do the opposite to create problems, and challenge his authority.

I did not realize this a the time, but as I got older, I see it now, and I respect him. I dealt with this by making smart remarks and causing a disturbance. I also developed an ego in my later years of high school. I ran track and cross country, and I was very good at it. My junior year of high school, I was the Pennsylvania 2 mile winter track state champion. This went to my head and I developed a big ego.

This sounds like a big deal, and it was, but what most people don’t realize is that winter track is not a popular sport, and is more of a conditioning sport between the fall and spring sports.Most people in track wrestle and play basketball, or do off season conditioning for football. Winter Track was not a popular sport that in my senior year it was disbanded, and called conditioning, and there were not competitions. My other claim to fame was during my senior year of cross-country, I placed 8th in the state regionals, but my time was not quick enough to qualify for the state championship race.

During my college years, I continued my smart ass attitude whenever there was a person of power in charge. My marketing professor and I clashed this way. She was power hungry, and I was a smart ass and disruptive in class.The difference was with her, she knew this and knew how to deal with people exactly like her and myself. She was a smart ass right back, and I became a game between us of who could be more of a smart ass.

We got along good together unlike my band director and I in high school. Conclusion and Reflection I believe that this LSI is very accurate of my personality style and that it pinpoints behaviors about me that not only I agreed with but also that in times past I did not agree with, but everyone else would say was true about me. I compared my results with the DiSC assessment I took in March 2011. They are very similar.DiSC March 20112 LSI assessment July 20134 As you can see by comparing the two assessments that were taken 19 months apart I have not changed at all.

As stated in the introduction, the DiSC assessment was focused on in detail during the LEAD program. The purpose of the assessment is to focus on your strengths and to help you change to become a better leader. In my case, I am a dominant D. I was the highest scoring D in the entire group.

My weakest point is Steadiness (S). The purpose was to assist my developing in transforming my overbearing D into more of a S. The ideal leader would be in the middle of everything, or a perfect balance.As a D, it stands out and does not give in very easy, 19 months later nothing has changed.

Everyone in my group had a primary style and a secondary style. My D was such a dominant force that I do not have a secondary style. Here is a quote from my personal assessment. “Closer to the Edge or Close to the Center? The position of your dot shows that you are strongly inclined toward the D style.

Because your dot is very close to the edge of the circle, it is also quite close to the priorities of Results, Action, and Challenge. Therefore, these things are probably highly important to you.On the other hand, the priorities of Support, Stability, and Collaboration are pretty far away from your dot. So, for example if you have to choose between providing Support to others or getting Results, the choice will probably be clear: you’ll choose Results because it’s much closer to your dot. ”2 After comparing the results of both assessments, it is obvious that my leadership style should change.

It is an eye opener, but the problem is I like myself the way I am and I like my leadership style. I get the job done, and motivate others to get the job done as well. I am bold and to the point, and my actions and performance speak for itself.