Knowing and Managing YourselfOne of the most basic human needs is

for self acceptance

Self acceptance is necessary for psychological health, personal growth, and the ability to know and accept others

The Era of Top Down Management is Over

Organizations were once dependent on a single leader’s vision and their ability to control the behavior of the staff to achieve their goals

Success was defined with a growing staff and increasing budgets

Today public administration requires a different mindset

The Era of Top Down Management is Over

Nowadays, workers are often empowered to make decisions to “serve” their customers better

We are all asked to be more productive and prove it through rigorous evaluation

Few public or nonprofit agencies are funded well enough to grow staff or increase budgets

Even if you will never be a manager, it is important for you to understand organizational behavior and the new level of expectations for workers

Understanding Yourself: Life ExperiencesWhat world or national events have

taken place during your lifetime?

Which of these influenced you most dramatically?

How was you life influenced by these events?

Understanding Yourself: Life Experiences Are there local events that have been

particularly influential in your life?

Were there cultural opportunities or political events in your hometown that were particularly influential?

What were your most important educational experiences?

Understanding Yourself: Life ExperiencesWhich personal relationships influenced

you the most?

What roles have individuals played in your life?

Your Lifeline

Responding to Emotional ChallengesEmotional challenge refers to any real

or perceived threat to our security, self image, or sense of self worth that stimulates our instinctive self protective tendencies

These protective tendencies often make us aggressive or we withdraw (fight of flight)

Responding to Emotional ChallengesNearly all emotional challenges within

an organization are interpersonal in nature

Interestingly, our response is to focus on trying to change or control the behavior of other people

The truth is that we can control only ONE person in a relationship -- Ourselves

Responding to Emotional ChallengesLearning about ourselves can help us

understand how values and traits influence our behavior and how we see things

We need to recognize that others may not necessarily see things the way we do

We need to also recognize that our values and traits can influence behavior of others

Learning About OurselvesMost of us recognize that self-

awareness and self-understanding are strongly related to our sense of well-being, interpersonal relationships, and overall success in life

Nonetheless, many of us still avoid learning about ourselves

Learning About Ourselves

“We tend to be afraid of any knowledge that would cause us to despise ourselves or to make us feel inferior, weak, worthless, evil, or shameful. We protect ourselves and our ideal image of ourselves by repression and similar defenses, which are essentially the same techniques by which we avoid becoming conscious of unpleasantness or dangerous truths.” (Maslow, 1962)

Learning About OurselvesThe opposite is also true, some of us

fear our highest potential so we “struggle against our own greatness” (Maslow, 1962) and deny our potential for leadership

Knowledge of self may be essential to being an effective worker in public or nonprofit organizations – which are relationship intense organizations

Learning About OurselvesCognitive knowledge

An intellectual understanding of basic technical skills that are required

Behavioral skills The practice and experience of employing

technical skills until second nature