ePortfolio: Arianna Ina Garay

Arianna Ina Garay A Jo ur n al Of My Learning Journey and Ou tcom e s

ePortfolio

EDUC30072 Positive Leadership and Careers

ARIANNA INA GARAY A Journal Of My Learning Journey and Outcomes EDUC30072 Positive Leadership and Careers AUTHOR Arianna Ina Garay 758843 Copyright Š2019 COURSE COORDINATOR Rachel Colla TUTOR Jo Murray This subject was created by the University of Melbourne.

Any photographs, drawings and edited pictures that appear within this submission belongs to the student, unless listed otherwise.

All items taken online or within university sources are cited, and sources can be found in the bibliography at the end of the journal.

For better viewing options, you can view this document online on ISSUU: https://issuu.com/ariannagaray/docs/ aig _eportfolio_-_ a _ journal _of_ my_ le_942e353918ffcc

Table of Contents INTRODUCTION TO THE READER: Who is Arianna Ina Garay? 4

POSITIVE LEADERSHIP AND CAREERS: What Concepts Did I Learn? 6

APPLYING MY LEARNING: Defining Me In Positive Psychology 8

REFLECTING ON MY CAREER DEVELOPMENT: Where Am I At So Far? 12

PERSONAL BRANDING: So How Should I Present Myself? 14

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND BIBLIOGRAPHY: THEY Helped Me Get Here 15

Who is

Arianna Ina Garay?

the field of Positive Psychology. Adhering to its namesake, my experience upon my learnings within this discipline have been overwhelmingly positive. As someone who is studying Architecture and Urban Design & Planning, myself and my fellow students do not get the opportunity to explore this pathway of positive reinforcing values and lessons, which I now firmly believe every student needs.

INTRODUCTION TO THE READER Hello!

My name is Arianna Ina Garay and thank you for reading my ePortfolio journal.

This journal is an integration of my thoughts and reflections upon what I’ve learnt in my brief (but certainly not the last!) stint in

I hope that you read this with as much enjoyment as I have had upon making it, and that it incites and invites thoughtful reflection as you read through.

What I hope for you to acquire throughout this journal, dear reader, is inspiration on how you can reflect, rearrange and reposition yourself so that you can follow and forge your own life and career path. One that is quintessentially all about you and who you are, asking yourself the same question I asked myself at the end of the subject: Who is _(your name here)_?

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During my two-week journey within the Positive Leadership and Careers subject, I have had the opportunity to read and delve into the research that have come from the field of Positive Psychology and they have taught me very valuable lessons; not just in the practicality and outcomes of good leadership within careers, but also lessons about myself.

POSITIVE LEAD AND CAREERS

Investigating pos approaches to ca management and

Strengths

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More often than not, upon of tasks or of an experienc our focus on the bad or n have happened. Naturall things help us identify wh did we go wrong and seq can later improve it shoul within the same situation

What Concepts Did I Learn?

Focusing on the negative bad thing, as it helps us g the skills we need to be go

But true strengths lie in t are both good at and enjoy

Instead of asking ourselve strengths?’, and immedia of improving our weakne re-assess our thinking an strengths and what went instilling positive thinking work.

“the right strength, to the right way, and at th

- Ale

DERSHIP S

sitive areer making, d leadership.

n the completion ce, we centralise negative things that ly, focusing on such here in the process quentially, how we ld we find ourselves n again.

es is not necessarily a grow and formulate ood at something.

the things that we y.

es ‘what are our ately thinking esses, we should nd celebrate our t right in the project, g in the way we

right amount, in the he right time”

ex Linley (2008, p.58)

Passion

Leadership

When we think about the work that we produce and recognise that we had made it with driven endeavours, we identify that we had passion for the work that we are doing.

In many aspects, true leadership is not about the title, it’s about the role. In analysing many great leaders’ quotes about leadership, it is often described that the actions one takes when others are under their guidance are what defines whether or not that person is a leader.

Passion is often identified with ambition, drive and the level of engagement one might have when it comes to a certain task, or even in one’s career.

In the field of Positive Psychology, Vallerand (2008 & 2015) introduces two types of passion: harmonious passion and obsessive passion.

Obsessive passion often stems from when a person internalises and identifies their sense of self with the activity, whereas Harmonious passion comes from an autonomous internalisation that the activity is an important aspect of our lives, but it does not account for who we are as a person.

When it comes to being passionate about the work, it is better to be driven by our principles within the pursuit of our careers.

We can find ourselves fluctuating between these dual passions, but identifying them is the first step to creating good passion.

We often see those with authority as leaders in our daily lives, but this is often identified as capital ‘L’ leadership, where a person has the official role of a leader.

