Posted: October 12th, 2016

promote self-reflection and mindfulness by identifying areas of personal strength and building positive self-perception

The aim of this assignment is to promote self-reflection and mindfulness by identifying areas of personal strength and building positive self-perception.
Task: In this assignment you will utilise qualitative 360-degree feedback provided by others about you at a time when you have been at your best.
Aim: While it concentrates on ‘best-self’, it should be recognised that ‘less ideal or not so positive’ moments are integral to developing a picture of one’s self and in building resilience. Hence, this assignment should not be viewed as the entire self-portrait, even though it is a critical component of self-esteem…

Details: Some of the world’s leading positive psychologist and organisational development experts developed the Reflected Best Self (RBS) exercise, making it a powerful, well-designed tool for learning. RBS is one of the most powerful exercises for developing a deeper level understanding of one’s own strengths and virtues required for developing ‘leadership capabilities’. The exercise is both challenging and insightful and its completion requires a series of steps.
Notes: The exercise will require you to receive feedback from people who know you well. You should be aware that these people will be sharing a story about you. These stories will serve as the backbone of your paper. At first, you may feel awkward or uncomfortable doing this, but you will find people are usually willing to share their ideas about you.
Directions:
1. Identify at the very least 10 people who know you well (work colleagues – current and/or former; family, friends, and peers). Aim for people who will provide the most honest answer, and who know you in different contexts to give a broad range of perceptions and experiences. You must have at least 10 people respond in order to ensure this exercise is of greatest value.
2. Compose and send an email request inviting these individuals to contribute THREE stories that describe how YOU add value and make important contributions. An example of this email is provided at the conclusion of this assignment brief).
3. Analysis: Now the hard part: Print out and read all of the emails received in response to your requests. As you read the responses start developing some notes of common themes emerging across all responses, as well as those things that surprised you about how people see you, and those things that did not surprise you as much. As you do your analyses, develop a table where you map the themes, and tie these to the specific statement. The table will have three columns: “Emergent themes”; “Specific statements”; and “My interpretation”. The table should be included within your report and will be included in your WORD LIMIT.
Now you write up your paper
Introduction: Provide an introduction where you offer an overview of the structure of your report including your literature review, method, findings, reflection and conclusion.
Literature review: In your literature review provide a critical summary of the literature on Positive Psychology and strengths. Your review should start off broad and then narrow down to the specific literature on the organisational application of Positive Psychology and strengths, as well as the “Reflected Best Self” exercise. In addition, your literature review should demonstrate engagement with the course readings provided to you on UTS Online each week and discussed in your tutorial class.
Method: Your method section should describe your process of sending emails, number of emails sent, responses received, a description of who your respondents are, and how the responses were analysed.
Findings: Your findings section (along with your table) should provide an overview of the key themes revealed along with examples.
Reflection: In your reflection section, you should evaluate your findings (do not reflect on your findings in the “Findings” section! You should attempt to reflect on your findings in relation to what you found in your literature review. Discuss your internal reaction to the process, including how this process might have changed you, along with ideas about how you might further develop or leverage the strengths have been revealed through the process. As you complete this part, it is good to reflect on the following in your answer (These questions were developed by Laura Morgan-Roberts and her colleagues at Michigan University’s Centre for Positive Organizational Scholarship), you do not need to answer all these questions, but give them some thought:
Who am I at my best?
How do I define best, and how do others define best? How do I reconcile any inconsistencies between how I define best, and others define it?
What are the commonalities and inconsistencies across the different stories? Whose feedback matters most, and why?

Are there any new insights gained from the RBS exercise? (i.e. I did not think about this)
What has been reinforced about me because of the RBS? (i.e. I thought this about myself, but it’s good to know its validated by others)
What are the enablers and barriers to being my best self both personal (such as behaviours, beliefs, thoughts, and cognitions), and situational (such as organisational systems, practices, routines) etc.
Finish your reflection section with a “Best Self Vision Statement”. This statement takes into account your RBS analysis. As you write, think about the following questions:
Given my RBS analysis, what strengths and capabilities can help me tap my potential? What makes me unique and what do I want my contribution to be?
What standards will I use to define success in my professional life?
How will I need to organise my life to live up to these standards? What are the trade-offs?
Conclusion: Your paper should conclude with a review of the structure of the report, method, findings and reflections.