PROFESSIONAL PERSONA EXECUTIVE

SUMMARY Cate Reese

Introduction
Over the past couple of weeks, I have been collecting data through a self-assessment and an Outside Leadership
Communication Evaluation (OCLE) Survey regarding my People Styles, Cultural Map and received feedback on how others
perceive me . This document was created to allow me to summarize my findings. I collected external evaluation data from 14
respondents, who consisted of coaches, peers, teachers and others who have seen me in a professional setting. I have found that
my survey respondents and I view me as having a strong work ethic and am very goal-oriented whereas, we differ on my
communication methods and my people style results. Below, I will analyze the data from the OLCE survey and compare these
results with my own self-evaluation, and finally, summarize my key takeaways.
People Style
Below, I have included a bar chart illustrating the respondents’
The self-assessment I completed indicated that I was
rankings of me for each scale in light blue and the rankings I see
Expressive. However, out of the 14 survey responses I got, 5
for myself in the darker blue.
identified me as a Driver. 4 identified me as Expressive, 3
identified me as Amiable, and 2 identified me as Analytical.
The light blue stars below represent where my peers view my
composite responsiveness and assertiveness whereas the
dark blue star represents mine.

Communicating
The results I received for communication seem to have the most
significant variation out of all 8 scales. My survey respondents
perceive my communication as being precise, simple and clear
messages whereas, my self-assessment results show that I prefer
to communicate using sophisticated and nuanced messages. I
believe that I identify more like my respondents designated. My
The variety of people styles I got from the OLCE survey self-assessment results may not have reflected as accurately
tells me that the people who completed the survey view because there are times when I do use a more nuanced method of
me differently depending on how they see me in a communication. When I craft messages for specific assignments or
professional setting. It is interesting to see that I was school work, I tend to overthink it and craft a more refined
identified the most as a Driver because I see myself as message. People who know me on a professional and personal
Expressive, someone who is more responsive and more level, know that I prefer more clear cut communication methods.
assertive versus someone who is laid back and doesn’t Scheduling and Disagreeing
care as much for social interaction. I chose to discuss scheduling and disagreeing together because my
Cultural Map respondents and I received very similar scores for these two
After analyzing the cultural map results I can see that scales. Scheduling refers to how I approach time management, the
the respondents and I agreed on most of all the average score received from my respondents and myself are a
different topics. There only seems to be one specific difference of .12. The results say that I prefer structured deadlines
variation out of all the 8 topics included in the results.
and timelines to get things done. I agree with this Constructive Criticism
because no matter what it is I would rather have a While there was a lot of good things my respondents had to say,
specified deadline to have things completed by. I think there is always room to grow and get better. There were two
this is also because I am a very organized person and major pieces of criticism I received that were repeated. One
like to have a schedule in place. being that tend to allow others opinions of me to affect how I am
at times. The other being that I am extremely goal oriented and
Disagreeing was another scale that my respondents and
competitive, I am always looking to complete a goal or be
I had a very similar score for. I received a high score
successful and sometimes that can be at the expense of others
through my self-assessment and from my respondents
feelings.
survey, meaning I am not confrontational or would
After reading the repeating themes, I agree with what they had to
prefer to deal with a disagreement privately. I strongly
say, especially when they said I take a lot of things to heart. I am a
agree with these results, I struggle a lot with
very sensitive person and that leads to me taking everything
confrontation in general and know this is something
everyone says personally. This is definitely something I have
that I need to work on and be able to do if it is necessary
gotten better at but still needs improvement. The other critique I
per the situation. However, I do believe I can disagree in
received was about being extremely goal-oriented is something
specific situations, being that I play a team sport, there
that I am not always aware of because of how competitive I am
are times when people have varying opinions or ideas
and I can be too focused on a goal and overlook some other
and I am able to freely express my disagreement in this
important things that go into being successful as a team or
situation.
individually. After reading all of the critiques from the survey, I
Word Cloud think I need to work on putting myself in more uncomfortable
Below I have included a word cloud with words that my situations in order to grow more as a person.
respondents put in their OLCE survey that remind them
What I Have Learned
of me and what they think some of my core values are
This has been very helpful to me to be able to take a step back and
based on our interactions. I noticed some of the
analyze my self-assessment and compare it to the perception of
respondents have different description words based on
others. I wasn't fully aware of how important it is to have a
my relationships with different people.
professional persona but I to be proud of the person that I am. My
people style is Expressive so I am more hands on and interactive
and at times, can be controlling. I like structure and organization
but everything doesn't have to be perfect all the time. I tend to
become controlling when I see a lack of organization and structure.

I plan on modifying my professional persona using the information

and results that were analyzed in this summary. I have many
different perceptions of my personality and who I am based on
where I am. On the basketball court, I am serious and can come off
as uptight. Sometimes my seriousness can translate over to my
classroom participation. When I did my first team presentation
Some of my previous coaches included words such as this semester I got significant feedback from my teammates that I
competitive or leader/ leadership because of how I am need to smile more and have more friendly nonverbal interaction
while playing basketball. While some of my other with my audience. I think I did much better showing my
respondents have seen me in a much more professional personality on the Research & Analysis Presentation last week. I
setting and could have included words such as smart, think that highlights the importance of being aware and then being
structured, or organized. One of the most common words able to make the changes to enhance my Professional Persona.
I saw throughout the OCLE survey were hard-working,
driven, and kind. I find it interesting that these words Overall, the results I received from the OCLE survey respondents
were in there the most and these words are apparent in and my self-assessment seemed to many similarities. However, the
my core values. I know the characteristics of "hard- differences accompanied by the critiques that I received will push
working" and "driven" are very evident in my work ethic. me to grow my Professional Persona and I plan to show my
improvements in future assignments.