When we follow someone because of their actions and the way they conduct themselves in situations, this is often called lowercase ‘l’ leadership, in which an individual.

Positive Psychology looks into the day-to-day actions of the lowercase ‘l’ leadership and teaches others that self-leadership (when one knows about themselves and are aware of their development and goals) can lead to enhanced performance as well as good psychological capital. When one strives to know about themselves through selfleadership, one can discover their better self.

Me IN Positive Psycho DEFINING

ology

APPLYING MY LEARNING Understanding positive psychology theory tailored to the individual for organisational contexts.

Over the course of this subject, I was granted the opportunity to learn more about myself through the lens of positive psychology theory.

There were many exercises, in which, we had applied theory to our experiences and beliefs or learned to categorise ourselves in accordance to how some positive psychology theory have def ined and constructed systems to organise emotions and behaviour.

In applying what I have learnt on myself, I have found out ways in how I subconsciously react to situations, what I think about them and the way in which I am comfortable to work or even play.

Reflection When it comes to myself, I believe that I’ve both learned new things about myself, as well as re-affirmed what I’ve always believed to be driving factors as to who I am as a person and what I have believed my values are and continue to be.

Borrowing a term from my strengths profile, ‘unrealised’, as well as realised, values and strengths have led me to identify where my passion lies and what drives me as a person, not what defines me.

What I’ve learned so far in my short, albeit eventful, journey through life, is that practicing selfawareness and mindfulness help us stay grounded and gives us the power to connect to our inner-self.

Connecting to this allows us to realise and reflect on our conduct throughout a situation, and encourages us to critically think about our actions and thinking.

Do we agree with what we did or what we thought?

Do I agree with what I thought and did?

Strengths Profiling One of the most applicable positive psychology theories and prof ilers that I really resonated with is the Strengths Prof iling created by CAPP and co.

A strengths prof ile reveals a unique quadrant prof ile that allows the user to learn more about themselves in ways that they may not have known, as well as ways that they may have.

Capp recognises that strengths are more than just what people are capable of achieving, either through talent or hard work, but also that strengths are what we enjoy and give us energy when we are in the process of performing them. With the apparent lack of engagement in workplaces today (Thompson, 2017), learning about employees strengths and which strengths energises them can help companies and even individuals on how they can achieve greater focus and engagement in their workplace.

The strengths prof ile quiz assesses a participant’s strength by asking them a set of scaled questions that assesses their performance in an environment or situation, their perceived energy levels while conducting a task, and the f requency and application in which they use their strengths when doing projects or tasks.

A maximum of 14 strengths are given to each participant, 7 realised and 7 unrealised strengths, as well as 4 learned behaviours and 3 weaknesses. Participants who have a strengths prof ile are also encourages to retake the quiz, as they have recognised that people’s strengths change, as well as what they actually enjoy doing.

MY STRENGTHS PROFILE This table presents the outcome of my strengths prof ile and helps me realise where I tend to apply my energy when going about my day. In reflection, I do actually agree with the outcome of my strengths prof ile and think that it is a very accurate representation of myself.

With this strength prof ile, I can align my strength and energy to the values that give me harmonious passion. I f ind that I love to help in kind, and even gain energy when I do.

I have also been a leader many times, as a Capital L leader.

I’ve held many roles like this and truly enjoy it. Legacy and mission as a strength shows this.

Reflection In my belief, acknowledging change and the importance of cultivating change is a very important aspect of what makes us human. During the time I was taking this class, I’ve been reading Gretchen Rubin’s book, ‘The Happiness Project’, a gift that was given to me by a f riend a few years ago. She puts it best for me in her f irst splendid truth: “To be happy, I need to think about feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right, in an atmosphere of growth.”

- Gretchen Rubin (2012, p.67)

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I f ind it extremely interesting that Incubator is my strongest realised weaknesses. I do know that I like to analyse my thinking (meta-cognition), but I’ve always thought that I do not reflect too much on things and dwell in the past. It would be interesting to see if it will change the next time I take the test.

I also f ind it interesting that Authenticity my strongest unrealised strength, as I’ve always believed that I am genuine in the way I conduct myself and have been told that my emotions can be read on my face like a book.

WHERE AM

I AT SO FAR ?

REFLECTING ON MY CAREER DEVELOPMENT Utilising intro-spective techniques to forge my career path.

