Running head: REFLECT MSLD COMPETENCIES

Reflecting MSLD Competencies

Tami K Crosgrove
Drake University

REFLECT MSLD COMPETENCIES

Reflecting MSLD Competencies

The MSLD Competencies provide a recipe for development of core skills. Graduate
students may possess varying degrees of expertise in each of these competencies. Upon
reflection and self-evaluation, I determined competencies I feel are my strengths and which I
need to develop during this process.
Within the Personal Mastery subset, I feel my strengths are adaptability, integrity &
ethics, and professionalism. My collegiate and professional careers provide many opportunities
to practice and develop these competencies. For example, I work in a corporate insurance office
environment under constant regulatory scrutiny. Each individual state has an insurance division
mandating laws and regulations within that state. Working with these regulations over the past
thirteen years has developed my ability to adopt frequent changes and successfully implement
them within my organization. In addition to regulatory changes, I also adapt to organizational
changes and help others transition to new circumstances and procedures with our company.
Through these organizational changes, I am able to develop both integrity & ethics and
professionalism by building trusting relationships with others in my organization, serving as a
role model, and maintaining self-awareness of my career.
On the other side of Personal Mastery, I need to further develop my skills of critical
thinking, decision making and results orientation. Although my career has involved these areas
to a certain degree, I want to take on more tasks with increased responsibility and degree of
difficulty. Demonstrating the ability to research and analyze possible solutions before making a
decision will build credibility and trust with my team and upper management in the organization.
In the Relational subset of competencies, I have strong skills in effective
communications, inspiring & involving others, and interpersonal relationships. I am a member

REFLECT MSLD COMPETENCIES

of two volunteer committees at my company to organize wellness and fun events for our
employees. We must communicate effectively with employees to inspire them to get involved
with suggested activities. These committees also help me build interpersonal relationships with
members from other divisions of the company. In addition, I also developed personal mastery
competencies as a member of a dance team in my early 20s. Although it was distributed to the
whole team, I was often relied upon by my teammates to keep track of our practice and
performance schedule. They were able to count on me to communicate the information
accurately and timely.
Areas for development within the Relational subset include developing others and
intercultural and global intelligence. I struggle with developing others for a couple reasons.
First, I spend too much time developing my own skills and knowledge. Second, I use my
personal experiences and ambitions as a roadmap for development of others. I have to
understand and realize my goals are not always going to be useful for other people.
A particular example is my former coworker, Nicole. We first worked together at one
insurance company in West Des Moines. It was her first full time job in an office environment
and I saw many qualities in Nicole that resembled me at her age. I felt I was a mentor for Nicole
and tried to share my story and experiences to provide encouragement and advice for her future.
We worked together for two years before I left the company for another opportunity. When my
new company had an opening, I suggested Nicole apply for the position. We were both unhappy
at the previous company and I felt she would enjoy working at the new company as much as I
did. Also, I wanted to continue to be a mentor in her career. Nicole accepted an offer with my
company. As she transitioned into the new role, I continued to offer advice and encouragement.
After nine short months, Nicole decided she no longer liked the job and returned to the original

REFLECT MSLD COMPETENCIES

carrier in a temporary position. It was difficult to handle when she left, but I realize it was my
fault this professional relationship did not succeed. I expected Nicole to have the same goals and
aspirations for her career as I did in mine. She needs to follow her own path. This example also
relates to intercultural intelligence because we come from different backgrounds and
perspectives. I did not provide Nicole an opportunity to share her perspective with me but rather
expected her to adopt my perspective.
Finally, the Core Strategic subset includes strength in business acumen with development
opportunity in leading culture change and strategic vision. I have always been successful in
obtaining good business results throughout my career. Although I started with no knowledge of
the insurance industry, I built understanding of terminology and process over time and now have
a good foundation. Where I need to focus my efforts is becoming more comfortable with leading
change and envisioning the future within my organization. If I can develop these areas
successfully, I will be able to demonstrate to my manager and the company I am ready for more
assignments with greater degree of difficulty.
In conclusion, I am excited about the opportunity to increase proficiency in each of the
competencies within the MSLD program. Although some areas may be stronger than others, I
understand there is always room for improvement in anything we do. The first step is being open
to new ideas.