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Reflection I’ve always been a big believer in viewing the proverbial glass as full; it is both half-empty and half-full. In retrospect, I’ve somewhat viewed life in the aspect that I need to take the good with the bad. For example: Admittedly, it has taken me longer than average to f inish my degree. Granted, I am doing a double major, but I’ve also experienced stages in my time where I’ve truly struggled in coping with the

work. I have failed many times, but I’ve found and trained myself to form the ability to bounce back f rom failure, to learn f rom it and to see it as a stage in my life that has helped form the individual that you see today.

Now, in hindsight, I probably would not have received the student position that I am currently thriving in if I didn’t stay in university for longer. I would not have met the tutors or professors that have helped me in getting this role. I would also be entering the workplace with a menial skill set that most companies would probably gloss over during the application process. I would not have improved my technical skills if I didn’t have the time extended time I’ve taken to improve it.

Throughout this time, I have def initely had many lows. But without the low points in my life, how can I learn to celebrate and appreciate the high points in life.

Applying Positive Psychology Theories To My Current Workplace I am currently working as a Student Planner at the Victorian Planning Authority.

Although my role is described as a planner, my work generally pertains to urban analytics and 3D visualisations, with an added aspect of applied research and design.

I am very happy in the role that I am in and f ind that I’m engaged in the work that I do daily. I look forward to what the future will bring. I feel like that this should be, and often is, recognised as one of my greatest achievements so far.

But I think that my greatest achievement is actually being able to bounce back f rom the many diff iculties I have experienced before achieving this role, that I did not allow myself to be brought down by my own negativity and tried my very best to breakthrough each trial presented before me.

I look forward to every season of change and what this role brings after I graduate f rom my degree.

This was a photo taken by our communications team and posted on our organisation’s social media accounts, showcasing how we as a team engage in knowledge sharing sessions with other f ields of government.

I f ind this a perfect example of utilising my strengths, working on my passion (collaborating for the improvement and betterment of society), and leadership (applying research to be leaders in this f ield of urban analytics).

HOW SHOULD

I PRESENT MYSELF?

LINKEDIN: ABOUT SECTION Hello!

My name is Arianna Garay.

Thank you for looking at my Linkedin Prof ile. In this page, you can f ind out many different things about me, where I’ve worked/volunteered, what my interests are and what skills I have. What I would like it to say is what am I driven by; what values do I possess?

I have always loved spaces and the environment in which people can gather and I believe that everyone has the right to have a space in which they can be themselves and enjoy life to the fullest. I love the individuality of people and hope that the design of spaces can move to focus on that individuality and a human-centric design. I’m always happy to meet people and enjoy their stories of their experience and what has made them into the person they are today.

But I would like to iterate that this prof ile is only a small part of me. If you would like to get to know me better, please don’t hesitate to contact me further on this platform, or through my specif ied contact details.

I look forward to hearing f rom you!

If you would like to see some of my design or portfolio work, please visit the links below: https://www.behance.net/ariannainac228 https://issuu.com/ariannagaray

Creating connections, forging pathways and celebrating careers.

This is a copy of the text that I have applied to my LinkedIn Account. I am an avid user of this platform and love to meet other people in my industry, to hear and to stay up to date with the current trends going on. I also love to use linked in as it allows me to stay up to date with f riends f rom university and to celebrate their achievements in their career as well.

I look forward to updating it more in the future and seeing where life will and can take me. I always look to viewing my life as chapters in a book, rather than the proverbial race of life.

Reflection At the end of this subject, I’ve thought and formulated an outlook on how I will continue onwards as I go through the future. I plan to: Live by Principles Be in Pursuit Achieve a burning Passion Trust the Process and Always Persevere

They helped me get here.

Acknowledgements and Bibliography Linley, A. (2008). Average to A+: Realising Strengths in Yourself and Others. GB: CAPP Press.

Thompson, S. (2017). 68 Percent of Employees Are Disengaged, But There Is A Scientif ically Proven Way To Boost Engagement: Engagement is essential to building a high-performing team.

Inc.com, Retrieved f rom https://www.inc.com/ sonia-thompson/68-percent-of-employees-aredisengaged-but-there-i.html

Vallerand, R. J. (2015). The psychology of passion: A dualistic model. Series in Positive Psychology.

I’d like to formally thank my family for helping me get to this moment in my life.

To my f riends, both those that are around and those that have come and gone, as they have also helped in forming the me that I am today. I thank you for all the experiences.

I thank you all the mentors that have thought me all the little and BIG things I know about life.

I would also like to thank the teaching staff of this subject, Rachel Colla and my tutor, Jo Murray for teaching me such wonderful things about what life could possibly be.

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Vallerand, R. J. (2008). On the psychology of passion: In search of what makes people’s lives most worth living. Canadian Psychology/ Psychologie Canadienne, 49(1), 1.

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